Lanny’s Dividend Income Summary – December

Hello everyone!  It’s the final month of 2014 and it was a great one at that!  I have finally received my last dividend payment and am able to conclude on the amount of income my portfolio was able to bring for the month.  The journey is a long one and being able to reflect on the capstone 12th month of the year and to see what leaps/bounds one was able to make is a humbling experience.  I know we all love to read these posts from the writers in the community, so let’s get to the December Dividend Income Summary!

dividend income

Dividend Income

This month, I received a total of $952.86!  My hands are almost shaking as I type this… I cannot believe I received that much in distributions back to me this month alone.  To put this in perspective, last year’s total I received $1,872; this single month of December 2014 gave me a dividend income total that was over 50% last year’s FULL amount!  Here is the breakdown & comparison of the full year:

LB Dec Div Inc2013 vs 2014

$952.86 by celebrating Christmas, taking two weeks off and drinking plenty of coffee.  This goes to show that saving 60% of your income to buy dividend paying & increasing stocks definitely pays off!  December and other quarter ends are usually the bigger months as the more common month a company pays its dividend is during this time.  I have crossed the $500 mark now – 4 different times, on specifically each quarter end; with also crossing $100 7 straight months!  Phew.  $953 is enough to coverage my mortgage and majority of my utility bills, as I discussed in my fixed expenses post way back in the day.

Comparison

Now, I look back at 2013 December’s total.  The total back then was $415.  Earning $953 this month equates to an 129.6% increase!  I will rephrase that, this month of December 2014 I earned 129.6% more money from dividend income stocks than I did last year.  Back in my September 2014 article, I quoted this “I am expecting my December quarter end in dividend income to be somewhere between $650-$750.” — aka – I crushed this expectation set 3 months ago!  That is probably part of the reason why I am crushing over $5,000 in projected income and have recently discovered I had hit one my 2015 dividend income goals I had set by re-visiting and analyzing the dividend growth rate’s impact on your portfolio.  I was able to exceed all of these expectations and prior year’s totals simply from saving, and consistently investing – along with dividend income increases.  The power of reinvestment is real and this is another example to showcase that!  September 2014 I received $610, June was $754 and March stood at $615.  All 4 of these quarter ends combined = $2,932 or an average of $733!  Quarter ends are always exciting and now we all see why : )

Dividend Income Increases

This month had a few dividend increase announcements.  (1) As we described in our December re-cap and expected January dividend income increases, ATT (T) had a 2.2% increase to their shareholders, which will add more income to my portfolio going forward.  (2) Pfizer (PFE) had a nice 7.7% increase (As MyDividendPipeline wrote about) this month as well, not a bad bump.  I won’t go into detail with my retirement ETFs or Mutual funds, as they also had nice dividend growth rates in December, but their increases are quite variable in nature and ultimately depends on the stocks held within each of the fund.  The two stocks mentioned above, however, added $10.65 going forward to my dividend income!  I recently wrote about the power of the dividend growth rate and the impact on your portfolio – and each dividend increases definitely adds and reduces your time required to financial freedom.  I recently discovered that assessing the growth rate for each individual stock I own and multiplying that rate X the weighted average percentage of income that stock provides & then summing these – will/can show you your expected dividend growth rate for the next year, as an expectation.  I recommend for you to check it out and assess it on your own portfolio!

Conclusion & Summary

Wow… I cannot believe close to $1K came in through the door this month, and I’m extremely happy & lucky to receive a record setting month of Dividend Income.  Bert has a few surprises for you as well, as he received a few shocking payments that I’m excited for everyone to read about, including myself.  My year-to-date total of dividend income now finishes at… drumroll… $4,011.92!  This is an average of $334 per month received this year for simply researching, improving my financial literacy and making fundamental decisions into high quality dividend paying stocks.  This is an increase of 114% when compared to last year – think I can do that again?  Joking, that would be hard as I’d have to earn over $8K in income and, well, I am approximately $3K away from that projected amount?  As with anything – this train is running with some speed now, as dividend reinvestment and growth are going to fuel this income even further.  With a projected $5,015 in dividend income as of today = $418 a month, which is already an increase of $84/month going into 2015, we shall see if that holds at least that much of an increase (I am going to expect more though!).  With that being said, I am pleased with my year to date summary and the results of all the hard work and consistency from investing.  I cannot thank Bert, the dividend community and all readers for the motivation to keep this freedom goal going – without that I would not have been able to do what was accomplished this year.

