* Progress Update - Mar. 2008

It is the first Saturday of the month, so it is time for a goals/progress update. My goals were defined in this December 1, 2007 Investing Goals post. Below is an updated version of the table found in the original post.

Description	Dividend Income Annualized	Yield on Cost
2027 Goal	110,000	20.00%
2017 Goal	30,000	10.00%
2008 Goal	4,000	4.90%
Dec/2007	3,054	5.00%
Purchases YTD	1,029	0.12%
Div. Changes YTD	55	0.08%
Sales YTD	(120)	0.06%
Mar/2008	4,018	5.26%
Purchases	460	0.13%
Div. Changes	1	0.00%
Sales	0	0.00%
Feb/2008	3,557	5.13%
Net Changes	277	0.14%
Jan/2008	3,280	4.99%
Net Changes	226	-0.01%
Dec/2007	3,054	5.00%
Net Changes	228	0.12%
Nov/2007	2,826	4.88%

As of March 31st, I have already exceed my full-year goal, which tells me I didn't spend enough time coming up with the goal. The basis of my 2008 goal was investing $3,000/month in securities with a 2.5% yield (3000*12*.025=900). I will have a year's worth of data to consider when establishing the 2009 goal later this year and will hopefully develop a more challenging goal.

For the month, dividend income increased $461, and Yield on Cost (YOC) increased 0.13%. These changes were driven by new purchases and dividend changes (no sales in March). Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $460 increase in annual dividend income and 0.13% increase in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):

• $31 VIG (1.69%)
• $195 AOD (12.84%)
• $59 PGN (5.81%)
• $31 SYY (3.08%)
• $128 ACAS (12.03%)
• $16 AFL (1.54%)

The AOD, PGN and ACAS purchases increased the YOC and more than offset the decreases from the other purchases. I continue to expect YOC to drop monthly since most new investments will yield less than my current YOC, and dividend increases will not be sufficient to offset it. As noted in "MMA Rates Falling, What are You Going to Do?", I nearly doubled my monthly investment quota as a result of the dismal money market rates and attractive yields from declining stocks.

Dividend Changes: The $1 increase in annual dividend income and 0.00% increase in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):

• $3 AFL (0.205q>0.24q - 0.01%)
• $9 PFE (0.29q>0.32q - 0.01%)
• $2 STI (0.73q>0.77q - 0.00%)
• $2 CNI (0.21248q>0.2318q - 0.00%)
• $1 ED (0.58q>0.585q - 0.00%)
• (-$16) ETFs (-0.02 - see below)

The negative $16 ETF dividend change shown above is not a result of lower dividends, but instead where I had previously over-estimated the annual dividend. Unlike individual stocks, ETFs dividends vary each quarter and generally grow throughout the year, then pull back in the first quarter to a level (hopefully) above the prior year's first quarter, but below the fourth quarter's distribution. Further complicating the issue are other distributions in the fourth quarter. I have modified my process and hopefully it will provide a better full-year estimate and minimize future adjustments.

Sales: I did not sell any investments in March.

The next monthly progress update will be on Saturday, May 3rd.


Related Articles:

• My Dirty Little Secret
• Dividend Investing With ETFs
• Process Overview and Asset Allocation
• It Was An Odd Odyssey
• Sometimes Being Right Is Just Wrong

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