One of the best months of dividend income to report. As dividend investors, we love the quarter ends, due to being the most popular month, as well as an even better month for those that have mutual funds and/or ETFs. The busy season is slowly slowing down, gosh I wish it would end, but dividend income always keeps me at least going for the time being.
Dividend Income
I received a total of $424.15 of dividend income in April. This is slightly up, but could have been even higher, but one company changed their timing of the dividend, offset by one new addition to my April listing. Outside of that, everything went smooth, with dividends coming and being reinvested. The 401(k), Health Savings Account (HSA) and all dividends are automatically invested/reinvested and helps take the emotion out of timing & making a decision. Also, to find out why I max out my 401(k) and HSA – please refer to the 3rd part of my tax series, as that describes the magnitude of benefits to increase the amount you can invest due to reduction in taxes.
Here we have a solid 11 different entities sending checks to me this month (same number from last year). The new face in this line up is Cisco (CSCO), whom I purchased on two separate occasions last year. One name is off the list, as they slid into quarter-ends, was DowDuPont (DWDP). Solid names here, that have had a few solid dividend increases thus far, this year.
Similarly, I have split out between the individual stock amounts and the retirement accounts, as the ” – R” indicates a retirement account dividend (or the furthest column to the right). I separate these two, as I like to know what portion of my dividend income is coming from those retirement accounts that I cannot touch until 59.5 (barring any other usage rule I could use). Here, it shows that I received a total of $48.25 (up from $35.45 last year) or 11% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 89% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. Additionally, this shows from retirement accounts that I’m all ready for my set it and forget it mentality to keep that income going. To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.
Dividend Income Year Over Year Comparison
2017: 
2018: 
Here’s the lineup! Every single company that is on both periods, has higher dividend income. It’s fun seeing this, no doubt. Realty Income (O) is higher due to a new purchase made earlier in the year. Therefore, I am starting to see the fruit from the infusion there. Dividend increases have been strong and steady, and I expect this to continue, going forward. Year over year, I experienced a 15.51% growth in dividend income received. Maintaining that same growth rate would produce $490 next year. However, the goal is to always BEAT the bar you just RAISED. Now… we know this is a heavy dividend increase month, so how did that turn out?
dividend increases
A month wouldn’t be a month without high quality companies increasing their dividend! See the small chart below for the details on the dividend increases announced this month that are holdings in my portfolio.
Here we go! As Bert mentioned in his recent article – there were quite a few dividend increases expected in April! The fun part was this: Tuesday I had IBM, Wednesday was Grainger (GWW) and then Thursday was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Those were some exciting days and a much better week : ) However, the most exciting announcement was Kinder Morgan (KMI) getting back into the dividend increase game! I don’t expect 60% increases, at all, going forward, but nice to see their capital strategy has begun to work for them. Further, loved that Procter & Gamble (PG) came in with a better than prior year dividend increase (4% vs. 3%). It looks like, though, IBM’s dividend growth prospects may be starting to slow down here, as they continue to transform their business. $77.74 added would equate to, at 3.50% yield, an investment required of $2,221! That allow speaks to the power of dividend growth at it’s finest! Thank you dividend aristocrats and other dividend growth announcements!
Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary
The name of the game is to learn and act in the right manner to what you have learned. The plan is to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live a balanced life. My hope is that my month of dividend income above shows the community that one can use dividend income as a revenue engine to take back control of your life. Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier to do and starts to make quite a bit of sense : )
As I discussed with my updated – normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this dividend income would cover over 43% of my average $984 monthly expense for my house, including utilities. This would substantially cover my utilities and groceries, no doubt! In similar fashion – 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 allowed promising results already this year.
Another month down and it was a fun, record-setting April! I am sure there are many more who established new highs for the month and even for your lifetime, to this point. April is such a fun dividend increase month, to which I would assume that most of you experienced or benefited from April’s announcements. I am excited to read the comments and thank you, the community, for stopping by; as you are helping me on my journey to financial freedom!