With that being said – How did your last month finish off?  Satisfied?  Did you hit targets you set for yourself?  Are you ready for 2015?  As always – thanks for stopping by and I am excited to hear from everyone!

-Lanny

28 thoughts on “Lanny’s Dividend Income Summary – December

    • DFD,

      Thank you! It is wild that I was able to earn over 50% of my 2013 income in just one month alone.

      Think I can hit the big 114% increase again next year? Phew.. that would be insane, and obviously I would be more than ecstatic, going to take a lot more planned capital : )

      Thanks for stopping by and the further motivation! Great blog you have started over there as well!

      -Lanny

  1. Yes my man! This is so freakin awesome, to be able to cover your mortgage in dividends is like a blurry dream to me right now. Bit you’ve done it, and surpassed it! Woohoo dividend growth investing rocks man

    • M,

      Thanks for coming down to the blog – it is weird – this month was enough to cover the mortgage payment + escrow for insurance/property taxes. Wild. Now it’s to make it consistently that high EVERY month! Thank you – hopefully this can be used for you as motivation or continue fuel for your journey, much appreciated!

      -Lanny

    • FF,

      Phew… it is and I hope that I can keep up with the pace it has been on during 2014! Bert and I will have big year end reviews of our portfolio, where it stands, what happened this year, etc.. It’ll be great. I appreciate your kind words, but this is far from being the end, but you get to see the fruit from your labor big time during these quarter end “pop” months.

      Thanks again FF, talk soon!

      -Lanny

  2. Lanny,

    Damn, son! That is what I call making a STATEMENT!!! This is exactly this type of month that provides the drive and desire to take things to the next level. Keep the momentum going and the results will just keep getting better and better.

    This is some seriously motivational sh#t!

    MDP

    • MDP,

      My man. How did I know I was about to receive an epic comment from you? Your damn right I’m throwing it down. 2015 is about to get a sweet chin music to the face. The drive is unreal and your comments and obviously motivation has helped make this push further and further.

      Dreams. Goals. Accomplish. Repeat. LETS GO MDP.

      -Lanny

    • R2R,

      Thank you very much for your comment roadmap! It was nice getting up to the $4K mark – definitely was not expected, but then again – the harder you work the luckier you get, you know? If only I can repeat this year at a minimum for 2015… haha, it will be tough but I am going to try to hit each of my goals I established back in November.

      Thank you again Roadmap! A few more days of 2014, let’s make them count!

      -Lanny

    • Henry,

      I know, almost to the $1K mark, would have been nice to see 4 digits, though! The huge increase, I believe – are my quarterly mutual funds that were much bigger than expected, to which they also had massive increases compared to last year. Additionally – It is from ALL of the purchases I had in September, October and November, which helped fuel what was to come later on aka December haha. I’m very excited now for each month, though, going forward – as I should be over $100 each time..

      Thanks again Henry – cheers to the end of 2014, lets get to 2015 with firing spirit!

      -Lanny

  3. Hi Lanny,

    Wow that’s awesome – congrats on the increase and a spectacular end to the New Year! Who needs fireworks when your dividends are exploding! 🙂

    I have to wait until the end of the month before I can report out – TROW pays on 30-Dec for me and I see that you hold one of their funds in your retirement account too. The Vanguard funds I hold pay out at the end of the month too, but so far it’s looking to be a good December.

    Best wishes,
    -DL

    • DL,

      Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate the kind words and hopefully each year my dividend-works are brighter and louder.

      You probably received the last few then today/tonight right? Ready to make that post? I know a bunch of us are eagerly waiting on the dividend income total!

      I’m excited for the year end summary for you and to see what 2015 will bring, ONE MORE DAY to 2014, make it a fun one!

      -Lanny

  4. Living frugally, saving and investing! What a concept! From his grave, Benjamin Franklin is bursting with pride! Moreover, that you bother to share your financial journey with others so that they might learn and prosper alongside you is nothing short of inspiring. Please accept best wishes and encouragement from an old guy (66) who knows firsthand the wisdom of your path. Keep up the excellent work.

