Okay, now we are SEVEN months down for the year, with five left to go. The weather has been more moderate, lately, with substantial rain fall. What else is coming down? It’s raining dividends baby! This was an overall “quiet” month from an alarming number of dividend payers, but the income was still nice to see, regardless. Let’s grab that cup of coffee and see my July results!
Dividend Income
I received a total of $404.91 of dividend income in July. This, though not as substantial as other months, was the best July I’ve ever had. This makes sense, due to all of the increases, investment and reinvestment that occurs throughout the year. Outside of that, everything went smooth, with dividends coming and being reinvested. The 401(k), Health Savings Account (HSA) and all dividends are automatically invested/reinvested and helps take the emotion out of timing & making a decision. Also, to find out why I max out my 401(k) and HSA – please refer to the 3rd part of my tax series, as that describes the magnitude of benefits to increase the amount you can invest due to reduction in taxes. Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month of July!
In total, I had 10 different companies that paid me during the month of July. You’ll see the differences from a year over year perspective below, as this was 9.24% higher than last July. The big ticket here is Philip Morris (PM) and I really felt their more than average dividend increase already. Further, Total (TOT) was another big hitter this month. On the “R”/retirement account side of things, Realty Income (O) and Medical Properties (MPW) keep doing their thing, which is fine by me! Also, my first time receiving Armanino (AMNF) occurred this month.
Similarly, I have split out between the individual stock amounts and the retirement accounts, as the ” – R” indicates a retirement account 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 total of $49.08 (up from $36.00 last year) or 12% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 88% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. Additionally, this shows from retirement accounts that I’m all ready for my set it and forget it mentality to keep that income going. To see my portfolio – one can go to our portfolio summary page.
Dividend Income Year over Year Comparison
2017: 
2018:
So what do these pictures tell us? Well, Dow and DuPont merged to form DWDP, which is on a different cycle for dividend payments. I purchased Armanino earlier this year, and I received my first dividend from them. Further, I had additional investments into Realty Income (O), which caused the big spike there; as well as Cisco (CSCO). However, for all of the other entities, the increases came from dividends being reinvested and dividend increases. The DWDP change up really made things interesting, as with that, the overall growth would have been better. However, an extra $34 compared to last year is solid.
Dividend Increases
A month wouldn’t be a month without high quality companies increasing their dividend! See the small chart below for the details on the dividend increases announced this month that are holdings in my portfolio.
Whoa. Two MASSIVE dividend increases occurred in July. First, Delta (DAL) came in swinging with an “almost” 15% dividend increase. I actually expected a little higher, but I am actually okay with this increase. This will allow for further dividend increases to continue to grow in the double digit arena. The big story is Norfolk Southern (NSC) with their SECOND dividend increase announcement this year! Year over year, their dividend is now 31% higher, in total, versus what they were paying last year. In order for me to add $17.56 to my dividend income, I would have to invest $502 at 3.50%!
Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary
The name of the game is to learn and act in the right manner, using what you have learned. The plan is to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live a balanced life. My hope is my dividend income, shown above, shows the community that one can use dividend income as a revenue engine to take back control of your life. Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier to do and starts to make quite a bit of sense!
As I discussed in my normal monthly expenditures article, this dividend income would cover 41% of my average $984 monthly expense, which includes the mortgage, property taxes, insurance and utilities. This would almost cover the principal and interest on the mortgage or, without a doubt, all of my utilities. In similar fashion – all of the investing from last year and moves this year, shows that my aim to save 60% of my income, and making every dollar count, has allowed promising results already this year.
Are you making every dollar count, everyone? Anything above that prompts any further questions from you? The July month was solid, and though it wasn’t as significant, from a growth standpoint, versus last year – that just fuels the motivation to be better, save more and invest more often. As always, I am excited to read the comments and thank you, the community, for stopping by; as you are helping me on my journey to financial freedom!