Bert’s June Dividend Income Summary

Half of 2017 is in the books.  Man oh man does time fly.  I look forward to the first weekend of every month so that I can summarize my dividend income from the previous month.  Summarizing my June dividend income, aka the third month of the quarter, is always a little more exciting since I get to include the dividends received from mutual funds.  Enough talk, let’s take a look at how I performed in June compared to 2016.

dividend incomeJune Dividend Income Summary

This month, my wife and I received $822.87  in dividend income, a record for a non-December month!  This represents an 84% increase from June 2016.  These quarter end months are really starting to pack a punch, and I cannot wait to breakdown the results here shortly.   As I have mentioned each month, the results are slightly skewed because this is the first year I am reporting my wife’s dividend income as well.    So I’ve also started also showing my individual portfolio’s dividend growth rate.  Without my wife’s income, my June dividend income still grew 36%!  Not quite a record, but it sure as heck will beat the raise I am expected to get from my employer in August.   Now, let’s dive into the details.

Here are some of the highlights:

  • The impact of automation and increasing our 401(k) contributions per paycheck is really starting to show.  Now, my wife and I contribute 10% of our wages to our 401(k) .  It is difficult to see the impact of my wife’s increased contributions based on the table below, but I’ll use my mutual fund as an example.  In my plan, I currently contribute exclusively to VINIX (I used to contribute to VWNAX, but switch funds to diversify.  So the only increase in that funds income is via DRIP).  VINIX’s June dividend increased from $11.85 in June 2016 to $46.30 this year!  Think about that growth rate that I was able to realize from automating this investment and focusing on leveraging tax benefits to the fullest (Thanks Lanny for doing the research in your tax series last year).  Automation will continue to play a role, especially now that we purchased a house.  And I plan on writing a lot more about this and changing our strategy around significantly once the dust settles from our home purchase in August and we begin to establish a routine.   So there is more to come and this impact will continue to be felt.
  • Speaking of automation.  Much like increasing my 401(k) contribution per paycheck, I have also increased my HSA contribution as well to receive the maximum tax benefit during the year.  Our company’s plan allows you to invest all funds in your HSA over $1,000, so I selected the mutual funds VTSMX as the lucky recipient of my funds.  Finally, the impact of these investments are starting to be felt and this quarter I received $7.52 in dividend income accordingly.  I love this investment because of the tax benefits you receive and the fact that we are going to eventually use these funds for our future family.  A great investment tool I suggest to everyone.
  • Man, it has felt like I have owned shares in TGT FOREVER.  It turns out, I purchased shares for the first time in the second quarter of 2016 and did not receive my first dividend until September 2016.  Heck, I’ve bought TGT twice since my first investment in 2016.  This is the final quarter that the comparison will show a 100% increase.
  • I complain about it all the time, but the impact this month was not significant since my income was carried by mutual funds.  But only 1 stock switched the month it paid a dividend  in compared to last year.  This year, KHC paid a dividend in the third month of the quarter compared to the first month of the quarter in 2016.
  • Outside of the noted transactions above, the main driver of my increase income was related good old fashion dividend growth and dividend re-investment.  Ah, the good old-fashioned power of dividend re-investment. 

  • Dividend increases & purchases during june

Last week, I summarized some companies that increased their dividend in June.  And man did I receive a lot of dividend increases from these organizations.  From this list, I owned shares in Target, Kroger, Realty Income, and my wife owns Caterpillar.  Gotta love dividend increases.

In terms of purchases, I have been relatively quiet of late.  However, I could not resist initiating a position in Kroger after the big tumble the company experienced in June.  The purchase added $23 in forward income to my portfolio and I a was very excited to take advantage of this opportunity.

Summary

I leave this month, as I do for nearly all of them, motivated to keep on fighting and keep on pushing.  My finances and my life has a lot of moving parts right now, and it has caused me to do some searching and become more creative with my finances as my future cash flow took a hit with the purchase of a house and a car.  But, I am ready for the challenge and I want to continue to earn results like these. Will it be easy?  No.  But they always say that the most rewarding things in life are the most difficult to achieve (And I’m sure there are plenty of other sayings, quotes, and clichés that I could use here).  So I just need to keep reminding myself that every extra dollar makes a huge difference and to keep on finding different ways to side hustle and increase my income.  Everyone, let’s go!!

How was your month of June?  What dividend increases did you receive?  Did you set a new record?  What stocks did you purchase this month and how much income did they add to your forward income?

-Bert

41 thoughts on “Bert’s June Dividend Income Summary

  1. The snowball is rolling, Bert, and 36% YOY is nothing to sneeze at! Sometimes, especially in times of change, it feels like we’re playing whack-a-mole with our finances. But the power of time in the market is always working for you, and doing the math at the end of the month is always a great way to see that! As Lanny says… Just Go for It!

    I had a pretty amazing June myself- a record breaking month- and I’ve noticed that a lot of other dividend bloggers did too.

    • Thanks Meow. You’re right, the snowball is picking up steam here and we are really starting to feel the power and impact of the hardwork that we have put in over the last few years. Whack-a-mole is a great way to describe how I feel right now haha but we are going to make it through just fine!

      Congrats on the great results. It isn’t a surprise that everyone is setting a record in June. The best part is that these records ARE going to be broken regularly. We don’t stop at the first benchmark, the second benchmark, or even the hundredth benchmark. Heck no, we keep pushing and keep on fighting.

      Thanks for the comment and it has been nice interacting with you here on our website!

      Bert

  2. Very nice YoY comparisons. Well done.

    Good thing your wife is picking up the slack, eh? If she’s anything like mine, you can expect her to be a lot better at investing than you while putting in a fraction of the time and effort.

