Bert’s August Dividend Income Summary

We’ve closed the chapter on yet another month of 2016.  Time moves so fast…it is unreal.   It seems like just yesterday I was typing up my July dividend income summary and feeling excited for what was in store for me in August (probably because we went on our honeymoon!).   I received my last dividend of the month a few days ago, so it is finally time to once again share my results and track my progress as I race towards completing my 2016 goals.  With that being said, here it is, my August Dividend Income Summary!

dividend income

August Dividend income summary

DD - Aug

In August, I received $172.36 in dividend income, an increase of 30.8% from my August 2015 total of $131.77.  Interestingly, I did not receive any dividend income from any new companies.   Rather, the catalyst for my dividend growth compared to last year was from opting to increase my stake in two bank stocks, Citizens and Northern in May and Norwood Financial in December, versus investing in a new company that pays a dividend in the second month.    I’ve been debating a lot recently whether or not I want to continue to grow positions that I already own or if I want to continue initiating new positions.  See such large increases in these two bank stocks is encouraging me to continue building on my current positions.   I did that with Target a few weeks ago when I purchased 30 additional shares and I cannot wait until December rolls around so I can collect the first dividend check from my newly fortified position.

The two pullbacks in my dividend income compared to last August are old news at this point, so I won’t discuss it too much.  We all remember the Kinder Morgan dividend slash, and that continues to negatively impact my dividend income summaries until 2017.  The same goes for the decrease in OIEIX, one of the high fee dividend focused mutual funds that I sold at the beginning of the year because I was sick and tired of paying high fees on my mutual funds.   Luckily, the increased investments in CZNC and NWFL well outpaced the decreases in dividend income from the KMI cut and the selling of OIEIX.  Overall, I couldn’t be more excited about my August dividend income totals.

August Dividend Increases and stock purchases

Last month, I report that I didn’t receive any dividend increases.  Well, I inadvertently omitted one dividend increase that was announced at the end of the month.  Bank of America, my very first holding that was a gift from my Grandma when I was younger, increased their dividend 50% from $.05/share to $.075/share.  The kicker…I only own 11 shares, so this increase barely increased my dividend income.   But I will take any dividend increase I can.  Outside of the BAC increase, Kraft-Heinz increased their dividend $.025/share to $.60/share from $.575/share.

In terms of purchases, I only made one and I referenced the Target purchase earlier in the article.   Lanny also added to his stake in CZNC this month as well.  Outside of those purchases and Lanny’s new massive 401k contributions resulting from his tax-adjustment strategy, we were relatively quiet in terms of purchases.

summary

I have to be very careful in how I choose my words here because I have gotten yelled at by some followers over the last few monhts (*cough* *cough* Divhut ) about the use of the word boring to describe my monthly dividend income in the off months.   My month was not boring, it just did not have a lot of activity considering I did not receive income from any new companies in the month.  But those are the best kind of months.  Boring/lack of activity is what has helped me amass over $3,000 in forward dividend income and has helped catapult Lanny to over $7,000!  Boring/lack of activity is what we strive for, because we look for companies that focus on slow and steady long term growth.   We are designed for these kind of months.    I couldn’t be happier with the 30% increase I realized compared to the same time last year and the foundation of my dividend house keeps getting strong and stronger.   September is going to be an exciting month and I cannot wait to begin receiving income from all the companies in my portfolio that pay in the third month of the quarter.

How was your August dividend income?  Did you set any new records?  Did you receive any new income from companies that pay an August dividend?  If you were me, would you focus on adding to current positions or would you continue to add new companies to your portfolio?  How many individual stocks do you own?

Bert

45 thoughts on “Bert’s August Dividend Income Summary

  1. Boring, slow and steady is what gets you to where you need to be. Most months mine will be boring.
    30 percent YOY is awesome. Onward and upward.

    I have around 37 wonderfull paying companies. That’s what I want to do add to what I have and every once in awhile bring in a new company.

  2. Awesome month Bert. Thanks for sharing bro. Every month, this is what’s most fun. I love these posts.
    The payback from dividends is real and it’s really a never ending income stream. We gotta build more of it!
    Keep up the hustle and don’t ever stop.
    Cheers buddy.

    • HUSTLER!!

      Thank you very much. I’m with you, these posts are the best. Isn’t it amazing seeing everyone’s progress and how they are coming along? Serves as some great motivation. Trust me, I’m not going to stop hustling dividend income…ever. It is way too much fun watching this grow. Plus, I have to catch you and Lanny somehow, right? haha

      As always, thanks for stopping by.

      Bert

  3. That is some good YOY increase at 30%, Mr. Bert! Congrats on another good month of free money.
    We had one record this month, we now own over 10.000 shares in various companies. Unfortunately for August, they did not result in a record value though. But September might? Still need to do the calcs. That being said, we had a very nice €354 in dividend income this month, so no complaining!

