Monthly Update: April 2015

It's that time of the month again! A few days late but here's my monthly update for April. In general markets rose slightly with gains between 0.3 and 1%. On a daily basis the fluctuations were much higher but in the end the results are average I guess. However the US dollar lost grounds against the Euro which had its effect on my portfolio. Roughly 80% of my portfolio is valued in USD. In the table below I have presented some benchmark indicators of general market indices and my own dividend growth portfolio.

april 2015
Indicator	As of 31-3	As of 30-4	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.805	3.842	+1,0%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	35.767	35.927	+0,4%
AEX GR	1.433	1.437	+0,3%
USD.EUR	0,9107	0,8929	-2,0%
Portfolio value	€ 25.407	€ 24.833	-2,3%

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
A few days ago I made a purchase of Union Pacific Corporation. Technically the purchase was in May, but whatever. This purchase adds roughly €30 to my annual forward dividend income.

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

• BAX: 22 shares @ $0.52 for a total of $11.44
• KO: 37 shares @ $0.33 for a total of $12.21
• WMT: 20 shares @ $0.49 for a total of $9.80
• OHI: 59 shares @ $0.36 for a total of $21.24
• PM: 17 shares @ $1.00 for a total of $17.00

Total: around €57 after tax which is almost twice as much as last year! Of course I don't expect to keep up this pace but it sure does help to see the improvement in dividend income on a monthly basis.

Dividend increases

• XOM increased their quarterly dividend from $0.69 to $0.73 (+5.8%). This adds roughly €2.50 to my annual dividend income.
• IBM increased their quarterly dividend from $1.10 to $1.30 (+18.2%). This adds roughly €5 to my annual dividend income.
• KMI increased their quarterly dividend from $0.45 to $0.48 (+6.7%). This adds roughly €5 to my annual dividend income.
• OHI increased their quarterly dividend from $0.53 to $0.54 (+1.9%). This adds roughly €2 to my annual dividend income.
• UNA increased their quarterly dividend from €0.285 to $0.302 (+6.0%). This adds roughly €2.50 to my annual dividend income.

So I total I expect to receive €17 per year extra due to the above dividend increases. My portfolio yields 3.9% on average so this equates to an extra investment of €435 that I actually did not have to make myself. Awesome!

Yearly forward dividend

My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €970, compared to €944 last month. I am inching towards the€1000 dividend income per year milestone. It depends on the EUR.USD rate whether I will reach this milestone with my next purchase.

Seeking Alpha articles
In the past month I did not write any articles on Seeking Alpha. This is turning into an epic fail so far. If you have some nice ideas for me to write about, 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?