Another month up and another month down. As I’m writing this on June 1st, I could see new flurries of dividends hitting my account. The sun is definitely heating up here in Cleveland, the Cavs are in the finals and were just robbed a Game 1 road victory. I love writing these reports, as the comparison to prior year, really hits home when you see the hard work that has been put in place to improve. Did I continue to push the limits for May of 2018 dividend income? Let’s find out!
Dividend Income
I received a total of $453.20 of dividend income in May. This is going to show an improvement from the prior year, which was an injection into currently owned positions between then and now that made it happen. 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.
There is only one new face on the listing, and that is Hormel (HRL), which I initiated a small position in last year. Further, you have to love dividend increases & reinvestment here. Lastly, KMI, had an amazing dividend this quarter, after they announced a massive increase in April, I’ll take it!
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 $242.01 (up from $181.94 last year) or 49% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 51% 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:
Here’s the lineup! Every single company that is on both periods, has higher dividend income (Except my $0.13 from RMR). It’s fun seeing this, no doubt. Realty Income (O) is higher due to a new purchase made earlier in the year. Therefore, I am starting to see the fruit from the infusion there. Further, I made an additional purchase in HCP last year, that’s turning out well and recent purchases into Procter Gamble (PG), will be seen in the 3rd quarter. Year over year, I experienced a 30% growth in dividend income received. Maintaining that same growth rate would produce OVER $565 next year. However, the goal is to always BEAT the bar you just RAISED. Now, onto the dividend increases that occurred from companies I own!
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.
John Deere (DE) announced a sizable 15% dividend increase at the end of May. Thank you, very much! THis was not expected, from my point of view, and this has been a company that has not had that great of a track record for dividend growth. It seems that after a few, “no growth period” to their dividend income, they came in with a bang this year. To add $9.08 to my dividend income, would take an investment of $259.
Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary
The name of the game is to learn and act in the right manner to what you have learned. The plan is to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live a balanced life. My hope is that my month of dividend income 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 with my updated – normal monthly expenditures at the moment, this dividend income would cover over 48% of my average $984 monthly expense for my house, including utilities. This would substantially cover my utilities and groceries, no doubt! 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 May! I am sure there are many more who established new highs for the month and even for your lifetime, to this point. May was a really strong month of dividend income, surprisingly, it seems that the investments in Realty Income (O), HCP and Hormel (HRL) are starting to really add up. I am excited to see what August will bring, in a correlated month, as further moves have been made to impact that time of the year, which should be interested. 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!
Great job with the dividend income, but sorry about the Cavs. I didn’t see game 1. Not sure if they would have won the series if that game goes their way. I watched games 2-4 and really never thought they had a shot to win at any point in those games. Golden State is just so talented. Do you think Bron will stay? Tom
Tom –
So tough to watch the game. Game 1 would have changed everything, but we’ll never know. We were leading most of game 3, and had chances in game 2 (i.e. cutting it to 4 point deficit multiple times); but Game 1 was CLE’s and Game 3 – poor close out on our part. It’s funny… could have easily been a 2-1 series going into game 4, and instead – an 0-3 mountain and, the gas ran out… I do think Bron will stay, albeit – with many trades to occur this off season (i.e. JR Smith, Tristan, George Hill). Family is what matters to him, first, then putting him in a best situation possible. I’d like to see him end in a CLE jersey with his children growth. His son will be going to highschool this fall and the 2nd oldest is not too far behind, not to mention his daughter. Just can’t see him taking his family away from, well, family, friends, etc..
-Lanny
Very nice getting over $100 from AT&T alone! As for HRL, I keep adding to them myself. Love their long history.
Dozer –
One could say AT&T was bull dozing through the portfolio this month. Nice job adding to your HRL position, definitely have stayed relatively flat this year.
-Lanny
[Watching the Cavs game earlier in the week with Mrs. BD who is from Cleveland]
[Ask Amazon Alexa, “Alexa, tell me a Cleveland Cavs Joke”]
[Alexa: “Why do LeBron’s legs hurt?…Because they’re the only Cavs on the court doing any work.”]
Yes, Mrs. BD has not been happy the last few days – especially after the first loss last week. Alexa’s comments also did not help.
Regardless – nice progress, Lanny! You have a nice list of names that pay out in the second month of each quarter. This is still something we’re working on and to balance out vs. the last month of each quarter. We had a decent month in May though thanks to our build up in T over the last few months.
Thanks again for the post. – Mike
Mike –
HILARIOUS on Alexa’s joke. I haven’t heard that one yet, and damn, pretty close to being true. I haven’t been too happy, either, I get really emotional during the playoffs, and this playoff run in particular has been the most difficult.
