Quarter 1 of 2017 is now officially int he books! Here we go, the music starts, the sun is brighter and I am feeling better/more rested each day. What else does this mean for, more specifically, US dividend income investors? The biggest month worth of paydays has finished and I can only hope the community feels the same. Did we set records? Did we reach expectations or did we learn something that we can create growth from? Time will tell when we are able to review all of the articles being released, but I am very pleased with how March ended from a dividend income stand point. Let’s dive into the results!
Dividend income
Another record month for March, I received a total of $1,223,70. Very consistent names here, with a decent number of entities sending checks my way, see the table below. Remember when BHP Billiton (BBL) cut their dividend by 3/4, well – I received $20 from them last year and this month was almost a staggering $52! You can see, below, I am running out of room, big time, on the excel chart:
Here we have a solid 27 different entities sending checks to me this month! In addition – there are quite a few massive aristocrats here – Aflac (AFL), Emerson (EMR), Target (TGT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Archer Daniels (ADM), McDonalds MCD), T. Rowe Price (TROW) and Pepsi (PEP) – now that’s insane I feel like! 8 different dividend aristocrats sending payments my way, so damn lucky, wow, just wow. Quite a few of those names are within my foundation stock for any dividend investors portfolio.
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 small total of $457.42 (up from $263.12 last year or up a staggering 73.8%) or 37.4% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 62.6% 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: 
2016: 
Okay, okay! February had a 17% growth and I was fairly excited about that, however 38.3% growth is nice too : ) But Holy crap. Just massive amounts of growth and my income from Vanguard’s VINIX doubled since last year! No shock there, as I have been on the trip of maximizing the pre-tax 401(k) since last fall and it has paid off in dividends, literally. My purchase into Pfizer (PFE) has also paid off in the first quarter already, as the dividend was much higher than last year because of it. Kraft (KHC) also snuck in this quarter, as they’ve been moving their dividend a little bit. Proof is in the pudding here, as the dividend are just churning and burning along and all have paid a higher dividend in comparison to prior year’s March. This growth right here shows why I’m looking forward to 2017, that’s for sure and one can see my goals for 2017 here.
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 the biggest month but all are surprises, nonetheless – as Realty Income (O) had increased a large one in January and never would I have thought they would do another. Intel (INTC) was tricky, this time and announced in March – hey, I’ll take it! To add a forward $7.02 to my income, I would have had to invest at 3.50% $200. This is when it really starts to show, in regards to how critical dividend increases are. As Bert stated in his article – excited for April’s increases!
dividend income conclusion & Summary
Pretty solid overall and played out reasonably, as expected. However, similar to last month with Kraft (KHC) switching months, HCP switching months had a small impact. Overall, the growth and dividend increases has been very nice and I’m very fortunate to close out February on the note that I was able to. Very lucky.
As I discussed with my updated – normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this $1,223.7 would cover ~124% of my average $984 monthly expense for my house, including utilities; up from last year and can say it would fully cover my living/house expenses, no doubt, and then some – that damn auto loan even. In similar fashion – all of the investing from last year and moves this year, show being frugal to save 60% of my income, that every dollar counts, has helped me in achieving lofty goals that I set in place for my 2017 year. LET’S GO!!!!
Did you set records this month? Have a great finish to the quarter? Feel like you are on track? Seeing any fruit from the labor? Pumped to hear everyone’s results! The tide is turning and we are 25% finished for the year.
Remember – keep it up everyone, stay consistent, turn off the noise and lay your passions out on the line and make an impact to what matters to you! The time is now and we should take advantage of the time that we have. Thank you again everyone, please share your thoughts, feedback, guidance and notes below! Talk soon and happy investing!
-Lanny