Fall is in the air, postseason baseball is about to start for the Indians, the Browns won their first game since 2016, dividends continue to increase by large percentages, and we have officially entered the fourth quarter. Since it is a new month, you know what that means? It is time to summarize my dividend income from the previous month. Lanny kicked off the festivities by releasing his dividend income article and disclosing the fact he received over $1,700 in dividend income during the month. Incredible Lanny, just incredible. Congratulations! Now that I am nice and motivated, let’s check out the results. Here is my September dividend income summary,
September Dividend Income Summary
In September, my wife and I received $1,183.94 in dividend income! This represents a 58% 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:
- Where to start, where to start. Positions with a “$0” in the 2017 column represent new positions (except for my wife’s stake in MCD. That was a clerical error in the prior year. Along with DWDP, who switched months that the company pays a dividend). Why am I bringing this up? If you count, I received dividends from 4 new companies compared to last year (PEP, D, TSN, MYBF). That is one quick way to jolt your dividend income compared to last year. These purchases are really starting to add up and make a difference.
- The story of 2018 continues to be dividend increases. Post tax-reform, we have all received some pretty sizable dividend increases in the current year. Looking at the chart, there are a ton of examples where my dividend payment increased anywhere from 2% to 20% compared to last year. Man do I love the power of dividend investing!
- In addition to initiating new positions this year, I saw nice increases from Realty Income (purchased 3X in the first quarter) and Consolidated Edison. One of my goals this year was to build up smaller positions in my portfolio. I still have some work to do, especially with some of my recent purchases that aren’t considered “full” positions. But I have really enjoyed receiving at least $20 per month from Realty Income.
- Last, but not least, the mutual funds. At the beginning of the year, my wife and I decided to maximize our 401k and HSA contributions for the year. The results so far have been incredible. The table above shows that our top 3 dividend payments came from our retirement accounts and the income has grown by a decent clip. I love this automated investing strategy and it is nice to have a solid chunk of funds entering our accounts twice per month. Plus, the tax savings next year should be SWEET!
September 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.
I received three dividend increases during the month. The largest of which, by far, was McDonalds; which added $22 in annual dividend income to my forward income. I know the two of us, and so many of you, were PUMPED to receive that double-digit dividend increase. And the best part is that it looks like October will continue this 2018 trend. The next table will represent added income from stocks I purchased during the month in my regular portfolio and 401k purchases.
It is crazy. With purchases and contributions, I was able to add $360 in forward dividend income this month! Armed with an arsenal of free trades from switching brokerages from Capital One Investing to Ally Investing, I was able to make a series of small purchases. Four of the purchases (T, D, KHC, and ED), were additions to positions I had already established in the past. Two positions (NGG and IRM) are new to my portfolio. And boy did those two new positions pack a punch for forward dividend income. This most likely won’t be my last purchase of IRM either as I would like to own at least 50 shares of this awesome REIT. One thing I did notice though is how quickly each of these small purchases add up!
The last three additions were mutual funds, so those holdings are in our retirement accounts or HSA. If you noticed, I didn’t purchase any shares of VITSX during the month. This is the fund that is held in my HSA. The plan allows us to invest every contributed dollar once our cash balance is $1,000. If the balance is less than $1,000, you cannot invest another dollar until the balance returns to this mark. Unfortunately, I had to pay a few medical expense during the month and the bills exceeded my HSA contributions during the month. Thus, I could not invest any new capital into the investment account. I’m planning on resuming this again in October! All in all, with purchases and dividend increases, my dividend income increased over $385 this month!
Summary
As I said earlier, the Indians are in the post-season and the Browns won a game for the first time since 2016. What could be better? All jokes aside, I was pretty happy and excited about the results this month. At the risk of sounding cliche, seeing results like these serve as excellent motivation to continue investing and making every dollar count. Now, let’s make this fourth quarter count and push ourselves even harder as 2018 comes to a close!
Bert