Friday, January 4, 2013

Quarterly Progress Update

Fourth quarter 2012 has come to a close, it's time for me to update my progress page.  In Q4, I received a total of $1,100.15 worth of dividends.  This includes a few accelerated dividends from December, but excludes all special dividends.  I may add a separate line for special dividends to keep track of that too. 

Q4 was the first quarter I have ever broken $1,000!  All told it was about a $120 worth of progress which was mostly due to new purchases, although at this point some of the past purchases I made are entirely from reinvested dividends.  My life time total for dividends has now surpassed $5,650.  If this isn't proof that dividend growth and income investing works, then I don't know what is.

In 2012 I tried to focus less on high yield and instead concentrate on companies who are likely to increase distributions at a faster rate.  Most of the high yielders I did buy was just shuffling money around to better position my portfolio.  You can see that YOC of my portfolio actually went down last year, even with all the dividend increases I enjoyed.  I expect the trend to continue in 2013.  The sweet spot I'm looking for are companies that pay 3-3.5% and are expected to grow dividends in the 7-10% range.  I am weary of companies with super high dividend growth, say 15+%, as maintaining the expected rate is next to impossible long term.  Projecting high dividend growth more than a few years in the future is a slippery slope.  Compounding can work against us too!

For 2013 I will again be looking to add companies growing distributions at a healthy pace.  This is not to say I'll abandon utilities and telecoms as I believe these types of companies have a place in diversified income portfolios. 


Fun 2012 Statistics:

Total Dividends Received: $3,805.23
Total Deposits: $21,865 (I will NOT be able to maintain this pace in 2013!)
New Companies Purchased: 11
Existing Companies Added To: 6
Total # of Purchases: 25
Total # Sales: 4
Sales I regret: 1 (PSX, the company either lied or misspoke about the 5% div increase, drat!)
% Companies that increased div: 100%
Best Dividend Increases: NSC 16.9% / SBSI 16.7% / RTN 16.3%
Worst Dividend Increases: BWP 1.0% / T 2.3% / UNS 2.4%
Tax Sheltered Dividends (ROTH + MLP in taxable): 48.8%
Best purchase of the year(?): EMR at $45.55
Worst purchase of the year(?): INTC at $23.86

10 comments:

  1. Looks like a pretty stellar year CI! Will you be returning to the U.S. this year or stay in Korea? Either way I wish you the best in the coming year!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I will be returning in June! Only 5 more months! I'm also taking leave to Thailand in February so I'm looking forward to that too. I'm very excited about 2013, investing and beyond!

      Delete
  2. Man over $1,000 in dividends in 1Q is awesome. And your total for the year was very impressive. It gives me hope that I can reach FI sooner rather than later. Sounds like some big changes are in store for 2013!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I'm getting tired of Korea. It was a blast when I first got here, but I'm pretty much over it now. At one point I was trying to stay an extra year... glad I changed my mind. I do get paid extra while I'm here so I will miss that.

      Delete
  3. Congrats on hitting $1k in dividends over 3 months. That's a great accomplishment.

    I also regret selling PSX, the shares rallied strongly after they split from COP.

    I think you'll be ok with INTC long-term, I am counting on it as they are my largest holding.

    I look forward to seeing your purchases throughout 2013.

    Take care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I think we'll be fine with INTC, but paying almost $24 a share was a mistake. I was too anxious to make a purchase that month. I really do try to buy something every single month, but I may have to rethink that goal because it can be counterproductive at times.

      Delete
  4. Nice quarterly progress! Like you, I have a similar "sweet spot" for dividend growth stocks, although I do lean toward those with double-digit DGRs that seem sustainable. I will also be seeking out companies with healthy dividend growth rates in 2013, so I look forward to seeing what you buy this year. At the moment I don't see any particularly compelling buys, but hopefully we'll get a pullback soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Not much is really catching my attention right now. If I was forced to buy something I'd probably go with TD or LO. Both are above my buy price however. MCD is still reasonable.

      Maybe we can find more companies like LO, PM, KMI that offer an attractive yield and dividend growth. This is holy grail of dividend growth investing if the DGR can be maintained long term. I'm confident in PM and KMI, less confident in LO.

      Delete
  5. CI - INTC is not for me, but consider yourself lucky if buying it at $24 is your worst purchase of 2012 - that wouldn't make the Top 10 "worst moves" list for a lot of investors!
    Enjoy your Thailand holiday, and safe travels back to the US in June.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I'm not a fan of tech stocks at all. INTC will likely be my only position there and I'm satisfied with its current allocation. I would buy it under $20 since I think that offers a lot of value. I should have picked some up last month, oh well! If in the future it goes back to yield under 3% I'll have to remind myself to get out the shears and trim it back. haha

      Delete