dividend income rises to a record

We've likely all suffered dividend cuts in our portfolio and and some companies that have been consistent dividend raisers over the years have frozen dividend payments since early 2008. Recently our dividend income has finally gone back into record territory. The funny thing is that the record just eclipsed the amount of dividend income we were receiving way back in December of 2008. At that time when the market was plunging our portfolio was yielding a whopping 6.2%. I guess it was primed for a drop in income just like a high yielding stock.

Fast forward to today where our portfolio is yielding 4.1% and has grown considerably from 2008. We've endured dividend cuts from Manulife Financial (MFC), General Electric (GE), Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN), Husky Energy (HSE), and Bank of America (BAC) all of which I still hold and expect great things from in the future. Aside from income trust conversions from Yellow Pages and Canadian Oil Sands I don't expect any more negative dividend action over the next year or two so I look forward to really starting to grow our dividend income through purchases and dividend hikes.