Import Dividend Data

Recently I was reviewing the 2011 dividend machines list with a friend of Alfred Ferol.  We discussed my dividend machine project and he seemed to understand that the number one objective of investing your money in dividend machines was income.  I was surprised, therefore, when he reviewed the portfolio data that input into Yahoo Finance, the first thing he spotted was a company with a big gain.

Eventually we got around to zeroing in on actual income earned.  That is when I realized no software exists to import dividends, actual dollars deposited into your account, software that can then add up the total. I have to do that manually.

Measuring dividend income is easy for the ordinary income investors; all you have to do is look at the “dividend income line” on your brokerage statements and add it up.  

However, when dealing with a theoretical portfolio like my 2011 and 2012 dividend machines, I need to know if the income these stocks generate is greater than I could get from a 10-year U.S. treasury and if that income has increased.   No software I know of can do that with data being imported instead of manually entered.

Using the Yahoo’s Finance Portfolio I can track a lot of stuff from their data downloads.  I know the gain on the 2011 portfolio as of 8/13/2012 was over 15% and I can follow it anytime.  However,  I have to add up the dividend income manually.   Then I have to keep track of that history in order to measure the rate of rise of income.

You income investors are smart.  Let me know if you know of software that could help us all keep track of our dividend income.

Very Truly Yours,

TheMoneyMadam