Monthly Review: January 2014

I took some time off in January, celebrating our 28^th wedding anniversary on a Caribbean cruise. This was our first ever cruise together and we had a wonderful time! My favorite time was swimming in the crystal clear water of Trunk beach on the island of St John. My wife and I decided that we're not going to wait another 28 years before going on a cruise again. We hope to go to Alaska next.

Despite my vacation, I managed to write several posts in January, including reviews and the first of a new series of posts in which I'll be identifying 10 dividend growth candidates every month, one for each sector in my watch list.

This month, I bought shares of Altria Group Inc. (MO), adding one more holding to DivGro in the Consumer Staples sector. DivGro's projected annual dividend income now stands at $3,027, a yield of 4.05% given DivGro's market value of $74,789.

I received $121 in dividend payments from 4 stocks this month. Below is a chart showing DivGro's monthly dividend income and the projected monthly dividend income since January 2013. This month, projected monthly dividend income increased to $252, up from $239 last month.
Transactions:

• Purchases
• 2014-01-31: BUY 75 MO @ $35.29
• Dividends
• 2014-01-02: Cash Dividend Receipt PNNT:  $60.20
• 2014-01-15: Cash Dividend Receipt VNR:  $37.35
• 2014-01-30: Cash Dividend Receipt SJR:  $7.89
• 2014-01-31: Cash Dividend Receipt ACE:  $15.12
• Deposits
• 2014-01-30: FEB Cash Deposit: $2,500

New Dividends and Dividend Increases:

• The purchase of MO added $144 of projected annual dividend income.
• SJR's dividend increase added $8.40 of projected annual dividend income.
• PRE's dividend increase added $3.24 of projected annual dividend income.
• ETP's distribution increase added $6.00 of projected annual dividend income.
• Projected annual dividend income: $3,026.58

Dividend Summary:

• Dividend income last month: $262.30
• Dividend income this month: $120.65
• Total dividend income year-to-date: $120.65

Markets:

Dec 31, 2013	DOW: 16,576.66 S&P 500: 1,848.36 10-YR BOND: 3.03%
Jan 31, 2014	DOW: 15,698.85 S&P 500: 1,782.59 10-YR BOND: 2.67%

Volatility increased in January as the Dow dropped 5.3%, its worst January since 2009. The S&P 500 lost 3.6%, while the Nasdaq was down 1.7%. DivGro experienced a loss of 4.6%.

Portfolio: The following spreadsheet shows the state of DivGro on January 31, 2014:
Looking Ahead: Soon I'll be looking for 10 new dividend growth candidates for February, one for each sector in my watch list. I have enough funds for one purchase in February. I have a little bit of blog maintenance to do, too.