Bert’s December Dividend Income Summary

Happy New Year everyone!  It still blows my mind that the calendar has officially turned over and it is 2016.  HOLY COW!  I hope you all have had the chance to set your goals so we can hit the ground running in 2016.   It seems appropriate that the first article published on our website in 2016 is a review of the dividend income received during my favorite dividend month of the year…December.   Let’s take a look at my December dividend income summary, my final report of 2015!

dividend income

December Dividend Income

There are many reasons why December is my favorite dividend income month.  First, the majority of companies pay dividends in the third month of the quarter.  Basically, it feels like we are receiving a dividend check each morning…which is an amazing feeling.  December 10th is particularly a fun day.  No clue why, but I received dividend checks from five companies on this day.  If anyone knows why this day is popular versus others, please let me know.  Second, mutual funds pay out their capital gain distributions during the month and our income figures receive a HUGE jolt as a result.  I’ll dive more into this later.  Third, and here is my favorite reasoning.  December is the only month of the year where I have a chance to actually receive more dividend income than Lanny!  I own one semi-annual paying Vanguard fund, VWNAX, and the massive dividend/capital gain distribution allow me to compete with Lanny despite the fact that his portfolio is nearly 3x the size of mine.  In December, Lanny received $1,078 in dividend income, which is an insane figure.  Amazing job Lanny.  Let’s see if I could defeat him for the first and final time in 2015.

Dec. Income

In December, I received $1,122.50 in dividend income.  For all of you that weren’t sure, I thought I would take the opportunity to point out that $1,122.50 is greater than $1,078….so take that Lanny!  Kidding, kidding.  Since my income is heavily aided by capital gains distributions from mutual funds, I split the table above into a stock and mutual fund section to better demonstrate the income received from each source.  I’ll start first with a brief discussion about the stocks.

The thing that jumped out to me about the YOY increase in dividend income attributed to stocks is that I received dividend income from four new companies compared to last December.  Ironically, one of additions was from Johnson & Johnson, which has found its way onto nearly every stock screener or “Top 5” list we have generated over the years.  You don’t earn the label as a foundation stock for no reason after all, right?  Can’t have enough of JNJ.  Another one of my favorite additions is ADM, which Lanny just purchased and is one of the stocks on my December watch list.  I only receive $7 quarterly from the company. The only question I have to keep asking myself is why haven’t I added more yet, especially considering the company’s recent decline?  Maybe I’ll follow Lanny’s lead on this one and just bite the bullet and purchase the darn stock.    While the quarterly growth in dividend income isn’t nearly as exciting as the annual growth, there were some exciting nuggets I wanted to highlight.  I received my first dividend check from 3M (MMM), one of my favorite stocks outside of JNJ.  Earlier in the year I initiated a large position in my portfolio and couldn’t be happier.  I consider this stock one of my “Always Buy” stocks and could possibly look to add to my stake in 2016 if the market presents a perfect opportunity.  In total, my dividend income from stocks increased 20% from September 2015 and 85% from December 2014!  Woah has this been an action packed year and it looks like 2016 will be the same way.

Now… on to the mutual funds.  What’s funny is that my income from mutual funds actually decreased 10% compared to December 2014!  Quite frankly, I have spent a lot of time reviewing my portfolio’s mutual funds and I’m ready to move on to the next topic haha   However, the snapshot of  income received from each fund above further validates my decision to sell three of my mutual funds: ACLAX, MEIAX, and OIEIX.  One of the main decision points was the inconsistent annual capital gain distributions, which can fluctuate as a result of the funds performance over the year.  In 2015, I saw my capital gains distributions decrease for two of my funds, ACLAX and OIEIX, and a slight increase from one fund, MEIAX.  However, the increase is actually minimal considering the fact that I received a boatload of new shares from the previous years distribution.  Anyway, the I’m thrilled that I was able to receive such large distributions from the company, but I am ready to begin receiving more predictable and steady dividend checks instead of relying on the lump sum payment in December.  Look at the disparity from December and September.  That’s what I want to avoid.   Realty Income…here I come!

Summary

Bottom line., I couldn’t be happier with the results and am so excited that I was able to sprint to the finish line in December.  Al joking aside, I love this month.  Between the constant dividend income, the holidays, time spent with the family, the reflecting on the year, and the looking ahead to the next year, there are so many positive things that happen in this month.  We all have been able to accomplish some amazing things during the year and have taken so huge leaps forward.  Let’s make 2016 and even better year than 2015 all!  Have a Happy New Year and let’s start 2016 off with a bang!

Bert

17 thoughts on “Bert’s December Dividend Income Summary

  1. Hello Bert,

    That is one very healthy “paycheck” for the month of December! Absolutely deserved…. for doing absolutely nothing! Great is it not?

    We cannot publish our dividend income just yet, as not all funds have been booked into the accounts just yet. We also made certain purchases that may or may not have triggered the December dividend payments (we often set a certain value to trigger a buy and we don’t always check to see if it was before or after the cut-off date for a dividend payment). So we have to wait until the end of next week to see the final score!

    Happy New Year, may it be a very successful one!

