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).

The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in June 2015

Stock stalking is a weird hobby.

In general I do not "follow" any particular investor's activities. However, there are a couple that I have followed of sorts because I like their investment style. One of them is Neil Woodford

I watch Woodford's fund quite carefully to get some ideas. In particular, doing this with Woodford is extremely easy as--I am sure many of you know this--he publishes the entire breakdown of his fund each month. A very unusual action.

Since launch I have been assiduously collecting this data and building a little spreadsheet to see how things are changing. I've realised that this work--which is not a tiny amount--may be of interest to some of you.

So here I will offer a little breakdown of the companies that Woodford has bought and sold in June 2015.

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).

February 2015: Dividend Income and Trading Activity (Updated)

Revised: Slightly changed value of Banco Santander dividend. Also adjusted total accordingly.

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.

• Banco Santander--£9.20
• Given as 2 new shares (SCRIP)
• BT Group--£4.88
• Bought 1 new share.
• Imperial Tobacco--£18.75
• HSBC ETFs--£3.78

Total for February: £36.61 ($56.48).

January 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.

• GlaxoSmithKline--£35.91
• Bought 2 more shares.

Total for January: £35.91 ($54.09).

BUY: Imperial Tobacco--Growth within a Declining Industry?

Price: 2817.51
Shares: 21
Predicted annual dividend income: £29.44

Resolutions for the New Year are being passed on everywhere at the moment. For obvious reasons. One of the most common I have encountered amongst my friends and colleagues has been "Give up smoking." That's nothing new. Across the country there are probably millions of people saying the same thing (indeed, with many having made the same resolution innumerable times before).

I am not a smoker. However, I have taken a different resolution at the start of this year. Rather than giving up smoking I have--surprisingly--taken it up. Not the actual process of buying tobacco and smoking it, but investing in a tobacco giant. On this occasion, Imperial Tobacco.