Bert’s April Dividend Income Summary

Spring is finally in the air and the second quarter is well under.   Ah, the perfect time to sit down, relax, and review my dividend income figures from the last month.  It is always nice to see what changes your portfolio had over the last twelve months, which seems like a long period of time but somehow flies by.   Last month in our blogging community dividend income summary, we saw so many people producing crazy results, setting records, and setting the bar insanely high.  Now, it is time to see if I can follow the lead of all of you.  Time to check out my April dividend income summary!

dividend income

April Dividend income summary

This month, my wife and I received $148.62 in dividend income, a 4.05% DECREASE compared to last year!  To make it even worse, when I receive my wife’s dividend from PM, my personal year over year increase is an even word 13.49% YOY decrease.  WHAT HAPPENED? Well, the chart below provides a detailed comparison over the companies that paid us a dividend in April 2017 and 2016:

My take on the chart above is that there was a ton of noise that occurred in the last twelve months, some positive noise, and some negative noise.  But once I was able to look through the smoke, it turns out that the month was a relatively boring dividend income month for me.  Here are some of the highlights that impact my April dividend income total:

  • First, you have to start off with the positive changes, right?  This April, I received dividends from two new companies that did not pay me in last April.   I purchased Cardinal Health in the third quarter of 2016 and I initiated a stake in my new favorite dividend paying company, Realty Income, during the fourth quarter.  Thank goodness I had these new positions this month because man the decrease would have been brutal without them.  Besides for the fact that my wife added her income to my reporting this year, that really covers the positive aspects of my dividend income for the month.
  • Now, the first of the negative item.   Last April, GSK paid a special cash dividend that was nearly the same amount as the regular quarterly dividend.  Which is why it appears that my GSK dividend income was cut in half.   I’m happy to report the decrease was not due to a massive dividend cut at least.  But without the special cash dividend, my monthly income took a pretty nice hit.
  • Second, and I swear I have written about this every month in 2017 so far.  Once again, my monthly dividend income figure were thrown off by due to the fact that Kraft-Heinz switched the month they pay their dividend to shareholders.  I’m happy that the company continues to pay and I know I shouldn’t be picky about what month the dividend is paid in, but having to explain the variance every month is becoming rather annoying.

April Dividend Increases

This is the fun month.  As we summarized in our expected dividend increases article that was published a few days ago, there were a ton of companies that increased their dividend in April.  In total, I received three increases during the month:

  • PG – 3% dividend increase, resulting in $4.18 in additional dividend income
  • JNJ – 5% dividend increase, resulting in $6.34 in additional dividend income
  • IBM – 7% dividend increase, resulting in $5.54 in additional dividend income

There it is, I received $16.06 in additional dividend income without having to lift a finger.  Man, this is why I LOVE dividend investing right here!

Summary

Look, when GSK pays a large special dividend in a month that is a “slow” dividend paying month, a decrease in your annual dividend income is bound to happen.  Despite the decrease, I leave this month feeling very optimistic that my wife and I are slowly, but surely, building a strong, growing passive income stream that will one day help catapult us towards financial freedom.   While our purchases have slowed down of late due to the fact that our house hunt has picked up steam lately (and this requires a lot of capital as many of you know) and we are in the process of purchasing a new car for my wife (another activity that requires cash on hand).  But I am looking forward to my finances settling down and being able to pump some cash into my portfolio soon so that we can continue pushing this dividend snowball downhill!

How well did you perform this month?  Were you able to set a new dividend income record?  Did your dividend income increase as well because of Kraft and GSK?  What dividend increases did you receive during the month?

-Bert

42 thoughts on “Bert’s April Dividend Income Summary

  1. Seems like it’s all driven by a special dividend that you can’t really bed on any given year. It’s still a solid month bud!

    My personal April dividends were low and I’m still just waiting for June to see how that compares against last year since us ETF/mutual fund investors live on those big every 3 month payouts!

    • Exactly TITM, the decrease was predominately due to that nice special dividend from GSK in 2016. You are definitely heavily weight towards the third month of the quarter, that’s for sure. I love reading your updates and seeing the insane numbers you post in each third month haha

      Bert

  2. I hate when companies change their payout schedule because it takes forever for things to normalize back. Looks like overall April was a pretty solid month especially since the declines were primarily because of the things out of your circumstances like timing issues and the special dividend.

    • JC – I swear at this point that I don’t think KHC is ever going to normalize their dividend. Just when you think they are going to, they decide to switch it back up and throw it all off. Maybe 2018 will be the year where I don’t have to report it every quarter haha

      Thanks for stopping by and the comment.

      Bert

  3. Nice. Yeah comparing months in which heinz changed the dividend would be a little annoying. Still 150 bucks! That’s up there with my best month at the moment. Can’t compare months in which you got a bonus cheque!
    Up and up!

    • True, I’m not complaining about the $150 per month. That is a nice treat. Love that we are neck and neck here with each other. Don’t worry, some companies will start tossing you some special dividends here soon.

