the richest man in atherstone

I've just received the interim dividend from the 236 Lloyds TSB shares I invested in earlier this year - a total of £26.43 or 11.2p per share.

They originally cost me £1406.33 including fees, so I've seen a return of nearly 2% on them over the half-year I've held them and the final dividend is still to come. The final divi should be at least 23.5p per share, so I'm looking at an extra £55.50 in 2008 all being well. That should create an annual return of around 6%.

I'm pleased with the returns from these shares thus far - much better than my previous foray in the stock market! I'm also happy with the way these stocks have stood up during difficult market conditions - especially for banks.

The plan was always to hold onto these shares for the long-term (around 20 years) and I am confident I'll get an even better return over this period. I also planned to reinvest dividends in more shares but for some reason my online stockbroker didn't do that. It is most probably my fault as I didn't return my dividend reinvestment form until recently.

For this reason, this dividend payment is going into my savings account as it's not worth the broker fees to spend this small amount on further shares.