This month, I received a total of $360.59 of dividend income, not too bad, but not amazingly high. Quite an even spread in the number of players and even amounts amongst the retirement and taxable accounts (Retirement accounts are on the right side):
Caterpillar (CAT) had a nice punch this month, as well as HCP and National Gridd (NGG). Overall, not a crazy month in dividend income amounts, but a stellar amount nonetheless.
Similarly, I have split out between the individual stock amounts and the retirement accounts, as the ” – R” indicates a Roth IRA dividend (or the furthest column to the right, I must have left the “R”‘s off this month). 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 $152.09 or 42% of my income from retirement accounts (up from 25% last year) and the other 58% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. We all know my set it and forget it mentality to keep that retirement income going, as well as my Tax Strategy Part 1, 2 and 3 but also pumped to see that I had 8 companies pay me in my taxable individual account. To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.
dividend income yoy comparison
Something that I like to do now is attach in prior year’s dividend income, which the image is copied in below, with 2015 first and 2016 to follow.
2015: 
2016: 
AT&T (T) has been a huge difference in my eyes here. The dividend is up $5.29, which is a 7.67% growth year over year. This is a benefit of dividend growth and reinvestment working the magic. Realty Income (O) is up by a nice amount, as well as the other health care reits in Senior Housing (SNH) and Sabra Health (SBRA). For math purposes, the year-over-year growth was 25.49%, which is incredible! With my latest purchase of Citizens & Northern (CZNC), this percentage should only increase next year, and would expect this to be at or over the $400 mark! Cannot wait for time to take it’s course, that’s for sure.
Overall, feel fairly happy with an above 25% growth in the course of the year, given the fact that KInder Morgan (KMI) is on the list, a company that experienced a devastating slash to the dividend payout. If I experience the same growth rate, we are going to be nearing the $450 mark!
Dividend increases
Back on track here! Last month I did not experience or witness any dividend increases, but thankfully, this has changed. I have recorded three dividend increases from Realty Income (O), Scott’s Miracle Grow (SMG) and Kraft-Heinz (KHC). The largest increase has come from SMG at 6.39% and this added $4.74 in projected income. It was great seeing O continue their increases, as thus far I believe their dividend increases in total have soared over 5%, which is a better growth rate than in previous years for the company. Kraft did their standard increase, a little bit early might I add, and I had no complaints here. The $9.26 added would take, at a 3.50% rate, an investment of $265. Therefore, I’ll take the extra added income, thank you dividend paying companies!
dividend income conclusion & Summary
August was a great month! Why would I say that? Fairly easy – I employed my tax saving strategies, which is geared toward retirement accounts that pay dividends on the March/June/September/December months, which has retracted capital from being deployed for companies that pay in August, yet I still received a massive 25% growth rate. Further, I experienced three great companies that increased their dividend, whereas, I published 0 companies in August of 2015. Further, with my new purchase of 81 additional shares into Citizens & Northern (CZNC), this will provide over an additional $21 per quarter beginning in November, which will impact August of 2017.
As I discussed with my NEW updated – normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this $360.59 would cover 37% of my average $984 monthly expense for my house, including utilities; this is also down from last year, due to one-time dividend as mentioned above, but believe with the organic growth – it is trending the right way. All of the investing from last year and moves this year, show being frugal to save 60% of my income, that every dollar counts, has helped me in achieving lofty goals that I set in place for my 2016 year.
How did your August turn out? Bring in a good amount of dividend income? What do you see from my progress above? Any comments, tips, insight or further suggestions are always appreciated! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and thank you for coming by! Talk soon.
-Lanny