Total Dividends Collected for 2011

Last year, I held shares in several holdings and received dividends from them. Most of the stocks have since been divested and I am now geared solely on the REIT market.

These are the companies that paid me dividends in 2011:

1) MACQ INT INFRA
2) Mencast
3) Breadtalk
4) Suntec REIT
5) Starhill Global REIT
6) Cambridge REIT
7) AIMSAMPI REIT

In total, for the year ended 31 Dec 2011, I received about $700 of cash dividends. A large portion of the dividends were contributed by the REITs.

I expect the total dividends received for this year to increase significantly due to the following actions:

1) Moving from high-growth stocks to high dividend-yield REITs
2) REITs distribute dividends quarterly, compared to high-growth stocks' annually (4 times vs 1 time)
3) Invest in REITs that pay more than 10% of dividends (eg. AIMSAMPI and Sabana) vs 2% - 4% of high-growth stocks

In general, REITs have lower risk factor than high-growth stocks. Apart from receiving higher dividends, I am also lowering the portfolio's risk. That clearly explains why I am geared towards REITs than anything else.