The February 2010 Connolly Report, Volume XXX #1, about dividend growth common stock will be uploaded February 22 2010. report summaries

• Average cost of a dollar's worth of dividend from our list: average so far this century $33.67; as of February 14 2010 $26.45; on March 7 2009, about a year ago, it was only $16.46

SELL Feb 1 2010: The market has risen a lot since March 2009. If I owned any mutual funds, I'd be thinking of selling, of getting out while the getting is better than it will be. I don't, so I'm not. I'm holding the dividend growth stocks purchased year ago…for the income. Because of dividend growth, we're now getting, for instance, a 12.6% yield on the Canadian Utilities that we bought in 1992. There's no way I'd sell. There is another yield on cost example just below.

• First Quarter 2010 Some current thoughts . . .

• Globe Investor has grouped together a number of links to columns about dividend stocks:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/all-about-dividend-stocks/article1257134/

'Don't dispair about dividends' link to Rob Carrick's Report on Business column of August 15 2009 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/columnists/rob-carrick/dont-despair-about-dividends/article1252749/

Column about the worthwhile wait for the yield to grow: Fortis http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/e-zines/globe-investor-magazine/dividend-growth-stocks-theyre-worth-the-wait/article1340373/

Recent Writing:

• ten years ago - The front page from my December 1999 report is posted under archives, as PDF file - Dow 36,000?

• a few items down under Evidence it Works , a paragraph and link to a Fortune column about dividend growth investing - November 2009 - Income, my true love…
• Yield on Cost: If you bought 1000 shares of Toromont in 2005, your yield on the cost then would now be 2.9%. No big deal, eh! However, if you purchased 1000 shares of Toromont ten years ago for $8,130 your yield on cost would now be 7.4%. That's not bad. Now, if you had bought the 1000 shares of Toromont back in 1990 for $750 your would have received close to $4000 in dividends over the 20 years, be earning 80% on your original investment and had 536% of your original investment paid back with the dividends. Twenty years is a long time, but WOW look what your $750 would be earning now. In addition, you'd have a capital gain of…well work it out. What is the price of a share of TIH now. Multiply by 1000. And you bought 1,000 shares for $750. Maybe you had better investigate dividend growth investing. Data courtesy of MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier in January 2010

• under No-No financial products Target date funds/variable annuities Aug 8;
• under Investment Topics Yield + Dividend Growth June 17;
• fund-based_income_plans July 1;
• under 'Most Recent Comments' on June 5 ;
• Which stock? ; value priced ;
• When to buy? under Potpourri

Subscribers: Your name, as written on the address label, is your username, but without capital letters. Given name is first name, followed by a dot (or period, as a connector so it is all one word.) and then your surname. Example tom.connolly. Your initial password will be your postal code, case sensitive and with the space. Example: K7L 2Y7 (Don't forget the space in the postal code) Your password can be changed once you have logged in. Your e-mail address can be added, but is not needed unless you are a late renewal or new. Only the administrator or I can change your username.

When they are value priced, I buy common* shares of companies with a good record of dividend growth and hold them for the rising income. In 2008 our dividend income rose in spite of the turmoil by 9.9%. Did your income rise by 10% last year. Our income will be up again in 2010 too. Our retirement plan is working. It's not the value of the capital that's so important, it's the income it generates…tax advantaged income…secure income. Except for Telus in 2002, the last time there was a dividend reduction in a stock in my list, other than Manulife in early August 2009, was during the last century (TRP Dec '99). Before that: NA and RYL in 1992. Dividend reductions from good dividend growers are rare events.

Since 1981.

* I've never bought preferred shares, or bonds or mutual funds.

The Connolly Report, about dividend growth stocks, by Tom Connolly (B. Comm, 1964) has been published continuously every two months since 1981…now from downtown Kingston, Ontario. The print edition of The Connolly Report has been closed since 2001. I doubt this on-line edition will be open to new subscribers…most have renewed for 2010.

• Palestine - We buried first cousin Joe Holmes in early July. He was three days older than I am: heart. Immediately after the funeral, his only remaining brother Bob returned to Palestine to re-join other Internationals trying to mitigate the oppression caused by the Israeli occupation and 'the reserves' being created by the illegal annexation wall and expanding settlements. http://www.stopthewall.org

For fair trade products (like olive oil) from Palestinian farmers go to: www.zatoun.com

Wisdom of the WEEK: ”“The single factor that drives investor success is not picking winning firms, but rather the entry point at which the firms are purchased.”

The Investment Zoo by Stephen Jarislowsky - the best Canadian general investment book ever. Lowell Miller's The Single Best Investment - Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth is the best book on dividend growth investing…though with American examples. A book report was in December 2006 issue and will be inside this site.

Building Wealth with Dividend Stocks by Joseph Tigue (he worked for S&P for years…they have the data) is also a great book on dividend investing, but again it's American data. Nine of Tigue's pages are worth the price of the book. Chapter 5 is the best. The essence of dividend growth investing is outlined in the middle of page 66 of Building wealth with Dividend Stocks. I prepared a book report for subscribers: it will be inside soon

• New to investing? Some basic ideas to get you started...

• View subscriber-only content