Pfizer Raises Dividend

Today, Pfizer has announced it was raising its dividend, from $0.16 to $0.18, starting with the next payment on March 2, 2010.

While this 12.5% increase is good news, one cannot forget that the company cut its dividend in half just a few months ago when it announced it was acquiring its rival Wyeth. It remains to be seen whether the new merged Pfizer will be able to integrate its activities and solve the problem posed by the expiration of important patents in the coming years.

I hold a few shares of Pfizer in my my DRiP portfolio. I may decide to add more money in 2010, but probably only a fairly small amount.

Enbridge Increases Dividend by 15%

One of the companies I own in my DRiP portfolio, the pipeline operator Enbridge Inc., has announced that it was increasing its dividend by 15%. The quarterly dividend is being bumped from $0.37 to $0.425 per quarter.

The fact that Enbridge announced an increase was no surprise, but it is higher than I expected (I thought it would be about 8 to 10%). This is particularly nice considering that Enbridge gives a 2% discount on the shares purchased by reinvested dividends.

Based on my current small ownership of Enbridge, this will increase my dividens by $3 in 2010. Small? Of course. But I don't have to work for that $3 and it will keep growing.

Net Worth Update

As of December 1st, my net worth was $105 161 (up 3.9% from $101 220). If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth was $68 196 (up 5.7% from $64 503). That's the fifth month in a row where my net worth increases significantly. It looks like my predictions that the equity markets would have another downward leg were incorrect, at least for now. I still don't think we're out of the woods yet.

Assets ($168 279, up 1.7% from $165 447)

• Bank Accounts $4 452 (down 9% from $4 907)
• Emergency Funds $2 041 (up slightly from $2 040)
• RRSP Accounts $44 587 (up 3.7% from $42 966)
• Non-Registered Investments $20 123 (up 9.7% from $18 351)
• Home $96 330 (stable)

Liabilities ($63 117, down 1.7% from $64 227)

• Credit Cards $3 481 (down 20% from $4 384)
• Mortgage $59 365 (down 0.4% from $59 613)
• Line of Credit $0 (stable)

Ratios

• Debt / assets: 0.375 (down from 0.388)
• House value / total assets: 0.572 (down from 0.582)

So, a bit less cash in the bank accounts at the end of the month, but I also spent less (as shown by the amount on the credit cards). December is upon us, so I expect a bit more spending to be done for Christmas -- either as gifts or as preparations for the Holiday feasts. I usually budget around $500-$700 for Holiday spendings.

This is also the part of the year when I complete my gifts to charities for the year. My budget for charities is around $300 per year, and slowly increasing as the years go by.

How much money do you spend for the Holidays? Do you give to charities?

No Dividend Increase from Telus

Telus, one of the companies that I own in my DRiP portfolio, has announced last week that its next dividend will be unchanged at $0.475 per share. This means no change to the dividend, whereas this is usually the time when the company announces the annual increase in dividend.

The announcement was part of the third quarter results (full text here). Revenues were sligthly lower, a reflection of the country's weak economic growth. Meanwhile, the company is continuing with its capital expenditures program to complete its next generation wireless network (which will be completed in 2010) and continue its wireless broadband expansion. Personally, I also get the feeling that the company is bracing for the entrance of new competition in Canada be being cautious.

The lack of a dividend increase is a bit of a disappointment. However, the company also announced an amendment to the reinvestment plan to introduce a 3% discount on shares purchased by reinvested dividends. As a result of this, I am effectively getting a 3% increase in my dividend even though the nominal dividend remains the same.

Net Worth Update

As of November 1st, my net worth was $101 220 (up 11% from $91 013). If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth was $64 503 (up 2.7% from $62 822). As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our house gained a lot of value over the last couple of years, and that is now reflected in the new municipal rolls. This increased my net worth by $8 000.

Assets ($165 447, up 6% from $155 973)

• Bank Accounts $4 907 (down 24% from $6 457)
• Emergency Funds $2 040 (up slightly from $2 038)
• RRSP Accounts $42 966 (up 4.8% from $40 993)
• Non-Registered Investments $18 351 (up 0.7% from $18 231)
• Home $96 330 (up 9.4% from $88 050)

Liabilities ($64 227, down 1.1% from $64 960)

• Credit Cards $4 384(down 10% from $4 902)
• Mortgage $59 613 (down 0.4% from $59 859)
• Line of Credit $0 (stable)

Ratios

• Debt / assets: 0.388 (down from 0.417)
• House value / total assets: 0.582 (up from 0.565)

The repairs for the chimney were paid this month, which explain why available cash dropped. This brings me back to my usual range of about $4-5K in my bank accounts.

Although the markets were strong for the first two weeks of the month, the last two reflected more uncertainty. People are being told that the recession is over, so they expect things to be back to where they were before the downturn. Except that coming out of the recession is the quick part of it. The recovery, in terms of jobs and profitability, will take years. This is beginning to sink in.

Even though the markets were basically flat in October, my RRSP accounts went up. That's because one of my investments (Harvest Energy) is getting bought out at a premium to market value. As a result, the value of my investment went up.