Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

Another month is in the books.  Fall is in the air.  We are putting away our Halloween decorations and are getting ready for my favorite holiday…Thanksgiving!  It is a lot of fun sharing so many “firsts” with my family and I can’t wait to continue to do so over the holiday season.  It has truly been amazing.  But as we continue to progress through the year at lightning pace, I must take a look back at my investing results.  In particular, my October dividend income summary….

Dividend Investing is amazing for so many reasons.  As we continue to build a growing, passive income stream by investing in undervalued dividend growth stocks, it is always important to track your progress and make sure you are achieving your goals.  Seeing the progress makes the income feel real.  And eventually, one day, it will help you reach the coveted financial freedom.

Read –  How do we find undervalued dividend growth stocks?  By running each company through our Dividend Stock Screener

For the last five years, we have logged out dividend income results.  The totals are summarized on our dividend income page.  You can see first hand the results that each dividend stock purchase, dividend increases, and each reinvested dividend has had.  We continue to fuel the FI/RE one purchase, one increase, and one DRIP at a time.   So that is why I am always so excited to type up my monthly dividend income summary.  To review the results and hold myself accountable.  With that in mind, here is my October dividend income summary.

See – Our Dividend Stock Portfolios to view my individual holdings

Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

In October, my wife and I earned $345.16 in dividend income! That is a 51.70% increase compared to last October.  The following chart details the individual dividends received:

Overall, it was a pretty simple month for dividend income.  There were not a lot of changes. In fact, it was a relatively boring month for me.  Sometimes though, boring can be good for an investor.  Especially in turbulent times. But here are some of the highlights from the chart above:

  • There were two new holdings that paid dividends this year compared to last year: IRM and OXY.  Both of which are high yielding stocks.  Lanny added to his position in OXY in October and honestly, I may be tempted to do so as well while the price continues to remain depressed post acquisition.  IRM did just announce a dividend increase as well (as I’ll discuss later).
  • Adding to my position in LEG over the last 12 months has produced solid dividend results.  Before the price recently jumped, I took the opportunity in 2019 to average down my position in the Dividend Aristocrat.
  • Moving my brokerage to Fidelity has allowed me to keep my cash in a money market fund.  At Ally, my idle cash in each investment account did not earn any interest.  Are the amounts large?  No.  But it is nice earning some interest on outstanding cash.  Hopefully my wife’s interest received next month decreases, as that means I would have put that cash to work in some undervalued dividend growth stocks.

Bert’s October Dividend Stock Portfolio Updates

In this section, I show the additional dividend income received due to dividend increases and stock purchases (individual, 401k contributions), during the month.  I’ll start with dividend increases.  The following table shows the dividend increases I received in October:

All three of the dividend increases were highlighted in my recent “Expected Dividend Increases” article that was released earlier in the week.  So my thoughts on each of the increases, and the overall slowing dividend growth environment, shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.  Still, despite slowing dividend growth for each of the three, it was exciting to receive over $21 from dividend increases this month.  Although, as you can see, I can thank Starbucks for the majority of that dividend increase.  What’s funny is that Starbucks’ 14% dividend increase is still lower than their historical average.

Read: How Dividend Increases Hae Added over $330 to Lanny’s Forward Dividend Income in 2019

Now, onto the impact of dividend stock purchases.  I stole the thunder of this table when I summarized all of my dividend stock purchases in an article last week.  So if you want to read about WHY I purchased each individual stock, please read my October stock purchase article.  It discusses the purchase and how the company performed in our dividend stock screener at the time of purchase.  The chart below discloses the dividend impact of each purchase, and 401(k) contribution during the month.  So there is some new information in the following table:

Overall, I received over $204 in forward dividend income from stock purchases and 401(k) contributions during the month.  Not bad, not bad.  That increase the TOTAL impact from dividend increases and purchases to $225.

SUmmary

My dividend income continues to grow at a very nice clip.  But there is still a lot of work to be done, that’s for sure.  My investment has slowed compared to last year.  So I really need to kick thee last two months into high gear.  Luckily, the power of dividend investing is starting to be felt.  With each dividend increase and each reinvested dividend, I see my forward dividend increase at a slightly larger rate.  Slowly, but surely, the dividend snowball is starting to roll and pick up momentum.  It is very exciting to see; and all it does is continue to motivate me to put my capital to work buying income producing asset.

This is the perfect time to end this article with our infamous rally cry.  Come on community, let’s continue to make EVERY DOLLAR COUNT and relentlessly pursue financial freedom.   We’ve got this.  Let’s stay hungry and stay focused.

Did you have a strong month of October?  What new stocks paid you a dividend for the first time?  What dividend increases did you receive? Are you expecting any major purchases before the end of the year?  What companies are on your watch list?

Bert

30 thoughts on “Bert’s October Dividend Income Summary

  1. Only 51% YoY Growth? You are slacking man…haha obviously joking..that’s crazy.

    Just curious, how much do you invest each year- you’ve mentioned you’ve slowed down – any particular reason? This year is the least I’ve invested new capital as well (2 kids in daycare is main reason)….

    Anyways, keep it up bud.

    • hahaha that’s hilarious Jordan. That’s a fair question. The primary drivers for the slowdown are having a child, career items, etc. I’m still putting a lot in, don’t get me wrong. But it isn’t close to the level of 2018.

      Bert

  2. Amazing month Bert! Especially those buys and added additional annual income is impressive, to say the least 🙂
    My October was not too bad, as I received dividends from two new companies in my portfolio – EMN & ITW.
    Keep it up!
    BI

  3. Bert,

    Looks like a solid October for you guys. It was about the same for us, no major milestones crossed but solid dividends, a few raises and putting some capital to work.

  4. Your YoY growth and the added forward income really stand out, Bert. Nice work!
    I got to share in the IRM and SBUX raises.
    No big milestones or events on my end, just steady as she goes… but that’s the plan with DGI.

  5. Congrats on the 50%+ YOY growth, Bert! I benefited from the IRM and SBUX raises as well. October was a record first month of the quarter on my end. As far as stocks on my watch list, ET, EPD, MO, and BTI are all on my watch list for November.

  6. Great month! Your growth rate is absolutely impressive. The funny thing is that we don’t share any company on our dividend received list this month. So I will have a nice task to do some homework and see if I have to add some companies form your list to my watchlist 🙂

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