Hello everyone! Well, crossed 80+ hours this past week and glad February is officially over. Excited to share the previous month, so lets get to the February Dividend Income Summary!
Dividend Income
This month, I received a total of $172.73. This was a solid month, considering I had never received over $100 in February ever in my dividend investing history. This goes to show that my 2014 investments are paying off and are bearing their fruit.
Similarly, I have split out between the individual stock amounts and the retirement accounts, as the ” – R” indicates a Roth IRA dividend. 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 $41.37 or 24% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 76% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.
Comparison
Now, I look back at 2014 February’s total. The total back then was $11.43. Earning $172.73 this month equates to an 1400% increase! Haha okay, enough laughing as there is no way that this growth could ever be come next year, it’s just not real. However, this again shows that all of the consistent investments made over the last 12 months has shown what can really happen if you do this. $172.73 is a very solid month for me, in one of these “off” months as I like to call them. Further, based on my January dividend income of $278 – I am starting to see a great trend in the non-quarter ends showing a great improvement to the dividend income. Even while I’ve been busy working in public accounting, this just again shows that – saving 60% of your income, using the dividend stock screener and the importance of the dividend growth rate are all playing a major factor here.
Dividend Income Increases
This month had a few dividend increase announcements. (1) Lorillard (LO) has increased their dividend 7.3% from $0.615 to $0.66, which increased my dividend projection by $7.87, not exactly as high as expected, but I won’t complain about an over 7% growth rate and this is actually higher than my weighted average growth rate, so I’ll take it. Further, (2) Pepsi (PEP) increased their dividend $2.62 per year to $2.81 or 7.25% increase, which actually fairs pretty close to Lorillard in the first item highlighted. This increase added $4.91 to my projected income for the year, not bad. Also, for (3) BBL – I was able to receive my first solid dividend news announcement since buying them back in November. The Increase is 6 cents from last year’s $1.18 or 5% and added $3.54 to my projected income. Last but not least (4) Canadian Imperial (CM) increased their Canadian dividend from $1.03 to $1.06 per quarter. When translated to US dollars this increased my dividend from $3.24 approximately to $3.40 or 5% as well. They usually increase their dividend a few times during the year, so I’m happy they already are starting the trend. This added $8.52 to my proejcted income going forward. Whoa… okay, enough talking there, to summarize – $24.84 was added to my projected income ALL ON THEIR OWN! No new capital was required. Thanks investments – I appreciate the increases.
Conclusion & Summary
Okay, wow, two months down, and two months of busy season down (a repeat line from last month!). I am sitting a projected Dividend Income (as I’ve received March dividends already that were reinvested) at $5,221.62 going forward, which is an increase of 3.14% from the end of 2014. This month I took away that dividend increases are powerful and $24 in increases is huge. Further, my capital I was able to contribute from my own purchase only in the beginning of the month ($547 in IBM, I didn’t post because it was small) + these dividends + my 401k
purchases = $1003.07, which is not a bad month of contributions at all. I know I was itching for a buy, but it didn’t hurt to be patient this month. I know our watch list is looking enticing and I see a few that are looking favorable on the radar. I am excited for March, as I am confident I will see a record March and wait for it, wait for it … potentially a record breaking month, period. LETS GO! Also – March would mark the end of busy season, let’s get there, NOW!
With that being said – How did your last month finish off? Satisfied? Did you hit targets you set for yourself? Are you ready for those temperatures to pick up (those living in the brutally cold areas)? As always – thanks for stopping by and I am excited to hear from everyone!
-Lanny