    • Thank you so much Team CF. I love dividend investing for the fact that each subsequent paycheck received comes without having to lift a finger. OKay, well, maybe you have to lift a finger or two to log in and see the additional shares posted to your account. I’m excited to see your final results. Hopefully you will also receive a massive paycheck and you were able to sneak a few triggered purchases in before the ex-dividend dates.

      Take care and have a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

      Bert

  2. Happy new year Bert,

    Well done on beating Lanny! Haha. Congrats on beating $1,000 income in one month too. Sounds like you’ve had a really good year, I hope I can get $1,000 in one month this decade, your progress is very motivating.

    Tristan

    • haha thanks Tristan. I can’t let Lanny win every month of the year, right? Hopefully next year I can improve my batting average and go 2 for 12! I can’t complain at all about 2015, so many great things happened in terms of investing and life. Hopefully 2016 will be even better. You’ll be shocked when you hit that mark before you know it. Dividend investing becomes addicting and you don’t realize just how quickly you are accumulating assets/the dividend income you are receiving from them. Keep at it and keep on chugging so you can easily crush $1,000 in a month before the decade is over.

      Take care and have a Happy New Year!

      Bert

  3. I wish I could muster the conviction to sell my mutual funds. They have been twisted and tied over 4 times by being taken over by 4 different companies. Add to that my moving the shares from broker to broker 3 times over the past 18 years and figuring the true cost basis with any degree of certainty has been a true nightmare. I think you made a fine decision to liquidate the funds. I am sure you will do quite well with individual stocks, and in the process, eliminate a bit of potential paperwork and book keeping in the future. Good luck.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer
    AKA — Seeking Dividends

    Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer

    • Robert,

      Mutual funds can definitely be messy, that’s for sure. The final straw that broke the camel’s back for me was the inconsistent payout. I selected the funds since they were focused on dividends and once the payouts became less stable/predictable, I jumped ship. Too much of the yield was dependent on the capital gain distribution for my liking. I’m just pumped to get my hands on the capital so I can begin doing some damage.

      Thanks for stopping by! Pleasure hearing from you.

      Bert

  4. Congrats on the income Bert. I’m proud of you bud. Keep up the great work and this income report will only go higher and higher. Thanks for sharing this amazing journey with us and thanks for sharing these monthly posts. I’m glad to be travelling with you guys and thankful to have you wonderful guys in our little community of Financial Freedom Fighters.
    Keep up the great work and as always, keep hustling hella hard. Happy 2016 my friend.

    • Thanks Ty! That’s very kind of you. I couldn’t be happier to be on this journey with Lanny, you, and all the other wonderful dividend growth investors in the community. Truly blessed and can’t wait to see amazing things happen for all of us in 2016.

      2016 is going to be the year of the hustle. So let’s grind and claw our way to make sure we crush all of the goals we have set out to achieve. Take care my friend.

      Bert

  5. It’s scary how fast the years fly by. Not to rush 2016 but I can already see in my head the “first quarter of the year is gone,” posts, along with, “can you believe it’s summer and half of 2016 is gone,” and the ever popular, “with the holidays upon us and 2016 coming to a close,” blog posts. Makes you think about really stopping and smelling the roses and enjoy and live and travel and love and share life experiences, whatever that may mean for you. Back to the matter at hand, great totals for both of you for December from a lot of really great companies. Excited to read about your continued dividend buys, growth and more in 2016. Thanks for sharing.

    • Keith,

      Life goes by way too quickly and we need to make sure we enjoy as much of it as possible. You aren’t kidding, it is really scary when you take a step back and think about it. I’m going to try as hard as I can to enjoy and get the most out of every life experience as possible. There is nothing wrong with taking the extra few minutes to take it all in and smell the roses as you put it. Man do I love that expression.

      Thanks for stopping by. 2016 is going to be a great year for all of us. So let’s achieve all that we can and and more as we enter this new year. Keep adding these amazing dividend paying companies to our portfolio and ride them to prosperity.

      Take care.

      Bert

  6. Amazing work, Bert! Congrats on crossing $1K in dividend income. That money is good enough for a sizeable investment by itself…keep up the great work.

    Heres to a prosperous new year to both you and Lanny.
    R2R

    • Thanks Roadmap! I would love (and can’t wait till the day) where I am pulling in $1,000 in either my individual or Roth IRA account so that I can turn off my drip and purchase a stock. But for now, I’m more than happy to settle for DRIPing in different account types.

      Best of luck in 2016 for you as well. It is going to be an amazing year for all.

      Bert

  7. Congrats Bert. You are at the point where your monthly dividends are enough to continue growing your pot without any new money added. Great work sir.

    • Thanks IH. While December is definitely an anomaly in terms of the rest of my dividend income, I’m so pumped with the results. I couldn’t be happier. Let’s carry this momentum forward in 2016 and keep out boots on the ground and keep…on…pushing!

      Bert

  8. Way to go Bert! Finally beat Lanny haha. I hear you about the mutual funds and the inconsistent payouts. Even after putting over $50K to work this year, our dividend total ended up lower in December 2015 than it was in December 2014. Crazy.

    Keep up the great work man, look forward to seeing how 2016 shapes up. Just hope it doesn’t go by too quickly!

    ADD

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