Monthly Update - May 2013

Well another month has come and gone so it's time to report my investment activities.  I have earned $1429.22 in dividends and $2544 in options income so far in 2013.

Below is a summary of my activity for the month:

New Purchases ($6,000) :

$1000 of TD
$1000 of TEVA
$500 of WFC
$500 of APD
$500 of RDS.B
$1500 of COP
$1000 of CVX

Posts about new purchases can all be found by following the "Buys" label here.

Sells:
none

Options Trades:

I sold puts in TEVA, BBL, and SO.  I closed or had expired puts in CAT.  I earned $287 in profits from puts that I closed out or that expired this month giving me a yearly total so far of $2544.  I've updated all of these trades on my Options tab.

Dividends:

I earned $287.34 in dividends for the month.  My total year-to-date dividend income is now $1429.88. I've updated my dividend income on my Dividends tab.

Forward 12-month Dividends:

My expected future 12-month dividend income has increased to $5561.78 from $5295.61, an increase of 5.0% in one month.   If I can average 5% each month the rest of the year then I'll end the year at $7825.98.

Goals:

I've already met two of my goals so far this year.  I'm well on my way to meeting most of my goals except the refinance of my primary residence.  All of my goals can be found on the Goals tab.

Real Estate:

The condo rental is coming up for renewal in two months.  I hope to increase that rent by $100 also just like I recently did with the house rental.  I will be looking into a refinance of my primary residence towards the end of June if interest rates cooperate.  This was delayed a month due to filing an extension on my taxes.  All of my real estate posts will be found on my real estate label here.

Net Worth:

I just added this section to my monthly updates.  My goal is to hit a net worth of $450k by the end of the year.  I started January at $334k and I'm currently at $372k.  The slower increase was due to a larger than expected tax bill.  I plan to do a better job this year of keeping up with my expected tax liability.

Looking Ahead:

I expect to have a much better dividend month in June than in May.  My estimate is over $800 in dividends for June.  My goal of $5000 in dividends this year will be tough to make but I think I can do it.  I'm barely over $1400 with five months already gone but all of my purchases the first half of the year will be paying dividends the entire second half.

My options income is still way ahead of my dividend income.  My dividend income should catch up quite a bit in June.  I expect my dividend income to catch up and eventually pass my options income in the fourth quarter.

I've set some aggressive goals for my dividend growth.  In order to meet my goal of $6500 of forward dividends then I will need to contribute another $26,806 to my portfolio this year at an average yield of 3.5%.  I'm currently averaging about $8000/month in contributions so this goal should be fairly easy to hit.  The goal of $5000 in 2013 dividends will be more difficult to achieve.