Monthly Update: March 2015

It's that time of the month again! A few days late but here's my monthly update for March. In general markets calmed a bit after a hectic beginning of the year. American markets lost a bit of ground whereas the Dutch AEX index continued it march upwards. The US dollar continued to gain strength against the Euro but the pace seemed to slow down compared to earlier months. In the table below I have presented some benchmark indicators of general market indices and my own dividend growth portfolio.

March 2015
Indicator	As of 28-2	As of 31-3	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.866	3.805	-1,6%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	36.441	35.767	-1,9%
AEX GR	1.421	1.433	+0,8%
USD.EUR	0,8907	0,9115	+2,3%
Portfolio value	€ 24.214	€ 24.407	+0,8%

However, since I am in it for the long haul I am not too interested in these daily or monthly fluctuations. What matters is that I keep focused on buying high quality companies which provide me with a steady stream of growing dividends.

Purchases
None. I do expect one purchase at the end of April, maybe even earlier.

Dividends received
Three separate companies paid me dividends during this month.

• INTC: 63 shares @ $0.24 for a total of $15.12
• AFL: 28 shares @ $0.39 for a total of $10.92
• IBM: 7 shares @ $1.10 for a total of $7.70
• TGH: 43 shares @ $0.47 for a total of $20.21
• XOM: 17 shares @ $0.69 for a total of $11.73
• BBL: 28 shares @ $1.24 for a total of $34.72
• RDS: 95 shares @ $0.47 for a total of $44.65 (DRIP 1 share)
• UNA: 37 shares @ €0.285 for a total of €10.55

Total: around €130 after tax which is 66% more than last year! In absolute terms it's the biggest month for passive dividend income! A whopping €130 for which I did not have to work for. It resembles almost half of my monthly contributions so it definitely is a major contributor for future income growth.

Dividend increases
None. It was however the first month that Intel paid their first $0.24 dividend.

Yearly forward dividend

My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €944, compared to €972 last month. I did not contribute any new money to my portfolio nor did I receive any dividend increases. The decrease occurs because at the moment of writing the last monthly update the EUR.USD was slightly higher than it currently is. However, since I am not exchanging USD to EUR this does not mean anything in economic terms for me. I reinvest USD in USD-listed companies so this decrease in dividend income is purely cosmetic for now.

Seeking Alpha articles
In the past month I did not write any articles on Seeking Alpha. I tried to sit down a few times but had difficulties writing every time. I am searching for some new topics to investigate and write about so if any of you have some nice ideas, let me know!

How was your month? What are your plans for the coming month? Which companies are you looking at to add to your portfolio?