* Progress Update - December 2010

Once again it is time for a goals/progress update. I am pleased to report that annualized dividend income increased in December, extending the streak to 6 consecutive months of increases after June 2010's decline. Since I began publicly tracking annualized dividend income in November 2007, it has increased in 35 of the last 37 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	6,244	-0.22%
Div. Changes YTD	-31	-0.01%
Sales YTD	-2,080	-0.06%
December/2010	11,407	4.55%
Purchases	903	0.05%
Div. Changes	43	0.02%
Sales	-417	-0.06%
Novemebr/2010	10,878	4.62%

The above information covers the current month and year-to-date through the current month.

Click here for a Detailed Historical Progress Table.

For the month, annualized dividend income increased $529, and Yield on Cost (YOC) was up 0.01%. This month's changes were a net of new purchases, dividend changes and sales. Let's examine each of the these categories:

Purchases: The $903 increase in annual dividend income and 0.05% decrease in YOC related to the following purchases (yield at the time of purchase):

• $97 Leggett & Platt, Inc. (LEG) 4.95%
• $339 Universal Health Realty Income Trust (UHT) 6.70%
• $183 Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 3.72%
• $284 MLP Infrastructure ETN (MLPI) 5.30%

LEG, UHT and MLPI increased 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.

Dividend Changes: The $43 increase in annual dividend income and the 0.02% increase in YOC related to the following dividend changes (a=dividend stated in annual terms, q=quarterly, m=monthly):

• $5 U.S. Preferred Stock Index (PFF) $2.30a>$2.32a
• $6 Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) $0.335q>$0.345q
• $32 McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $0.55q>$0.61q

Sales: The $417 decrease in annual dividend income and the 0.02% increase in YOC related to the following sale:

• ($417) Emerging Mkts Sovereign Debt (PCY)

I am pleased that I was able to reach my revised goal of $11,000 in annualized dividend income by December 31, 2010. To see my 2011 goals click here.

That's it for this time. The next monthly progress update will be early February.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)