Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

Another month.  The leaves are changing, Halloween is behind us, and I have officially ate way too much Halloween candy!  My wife and I love the fall season and even had a chance to go apple picking before the weather was too cold and make some fantastic desserts with our haul.  But that’s not the point of this article, is it?  Each month, we like to summarize our results and check out the growth and progress we are making in terms of dividend income.  Lanny kicked off the festivities by announcing a very nice 10.96% increase compared to last year.  Let’s see how well I can perform.  Here is my October Dividend Income summary!

dividend income

October Dividend Income Summary

In October, my wife and I received $227.53 in dividend income!  This represents a  27.68% year over year increase.  The following chart provides a detailed breakdown of the individual dividends received.  Please note that a “W” represents a dividend received in my wife’s account.  Here is a detailed listing of the individual dividends received:

Here are some quick notes and thoughts about some of the happenings and changes during the month:

  • Compared to last year, I received dividends from two new Dividend Aristocrats.  Leggett & Platt and Illinois Tool Works.  I initially purchased LEG in the second quarter and ITW early in the third quarter.   Thus, plenty of time to capture the October dividend.   The beauty is, I’ve taken advantage of dips in price during the last month and continued adding to my positions in LEG and ITW.  So these totals will be growing in January!  On top of it, many of you in the community also purchased ITW.  It’ll be a fun January for all of us.
  • It has been highlighted each month, so I won’t beat the same drum too many times.   But my three purchases of Realty Income in January/February continue to pay dividends….literally.  I’ve loved receiving over $20/month from the Monthly Dividend Company.
  • No, I didn’t receive a dividend cut from my position in Schlumberger.   When I transferred brokerages from Capital One Investing to Ally Investing, my fractional shares were liquidated.  Frustratingly, it cost me $.20 in dividend income this month.   Bummer.

October Portfolio News and Dividend Increases

In this section, I’ll review two different ways that my forward dividend income increased during the month: dividend increases and investment activity.   In the first table I will review dividend increases.

This month I received three dividend increases.  AEP, one of my rock solid utility investments, led the pack with an 8% increase.  The last two, IRM and WRK, announced their dividend increases at the tail end of the month.  This was after I purchased additional shares in both companies at the end of October.  Much like Lanny, I was able to benefit from these increases and receive an extra $9 annually after the purchase.  In total, I received $14.54 in additional dividend income without having to lift a darn finger.  How can I complain about that??

The second table discloses the forward dividend income added from stock purchases during the month.  This month was crazy and I was able to add almost $280 in dividend income from purchases and 401k contributions.  Armed with free trades and a falling market, I was able to selectively add small chunks of companies and lower my average cost basis when the opportunity was right.   I’ve detailed the purchases in my three purchase articles for the month (Purchase Article 1, Purchase Article 2, and Purchase Article 3).  But overall, I was pretty freaking excited to add $236.82 from individual stock purchases.

Did anyone notice anything different this month compared to the last?  Notice that a few of the mutual funds fell off of the table?  Well, that’s because I changed jobs at the end of September.  Unfortunately, I could not contribute to my 401k plan or HSA for 31 days.  Go figure the blackout period was when the market took a nose dive, right?  But I have registered myself and am ready to go for the rest of the year.  I’m ready to go and hit the ground running next month. Luckily my wife was still contributing and was able to capture some of this downturn in her two monthly contributions.   I still haven’t given up on our mission to maximize our contributions during the year and are still planning on hitting that mark.

All in all, from dividend increases and purchases, I added $293.77 in forward income to my annual dividend income total.

october dividend income summary

I’ve been very fortunate this year and have had the opportunity to experience strong growth in my dividend income and continue to fuel my forward income.  Once again, I’ve left this month with all smiles and am looking forward to seeing what November and December have in store for all of us.  Hopefully Mr. Market continues to present strong buying opportunities and I can add some of the companies on Lanny’s recent November Dividend Stock Watch List to the charts above.   Let’s keep pushing forward and continue to hustle our way towards financial freedom!

Did you have a strong October?  What was your growth rate?  Are you maximizing your 401(k) and HSA contributions during the year?  Are you planning on doing so next year?  What dividend increases did you receive during October?

Bert

36 thoughts on “Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

  1. Nice growth rate indeed Bert! Congrats on this winning streak, please do keep it going.
    We didn’t do so well on paper, but that is primarily due to shuffling the portfolio around and selling some shares in 2017 that we used for our real estate endeavours. Looks like that was the right decision, but I would now like to see my dividend portfolio grow again (each and every month that is 🙂

  2. Awesome results Bert! That’s a nice bump to the forward income from the raises, but more impressive is that increase from the additional capital being deployed. You’ve been on a roll lately! Surprisingly we only share one holding from the payers this month, which I think is pretty cool because it means there are a bunch of quality companies that can be researched for potential additions to my portfolio. Look forward to seeing your progress over these next two months!

