December 2015: Dividend Income, Trading Activity and Portfolio Snapshot

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Barclays--£4.12
• Bought 1 new share
• BP--£15.99
• Bought 4 new shares
• HSBC--£19.47
• Bought 3 new shares
• Imperial Tobacco--£10.31
• Lancashire--£58.71
• Bought 9 new shares
• Royal Dutch Shell "B"--£20.51
• Bought 1 new share
• Unilever--£16.49
• Visa--£0.16
• XL Group--£0.35

Total for December: £146.11 ($215.88).

September 2015: Dividend Income, Trading Activity and Portfolio Snapshot

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• AstraZeneca--£18.98
• Barclays--£4.11
• Bought 1 new share.
• BHP Billiton--£23.35
• Bought 2 new shares
• BP--£15.52
• Bought 4 new shares
• BT Group--£10.71
• Bought 1 new share
• Imperial Tobacco--£4.49
• Lancashire--£3.02
• Legal & General--£17.66
• Bought 6 new shares
• Royal Dutch Shell--£20.10
• Bought 1 new share
• SSE--£25.34
• Bought 1 new share
• Stock Spirits--£3.01
• Bought 1 new share
• Unilever--£8.44
• XL Group--£0.32

Total for September: £155.04 ($234.73).

June 2015: Dividend Income, Trading Activity and Portfolio Snapshot

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Barclays--£4.10
• Bought 1 new share
• BP--£15.28
• Bought 3 new shares
• Carillion--£18.47
• Bought 5 new shares
• Imperial Tobacco--£4.49
• Royal Dutch Shell "B"--£19.68
• Bought 1 new share
• Unilever--£8.72
• XL Group--£0.30

Total for June: £71.04 ($111.65).

March 2015: Dividend Income and Trading Activity

Every month I provide a breakdown of the dividend income received from the shareholdings in my portfolio. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• BHP Billiton--£23.95
• Bought 1 more share.
• BP--£15.41
• Bought 3 more shares.
• Catlin Group--£22.44
• Bought 3 more shares.
• Royal Dutch Shell "B"--£10.61
• SSE--£10.91
• Unilever--£8.71

Total for March: £92.03 ($136.52).

December 2014: Dividend Income and Trading Activity

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Barclays--£4.04
• This is the same dividend as previous quarters. Bought one additional share.
• BP--£14.54
• Bought three additional shares.
• HSBC--£10.31
• Bought one additional share.
• Lancashire--£59.60
• Bought 10 additional shares.
• Sky--£12.40
• Bought one additional share.
• Tesco--£1.80
• This is a hefty cut of about 75% over last years interim dividend.
• Unilever--£9.01

Total for December: £111.70.

BUYS: BP and GSK--Dropping prices and time for a double top up

It's something familiar to most of you in October. A large drop as the market correction pulled down most companies. I was thus a little split. I had two main options:

1. Add new holdings to my portfolio;
2. Average down on my current holdings;

Up to this point I took advantage of the drop to do both. Firstly, I added a new position in the drinks maker Diageo and before then I added to my holding in the banking giant HSBC.

However, I still had additional funds to direct towards my portfolio. Where should these go? In the end, I decided to start a new position in the speciality insurer Lancashire but chiefly to use the money to average down on two of my holdings most affected by the drop in prices but which I considered unfairly so.

What were they? First was the oil giant BP and the second the pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline.

2014 Dividend Income Target Reached! What Next?

Great news! I have reached my original dividend income target for 2014.

I set it at £200 at the start because I did not expect to be saving and investing quite so heavily. Fortunately I was able to save and thus invest more than I had originally anticipated. As a result, here I am, early November and I have already hit my target.

So what to do next? I have two months remaining of 2014. However, for quite a few of my holdings from this point onward the dividend income will not hit my account until the New Year.

Consequently, I am unsure as to what to do. I could make a new target but this may result in me choosing to invest in a company chiefly because its dividend will be paid before the end of the year. Not a good way to invest.

Dividend Income: September 2014

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Unilever--£9.01
• This year's dividend of 22.53p per share is a slight decrease on the dividend per share value of Q2 2013 (23.12p). Chiefly because of currency exchange rates.
• Barclays--£4.03
• The 1p dividend per share is the same as the 2013 Q2 dividend per share.

Dividend Income: June 2014

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Unilever–£9.35
• BP–£5.87
• Barclays–£4.02

Total: £19.24.

Dividend Income: March 2014

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Unilever–£8.89
• Barclays–£7.00
• BP–£5.71

Total: £21.60.

BUY: BP...Oil and Dividend Giant at a Discount

Price: 478.86
Shares: 100
Projected annual dividend income: £22.32

I can't imagine there are many portfolios--especially amongst individual investors--that do not include an oil giant. Demand for oil remains ubiquitous in our society and does not appear likely to abate anytime soon. As such, I was hoping to get an oil giant into my portfolio very early in order to tap into their notorious dividend records.

So why did I choose BP over that other FTSE 100 giant, Shell? Partly because I felt that BP was still being overlooked due to the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon spill. What is more, because I feel this disaster has forced BP to respond in positive ways including streamlining and safeguarding assets. What is more, the underlying figures still look excellent.