In the first half of 2017 I bought even more of 8 stocks from the nonPension portfolio. It turns out that I did more of the same during the second half of the year, buying even more shares of 7 additional stocks. Of course all of this was outside of the nP portfolio with cash going into other portfolios.
As you can see from the summarized information below, my 2017 investments in the seven securities totaled a little more than the 2016 investments, the initial average monthly income was slightly higher, and the initial overall yield was slightly higher as well. Of course the initial purchases are now paying more than they did at the time of purchase.
I bought more Ameriprise (AMP) 15 months after my first purchase. The price was higher, and the number of shares purchased was lower, but the dividend was significantly higher, so the initial average monthly income was about the same as it was with the previous purchase.
I decided to purchase a little more of Carnival (CCL) very recently. The valuation of the stock was a little high, but I feel that the future is bright for cruise line companies. I bought fewer shares at a higher price. The dividend rate was higher. But my initial yield on the new purchase was quite a bit lower than that of the earlier purchase.
Since my initial purchase of Brinker (EAT), the stock price plummeted, but the dividend yield rose, so I bought many more shares with my approximately $500, and the initial yield is almost 90% higher with the new purchase than it was with the earlier purchase.
Gilead's (GILD) story is less dramatic, but similar to Brinker's.
J P Morgan Chase (JPM) saw an increase in price since the first purchase, and the dividend rose as well. I was able to buy fewer shares the second time around, so the average monthly income was initially lower with the newer purchase.
Legg Mason's (LM) story was similar to that of JPM, but because the run-up in price was less dramatic and the dividend increase was higher proportionally, the average monthly income was higher with the new purchase than with the earlier one.
I bought the same number of shares of Whirlpool (WHR) at a higher price with a higher yield. Therefore the increase in the average monthly income with the new purchase was the same as the increase in the quarterly dividend payment.
One thing that you may take away from the information in this post is that might appear that it would be better to have invested in all of these stocks in 2017 than it was in 2016, since the dividend payments at the time of purchase totaled 15% more in 2017 that than they did in 2016.
But this does not take into account the fact that all of those 2016 purchases have resulted in even higher average monthly payments due to dividend reinvestment and dividend increases. Those initial investments are now paying not $7.65 monthly, but $9.84 monthly, an increase of 29%. The march toward $560 per month continues! There are 18 more years to go.