    I wanted to get her interested (at least a little bit) in investing, so we started a ROTH IRA competition. She’s incredibly competitive, so I figured this would be a way to get her interested in stocks and financial stuff.

    It mostly worked. She’s certainly not as interested as I am, but she’s gotten into it quite a bit more than before.

    Also, she is absolutely destroying me in the competition.

    • Thanks Catfish, much appreciated! My wife continues to bail me out and I love it haha Very smart idea digging into your wife’s competitive side. May have to consider something like that myself. I’ve been keeping my wife updated and she is excited about the results. I doubt she will ever match our level of enthusiasm, but I like that she is on board with the general mission and encourages the great results.

      You’ll catch your wife eventually haha You can’t lose now.

      Bert

  3. Bert,
    Solid YoY. Well I manage all the investing in our household, and having her income helps though as a soon to be fellow house owner, I am about to feel that cash flow pain.
    – Gremlin

    • Gremlin,

      Thank you very much. Same here with the cash flow crunch, but hustling and finding money to invest is in our blood. Get ready to hustle away and keep on pushing here. Lets GO!!

      Bert

  4. Congrats on another super solid month of passive income earned. The end of quarter months are definitely “packing a punch” even for a “skewed” total, for most of us as our collective dividend income is really starting to take off. Keep up the solid work and look forward to reading about more buys.

    • Divhut,

      Thank you very much. I love seeing these pillars starting to appear at the end of each quarter. I am loving automating my investing and regularly pumping cash into my 401k. You’re absolutely right, this community is growing like crazy. Every month I am reading about the successes of others and seeing amazing dividend growth rates. It motivates me and keeps on pushing me to side hustle and invest as much as possible.

      Have a great weekend.

      Bert

    • Thanks Doug – much appreciated. I hope you are right. Would love to cross $1,000 each quarter by the end of next year. That would be quite the feat and I look forward to the challenge.

      Bert

  5. Hey Bert,

    over 800$ in June and especially the year over year increase is great. Even with all the changes in your life you’ll crush it…just keep going!
    My June was very packed with a lot of work and flew by fast. The dividend income came in as 288,41$. I’m happy with that. I purchased shares of Cisco and added some AT&T.

    Cheers,
    DividendSolutions

    • Stefan,

      Thank you so much for dropping by! Congrats on the record month. Look at you just crushing it and taking care of business. Gotta love it. I have the same strategy with Roth’s as well and hold them all in my Roth IRA. Hopefully you are right about your June forecast!

      Bert

  6. Hi Bert,
    Congrats on a record month and amazing progress! A 40% increase on your dividend income is insane when compared to the average yearly salary increase and it’ll keep on giving in the future too.
    I do the same as you with my HSA and luckily the investment choices switched to the lower cost Vanguard Admiral funds last month which was a pleasant surprise.
    Best wishes,
    -DL

    • Thanks Dividend Life! I love putting the dividend increase in comparison to a salary increase. Especially since I am going to have my salary discussion with my boss in the upcoming weeks haha The HSA investment option is a pretty darn cool option, especially with low cost funds. Big tax benefits, saving for health expenses you surely will have with children one day, plus dividend income….no brainer in my book!

      Bert

  7. Great work Bert! June was a record month for me and I think July may be the same. You’re right in saying that it’s all about hard work and patience!

    Passive Income Dude

    • Thanks Mr SLM. I know, I would LOVE to reach the $1,000 mark in the third month of each quarter. That would be a nice boost to our income and a prety cool benchmark to cross. Now it is time to dig in and start putting in the needed work.

      Bert

  8. Wooo! $800! That’s great. This month I had over $800 in dividend income as well. It’s a great feeling knowing that all that is completely passive. Last month I was around $300- wish they could all be consistently $800-$1000 haha. Keep up the good work!

    • Thanks GYM! Looks like we are going toe to toe here. You’re slightly ahead of me in other months as well, but I’ll catch you soon. I’m with you, I can’t wait to have this success during each month. I remember how excited I was when my income crossed $100 for twelve consecutive months. And now we battle haha

      Bert

  9. An 84% increase from a decent base of several hundred dollars is pretty impressive. At that rate, you’ll be ready to FIRE in no time if you want to. If you don’t FI should be pretty fun. I was up quite a bit in June, but nowhere near $800. Onward and upward.

    • Chris,

      Thank you very much. I hope you are right, and my wife and I are going to continue push along and keep pushing towards FIRE even with the new house. It should be a fun, fun challenge.

      Take care,

      Bert

  10. Gotta love combined finances when you get married! It was an incredible time when my wife and I joined ours together. She has always be risk-averse so her savings account was quite large when we got married… Around $40K and no debt! … once we invested that, our dividend income really shot through the roof!

    All things changed when we paid off the house, but now we are on full automation mode and $36,000 going into 401Ks. With no tax right offs for the mortgage, we are instead investing the same (or more) into the 401Ks, essentially replacing the mortgage payment. The dividend income is not spectacular because most of our funds do not pay dividends but the account totals are increasing like crazy!

    Keep up the great work!

    ADD

  11. Awesome month! It is smart to keep track of growth both with and without your wife’s portion. Especially the first full year of counting/ tracking it on the site. Coming up quickly on that 1k month. Keep up the great work! Cheers!

  12. Impressive totals, Bert… another great month. We have a few dividend payers in common: TGT, TROW, JNJ, AFL, O. I was wondering if you’ve ever looked into RPM… a company that seems to be in your neck of the woods. They’ve been a great holding for me over the years, however, I’ve never seen them as part of anyone’s portfolio.

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