We are in the heat of summer, which means it’s time to cool down, take a deep breath and see what fruit the month has grown for us in terms of dividend income! Not usually the biggest month of dividends, but there were a few “big” things going on this month that led this to an extremely awesome and record-breaking month of income, one that is going to be very, very hard to beat! Well, enough of the mysterious writing about what happened in this monster month of receiving dividend income – let’s go and take a look at the dollars!
Dividend Income
This month, I received a total of $740.71. Whoa… This was only $104 less than my monster month of June. Talk about massive dividend income – in two months receiving essentially $1,600 approximately isn’t anything at all to look away from – holy crap is my gut reaction. However, I know that this will not be long lived, see the results from where it came from below:
As you can see – I received a whopping $439.55 from Kraft in a one-time special dividend of $16.50 per share, after the company was taken by 3G Capital to form the new entity of Kraft Heinz (KHC). I am not complaining at all, and the dividend income (which was not allowed to be reinvested) was able to help me purchase Norfolk Southern this month. What’s interesting – no value has been lost when the company was taken over to create the new public company in KHC, and in fact – I received the standard month end dividend that was to be Kraft, but instead by KHC – aka, no change there!
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 $29.17 or 4% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 96% 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 July’s total. The total then was $105.88. From a pure percentage stand point, a growth rate of 627% – well… I am not sure that is going to be a growth rate I can keep – shock factor – it won’t be. If I can simply match my current total next year, that would be an incredible feat on it’s own, Kraft… really making it hard on me right now to beat this month next time. I can’t complain about it, but I really hate taking that step back. Possibly with new purchases, new dividend reinvestment and dividend growth – I can do this! 11 different companies paid me this month, compared to only 5 last month aka – I have more little guys handing me a check. Best factor – every company that paid last year during this time has a higher amount this year’s July aka – that’s what it’s all about. Ah… the father of time that actually works in your favor.
Dividend Income Increases
Nothing wild happened here. Norfolk I thought was to increase their dividend this quarter but they did not, not a happy camper there. KMI continued their increase, by raising 1 penny, as they reach towards the $0.50 per quarter amount that was their goal last year to do for 2015. No significant impact this month in this section, therefore, I will pass on any further writing in this section for this month at the time. Better luck in August?
Conclusion & Summary
As I discussed back then with my normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this $740 would cover 78.5% of my average $942 monthly expense for my house, including utilities. Again, though I’ll try to not make it as such, given my recent purchase into DOW and Canadian Imperial (as they pay in July), this month was high due to the one-time special dividend discussed above. This covers the majority of my house, property tax and insurance payment for the month, but I have a big road to climb if this will be the minimum I’ll accept in dividend income for this month going forward… good thing my emotions are high, all of the time. 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 August, as an old-new one of my best friends is returning to our firm from a brief chapter in his career path. Thankful and happy to reflect on this month from all of the hardwork. How did your July month’s go? Did you crush your goals? Did you beat last year’s? Anything unusual happy? Please share! Thanks everyone
-Lanny