Wow! We are finished with half the year already! The sun is bright, shining and…hotter than heck! In fact, the temperature reads 95 degrees tonight and I am loving it. There were a great deal of positive events in June, that I am excited to write about, but earning dividend income just added to the fun of summer! Sadly, our Cavs were out of the Finals and the NBA free agency has been crazy already. However, this is about dividend income, so let’s get to the numbers!
Dividend Income
I received a total of $1,828.54 of dividend income in June. Another record month for me, to say the least! I cannot even rub the blur out of my eyes, when I see this figure. It helps that the mutual funds paid out higher than normal dividends (due to all of the increases this year), as well as earlier purchases that are starting to bear fruit. 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 June!
Just astonishing and I am almost running out of room! Those retirement dividends are kicking into high gear. Vanguard European ETF (VGK) paid a much higher dividend this go around, as the international entities have either increased or brought back dividends, due to improved performance.
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 $946.08 (up from $627.54 last year) or 52% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 48% 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:
Delta (DAL), Dominion (D) and Kroger (KR) were the new names in 2018 versus 2017. Each company or entity on this list paid substantially more than prior year, hands down. I could not be any happier about this! What’s amazing are the unexpected dividend increases starting to make a gigantic impact. Which names am I referring to? Aflac’s (AFL) 15% dividend increase, Intel’s (INTC) 10%, Norfolk’s (NSC) 18%; just to name a few. How great has 2018 been for dividend investors? This represents a 22% dividend income growth, year over year. Last year’s June represented a 36% dividend increase, but I attribute that to the maximization of the 401(k). I am going to keep this up, to ensure I can increase the dividend income by 22% for next year!
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.
Not only is the temperature hot outside, but these dividend income investments are lighting it up on the increase board! Philip Morris (PM) and Caterpillar (CAT) were the surprises this go around. PM increase of 6.54% was insanely larger than prior year and you can see the impact of $25.75 from that increase alone. Further, the 10% increase from CAT wasn’t too shabby either. Then, on June 28th, Kroger (KR) came to finish my month with a 12% dividend increase. 5 companies increasing their dividend in a single month for me is not normal, but I am not complaining, either. In order for me to add $52.96 to my dividend income, I would have to invest $1,513 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 well over 100% of my average $984 monthly expense, which includes the mortgage, property taxes, insurance and utilities. Given that this is a quarter end, it’s not uncommon to be able to crush through the coverage of these expenses. 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.
Another month down and it was a fun, record-setting June! I am sure there are many more who established new highs for the month and even for your lifetime, to this point. June was a really strong month of dividend income, as the previously announced increases are taking effect, as well as the quarter end dividend income payers & mutual funds. I hope the heat continues (you know I’m monitoring that A/C usage!) throughout the rest of the summer months and that the dividend income keeps flowing. 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!