Dividend Scorecard

[haha]

I invest mainly but not entirely for dividends. Of my stocks year over year (Mar 08-Mar 09), 12 increased their dividend, 8 kept it unchanged, 4 cut it, and another 1 cut it so small that it amounts to an elimination. All the cuts save 2 were by stocks that I bought as speculations, not as dividend income stocks.

I was fortunate to hold only one financial company, but it did cut the heck out of its dividend.

Of the 8 unchanged, five are oil and gas producers or drillers, which to my knowledge have never either raised or lowered their insignificant dividend. These stocks are basically poker chips.

My goal is to live from the portfolio dividends and occasionally cash out some of the poker chips/specs.

Ha

[Rambler]

I haven't kept track, but a lot of my divvie stocks have cut their divvies. I'm trying to reengineer my port with adds in munis and a few corporates, with a few more divvies and a spec or two here and there...but I'm stll working, so I have the luxury of a paycheck while I try to get my AA/cash flow plan in order.

R

[kybec29]

This year I'm rebuilding my Roth as a Dividend Income portfolio (I'm 26 yrs, have ~$9,000 left after this past years losses). When I started out I didn't know what I was buying, and just about all of it tanked with the market. I sold the old and my new positions are strong in dividends (either high yield or strong growth potential). My new holdings are KO, MMM, PEP, BP, MO, PM, KFT, GIS, JNJ, SO, MSFT, WMT, and T. My blended yield is 5% for 2009 and hopefully this goes up with further dividend payouts and future increases.

My Roth is all stocks (above) and my 401k has a strong mix of bonds (PTTDX and FKINX)

[Running_Man]

One item of advice that Cramer gives that I had on my Stay Mad for Life day by day calendar was to spend 1 hour per week researching the stocks you own. Some may think that is far too much time to be spending but after thinking about it I think that is about right. It is the proper amount of allocation to be informed as well as the board of directors should be as well.

Ha it seems like the dirty dozen is your bread basket and the rest constitute your future desert. Hope that works out well for you! For the individual I just think investing for dividends makes sense because as the banks are proving, you can't fake cash when you have to pay itout.

[FIRE'd@51]

The first quarter dividend paid last week by the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund (VFINX) was 0.53 vs 0.60 in the first quarter of last year, a drop of about 12%. Furthermore, this quarter's payout did not include the recently announced cuts in GE, JPM, WFC, USB, or PFE to name a few. I estimate that these five dividend cuts will knock another 0.07 per quarter off VFINX's dividend.

[W2R]

VWIAX Wellesley dividends were

$0.572 on 3/26/08
$0.624 on 6/25/08
$0.593 on 9/24/08
$0.650 on 12/15/08, and
$0.576 on 3/25/09

So, although the March dividends are lower than any during the past year, they are higher than they were in March, 2008.

Good enough for me, given market conditions!

[unclemick]

Hmmm - looked at broadly - my first decade of ER, age 49-59, 1993-2003 was dividend stocks(as DRIPs), one yr temp work and selling/consuming RE proceeds. My best guess was dividends peaked at about 40% of income during the period, ran about 8% return - mainly because with slightly over 50 DRIPs - mergers, spin -offs, going private,selling the dogs generated a significant( ??) boost to the return.

Post age 59, 2003 I'm pretty much back to the stock/bond split and watching the SEC yield of the portfolio - lead sled dog being Target Retirement 2015 with 15% being Norwegan widow stocks.

Also small non cola pension and early SS have kicked in - which I still believe I could make do by cutting expenses 50% AND putting on my cheap bastard hat and really really trying.

heh heh heh - Dividend stocks are now hobby/back burner - but I still love em.

BTW - Want2retire forgot the pssst.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclemick BTW - Want2retire forgot the pssst.

Just waiting for you, unclemick. Pssst!! Wellesley.

[FIREdreamer]

All numbers are 12-month trailing annual dividends for the dividend-heavy funds I own:

Vanguard Wellington Q1 2008: $1.09; Q1 2009: $1.01, down 7.3%.
Vanguard Wellesley Q1 2008: $0.97; Q1 2009: $0.99, up 2.1%.
Vanguard Equity Income Q1 2008: $0.77; Q1 2009: $0.72, down 6.5%.
Vanguard REIT index Q1 2008: $1.02; Q1 2009: $0.98, down 3.9%.

Not too bad considering how much the stock market declined over the past year. All funds still pay more than they did in Q1 2007. If one lived solely on these dividends,one would have had to cut back one's expenses very modestly over the past year.

[Zathras]

14 up, 4 down and 2 no change.
Considering the environment, I am pretty happy with it.
My financials (especially if you count GE as a financial) took the biggest hit although one of my financials raised their dividend
Income stream was basically flat if you don't consider the dividend payers I added to the portfolio during the year.
It is a great idea to keep track of the scorecard. Much better perspective than the day to day news stream.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zathras It is a great idea to keep track of the scorecard. Much better perspective than the day to day news stream.

Something my brother said to me prompted me to do a check. He said "Dividends are all down." I knew this was not correct, but I didn't know how wrong he was until I tallied mine.

Ha

[CyclingInvestor]

The six core stocks I have owned for at least the last year have all raised their dividends (PG, JNJ, KO, SYY, MMM, EMR). One former core stock (GE) lowered theirs - I should have stuck to my numbers and sold them a year earlier with all my other financials when it became obvious no-one new how much their assets were worth anymore.

[freebird5825]

I don't own any individual stock issues, only mutual funds. I know when I am out of my league, so I don't go near individual stock picking.
My recent re-direction of my monthly DCA went to....VHDYX, Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/JSP...FundIntExt=INT
It is a relatively new fund, and I only put enough in to open an account. DCA plan for 2009 will grow it to roughly $10K, or I will let it keep going with continued DCA into 2010. TBD.
This is my first foray into a dividend stock fund. I definitely like what I am reading here.