    • KC,

      You got that right! I hope Bennie boy can read these articles! Of course I want to share this – I hope that it touches and helps others realize that a little bit of saving here and there and a little bit of simplified investing can go a long ways, easily. I know one of our major goals is to help bring financial literacy to others.

      You’re not an old guy – plenty of experiences and adventures you’ll have! Keep it up and enjoy life as it happens.

      -Lanny

  5. Wow that’s an impressive amount for December dividend income. $4,011.92 annual dividend is also awesome. Looks like your big months are March, June, Sept, and Dec. Would be nice to start averaging the dividend income so the month to month dividends are about the same instead of having big spikes (big spikes are good though). Keep up the excellent work!

    • Tawcan,

      Thank you! My quarter ends are huge, I do agree. I also agree with evening out the dividend months – obviously when it comes down to freedom – budgeting and allocating a quarter end month to an off-month is doable, but I do like and would like to see a higher pick up in those “off season” months (Feb, April, July, October and the others). Thanks again Tawcan – you keep it up as well!

      -Lanny

    • DD,

      Thank you very much. December – would be amazing to crack the $1,000 mark (Should be able to do that). We shall see if $1,300 ends up being it, wouldn’t mind taking a few hundred and spreading them over other odd-dividend months!

      -Lanny

  6. You have finished a very successful 2014 and have set yourself up for a much better 2015 even if you don’t do much. Congrats on your earnings and keep that snowball growing.

    • DH,

      Thank you very much for the congrats! It is interesting once you can actually realize the benefits of doing a lot early, building up the snowball and knowing that it can now roll without much push from the initiator/creator of the mound. It’s wild truthfully to me. Very eager to continue to add capital though, save and maintain the mindset on the pursuit to freedom.

      Phew – the last day of 2014 DH, hope you have a great one!

      -Lanny

  7. Wow, what a great first post to read, like BAM! Very nice and a big congrats! This is what I love about the DGI community. Celebrating our successes and spreading the inspiration to show others what’s possible. I look forward to reading your other posts. Hope you have an even better 2015!

    – HMB

    • HMB,

      Thank you so much! I am excited you came across the post and enjoyed it and am pumped that you found it motivational/inspiring in some way.

      It looks like you have a massive portfolio at approximately $240k!! I bet your income stream from this is quite hefty, I would guess between $9 and $11 thousand? Awesome!

      Good luck to you in 2015 as well HMB, talk soon!

      -Lanny

      • Not all my portfolio is dividend stocks per se, but it’s kind of how it’s heading. I’m still waiting to see whether I want to keep it at half growth and half DGI or not. In any case, thank you very much and hope you have a smashing 2015!

        – HMB

  8. Wow! What a big month. Hopefully one day we will be there — Just got to get out of this debt first and then we will turn our focus to starting our own business and creating wealth!

  9. As I say in one of my weekly blog posts;

    “I ended 2014 with $26,910.38 for the year, which is higher than the 2013 total of $25,265.76 by $1,644.62 and quite a bit higher than my first year total of $14,146.33 for 2012, which is when I first transitioned to dividend investing for income.

    Dividend paying stocks that I hold pay either quarterly or monthly dividends (I hold no annual or semi-annual paying dividend stocks). What this means is that while some stocks provide a steady monthly income for each of the 12 months in a year, some only pay 4 times each year. This should result in roughly 2 months of ‘slightly lower’ dividend payments, followed by one month of ‘substantially higher’ dividend payments, repeated four times each year. That’s in theory, only.

    In reality; MORL, ORC, and PGH pay every month. AI, CYS (mostly), LOAN, and NYMT pay in January, April, July, and October. BGCP, CYS (only December), NRF (only March), and VGR pay in March, June, September, and December. CNSL and NRF (mostly) pay in February, May, August, and November. Data is based on TTM dividend payment dates, and will probably change in the future (AGNC recently changed from paying a quarterly dividend to paying a monthly dividend). Confusing? You betcha! But, that’s what makes it fun, right?”

  10. I like your attitude, and wish you well. You’re well on your way to your goals. I only wish I had started this way instead of mucking around with options, penny stocks, etc. Well, live and learn, right?

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