Last month Lanny beat me to the punch and unleashed an amazing $740 dividend income month in July. It was a tough act to follow, especially considering that I came close but fell short of beating him. While it is unlikely to happen again, there is one thing I can promise….I will get my article out first this month! That really is not the point here though. We write these articles monthly so we can track our progress and see how far along we have come in such a short period of time. We have been in the dividend investing community for nearly a year and a half now and writing this article each month never gets old. With that being said, let’s take a look at my August dividend income summary.
Dividend Income Summary
Well, first I must say…it really sucks not receiving a special dividend like last month. Why can’t our companies pay out special all the time? Wouldn’t that be nice? While the special dividends are nice, our focus is on the building a steady, growing dividend income stream. That’s the ticket to financial freedom. Build a consistent and increasing stream of cash that can one day cover your expenses so you have the freedom to retire early or pursue your dream job. Boy oh boy does that sound amazing…especially when we all drive into our job, punch the clock, perform our job, punch the clock, and then head on home that even.
That’s why my smile was a little larger this month when I prepared the chart above compared to past months. What is unique about my August dividend income total is that the increase from last quarter was due solely to the power of dividend re-investing and dividend increases. That’s right, even though I was active purchasing stocks such as IBM, Emerson Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Norfolk Southern at various times over the last quarter, none of the companies pay a dividend in the second month of the quarter. Thus, all companies that I received a dividend from in August also paid me in May. In August, I received $131.77 in dividend income, which represents a 3.33% increase from May and a 16.41%increase from last August. The 3.33% increase was a result of additional income from re-invested dividends from the six individual stocks listed above, a higher than usual distribution from one of my mutual funds, and a $.01/share increase in KMI’s quarterly dividend that was announced in July.
Dividend Increases
Once again, this was a relatively quiet month in terms of dividend increases. Outside of the larger than anticipated distribution from OIEIX, as seen above, I received a dividend increase from only one of the companies in my portfolio. At the very beginning of the month, Scotts-Miracle Gro increased their quarterly dividend from $.45/share to $.47/share, a 4.4% increase. While it was not what we were hoping for considering the great dividend growth we experienced last year, I am happy with any dividend increase in this current environment. Usually I should feel excited writing this section of the article, but it has been tough over the last few months. I have high hopes for the last four months though as the majority of my portfolio is set to increase their dividend!
Summary
This wasn’t a sexy month for me by any stretch and this represented the lowest year over year monthly increase since March. But you know what, I couldn’t be happier. This month was all about displaying the power of dividend re-investing and the impact that dividend growth has on your portfolio and income stream. What a beautiful thing! On the other hand, I cannot wait to write this article because as I mentioned earlier, a lot of my recent purchases pay a dividend in the final month of the quarter. Do I love seeing textbook dividend growth…absolutely. But let’s be honest, I also love seeing a large spike in dividend income as a result of a lot of stock activity. After all, I have to reach my goal of over $15,000 in new stock purchases somehow, right?
How were your month’s of August? Were you able to take advantage of the downturn and purchase any new stocks? Did you receive any dividends from new companies this month? Do you have any recommendations of stocks I could purchase that pay a dividend during the second month of the quarter?
-Bert
Hi Lanmy
I had great month with 5 ETF’s sell and buying 8 stocks 🙂 , Mr. Market was good to me 🙂 he helped me very much to build better portfolio
Congrats on the great month! Mr. Market was great to a bunch of dividend investors this month. Some great opportunities to pick up some discounts DGI stocks. Glad to hear you were able to capitalize.
-Bert
Bert:
It is awesome to see your dividend income increase just from making smart investments and a 3.33% increase since last quarter seems like a rather large increase as well! With it just now approaching a year since my first investment in the stock market posts like these are always inspirational to me. It makes me excited to see dividend increases within my portfolio in the future.
As for the market downturn I was able to purchase 7 shares of IBM while they were near their 52 week low. If you don’t mind my asking is there any site you specifically use to track dividend increases? I recall from another comment of yours you use Finviz, Morningstar, Yahoo! Finance, and Google Finance but didn’t know if you have a site you use specifically for dividend increases?
Thanks,
Alex
Alex,
Thank you very much. After reading your comment, I can’t complain about a 3.3% quarterly increase. Annualize that increase and you have a 13.2% increase! I’ll take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
You are in a great spot. Year 2 of dividend investing has been my favorite. You have spent year 1 building this future income stream, purchasing stocks for future dividend income. But now you actually atart receiving all of those income. It really hits home when you compare actual dividend income in year 1 to actual dividend income in year 2. That’s when the addiction kicks in haha\
Nice job picking up some extra share of IBM. Welcome to the Big Blue family. I’ve been scooping up shares and lowering my cost basis along the way down as well. Love the company. The website we use is dividendinvestor.com. Gives a great summary over the last five years and it calculates the 3 and 5 year dividend growth rates. Very easy to use and provides clear information if you need to make a quick decision.
Thanks for stopping by!
Bert
Bert:
You are definitely right my excitement grows as this next years arrives and these dividends start rolling in. Thank you for the information, I will definitely check out the website.
Best,
Alex
Congrats on the August dividend. We are hoping for further market downturns to buy more stocks.
Thanks Tawcan. Let’s keep these great market opportunities rolling. I’d love another month or two of pullback so we can re-invest our September dividends at a lower price and buy more great dividend growth stocks. Sacrifice the short-term market value for the long-term good of our portfolio.
Bert
Bert,
Way to break 3 figures in an off month still. Solid, I am hoping to be there myself at the end of the year (3 figs). Its money you did not have to work for, here’s to more growth!
-Gremlin
Thanks Gremlin. I love receiving dividend paychecks because as you said, we haven’t done a thing to earn these checks. What a concept. Looking at your income, you aren’t that far off. So keep up the work and keep the progress going and you should be above $100/month average before you know it.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Bert
Thank you for sharing Bert. I appreciate you taking the time and logging your efforts and your passion. It’s awesome travelling this journey with you bud. I know how you feel and the “high” you get. It’s addicting and makes you want to build it bigger and bigger to greater heights.
Keep it up bud, one day at a time and next thing you know, your portfolio will be spitting out dividends non stop.
As always, I wish us the best and take care. Cheers bud.
Thanks Hustler! Dividend investing is the best kind of addiction you can have. You buy one stock and you are already looking ahead to the next purchase. You receive a dividend check….great, now you want a larger one. We all are relentlessly pursuing the same goal here, financial freedom, and it is great to be along on the ride with you and all the others in the community.
Bert
I’m really new to this idea of dividend growth investing, so I only got one dividend on 1.23 shares of AAPL. It was a whopping $0.64. But hey, it was infinitely better than the donut that I got last year. Onward and upward.
Welcome to the community and the wonderful world of dividend investing Chris! You’ll be in love and addicted to the concept soon enough. I love your attitude about it. The size of the steps we make is not important, all that matters is that we are putting our capital to work as soon as possible and moving farther down the road towards financial freedom. That is all about. I can’t wait to see your progress over the next year and see where your passive income stands at the end of August 2016.
Again, welcome and thanks for stopping by!
Bert
Bert,
Great work there, bud. And a solid YOY increase there. It’s all about those slow, steady gains. They add up quite a bit over time, as you well know. 🙂
Keep it up!!
Cheers.
Hey anytime you can build dividends and increase them every month is a good month. I usually get a bigger up tick in dividends in September as well, good luck.