Perhaps I was a bit early to total up the dividends for 2012.  One of my positions that is scheduled to pay in 2013 decided to move the dividend payment to the end of this year.  I’ve seen this trend with a few other companies due to the concern over the “fiscal cliff”, but I was not expecting any of my holdings to go this route.

National Presto Industries Inc. NPK is an interesting little company that sells everything from ammo to appliances.  NPK first showed up on my radar because of its special dividend.  If you were to just go by what you see on Google Finance or some of the other finance sites you would not really be impressed with 1.00 dividend that is reported.  However, NPK has a history of also adding to the dollar reported dividend a “special” dividend as well.  This “special” dividend is not as predictable as the reported dividend, as the amount really depends on how well the company is doing.  For some this unpredictability may not be acceptable.  Personally I don’t have a problem with it.

When I first started watching NPK it was trading at a high of around 130 a share.  I picked up my 27 shares for a 71.87 share price.  Based on the 6.50 dividend per share I will be getting a 175.5 in dividends and a YOC of 9%!  I’m happy with that 🙂

This brings my total dividends for 2012 up to $2638.14.

Yes, it is true, 2012 is not over.  However, I feel fairly safe in adding up the dividends I’ve earned for this year.  It falls far short of the goal I set here, but when you leave a job that allows you to invest 5k a month and take six months off it’s going to throw your projections off a bit 🙂

Even with the changes I was able to double my dividend total from last year.  2012 brought in $2462.64 in dividends.  2011 I had a little over $1200 in dividends.  That is progress.

So, what will 2013 look like?  Good question.  I’m still working on what I would like to accomplish next year.  New capital will not be as plentiful as it once was and the goal of the portfolio may change a bit more towards growth.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not abandoning my dividend growth roots, more like nurturing the growth branches.  I believe one can pursue both dividends as well as growth, but valuation becomes even more important.  I’m looking forward to seeing how I navigate these new investing challenges.