Monthly Review, August 2013

Last month, I decided to change how I track and report DivGro's dividend income. Rather than tracking expected dividend income for the current calendar year, I'll be tracking the expected dividend income for the next 12 months. I'll call this idea projected annual dividend income.

In August, I added two dividend growth stocks, MicroSoft Corp. (MSFT) and Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT), increasing DivGro's projected annual dividend income to $1,523. In comparison, July's projected annual dividend income was $1,374.

With a current market value of $43,482, DivGro's projected annual dividend income of $1,523 averages to a yield of 3.5%. In time, as companies increase their dividends, the average yield will increase. Ten years from today, the 14 stocks in my portfolio should yield about 12% on average. An investment earning 12% interest will double every six years.

Another way to think about projected dividend income is to express it as a monthly average. That is, what can I expect to earn from DivGro every month, on average, for the next 12 months? I'll call this idea projected monthly dividend income.

Here's a chart showing the growth of projected monthly dividend income since January 2013. The growth comes from dividend increases and from new dividend paying stocks being added to DivGro. For August, the projected monthly dividend income is $127. So, in the next year, I can expect to earn at least $127 per month, on average. Of course, I don't need that money as income, so I'll be investing it along with my regular monthly deposit of $1,000.

Transactions:

• 2013-08-01: Return of Capital ETP:  $89.38
• 2013-08-05: BUY 80 MSFT @ $31.76
• 2013-08-09: Cash Dividend Receipt GD:  $19.60
• 2013-08-20: BUY 30 CAT @ $83.73
• 2013-08-27: Cash Dividend Receipt TGH:  $35.25
• 2013-08-29: SEP Cash Deposit: $1,000
• 2013-08-30: Cash Dividend Receipt PRE:  $17.28

New Dividends/Dividend Increases:

• The purchase of MSFT adds $73.60 of projected annual dividend income.
• The purchase of CAT adds $72.00 of projected annual dividend income.
• TGH's modest dividend increase of 2.17% adds $3 of projected annual dividend income.
• Projected annual dividend income: $1,522.95

Dividends Received:

• ETP: $0.8938/unit x 100 units = $89.38
• GD: $0.56/share x 35 shares = $19.60
• TGH: $0.47/share x 75 shares = $35.25
• PRE: $0.64/share x 27 shares = $17.28
• Total year-to-date: $580.75 of $1,156.19 (50.23%)

Markets:

Jul 31, 2013	DOW: 15,499.54 S&P 500: 1,685.73 10-YR BOND: 2.59%
Aug 31, 2013	DOW: 14,810.31 S&P 500: 1,632.97 10-YR BOND: 2.75%

Portfolio: Here is a spreadsheet showing DivGro's current holdings:
Yields: The following spreadsheet presents the current yield on cost for my stocks and the cumulative dividends received:
Looking Ahead: I'm thinking another bonus deposit might be coming. September often turns out to be a quiet (pull-back) month in the stock market, so I'm hoping for some good opportunities to add several dividend growth stocks to DivGro.