Once again it is time for a goals/progress update. I am pleased to report that annualized dividend income rose in March, extending the streak to 13 months after February 2009's decline. Since I began publicly tracking annualized dividend income in November 2007, it has increased in 27 of the last 28 months.My goals were defined in this December 1, 2007 Investing Goals post and updated in my 2010 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% |
| 2010 Goal | 9,500 | 5.00% |
| December/2009 | 7,274 | 4.84% |
| Purchases YTD | 875 | -0.10% |
| Div. Changes YTD | 64 | 0.08% |
| Sales YTD | - | -% |
| March/2010 | 8,213 | 4.82% |
| Purchases | 312 | -0.01% |
| Div. Changes | 41 | 0.07% |
| Sales | - | -% |
| February/2009 | 7,860 | 4.76% |
The above information covers the current month and year-to-date through the current month.
For the month, annualized dividend income increased $353, and Yield on Cost (YOC) increased 0.06%. This month's changes were a net of new purchases and dividend changes (no sales). Let's examine each of the these categories:
Purchases: The $312 increase in annual dividend income and a (0.01%) decrease in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):
- $104 Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (LEG) 5.13% [Analysis]
- $74 Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 3.20% [Analysis]
- $134 Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV) 5.09%
LEG and BLV raised my YOC, while ABT lowered it. As noted in earlier updates, I generally expect YOC to drop each month since most new investments will yield less than my current YOC, and dividend increases will not be sufficient to offset it. This month was an exception.
Dividend Changes: The $41 increase in annual dividend income and the 0.07% increase YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):
- $14 CenturyTel, Inc (CTL) $0.70q>$0.73q
- $5 Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) $0.59q>$0.595q
- $22 United Technologies Corporation (UTX) $0.385q>$0.425q
- $4 Intel Corporation (INTC) $0.14q>$0.1575q
- ($4) Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV) $4.00a>$3.96a
- ($3) iShares Invest Grade Corp Bond (LQD) $5.69a>$5.65a
- $3 3M Co. (MMM) $0.51q>$0.525q
Sales: There were no sales in this month.
I am still on target to achieve my goal of an annualized dividend income of $9,500 by December 31, 2010.
That's it for this time. The next monthly progress update will be early May.
(Photo: sanja gjenero)
M&T Bank Corp.
