Bert’s May Dividend Income Summary

What a month it has been.  The Cavs began their postseason push, the weather was beautiful, I had a nice vacation to New England, and I received some nice dividend checks this month!  What could be better.  Over the weekend, Lanny put together a rock solid list highlighting the dividend income received by some of you in the dividend investing community.  And I must say, that was one impressive list and it was fun to see how well everyone else performed.  It helps me focus and continue to push myself to build income streams as large as all of yours.  Some great motivation!  Anyways, Lanny left one person off of the list…me.  What the heck Lanny?  So let’s fix that and see how well I stacked up against myself and others during the month of May.

dividend income

Dividend Income Summary

May 15

In May,  I received $127.52  in dividend income, an increase of 82% compared to May 2014 and 21% compared to February 2015.   I know I’ve said it time and time again (and you all are probably getting sick of hearing me say it), but we have all made some tremendous progress in our dividend portfolios.  If you want proof, just look at Lanny’s article and see how amazing of a job everyone has done.  Seeing your income increase year over year just provides me the extra juice and motivation needed to continue saving as much money as possible, so I can continue to invest and get the dividend snowball rolling faster and faster.  So I have officially stepped off of my soap box now and am ready to review how my dividend income increased compared to last month and year.  It is pretty simple actually, and I can point to two separate events that triggered the increase.  Let’s take a look!

  • This transaction  only impacts my annual growth as I have owned this stock for just under a year now.  Last June I initiated a $2k position in HCP, which added quite the punch to my dividend income considering HCP’s high dividend yield and their recent dividend increase.   The healthcare REIT has had a tough year and as the stock continues to fall into the high 30s, I may be tempted to take a page out of Lanny’s book and purchase some more of the large healthcare REIT.  Is the company perfect at the moment?  No and there are some short-term issues.  However, the company is a Dividend Aristocrat and to me, that shows the company knows how to weather short-term storms and find a way to survive and succeed in the long-term.   Regardless, this purchase last June is the driver for my year over year dividend increase
  • Secondly (HCP is going to make another appearance here), this is the first month I am receiving the positive impact from my sale of ARCP back in January.  When I sold ARCP, I invested the capital evenly into three companies:  HCP, NWFL, and CZNC.  The fun fact about these companies, which I didn’t realize at the time, is that they all pay dividends in the second month of the quarter.  Since I missed the ex-dividend date for the February round of dividends, May represents the first month I received a check from my new investments.  Considering the lowest yield of the three companies is 4.34% (CZNC), I couldn’t be happier.

Dividend Increases

This month was a boring and disappointing month for my portfolio in terms of dividend increases, as none of my stocks increased their dividend in May.  But it wasn’t supposed to be that way!  Two of the oil stocks I own, Shell and Chevron, were supposed to announce an increase in May; however, due to the oil environment, both companies passed on increasing their dividend.  Is it aggravating as heck…yes, especially considering I purchased Chevron a few months ago and cited their strong dividend growth history has a reason for purchasing. .  But  I understand given the depressed crude prices.  Hopefully the increases will begin again when the oil market rebounds and reverts back to the status quo.  But if there is anything investing has taught me, it is who knows what will happen next.

Summary

So circling back now, if Lanny would have included me in his article, where would I have finished.  The answer…second last! Even worse, Hey Dividend Empire, take note of this day, because we are going to laugh our you-know-whats-off when we have higher dividend income than Lanny, Dividend Mantra, Dividend Hustler, and all of the other people ahead of us on this list one day.  As I mentioned before, seeing everyone’s progress motivates me and pushes me to continue to grow my dividend income because I want to be at their levels one day.  So everyone ahead of me, you are officially on notice.  There is a dividend storm coming your way so you better watch out!

How were your month’s of May?  How would you have stacked up on the list of blogger’s income?  Have you purchased HCP recently during their down period?  Are they even on your watch list?  Dividend Empire…are you ready to take these people ahead of us down?

-Bert

Read More:  Lanny’s May Dividend Income Summary

19 thoughts on “Bert’s May Dividend Income Summary

  1. LOL! I like your attitude Bert! Keep it up… which should be quite easy if we consider the principle of dividend investing: always going higher! 😉

    Cheers,

    Mike

    • Thanks Mike! I appreciate it. Nothing beats a good old fashioned friendly competition. Well, the competition with everyone but Lanny! That’s personal. I love your principle and it sums up everything we work our tails off and strive for in three simple words. Whether we agree on the purchase or not, you can’t fault someone for purchasing a stock if their dividend income is moving in the right direction.

      As always, thanks for stopping by!

      Bert

  2. Bert:

    I don’t think us readers will ever get sick of your, and all the other dividend blogger’s success, an 82% increase is awesome! So close to DOUBLING last May’s dividend income. I enjoy the friendly competition and conversation between you all.

