August is already in the midst of wrapping up and I have tallied my dividend income total for the month. Again, not a typically high month for me as a dividend income investor, but everything has been truly phenomenal and I am grateful for any dollar that I receive for efforts that I had placed in the past. That’s what the journey is about, to start seeing the fruit from the seeds being planted, weeks, months and years ago. August, thank you – let’s see what you brought in from the patch.
Dividend Income
This month, I received a total of $287.34. Not a bad snapshot of my income, seen below, and still had quite a few little soldiers out there bringing me a good/service. THANK YOU to the companies below. Words cannot express how I feel that I am able to bring in over $275 this month:
From looking this over, my highest dividend payer is from AT&T, which I own a decently sized position in at over 148 shares now, which the dividend is almost enough for 2 shares of AT&T at their current price levels. I wanted a nice position in this area, as I believe them to be one of the foundation stocks for a dividend portfolio.
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 forgot the “R” on O). 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 $71.73 or 25% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 75% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. A soft month for retirement income, don’t really mind if it’s a high or low month, but ultimately would like my dividend income for the retirement accounts to be a set it and forget it mentality. To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.
Comparison
Now, I look back at 2014 August’s total. The total then was $180.47. From a pure percentage stand point, a growth rate of 59%, which as crazy as this seems – I think I can keep that growth going, which computes to a next year amount of $457 for the month. I think I can do it! Possibly with new purchases, new dividend reinvestment and dividend growth – I can do this! 11 different companies paid me (again) this month as I had the same amount that paid me last month in July. These totals and increases make sense, as this month I recently CRUSHED my way over $6,000 in projected income, which can also be attributed to my purchases in Emerson and Norfolk earlier this month. Love seeing that amount go up, that’s for sure.
Dividend Income Increases
There was nothing extremely significant this month. John Deere kept their dividend the same, as well as BBL. Should be interesting going forward with these 2 stocks. Hope the dividends come back to being on the increase mode…
Conclusion & Summary
As I discussed back then with my normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this $287 would cover 30.5% of my average $942 monthly expense for my house, including utilities. This covers my full auto loan payment, which is nice to know. All of the investing from last year and moves this year, show being frugal to save 60% of my income help me in achieving lofty goals that I set in place for my 2015 year. I am looking forward to my favorite time period – a quarter month end in September, as it will be a challenge if I could beat my June dividend income of $844! Thankful and happy to reflect on this month from all of the hardwork. How did your August month’s go? Did you crush your goals? Did you beat last year’s? Anything unusual happen? Please share! Thanks everyone
-Lanny
Nice chunk of dividend income this month Lanny. Congrats on the steady progress and a fantastic 59% YoY progress. Keep up the great work!
R2R
R2R,
Thank you for checking it out! I can go on record stating that I should have no problem keeping this growth rate up for next year. Can’t wait to see how everyone is doing and if they are excited about their results. Appreciate you coming by roadmap!
Lanny
Great job Lanny on the income. Amazing how fast the growth comes when comparing to a year earlier. Looking forward to a couple years from now when that dividend income covers everything each month. Will be a wild mile stone!
Michael,
Thanks for reading the post – thinking of having a different income source than what you typically spend your time doing to cover your expenses just still feels unreal. It’s growing and it’s growing fast. I am very excited for what’s to come going forward from all of the hard efforts of the community here. Everyone here helps a great deal keeping everyone on track, that’s all I have to say. Thank you again Michael!
-Lanny
That is an amazing increase from last August. Your last August looked good too! Congratulations on crushing your goals.
JT,
Appreciate it! I remember then, crossing the $100 mark was always awesome, now I’m looking forward to another 0 at the end hopefully this upcoming month, time will tell on that. Thanks again JT!
-Lanny
Amazing increase, you’re totally killing it. More than $200 of income for doing nothing at all? Sign me up!
Tawcan,
I think you are signed up haha!! Loving this, September is what I’m anxious for, as my dividend income going forward will increase with reinvestment. Let’s keep the momentum going Tawcan!
-Lanny
Awesome Lanny. Wonderful isn’t it? Love this journey bud. It’s great and such a high receiving money because of our money. Straight up hustler. :). Keep the momentum going. Cheers bud.
Hustler,
Been a fun ride so far eh? Still a ways to go, but I’m dedicated and pushing forward. Had a busy weekend, but will be back on tonight catching up with everyone’s articles. Thanks DH, keep it going.
-Lanny
Not a bad improvement I’d say! Over $100 compared to last year at the same time = Great progress!
DArena,
I would agree – not a bad improvement, paying for a few more bills and thank goodness they aren’t increasing at the same rate my dividend income is. If that’s the case, well, I would def. have to change how I am living. Thanks Arena, lets keep going forward.
-Lanny
Nice job! Keep it up!
Patrick,
You know what – I WILL. Joking – thank you for coming by and you better be doing the same!
-Lanny
Good work. I hope your dividend income continues to grow.
Laura,
Thank you very much. I will try to keep planting the seeds to make that come true. appreciate your kind words.
-Lanny
Lanny,
Awesome work there, man. Like you said, who wouldn’t be happy with over $275 they didn’t have to work for? 🙂
And great stuff there with the 59% YOY growth rate. That number will become harder to achieve as you go, but it’s the absolute changes that we’re really after anyway.
Keep it up over there. You’re having a great 2015!
Best regards.
Mantra,
Thank you very very much. It’s weird – over $275 for just making a consistent decision to invest. I am trying to not take it for granted. As you know, it is a lot of work up front, the saving, the research, the decisions. It’s amazing, and it’s a learning process, through and through.
The growth rate will be tough. I have a feeling I could squeak out one more year of high dividend growth, but the brakes will hit and will be hit hard. Luckily, a lot of growth now comes either in the form of reinvestment or dividend increases – which this has been a weird year (John Deere comes to mind).
Thanks though Mantra, you’re having the best year yet as well.
-Lanny
Lanny,
August has been a great month for dividends even if the market was down overall. Congratulations on your income and what’s definitely your best year yet!
-DD
DD,
I agree – a few companies I wish would have/typically do increase did not this month, as a downside. I do like the reinvestment at lower prices, not going to lie! Big month for us coming, stay tuned, right?!
-Lanny