If I remember correctly Lanny, you have owned KMI since before they cut the dividend a few years back. It’s nice to see you getting rewarded for your patience. Shortly after the dividend cut, I sold KMI. I always have a hard time dealing with cuts. I usually sell after the cut, but of course that is when the stock is near bottom and I miss any recovering in the price or dividend. Fortunately, I get more right than wrong. Tom
Tom –
I did hold, as I thought Richard was one heck of a hustler to make things happen. Honestly, you probably did the right thing, deployed the capital into a more less-stressful asset to own. so hey – your decision, was right.
-Lanny
Hi Lanny,
Great month! Even with one of the companies moving their dividend to a different month, you managed to get a respectable raise compared to last year!
I can see that your investment to O is also paying off big-time, and you are going to enjoy this each month!
Keep it up!
-BI
BI –
Appreciate the comment and you are right – a decent month, even with a switch-over from someone. I love O and that monthly dividend is sweet, bitter-damn-sweet, haha. Talk soon!
-Lanny
Nice progress – appreciate the recap. I like the year-over-year comparison each month – it’s helpful to view momentum that way.
A good list of names as well. Congrats again! – Mike
Mike –
Thank you for the comment sir! What I should do is…. do a 5 year comparison, that’ll really make me crap a brick, haha. In all seriousness, time, consistency and patience has paid off; hard to continue doing that, but I think it has been worth it!
-Lanny
I hit $99.93 for April, a new record for a non-end of the quarter month. Not bad for only starting my dividend portfolio in November ’17!! End of Q2 should put me over the $400 mark for the first time, very exciting!
Rookie –
$100 isn’t a rookie move at all! May have to change your name ; ) Holy Crap – you’ve come a pretty damn far stretch for only being involved for 6 months or so. Just a lot of investing??
-Lanny
Lanny, Congratulations on your excellent performance! This is very impressive, and it looks like you are well on your way to financial independence. A 15% yearly increase is just amazing.
I have been looking at KMI for sometime, but for various reasons I have not pulled the trigger. Cisco, Procter & Gamble, and a few others have been good to Dividend FIREman as well this year. ????
I always look forward to your updates. Keep ‘em coming!
FIREman –
Thank you, thank you! The journey is long, but each day, I get closer and I hope you have been feeling the same.
For KMI – I am sure some of the reasons you didn’t pull was the spotty dividend history – cuts, big increases, cuts, etc.. I want to say that CISCO, PG and others most definitely have been nice, great pricing on PG as of late.
Thanks again for the comment, appreciate it sir!
-Lanny
Fantastic number Lanny congratulations.
Matt –
As always, appreciate the comment. Hopefully I can keep this production up, doing everything I can to do so.
-Lanny
Congrats! That is a fantastic month. I am still just starting out and building up. April 2018 showed a nice $22.94 in dividend income, a 110% increase over last years $10.92. I’ve slowly been building my stake in Cisco as well. It has been a great stock to hold. I want to keep pushing, and hopefully break the $100 monthly barrier next year!
Keep up your run to FI!!
N2D –
Thank you very much. That’s solid, $23 is so awesome. And look at that growth, that’s tremendous : ) Also – I love Cisco, hopefully they keep that dividend growth up. Keep saving money and investing it all over there! LETS GO!!!!!!!!
-Lanny
Great work Lanny!
ADD –
Appreciate the love. Luck has a lot to do with it!
-Lanny
Nice Lanny, a 15% increase is sweet and it’s great to see those big dividend bumps that’ll boost your forward income!
Time –
And you can better believe I am going to do whatever it takes to keep that growth rate up… also – doesn’t hurt if the companies want to keep jacking up their dividend as well : ) Thanks for the stop by!
-Lanny
Congrats! Lanny. Nice growth. I love the fact that every company increased its dividend from 2017. WTG.
Geek –
Appreciate the growth comment, as that’s been the fuel and has been driving me forward to keep going.
