October 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.

• Amlin--£11.26
• Final dividend payment. I sold position in September.
• Diageo--£24.08
• Bought 1 new share
• GlaxoSmithKline--£37.05
• Bought 2 new shares
• HSBC--£18.82
• Bought 3 new shares
• Interserve--£22.59
• Bought 3 new shares
• Old Mutual--£8.64
• Bought 3 new shares
• PZ Cussons--£9.22
• Bought 3 new shares

Total for October: £131.65 ($203.50).

April 2015: 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--£14.18.
• Bought 5 new shares
• Catlin Group--£12.29
• Since left my portfolio after being acquired by XL.
• Diageo--£14.84
• GlaxoSmithKline--£43.93
• Bought 2 new shares
• HSBC--£38.06
• Bought 5 new shares
• Lancashire--£35.73
• Bought 5 new shares.
• PZ Cussons--£4.44
• Bought a new share.
• Sky--£7.75

Total for April: £171.21 ($263.32).

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.

BUY: Diageo--A quick Christmas beverage top up

Price: 1771.18
Shares: 28 (this transaction) and 68 (entire holding)
Predicted annual dividend income: £15.29 (this transaction) and £37.14 (entire holding)

Christmas and New Year is coming and the drinks, no doubt, will be flowing for many of us. I intend to be part of that trend as usual (indeed, yesterday enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness).

However, most of my alcohol-related funds over December will not be going through the pubs and supermarkets but the stock market. This is because I have topped up my holding in drinks giant Diageo.

BUY: Diageo--Raising my glass to dropping prices

Price: 1704.48
Shares: 41
Predicted annual dividend income: £21.20

The increasingly volatile markets has made for a rather nice buying time for many people. Already this month I have cashed in with a top-up purchase of HSBC. However, in reality my eyes had been on others companies in  other sectors. My financial segment is looking a little too large at the moment.

Several companies on my watchlist were within the broadly understood food and drink sector. In the end, the price drops pushed me towards my favoured stock in this area: Diageo.