Lanny’s December Dividend Income

The LAST month of the year.  The last month to tally up dividends for your annual/yearly total.  Typically, within investing in US-based companies – December is usually a big quarter end, as well for all you Mutual Fund & ETF holders out there, in regards to dividend distributions, as well as capital gain distributions.  With 11 months in the book and not one crossing the 4 digit mark yet – did the time finally come this December?  I had my hopes high, so let’s see if Santa delivered over the 1K mark this Christmas!

dividend income

Dividend Income

This month, I received a total of $1,078.04, which is higher than September’s total of $779.30 or a 38.3% increase.  Not too shabby, eh?  I had 20 different payments come in from companies/entities and guess what… it finally happened.  Over $1,000 in income for the month for my first time EVER.  Cannot believe I am seeing 4 digits below, wow… wow…  See Snippet:

dividend income

As you can see above, fairly spread out, outside of the mutual funds that had large payments, but when you look at it from my non-retirement account – Lockheed at $57 was my highest payer for the month.  I had 7 companies pay over $30+, which is very interesting and also exciting to see in a way.  Still stunned that the 4 digit mark was crossed.  I am excited, though, to hopefully beef up JNJ, Target (TGT) and Archer Daniels (ADM)

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 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 huge total of $580.58 or 54% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 46% was from my individual taxable account portfolio.  The monster $580.58 from retirement accounts shows that I’m all ready for my set it and forget it mentality to keep that income going, but also pumped to see that I had 16 companies pay me in my taxable individual account.  To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.

Comparison

Now, I look back at 2015 December’s total.  The total then was $952.86.  From a pure percentage stand point, a growth rate of 13.14%!  I dig the increase and growth, as the more you have coming in, as December’s are my bigger months, the harder it is to grow on a % basis.  Luckily, this dividend total should stay at a minimum around this point for next year, as I can count 5 dividend aristocrats up there.  Some are on Bert’s watch list in Target (TGT) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and others are foundation stocks that an investor should have, such as McDonalds (MCD).  Thank the Lord Kinder Morgan (KMI) isn’t up there, given my recent turmoil and reminder of what it’s like as a dividend investor, but I would be keen on those aristocrats increasing next year, not just from dividend growth or reinvestment

Dividend Income Increases
December Dividend Increases LB

So to re-cap, last month of November, the companies that announced an increase in their dividend, have increased my projected income by $28.45 going forward, love that – that takes quite a bit of a contribution to reach that amount of added income.  This month – was another decent month, as you can see in the chart above. Notable increases were from AT&T (T) at their standard 2% increase, but this added $6 going forward (love the aristocrat) and then Pfizer came through big with a 7.15% increase – another solid year from them.  This is amazing.  From the last four months alone, I have added $97.94 in additional income, I seriously get excited about this.  Forward income that all I had to do was invest capital into it earlier on and watch it happen.

Conclusion & Summary

As I discussed back then with my normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this $1078 would cover 114% of my average $942 monthly expense for my house, including utilities.  WAM!  All covered and good to go – for the first month I have ever had this happen!  Wow…  Talk about maybe being able to take one deep breath.  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.  This is good to see and will help mightily, in that I set my 2016 goals already last week.  I am so thankful and happy to reflect on this month from all of the hardwork.  How did your December month’s go?  Did you crush your goals?  Did Santa deliver for you?  Did you beat last year’s?  Anything unusual happen?  Please share!  Thanks everyone

-Lanny

22 thoughts on “Lanny’s December Dividend Income

  1. Nice, you already covered your shelter cost with your dividend. We do realize that December is a good dividend month, but you seem well on your way to becoming financially independent.
    Go Lanny!

    • CF,

      It is a great month – only downside is how much came from retirement accounts aka not touching that for the time being! Reinvestment helped propel a few extra dollars going forward. Happy to see 2016 in sight, lets do this!

      -Lanny

  2. Congrats Lanny! $1000 in monthly dividends is nothing to sneeze at…..and a fair spell more than i receive. Great job! One day, you’ll receive more than $1000, each and every month.

    Have a good week and a great New Year buddy
    -Bryan

    • Surfer,

      Thank you for the kind words – I hope I can receive that every month soon, that’s for sure. How amazing it would be to receive over 5 figures of dividend income annually.. Soon and some day. Happy new years to you as well!

      -Lanny

  3. Fantastic Lanny! We managed to cross the $1000 mark last December but this year we might not make it even after putting close to $50,000 to work…

    The mutual funds can be a blessing or a curse when it comes to dividends/capital gain payouts. Our VMGRX fund paid out over $600 last year, this year we got a measly $350. I wish the funds would pay out consistent, rising dividends over time just like many of the stalwart companies but unfortunately it just doesnt work that way in most cases. Still, no complaints at reaching $1000 in ONE month!!

