My Recent Dividend Increases

In the last couple of weeks, I got a three more raises in my DRiP portfolio.

First, on February 4th, toy-maker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) announced a 25% increase (from $0.20 to $0.25) to its quarterly dividend. My current position in Hasbro is quite small, since I only added that company to my portfolio last year, but it's nice to see the trend here.

Second, on February 19th, health company Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced a 10% increase (from $0.40 to $0.44) to its quarterly dividend. Again, my stake in Abbott is quite small (set up my DRiP late in 2009).

Finally, on February 23rd, energy infrastructure company TransCanada Corporation (Toronto: TRP) announced a small 5% increase (from $0.38 to $0.40) to its quarterly dividend. Even though this rise was the smallest, I've had TransCanada in my portfolio for longer and as a result my stake in the company is bigger. So this increase will have the largest impact on my dividend income for 2010.

Still, together those increases will only impact my income by about $4 for this year. Nothing to write home about, but I'll be getting that money this year... and next... and the next one...

You get the picture: it adds up! Cheers!

Net Worth Update

As of March 1st, my net worth was $111 420 (up 1.3% from $109 990). If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth was $73 707 (up 2.8% from $72 528). I was a bit suprise by this, as I had since big cash items this month (municipal taxes and car repairs), but the markets was generous to me in February. Still, I was a bit tight on liquidities at the end of the month. Nothing dramatic, and I didn't have to dip in too much on the emergency funds for those last-minute RRSP contributions. Still, I'll have to rebuild it a bit in the next couple of months.

Assets ($174 853, up 1.3% from $172 640)

• Bank Accounts $2 428 (down 44% from $4 312)
• Emergency Funds $1 256 (down 44% from $2 255)
• RRSP Accounts $51 654 (up 8.1% from $47 773)
• Non-Registered Investments $22 627 (up 4.8% from $21 597)
• Home $96 330 (stable)

Liabilities ($63 433, up 1.25% from $62 650)

• Credit Cards $4 518 (up 30% from $3 482)
• Mortgage $58 618 (down 0.4% from $58 868)
• Line of Credit $0 (stable)

Ratios

• Debt / assets: 0.363 (unchanged)
• House value / total assets: 0.551 (down from 0.558)

The car repairs were put on a no-interest 12-month payment plan, which explains the rise of credit card debt. As I mentioned, I dipped a bit ($1 000) into my emergency fund to transfer money (another $2 000, same as I did in January) to my RRSP before the end of the season. This should guarantee me a small tax return come April. Overall things are going well.

Work-wise, I am on a new contract, with more limited connectivity to the outside world. So any blogging I do has to be from home, in the evening. And I usually don't have as much drive to spend time on the computer during the evenings after spending the whole day in front of one. But I'll try to keep it up. :o)

January Purchases in RRSP

In January, I made 3 purchases in my RRSP, using cash generated by the sale of Harvest Energy in December, plus some money I added to my account.

First, I established a position in Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT). Who doesn't know Kraft? There is uncertainty due to the Cadbury acquisition, which is driving down the share price. I see this as an opportunity to initiate a position in the company, so I bought 100 shares. Kraft is a solid dividend grower -- the company started paying a dividend in 2001, and has increased every year except 2009. The average increase is 9% over the last 5 years. Current dividend yield is 4%.

Second, I made a small move on Brookfield Assets Management (Toronto: BAM.A). I like what I see in this company, which invest in long-life assets (properties, renewable power and infrastructure assets) throughout the world. Management has a long-term mindset that I like, and the company has a solid cash position that it is using to purchase assets from distressed companies that were not as conservatives as Brookfield. So I purchased 100 shares (a small position) and plan on purchasing more in the future. The company pays a US$0.13 dividend every quarter (even though this is a Canadian company), for a 2.4% yield.

Finally, I doubled my position in PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). I first purchased 100 shares of PepsiCo in May 2008, before all the market turmoil began. I sold half of those shares in September of the same year, but held the remaining 50 shares through all the madness that was 2009. I felt that now was a good time to add to my position in the company, averaging down. The time when the company usually announces its dividend increase is coming (last time was in May) and I'm confident that shareholders will get another raise this year.

3M Company Increases Dividend

Another company in my DRiP portfolio, the well-known maker of PostIt, 3M Company, announced yesterday that it was increasing its quarterly dividend from $0.51 to $0.525 -- a small 3% increase. This is the 52nd consecutive year that 3M has increased its dividend.

This will have a very small impact on my dividend income for 2010, since my position in 3M is quite small at this time.

Net Worth Update

As of February 1st, my net worth was $109 990 (up 1% from $108 935). If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth was $72 528 (up 1.1% from $71 722). A more modest risethis month, as the markets have coller down a little.

Assets ($172 640, down 0.1% from $172 843)

• Bank Accounts $4 312 (down 36% from $6 761)
• Emergency Funds $2 255 (up 0.1% from $2 252)
• RRSP Accounts $47 773 (up 5.7% from $45 200)
• Non-Registered Investments $21 597 (down 0.5% from $21 708)
• Home $96 330 (stable)

Liabilities ($62 650, down 2% from $ 63 908)

• Credit Cards $3 482 (down 22.2% from $4 477)
• Mortgage $58 868 (down 0.4% from $59 117)
• Line of Credit $0 (stable)

Ratios

• Debt / assets: 0.363 (down from 0.370)
• House value / total assets: 0.558 (up from 0.557)

Less cash in in the bank account and lower credit card debt this month, as I paid off my credit cards for the Holliday shopping. I also made a lump transfer of $2 000 to my self-directed RRSP, and I plan on doing another transfer in February. The first municipal taxes tax payment is also programmed for February, so available cash may be tight at the end of the month. I may end up dipping into my emergency fund, but will put back the money into it within two months if I do.