As I continue along the relatively new path of investing, I thought I should update my portfolio page on here and update my lovely readers about what I have been investing in lately. I am putting our hard earned cash into companies that will then pay me for owning a small part of their company. In time, I am adding to our different income streams and helping us fund our early retirement dream. I do find that researching different companies and stocks takes quite a lot of time, plus having the funds to purchase new holdings is limited, but I am continuing to plod along nicely 🙂
I am going to try and rebalance my portfolio in the coming months, as I would like to have a bit more money tied up in funds, as opposed to individual companies just for a bit more stability if nothing else. Eventually, I would like this to be a 50/50 split between funds and equities. I have a stocks and shares ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown, which I really recommend. It was really easy to open an ISA with them; you just fill in a form online and that was it! You can then add money and start investing; it’s as easy as that. You do need to remember that if you invest, your investments can go down as well as up, depending on what the stock market is going.
I have made three separate purchases lately; two of which have been on my watch list for a while and I believe I have got a good price for, and one in which I had a small holding already but have topped up so it’s a nice round number.
My first purchase was 84 shares in Marks and Spencer (MKS) for £2.95 a share. This takes my holding up to 100 shares in total. The dividend growth for this stock is 3.89% and the dividend yield is 4.6%. The year high for this stock is £5.50 and the year low is £2.55 so I’m pleased with the price I have paid for these.
If I look at the dividend payments for this stock for the past year, it haas been £0.23p a share. I now hold 100 of these, so this means that buying this stock will now add £23 to my annual dividend income, without taking into account any dividend increases or cuts.
My second purchase was 100 shares in Halfords (HFD) for £3.36 a share. The dividend growth for this stock is 2.79% and the previous year was 15.38% so something to keep an eye on. The dividend yield is 4.3% which I think is acceptable. The year high for this stock is £5.29 and the year low is £2.99 so again, I am pleased with the price I have managed to buy these for.
Looking at their dividend payments for the past 12 months, it stands at £0.17 a share. As I now have a holding of 100 shares, this adds £17 to my annual dividend income, without taking into account any cuts or increases.
Lastly, I made a purchases of 150 shares in Brown Group (BWNG) at £1.73 a share. The dividend growth has not changed for the past three years, so I shall keep an eye on that. The dividend yield is 4.3% which is good. The year high for this stock is £4.00 and the year low is £1.60 so I am really pleased with the price I got this for. In fact, since buying this, they have already risen to over £2.00 a share, so a good investment I think.
Looking at the dividend payments, the previous year stands at £0.14 a share. As I own 150 of these, that means an annual dividend payout of £21, again without taking into account any cuts or increases. We can always hope for an increase!
So, my two recent buys have added £61 to my annual dividend income, if nothing else changes in the meantime. Since I am aiming to get £100 dividend payments in 2016, I am confident at this stage that I am going to smash this goal for 2016! I love the fact that dividend investing means regular, if small at this stage, pay checks from other companies than roll in month after month. I am so exciting that my snowball is beginning to roll, slowly but surely.
I have updated my Portfolio page to reflect my recent purchases.
What do you think about Marks and Spencer, Halfords and Brown Group? Do you own these positions?
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