    Keep up the great work and look forward to seeing what 2016 has in store for us!

    ADD

    • ADD,

      I hear you – blessing and a curse for sure. My PRFDX is the only one with capital gains distributions and man, always a tough estimate at December – I wasn’t too far off to what actually happen – which is the amount above. The good part is – the dividend portion of the distribution is much higher than last years, so I like that.

      Thank you ADD – you keep it up as well and keep grinding away, only one way to look – forward.

      -Lanny

  4. Lanny, great job! Happy for you bud. See all the hard work and consistency is showing off and coming to fruition now. The dividend machine is self propelling and slowly and surely, wealth is created for you through the power of compounding. Success creates more success bud. Savour the moment and be proud of yourself. Enjoy every step of the way.
    Thank you for sharing this awesome journey with us. We’re all very happy for you.
    Cheers to a wonderful 2016!

    • Hustler,

      What’s funny is how many of those companies above that I have owned for over 4 years – PFE, LMT, INTC, etc.. it is insane. And guess what – they’ve been very solid and consistent for me since the start.

      Compounded, I tell you, is the most incredible power there is in this game. 5 years from now – we all are going to be saying – DAMN – to what is coming in.

      Thanks again for coming by Hustler, congrats on an incredible 2015 to you and I know you are gearing up to crush 2016.

      -Lanny

    • IH,

      Thank you so much for coming by. The first time I’ve crossed $1K – I come close at each quarter end, but finally made it over the hurdle – now, the goal is to see if I can hit it every quarter end in 2016 – it will be hard, but I need to put the pieces in play right?

      Thank you for coming by and happy new years!

      -Lanny

  5. Lanny,
    Kick-ass month man! I finally broke $100 and am really happy with that, I look forward to the next order of magnitude. I enjoyed your goals for next year too, keep killing it man. KMI might have punched us in the gut, but I doubt that will hold us back.
    – Gremlin

    • Gremlin,

      Thank you very much! Let’s see if $1,250 can be on deck soon and $250 for you, eh? Thanks for seeing the goals for the year – it’ll be another aggressive year, but I want that freedom, eh?

      KMI punched us hard, but we keep fighting, another round – rocky style. Happy new years grem!

      -Lanny

    • Captain,

      Thank you very much and – do you think you’ll hit it this year? I know you’re fairly active – stay consistent and it will happen. IBM – 10 actually was just a typing thing for me – it is the date the payment was made on the dividend i.e. December 10th haha. Next time I’ll remove. Great question and happy new year!

      -Lanny

  6. HiLanny,

    Huge congratulations. That’s a great DGI milestone achieved. If only every month were like this!

    It’s a fantastic achievement and monthly dividends like that will turbocharge your future dividends too. I aim to get to a month like your December one day, I’m a very long way off. But seeing you do it is inspiring to me.

    Tristan

    • Tristan,

      Thank you again for coming by! It is a milestone, and feels great that I touched on the 4 digit mark once – now to make it happen more often, right?!

      You will get there, and you aren’t way off. If you have the vision, you are more than halfway there – believe in that, seriously! And the turbo charge is nice – as reinvestment alone increased my forward income by a fairly decent amount, love that factor.

      Happy new year and talk soon Tristan!

      -Lanny

    • R2R,

      Thank you, very much! It does provide comfort, a little milestone/magic number as you’ve said. Almost a barrier… the rest – is going to be amazing. Thanks again for coming by and happy new year!

      -Lanny

    • JT,

      I can’t believe it myself – thank you so much. You know what the journey is like, and guess what – it doesn’t end here. Bigger things in sight – lets use this motivation to start 2016 off right! Thanks again for coming by JT, always.

      -Lanny

  7. Not to compare your totals, but you two came is very close to one another for December. I think it’s great how you two support one another and continue to make good buys in many solid dividend payers. Always nice to see several names in common paying you and me. I’ll be posting my figures this week. I’d love to be in your dividend round up once again 🙂 Thanks for sharing.

    • DivHut,

      We came pretty damn neck and neck, but that punk still had me beat! Joking, joking, I’m happy for him.

      Excited to see your results DH – we are making some massive moves it looks like. I hope 2016 January woes happen, providing us some good opportunities – TGT, ADM, JNJ are on my mind currently – as well as SBUX if I can.

      Thanks again for coming by and hope 2016 has started well for you.

      -Lanny

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