      Bert

  4. Take kraft out of the equation and the dividend train is still trending upwards! Glad to see we share a few names (DOW, O). Hopefully I will soon be in the triple digits constantly like you. Best of luck in June!

    • You’ll get there soon Stefan. The snowball starts rolling fast and picking up steam once it gets moving. I’m sure we are going to be sharing more names too as your portfolio continues to grow.

      Bert

    • Noob,

      I’ll never complain about a special dividend, that’s for sure. I’ll happily complain about writing about losing it one year if that means that I get to receive it in another.

      Bert

  5. Still not bad for a quiet month. I think April was “special” for many of us. Dividends coming in at different times, special ones being paid etc. all affected our year over year results. You are still buying, still witnessing dividend increases from many companies and I have no doubt your 2017 goals are still intact. Keep it up! That optimism should not fade!

    • Thanks Divhut – Some nice motivation here on the top and I’m glad to see that others were working through this as well. I’m still trying to track/trend through 2017, and hopefully it will be a photo finish towards the end of the year and I can make it through my goals!

      Bert

  6. Ah, you as well have fallen to companies switching months and skewered results.
    It can always be worse, our decrease has been -72% last month when Munich RE decided to pay in May, which was by far our largest paycheck in dividends.

    All in all you have a very solid portfolio looking like this!

    • Divnomics,

      Woah that was a large decrease. Looks like I can’t really complain here. Luckily it was just a dividend moving months as well and not a dividend cut. In the end, I guess we should all be happy that our biggest complaint right now is that our dividend income transferred months. We are all doing great things for ourselves here and in the end, that’s all that freaking matters!

      Bert

  7. So realistically you would have seen an increase in dividends if you take away the special dividend, if you look at it like that then the month is actually fantastic. In addition to Kraft moving their dividend date, it is actually a spectacular month indeed. Well done

    • BHL – Very fair point. The increase wouldn’t have been much, but it would have been an increase nonetheless. The good news is that KHC moving there dividend will also jolt a different months income as well…right??

      Bert

  8. Been a lot of moving dividend dates for me as well, but it’s ok, it leads to big increases in other months! We all like to micro manage our dividend streams, but really as long as we are getting solid quarterly and even annual growth then we’re all headed in the right direction. Cheers to May!

  9. April was definitely a slow month on my end. KHC’s change hurt me for the month as well. I sold out of KO because of the demise of Loyal3, so that might affect me going into next year. Oh well, I bought T with the proceeds, so my overall dividend income went up because of my transaction.

    • yeah I need to read up more on what happened to Loyal3. Since I haven’t used the platform before, I never paid close attention to the changes in the platform. Now I am really curious. Please send me a good article about it if you have come across any!

      I’m excited to see your May income increase as a result of that T purchase. Love that dividend stock.

      Bert

  10. Sucks for the decline but if this quarter is higher than last years quarter it’s a win all around even with this decline. Plus if you didn’t account for the special dividend I bet you had an increase. Keep it up

    • Thanks Doug – A decline is never nice, but with that large of a special dividend, it was unavoidable. The increase would have been small, but an increase nonetheless. So I’ll take it!

      Bert

    • Right Geek. That is the one difficult thing with the monthly updates. It sometimes takes away from the forest and instead focuses more on the trees. All that matters is that the forest continues to grow, and your comment serves as another reminder to that!

      Bert

  11. No worries Bert. Despite the decrease, you were still able to add to your position as well. Also, Realty Income is also one of my favorite companies in my portfolio. Finally, the increases in PG, JNJ and IBM will pay dividends over the long haul. So, nothing wrong with a “boring” month.

    • I freaking love Realty income. I wish my position in the company was much larger, so maybe I’ll be adding again to that one day in the near future if the price continues to fall. I appreciate your comment and the kind words. And the best thing about being a dividend investor is that Boring often times equals great!

      Bert

  12. Great month with a lot of quality companies paying you. At least from an accounting aspect, growth rates take 3 years to level themselves out to normal. The whole overstated vs understated of what is “supposed to happen.” But either way, the growth is still present. Funny your buys coincide with my purchases from the past 2 months. Picked up CAH and O on the dips. Too bad I missed the ex-dividend dates on both but it will be worth it when they do finally pay. Thanks for sharing.

    • Great minds think alike Daze! CAH and O were purchases I made in the last twelve months and represent a decent part of my portfolio. Don’t worry, it sucks you missed the last ex-dividend date, but there will be plenty more ex dates in the future. All that matters is that you now own two great dividend growth stocks

      Bert

  13. Don’t feel too bad about the YoY decrease. We had a new record month in April for all 3 portfolio’s that we manage (kids, myself and my mom). Dividend income reports will be posted soon.

  14. “There it is, I received $16.06 in additional dividend income without having to lift a finger. Man, this is why I LOVE dividend investing right here!”
    Yes man, I still get super excited when a company I own raises their dividend 🙂
    I even track the compounding growth of that raise for 30 years to see how it will affect me in my old age.
    Yes I’m a nerd.

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