And so we have now passed the first quarter of the year - jeez that's gone quick! Apologies for the delay in getting these up, I'm still not at 100% but I'm much better than I was this time last month. Since my last post, I've found out that my salary will be increased by around 10%, which is going to be really helpful with the rising cost of living that all of us are dealing with at the moment.
For February, I had 5 dividend payments - 4 from investment trusts, and 1 from an individual share as shown below:
- Anglo Pacific Group: £17.50
- BlackRock Latin American Trust: £13.84
- JP Morgan Asia Growth & Income Trust: £11.25
- JP Morgan Japan Small-Cap Growth & Income Trust: £10.00
- Murray International Trust: £12.00
Making a total of £64.59 for the month.
One of my lower-paying months, especially as Hipgnosis Songs delayed their payment to March rather than pay out in February as they normally do. My £500 investment this month went into Schroder European Real Estate and SDCL - Schroder European Real Estate as this will push me halfway towards my next holding target, and SDCL as I hadn't put any more into that trust since I first purchased back in September, so it was about time.
For March, I had 6 dividend payments - 5 from investment trusts, and 1 from an individual share as shown below:
- Diversified Energy Co: £22.60
- Hipgnosis Songs Trust: £13.78
- JP Morgan Russian Securities Trust: £50.00
- Merchants Trust: £18.83
- Ruffer Investment Company: £0.27
- SDCL: £15.80
Making a total of £121.28 for the month.
Ok, this was definitely helped by JP Morgan Russian Securities paying out both the final dividend for 2021 and the first dividend for 2022 in one payment this month, but it's still a great total. This means that over the first quarter of 2022 I've received £282.10 in dividend payments, so I'm ahead of my year-end target of £1000. There might not be much from Ruffer Investment Company at the moment, but this was one that I moved over from my growth portfolio and I don't have too much in it currently. I am looking to invest further in this though.
My £500 investment went into JP Morgan Japan Small-Cap Growth & Income, and Persimmon. JP Morgan Japan Small-Cap was one of my smaller holdings so I wanted to top it up a bit, and Persimmon I hadn't put anything into for a while so this was a chance to build it up a little for the summer payment (their first payment will be in the April Round-up). However, I still had some cash left over after this, so I bought enough shares in JP Morgan Russian Securities to take my holding to the next target level, and I also drip-fed some into Hipgnosis Songs as I hadn't bought any shares since my initial purchase in January last year.
Let me just put this out there: I think it's horrible what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, and I fully stand behind them. The reason why I bought even more of the Russia-based trust? I'm relatively cynical that there's going to be lasting repercussions for the country after this war ends, whenever that may be. I've already seen the value of my holding go up - I was down by nearly 90% at one stage, and currently it's at about 65% down. Still quite a drop, but nowhere near as much as it was only a few weeks ago. Definitely going with head over heart on this one, but my gut instinct is that the economy will be back to normal sooner rather than later.
As far as April goes, it's looking similar to March - I'm expecting 6 dividend payments totalling around the £120-£125 mark, including a bumper dividend from Persimmon. I've received 2 already so far (including Persimmon), with 3 more definitely on the way and 1 that I should find out the details for this week. The April Round-up should be up in early May, possibly around the Bank Holiday period (2nd May for those in the UK). Do let me know if you've got any plans for the Bank Holidays (again in the UK, the Easter Bank Holidays are this coming Friday and next Monday, so 2 days off work and I get paid this Thursday too!) or if you've had any dividend payments come in over the last 2 months. Until then, happy investing!