Dividend Income Summary: Lanny’s May 2021 Summary

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dividend income, dividend investing

Dividend investing is firing on all cylinders. The stock market is continuing to set records highs, closing in on 4,300! In addition, the country is almost 50% vaccinated and the economy is opening, that’s for sure. What has continued to stay consistent? Collecting those dividend checks baby!

The community is on fire, as we showcased over $62,000 from 62 bloggers for April. How did May turn out? Let’s dive into Lanny’s dividend income for the month!

Dividend Income

Dividend Income is the fruit from the labor of investing your money in the stock market. Further, Dividend Income is my primary vehicle on the road to Financial Freedom, which you can see through my Dividend Portfolio.

How do I research & screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase? I use our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on Ally’s investment platform (one of our Financial Freedom Products) – commission free.

Relates: Financial Freedom Products

I also automatically invest and max out, pre-tax, my 401k through work and my Health Savings Account. This allows me to save a TON of money on taxes (aka thousands), which allows me to invest even more. In addition, all dividends I receive are automatically being reinvested back into the company that paid the dividend. This takes the emotion out of timing the market.

Growing your dividend income takes time and consistency. Investing as often, and early, as you can allows compound interest (aka dividends) to work it’s magic. I have gone from making $2.70 in a single month in dividend income to well over $4,000+ in a single month. A NEW dividend income record was set in March of 2021. Was it broken this month?! The power of compounding and dividend reinvestment is a wonderful component to the portfolio. Each and every month, whether big or small, I continue to report the passive income that dividend investing provides me. Why?

*Not pictured is my wife’s dividend income above*

I want to show YOU that dividend investing makes it possible to achieve financial freedom and/or financial independence. We all start somewhere, but consistently investing, compounding (reinvesting) dividends and keeping it simple, allows you to be in a significantly better position than most. Further, if I can grow this portfolio and income stream, YOU can too.

dividend income – May 2021

Now, on to the numbers… In May, we (my wife and I) received a total of $1,106.37 of dividend income. WHOA! We did IT! We CROSSED the $1,000 mark in an off-month! The time, saving and consistently investing has paved the way. The goal is to keep this up, across the rest of the year.

Despite the pandemic from COVID-19, dividend income continues to grow, due primarily to additional investment and reinvestment. In the dividend stock purchases article released earlier in April (for March), my wife and I invested $4,000+ in dividend stock investments!

Further, though the dividend cuts hurt very bad, I know we did not take the worst of it. Dividend increases have also helped fuel the income growth. Dividend increases are discussed below and that’s one of the best feelings of being a dividend investor.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month of May, between taxable and retirement (far right column, under “Retirement”) accounts:

Welp, I am sure you see what I see. $134 dividend check from AT&T, not to mention my wife’s $56 dividend of AT&T within the retirement account. For those that don’t know, that dividend is about to shrink due to the spin-off / merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery+, creating Warner Bros. Discovery. Here’s the video:

On the positive side, Procter & Gamble’s (PG) dividend is getting much better/bigger, thanks to their 10% dividend increase this year. Please – let’s pray for some form of stock slide to happen this June!

Related: Top 5 Foundation Dividend Stocks and watch our video: Top 5 Foundation Stocks VIDEO

Lastly, as for our retirement accounts, we received a total of $392.17 or 35.4%. The other 64.6% was from the individual taxable portfolio that can be used for everyday expenses. I need to keep bolstering the taxable account, as that passive income stream can be accessed today/right now. However, I continue and will always maximize the 401k and IRA, as that continues to pay-off in dividends, literally.

DIvidend Income Year over Year Comparison

2020:

2021:

From comparison, my dividend income grew over $202! This represents a growth rate of 22% since prior year!

The tough pill will be the AT&T (T) dividend this time next year. However, there are many bright spots here. General Mills (GIS) increased their dividend recently, which they had not done so for years, especially since the large Blue Buffalo pet food acquisition.

So many dividend increases and reinvestment can be witnessed above. Companies such as Procter & Gamble (PG), Starbucks (SBUX), and yes – even Kinder Morgan (KMI) are showing strong growth year over year.

Overall, solid yearly performance and the growth rate, if kept constant, would equate to being over $1,300+ next year in 2022. We are going to CRUSH that dividend income goal, to say the least.

Dividend Increases

dividend investing, dividend increases

FOUR Dividend increases were announced, see below. First, two of the dividend stocks CUT their dividend last year. Therefore, it’s nice to see dividend increases resume, to make up the gap from the pre-pandemic level.

Next, two dividend growth stocks halted any form of increase announcement during 2020. However, the increases came back strong, with Leggett & Platt (LEG) and LyondellBasell (LYB) increasing the dividend over the rate of inflation.

WestRock (WRK) cut their dividend during the pandemic (I do not think they needed to, honestly). However, they came back with a 20% dividend increase. The dividend went from $0.20 per quarter to $0.24. Now, let’s keep this in mind – they are FAR from their pre-pandemic level of $0.465.

May continued the trend of delivering high dividend growth. This has been consistent now, the last few months. Will June be the same? See the expected dividend increases for June 2021, below.

In total, dividend increases created a total of $54.26 in additional passive dividend income. I would need to invest $1,550 at a 3.50% dividend yield in order to add that income. Thank you for the increases, as I didn’t have to come up with the capital to create that form of income!

Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary

The name of the game is to apply what you learn through financial education. The next steps are to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live life on your own terms. My plan is to demonstrate that dividend income can be a revenue engine. A revenue engine that allows you to take back control of your life. A revenue engine to help you reach financial freedom. Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier and starts to immensely make sense!

Excited for the future, no doubt. Further, all of the investing from last year and moves this year, shows that my aim to save 60% of my income, and making every dollar count, has provided the dividend growth.

If you are just starting out on your investment journey and you aren’t sure to start – please see the articles mentioned throughout this post. We are trying to bring you financial education and help you reach your financial goals.

Further, if you are starting out and/or want to know the Top 5 Stocks we always recommend, please see our YouTube video, subscribe to our channel and check us out! We’ll help break down further investing topics not only on this blog, but by showing you through video!