-Lanny
Great month Lanny! You are the beneficiary of some nice dividend increases as well. Congrats! 🙂
MDD –
That was THE BEST part of the month. Not even collecting the dividend income, but seeing the true growth in action. Thanks for the comment MDD!
-Lanny
Hey Lanny, fantastic results and ditto growth. I really like your calculation on how much capital you would need to invest to get the same money @ 3.5% yield instead of your dividend increases. It really shows the power of this DGI magic.
Robot –
Thank you very much. It’s a true sign of what it would take to add that dividend income to your portfolio and let’s just say I am damn lucky to have invested in these dividend behemoths!
-Lanny
Great income, $425 is a number which is making me drool. I hope to add to some companies which are on your list aswell!
DI
Dutch –
Thank you very much for the comment. It’s all a journey, I loved it when I had $4 in a month and love it the same to see $425, it’s all in stride my man! Keep it going, we will all get there!
-Lanny
Lanny,
400+ is awesome. I am eagerly working to get to that point too (really just to keep growing). It paints a nicer picture once you get to that level and makes it easier to show to those around you that yes you can work at this and have it also work for you.
– Gremlin
Gremlin –
You will, you know you will and I know you will. It does show that it works, it shows that time plays a HUGE part and being part of this experience. Seeds that were planted years ago continue to keep growing and blossoming, it’s fricken awesome.
-Lanny
Awesome results as usual, Lanny! 15% YoY growth is so solid.
I had to do a double take at the 9 payers from your taxable account this month, as I had 14 payers, and we don’t share a single one (we do share O from your retirement account, though). Just goes to show you that there are lots of great companies that can populate your dividend portfolio and help you reach your goals.
Love all the dividend raises as well. Keep powering ahead.
Engineering –
Thank you for stopping by. Damn, you had 14 payers?! That is legit. It’s insane how we don’t share a single one in our taxable account, let alone during April/an off dividend month. Craziness. Thanks again E. D. and talk to you soon, keep grinding!
-Lanny
Lanny, congrats on having an awesome month. 15% YoY increase is great. Both O and CSCO paid me dividends last month and it was great to see the increases in PG, GWW and JNJ as I have them all in my portfolio. I do agree with you that a good goal is to raise the bar once you’ve met it. Looking forward to seeing how May treats you.
DP –
Thank you!! How nice was receiving those divvies from the two dividend monsters right there? And pumped that we both share those name, as it relates to dividend increases. More to come my man! Appreciate the stop by, talk soon.
-Lanny
15% YOY is no joke. Keep up the investments and I’m expecting you to break $500 next April. Your on the right path and I can’t to see what happen in a few years time.
DD –
Thank you! It’s true, it’s real, no jokes here! I am looking forward to having a stead > $500 dividend income stream… can’t we just add a 0 to that? haha
-Lanny
Another fantastic month in the books for you Lanny. I know you were excited about the KMI raise. Holy Smokes!
MH –
Thank you so much, and yes – I was soooooo pumped. Now… the goal is to at least maintain that dividend : )
-Lanny
Great month, your patience is really showing with the increases over time. Good buy on Realty Income, I’m holding 200 shares in my Roth IRA now, and hoping the price stays low enough where next year’s contribution can buy another 100!
Brian –
WHOA! 200 shares ?! That’s a fricken AWESOME position, nice work.
-Lanny
Awesome month! Nice to see your buys paying off and adding to the growth. Lots of dividend increases as well. I loved that CSCO 13% increase earlier this year. Hope to see more of those. Cheers!
Congrats on the record April. Always fun to hit those milestones. GSK is a name I have considered for a while but never pulled the trigger. Seems like a nice yield play. Keep buying, reinvesting and enjoying those raises when they come!!!
I’m thinking of putting my stock investments in an llc, I don’t see much tax advantages but my llc will own assets that cash flows via dividends and I see it as an alternative to writing a will and also passing wealth to future generations. I also plan on including other asset classes to my llc. I’m trying to create a mini Berkshire Hathaway ,Buffett style. Am I doing way too much? Help!