    • CF,

      Thank you very much! A great month of free money haha That is an awesome record and quite the feat for your portfolio! Market value will come and go. Unfortunately, you can’t control where it is heading. But with positions like that, you can put yourself in the best position to receive a solid dividend income stream that continues to grow, and grow, and grow! Congrats on your great month and thanks for the comment!

      Bert

    • There you go Gremlin…nothing is going to hold us back! Glad you got off the ground, didn’t let the dividend cut discourage you, and moved on to the next great dividend hunting adventure. That’s what it is all about. Building that solid, growing passive income stream.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Bert

  4. Boring is supposed to be good in investing.
    I do understand your take… If there is not a lot of action, what to be excited about?
    Maybe you need to review what is exciting: getting paid for doing nothing, a 30 YOY increase, 3000 fwd dividend…

    My month was exciting due to a big failure in option trading.

    • Amen Amber Tree,

      Boring is absolutely supposed to be a good thing. I don’t think my sarcastic tone is coming across too well in the articles. I love the fact that each month is boring and that I am seeing my income stream grow due to announced dividend increases and dividend re-investment from earlier dividends. You are absolutely right, the positive is where I need to focus. My income stream grew WAY more than my wage increase and my total forward income continues to set new records. A lot of good things happening this month! Exciting isn’t necessarily a good thing, as your month shows. But hopefully you were able to learn a lot about option trading and will set yourself up for future successes in the area!

      Bert

    • Thanks Adam! It has been a while 🙂 Looks like we were both neck and neck for the month here. We will see who wins this “battle” in September. Looking forward to swinging by and seeing the details of your income article as well.

      Take care.

      Bert

  5. Solid YOY growth Bert. Very fantastic month again. Wake me up when someone says dividend growth investing is exciting. 😉

    We had an all time record of dividend income, over $1,100 in one month! Very happy about getting this kind of money for doing nothing at all. Like I said, wake me up when DGI becomes exciting.

    • Thanks Tawcan. Hopefully you keep snoozing through that excitement and are a heavy sleeper! Congrats on the awesome record on your end. You’ve seemed to have broken through and are now consistently crossing the $1,000 mark on a monthly basis. I can’t wait to reach those levels one day.

      Take care!

      Bert

  6. Another solid month Bert! Glad to see your bank is paying off even with the KMI cut.

    I was just a bit shy of $30 but I tripled my div income from three months ago so that was very exciting!

    • Stefan,

      Nice month! 3X dividend income compared to just 3 months ago…sign me up for that. Imagine if you could pull off that kind of growth rate every quarter haha Keep up the great work over there.

      Bert

  7. I love boring!
    If a single word could describe the method of the world’s most successful investor (Buffett) it would be “boring”

    I try to be more boring but get that spending itch once and awhile…

    Good month Bert and congrats on the 30% yoy.

    • DiviCents,

      Boring = good and I was trying to make sure my sarcasm/joking around was getting through in the article. I’ll take boring any day of the week. That spending itch isn’t always a bad thing, especially when you are spending on a nice dividend growth stock.

      Thank you very much for the comment and stopping by!

      Bert

  8. Awesome work Bert! 30% increase from last year is REALLY EXCITING. Getting all that dividend income for no work is SUPER AWESOME. Achieving $3,000 forward income is EXTREMELY FANTASTIC. I cannot wait to see your AMAZING SEPTEMBER. Can you tell I don’t think it’s boring and I’m super pumped for you?

    Our August was boring. We got $0. Next month will be better though!

    Tristan

    • Tristan,

      HAHAHA Definitely laughed out loud when I read the comment. You excitement came through loud and clear. It is very kind of you. September is going to be awesome and will be significantly more exciting than boring. I have a few new companies paying dividends and I cannot wait to receive them. Your $0 is slightly different though, especially considering the fact hat Australian companies don’t typically pay dividends in August (As you discussed in your article). HOW EXCITED ARE YOU FOR SEPTEMBER???

      Thanks again for the laugh and the awesome comment.

      Bert

  9. Congrats on another great dividend income month Bert. As for DivHut, he loves boring ;-). I need to be more like him. I get bored and make stupid decisions.

    • IH,

      Divhut is a huge fan of boring haha Being stubborn and sticking to the slow and steady approach of dividend growth investing isn’t always sexy, but it is worth it in the long run. That’s why I can’t get enough of it here.

      Thanks for the comment and stopping by.

      Bert

  10. Hey, Bert. A 30% increase in just one year is anything but boring. I’d take a raise that big every single year. Before long, we’d be talking about some REAL money, not that $170 isn’t, but a 30% raise would double every 2.5 years. The good news for me was a 1,776% increase over the past year. The bad news was that it was from a $0.64 base. Onward and upward.