    Best,
    Alex

    • Alex,

      I am so happy with 82% growth, I can’t complain one bit. But having back to back months of triple-digit dividend growth would have been a fun milestone to hit. Luckily, I still have plenty of time to do that, right? haha You touched on one of the reasons why I love this online community. We all encourage each other and try to push the rest to reach financial freedom. We are all on the same team and it is up to us to promote and pump up all the others!

      Thanks for stopping by.

      Bert

    • Tawcan, I hope you are right! If I can hit 82% growth next year as well I will be pumped, especially considering the extra dollars needed to double it. I won’t rule it out though and now you have given me one heck of a challenge to take on… I’ll just say this, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

      Thanks for stopping by and the extra motivation here!

      Bert

  3. Great Job Bert. You’re doing wonderful. Slow and Steady will win this and glad to be a part of this community. You keep it up okay bud and don’t worry about anyone but yourself. You’re progressing to better and better and you’re gonna rip it up! I know it. Cheers my friend.

    • Hustler! Thanks for stopping by and the kind words. They are very much appreciated. You are absolutely right, there is only one dividend income number I should care about…my own. While it is fun to compete and compare yourself to others, the end result doesn’t matter because your results are your own and in a vacuum. To me, it is fun to have some friendly competition among bloggers. It serves as motivation to people like me, who have lower income and can’t wait to reach your level one day!

      Have a great weekend.

      Bert

  4. Hey Bert,
    It’s great that you guys can compare/compete in a healthy who can make the most dividend income. It’s really impressive to read about the 60% savings challenge and how it may mean only 10-15 years worth of investing/work to attain. Keep up the good work.
    -Rich
    **Also for some reason I keep getting an error that says this is spam..Well, I certainly hope not**

    • Rich,

      I have no idea why it is telling you your comment is spam. Hopefully now that the comment went through it will recognize your IP address and no longer block you. We installed a tough spam blocker on here and this is one of the unfortunate side effects. But the great news is that you busted through the wall!

      Thank you for the kind words. To me, it is a blast comparing and competing (friendly) with each other because it helps push us. I hate the fact that my portfolio is smaller than Lanny’s and I cannot wait for the day when my dividend income is greater. Want proof, check out the only time I beat him in a a monthly dividend income summary, December 2014. But we believe in a pretty simple equation here…save your money and invest it as young as possible so that the power of compounding interest/dividends can begin to operate as soon as possible. It is humbling to hear that others like yourself have enjoyed following our journey and hopefully learning from it.

      I am glad your comment made it through. Hopefully you will continue to stop by!

      Bert

  5. Love the updates, its great to see consistent progress from the both of you.
    Do you guys DRIP most of your stocks or are the gradual increases in income solely from dividend increases?

    Keep up the great work!

    Cheers,
    Dividend Odyssey

    • Odyssey,

      Thank you very much. These updates are some of my favorite articles to read, especially since all of us keep getting better and better haha Right now, I am a 100% DRIPer but will one day consider turning off the Drip. Right now, my income levels are too low on a monthly basis to not reinvest the shares. <$200 per month will not buy me a sufficient stake in a new company, so I think it is better to continue to re-invest and grow my stakes in the company. Thanks for stopping by! Bert

  6. Thank you for sharing your recent dividend income update with us. Awesome year over year growth too. Just keep pushing and you know you will climb up that dividend ladder with your growing income. I like HCP and the other two large health REITs HCN and VTR long term. It looks like REITs will be the popular buys going forward as they continue to get beaten down and everyone worries about the Fed interest rate hike that’s coming. Keep up the good work.

    • Thanks DivHut, I appreciate it! I agree with your assessment about the REIT industry. Due to their leverage and exposure to interest rates, REITs have seemed to be slammed in the past when the Fed or market has hinted at an interest rate increase. I would love to take advantage of a dip one of these days and initiate a position in O because man, who wouldn’t want that monthly dividend machine in their portfolio haha

      I love how all of us positively impact each other and continue to motivate each other to continue to climb the ladder and grow our dividend income. By far the best online community out there!

      Bert

  7. Bert,

    Awesome month right there. And outstanding YOY growth. You’ll see those YOY numbers trend down as the absolute numbers grow, but that’s a good thing. 🙂

    Don’t worry about chasing me or anyone else, though. As long as you’re meeting/exceeding your goals and on track for your version and timeline of financial independence, that’s all that really matters. My dividend income isn’t paying your bills and vice versa.

    Keep it up. You’re having a great 2015. I’m sure you’re going to finish strong.

    Best wishes!

    • DM,

      Thank you very much. I hope you are 100% wrong haha I somehow will find a way to realize an 82% YOY increase. Not sure how yet, but I will! Just kidding, just kidding. You are absolutely right though, that number will have to decrease eventually. So I wil make sure to enjoy the large numbers now, while I can.

      You are right, I shouldn’t place as much emphasis on chasing all of you guys. Honestly, I use it as motivation to reach your levels one day. I can’t wait to finally reach the day where I have both Lanny and your current dividend income levels. I know I will get there soon, so if I focus on hitting and reaching my goals I will be there before I know it.

      As always, thanks for stopping by and the kind words.

      Bert

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