    • Thanks DivvyDad! I’ve been pretty fortunate recently and have had some extra capital to deploy. I’m excited for my 401k contributions to start again this month. It is a little shocking that we only have one holding in common, isn’t it. This community shares so much knowledge with each other, I just assume we all own the same 100 stocks sometimes haha

      Bert

    • Dividend Pursuit – those are three amazing companies right there and I’m happy to own them. Luckily, two of the three have taken a beating recently so I have been able to add to my position there!

      Bert

  3. Congrats on the bump in income. I have a dividend growth fund by Vanguard but otherwise have not focused on picking individual stocks, dividend or otherwise. For now we’re sticking to a mutual fund strategy and real estate, where we can a bit more active and which is more interesting and intuitive to us than picking individual stocks. That said, I do think dividend growth stocks are something I’d like to add when we’re ready to get more active with our paper.

    • Thank you so much Caroline. I’m sure the Vanguard fund is treating you very well and you have seen a nice bump-up in dividend yield this month. It is all about finding what is the best, most interesting system for you, right? Glad you have found your groove in real estate!

      Bert

  4. Wow, Bert! $228 in dividend and 27.7% YOY growth is impressive starting from your capital base. Looks like we both received dividends from CAH, GSK, LEG, ITW, PM, and O if I count my M1 Finance account that was opened about 2 months ago. Keep making every dollar count!

  5. Hey Bert,

    Congrats on the dividend growth – +27% YOY is HUGE. Keep up those gains and you’ll be hitting four figures in no time. Not to mention your forward dividend increases based on purchases this month….
    Hope things are going well with the change of jobs; it can be a big move even if you’re still in the same industry.
    Keep up the momentum, brother.

    Take care,
    Ryan

  6. Nice work Bert, congrats on the nice YoY gains and the job switch. If you and followed Lanny to the new employer – let it be known that I called it a few months back on one of the posts where Lanny announced his move 😉 In any event, good luck with the new gig.
    PIV

  7. Hi Bert,
    What an eventful month it has been for you! I am amazed by how much forward dividend income you managed to add during the month by taking the opportunity of market dip. It’s more than my current annual income from dividends!
    I received ~11% growth rate during October compared to last year and all of it was from dividend increases, so nothing to complain about!
    Great stuff, keep it up!
    BI

    • BI,

      Thank you very much. I’ve been fortunate to be able to add as much as I have over the last year. You’ll be doing this soon enough as well, especially with your hustle and mindset. I loved reading your increase and seeing the progress you made during the year. It was awesome!

      Bert

  8. Always nice to see a double digit year over year gain. Still very much on the right track! Also, your dollar value from each position is surprisingly even. Something I am also striving to achieve with more of my holdings. Always love reading about the buying continue and you are definitely doing it. Here’s to a strong 2018 finish.

    • Keith,

      It is interesting that you pointed out how evenly spread the dividend income was this month. Now that you mention it, you are absolutely right! Thinking about it, it helps minimize the impact one dividend may have on your cash flow. If one company makes up a majority, that dividend cut would be brutal. Lastly, couldn’t agree more. Let’s finish 2018 with some strength right here.

      Bert

  9. Sucks you couldn’t add to your 401k or HSA for a whole month. But on the bright side, that extra money going into your paycheck you put to good use with your purchases. Looking forward to seeing them add nice dividend growth for you going forward!

    • Daze,

      Tell me about it! Don’t worry, I already have a plan in place to catch up the contributions I missed during the rest of the year. What sucks is the fact that of course the month I miss is the month that the market decides to slide. Go figure, right?

      Bert

  10. Good job. Double digit growth what more can you ask for? Great companies paying you every month. Some good additions that will add great income and some nice dividend increases. Keep it up.

  11. Hey Bert. Excellent job all around I’d say…. great YoY growth, 3 raises, and an outstanding boost to your forward dividend income with all those purchases.
    NIce to see CAH at the top of the dividend heap this month. CAH may finally be coming out of the doldrums they’ve been in since the late spring.
    My employer is finally offering an HSA for the first time in 2019. I’m all signed up and plan to max out.

    • Engineering Dividends,

      Thank you very much! That is great news about the HSA. Enjoy those tax benefits. Is there an investment option once your cash balance exceeds a certain dollar threshold? I do like CAH and may even look to add. I liked their earnings release and think they will be snapping out of this funk soon.

      Cheers,

      Bert

  12. Sayeth what?1? That’s an amazing amount of forward income to add in a single month Bert. Gives us a chance, you’re stealing all our thunder! 🙂 A joke ofcourse, it’s just awesome to see you guys making moves.

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