    • Chris,

      That’s true, the impact of multiple consecutive 30% increases would be insane. You had a very patriotic percent increase (assuming you are based out of the US). That is freaking IMPRESSIVE. Now imagine how fast the $170 would grow at that rate haha

      Thanks for the comment!

      Bert

  11. Nice year-over-year increase! Nothing boring about 30%! Thanks too for reminding me about the BAC increase. I had forgot to update my spreadsheet for its dividend increase. $40.16 increase for me. Always love updating it for things like that!

    Scott

    • Thanks Scott! Woah, how many shares of BAC do you own. The dividend income resulted in a $40.16 increase to your annual dividend income?? I am assuming it blows my tiny 11 share position out of the water.

      Bert

      • Started with 400 shares of BAC…got an additional 1.6266 with dividend reinvestment so far. I like the financial companies especially at the levels they’ve been at the last couple years; they pretty much print money! I’m strongly looking at JP Morgan (JPM) for a next investment.

        Scott

  12. Nice increase y/y man – it might not be huge dollars but 30% y/y is great. I think adding to current positions versus starting new ones is all depended on the valuations out there. If you see a good value out there like you did with Target, then it totally makes sense to add to it even if you already own a bunch of shares.

    • Thank you. The percent is what count. Your dollar amount will always start low and then increase over time I guess, right? Following the value is probably the best way to go. Any time you box yourself into one option versus considering everything you run the risk of missing out on a great value somewhere. Would never have found Target if I only considered options outside of my current holdings.

      Thanks for the comment!

      Bert

  13. I have been reading your blog for a while now after I discovered you on SeekingAlpha, but never commented. I just wanted to say great job to both of you! You have been inspiring me to start saving some money instead of wasting it.

    What is your long term goal? Retire early? Start a business? Or simply to have the safety net of dividends?

    • Welcome The Viking! So happy that you decided to finally comment. Hopefully you won’t be a stranger and this will be one of man comments. It means a lot that you said we are inspiring you for change. We’re glad we could pay it forward the way others have inspired us in the past. That’s the best part of this community. Everyone working together towards the same goals here.

      Long term, all of the three. I can guaranteeing that I am aiming to retire early and to have a safety net of dividend income. FIRE would be very difficult without the safety net. I would love to start a business too one day, but there are a lot of question marks that I would need to answer before that becomes a reality. I guess the blog/website already counts as one, right??

      Looking forward to seeing you around. Take care!

      Bert

  14. Slow and steady makes perfect. It’s not boring but patience. Keep going!

    I personally looking forward my dividends from XOM, CVX, BP, RDSB and so on in September.
    BIG OILs’ dividends are really profitable, you know….

  15. I hate the months of Feb/May/Aug/Nov. I currently own 9 individual stocks and only one pays in those off months and its EPR which provides me roughly $10/month. I went a little crazy and bought shares of VEREIT every opportunity I could last year before the dividend was resumed. Now I have over a 1000 shares with a very nice cost basis yet it now comprises about 1/3 of my portfolio and pays in the Jan/Apr/July/Oct cycle. That bet paid off, but I’m trying to build around that position.

    I also took a small chance at the end of last year on a small Indian Mining company called Vedanta that was yielding 6% when I bought it. They were setup to pay semi-annual dividends but they opted not to pay the most recent one. However I can’t complain too much because that position is up 60% currently.

    Other than that I do look forward to the big dividend months of Mar/June/Sept/Dec as I currently have over $200 in expected total dividends from these companies: LVS, LYB, F, PFE, WFC, & HON.

    Right now I’m looking to add new positions to help keep certain stocks low in weighting as I’m still waiting for a point where I can offload some of my VEREIT, but I still see plenty of upside for the stock as they are working on getting back to investment grade.

    Here’s to a prosperous Q4 to close the year!

  16. Geez, I better watch my use of the word ‘boring’ going forward. Ahhh, what the hell, I love boring… Boring let’s me sleep. Boring reduces my worry and anxiety. I LOVE boring. Back to the matter at hand… great results… nice to see a year over year gain from a handful of dividend payers. Clearly you are headed in the right direction. Of course, your August dividend payers are quite different from mine but that’s cool too. Just goes to show the variety of dividend payers that exist. Thank you for sharing and look forward to that dividend income round up you guys do.

  17. Nice month Bert! You have quite a few “off the beaten path” holdings for the middle month of the quarter. Looking forward to digging into a few a little.

    It’s going to be interesting when the growth rates aren’t at the astronomical 30%, 40%+ levels, but are actually much more in terms of dollars.

  18. It’s great to see the comparison from a year ago in your holdings and the nice growth you’ve experienced. If you have the same results next year you’ll be looking at $225.45!

    I had a great month for myself at $312.27. My dividend payouts are not predictable at the moment but I do enjoy watching the growth other dividend investors are experiencing.

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