Six months ago, I invested my cold hard cash into 10 high-yield dividend stocks I believe will beat the market. Let's see the results so far:

Company

Average Cost

Shares

Recent Price

Total Value

Return

Altria (NYSE: MO)

$24.86

40

$26.78

$1,071.20

7.72%

Philip Morris (NYSE: PM)

$61.83

16

$70.50

$1,128.00

14.02%

National Grid (NYSE: NGG)

$45.63

22

$50.80

$1,117.60

11.33%

Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY)

$17.55

57

$17.71

$1,009.47

0.91%

Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR)

$8.95

137

$7.40

$1,013.80

(17.32%)

Southern Co.

$37.87

26

$41.10

$1,068.60

8.53%

France Telecom (NYSE: FTE)

$22.23

45

$19.10

$859.50

(14.08%)

Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD)

$28.69

38

$26.78

$1,017.64

(6.66%)

Eli Lilly

$34.48

29

$36.99

$1,072.71

7.28%

Bristol-Myers Squibb

$25.37

39

$29.29

$1,142.31

15.45%

Cash

  

7.5

  

7.5

0%

Dividends Receivable

  

68.31

  

68.31

0%

Total Portfolio

     

$10,576.64

5.77%

Investment In SPY

        

(7.08%)

Return vs SPY

        

12.85%

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, as of Aug. 29, 2011.

Over the past week, the S&P 500 rose 7.7%. As the market rose, our portfolio outperformance fell, moving from beating the market by 16.51% to beating the market by 12.85%. While outperformance is always good, it should be taken with a grain of salt. We're investing for the long term, and it's only been six months. I firmly believe the results will bear us out.

Movers and shakers
Of our stocks, the biggest mover in the portfolio the past week was Frontier Communications, which rose 5.71%.

Money!
There are four upcoming dividends for the portfolio:

  1. Southern Co. will pay a dividend of $0.4725 on Sept. 6. The ex-dividend date was July 28.
  2. France Telecom will pay a dividend of $0.85 on Sept. 8. The ex-dividend date is Sept. 5.
  3. Eli Lilly will pay a dividend of $0.49 on Sept. 9. The ex-dividend date was Aug. 11.
  4. Frontier Communications will pay a dividend of $0.1875 on Sept. 30. The ex-dividend date is Sept. 7.

Dividend ideas
Last week I wrote an article examining the top performing dividend stocks since the turn of the millennium and gave a stock idea I think could be on the list at the end of the decade. Click here to read more.

Also last week, Jim Royal reiterated his call of McDonald's as the dividend play of a lifetime. Click here to read more.

My Foolish bottom line
I'm highly confident in this portfolio's ability to crush the market over the next decade, and that's why I put $10,000 of my personal cash into these stocks. My strategy is simple. I'm buying strong companies with outsized dividends, reinvesting those dividends, and holding them for the long run. Over the coming year, I'll track my performance, update you on when I'm going to reinvest all my dividends, and keep you abreast of news affecting these companies.

Consider the 10 tickers above along with the 13 names from a free report from Motley Fool's expert analysts called "13 High-Yielding Stocks to Buy Today," including one named by a senior retail analyst as "the dividend play of a lifetime." Tens of thousands have requested access to this report and today I invite you to download it at no cost to you. To get instant access to the names of these 13 high-yielders, simply click here -- it's free.