I definitely understand the valleys and peaks from the months of dividend income. In time, it does work itself out, the other months may just be a tad behind. There are just so many more companies that are on the quarter end payout cycle. In the end, all is okay – as long as the checks keep coming : )
-Lanny
“In the end, all is okay – as long as the checks keep coming : )”
So true!
And again, sorry about the Cavs. For your and Cleveland’s sake (as well as my personal safety from Mrs. BD), let’s hope the Browns don’t repeat last year’s perfect season…
$108 more than last year! Doin Work!!! Sorry about the Cavs as well. I was cheering for them. Lebron is a damn beast!!
Any thoughts on what the stock price of T will do this week?
-MH
MH –
Appreciate the love for CLE. Do you think majority of the country was pulling for us? I would say, as an NBA fan, hard to pull for the GSW and I think all nba players didn’t enjoy how that team was constructed. As you can tell, I’m still bitter. Agh… that GSW team has too many weapons and it takes an army to shut all of it down. Wished the Rockets pushed them away, but they obviously couldn’t do it. Dammit… haha
T has been a roller coaster, hell, see how they finished? Pretty much sprang over a $1 toward the end of the week, haha. I like them as a buy in the $32’s, and picked some up for my older brother.
-Lanny
Great YoY increase, the dividend motor is working at full speed! Love the DE increase, it’s definitly a company to keep in mind for the future! Thanks for sharing!
DI
DI –
Full speed baby!!! And yes, the DE increase FINALLY allows me to smile for being a dividend investor, owning them. They stalled their growth for a few years, the appreciation in price is nice, but I prefer the cash flow : )
-Lanny
That is a sweet increase over last year, getting close to that magical 50% of monthly expenses mark. Can’t wait to see that happen!
Regards,
– LD
LD –
Thank you. I cannot wait and you better believe, I am doing every thing I can to add more and more to the number. Time, is an amazing friend, LD.
-Lanny
Fantastic increase! It’s so inspiring to see your growth month over month and realise that compounding is not just a fancy word:) Do you reinvest your dividends into the same shares or invest in other companies?
Freedom –
Thank you, it isn’t just a word, it can be one of the most powerful words, period. I reinvest them all back into the same company, automatically for free : ) Takes my emotions out of it, as well as timing.
-Lanny
Great year-over-year increase. We share a few of the same stocks. My contribution from T is huge this month as well. Hope the purchase of Time Warner goes through okay so that T has some more growth prospects to go with its nice dividend.
Scott
2I –
Thank you very much. T ends up being the big player. I do hope that they make a decision one way or another, you know? Getting tired of the politics around it : )
-Lanny
Hi Lanny,
Great month in the dividends front, not so great with NBA finals. Perhaps Cavs will be in the final next year as well.
Yiu are doing superb job at building your dividend income. I had a record month with some annual payers this month but your single position of T delivered more than my whole portfolio 😀
Keep it up!
BI
BI –
Thank you! Agh… going to be a long off season.
AT&T is just something else… that yield has been crazy this year and the reinvestment at the discounted prices are always interesting to come by. Keep pushing forward!
-Lanny
Good job. You can definatly see the dividends rolling in. Lots of people seem to be buying and upping T, including me. Keep it up.
Doug –
Of course, great company, dividend aristocrat and when you pair the yield with their growth rate, you are looking at an 8%+ dividend compound factor at the moment. It’s awesome!
-Lanny
Amazing results and growth Lanny. We share 4 companies (HRL, T, PG, O) and I’m adding to all four of capital allows it.
Cool to see your prediction for next year. Now go and make it so! 🙂
Robot –
Love that we share those awesome companies, and yep, I would say adding to any of them right now isn’t a bad idea. Also, you better believe I’m already marching forward to break that next year amount, with my recent add of more PG!
-Lanny
Lanny, great results. It’s awesome to see yet another record broken. I guess that’s the game with dividend months, due to the growth and power of compounding, it might be a record setting month every month!
Excited to see how June looks since that’s a big one!
Warriors fan here! Why would you say most NBA players didn’t like how the team was constructed? They did it the right way. Drafted very well: Green, Thompson and Curry in addition to drafting key contributors in their 3 titles: Looney, Jordan Bell and Patrick McCaw in addition to Harrison Barnes. Shrewd front office moves such as signing Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. The only move that the NBA fans hate was the signing of Kevin Durant. Yes, the warriors have had plenty of luck along the way but they have the team to take advantage when bounces go their way. This not a situation of the Miami Heat team. The Warriors were built not bought.
Anyways, always great to see the Dividends piling up! Love getting more money for doing almost nothing!
Great work Lanny. Your portfolio is really shaping up. I have several of your stocks in my account. That yearly increase is sweet, and you will be covering your monthly expenses before you know it.
I also like that you have some of your holdings in tax-sheltered accounts. When you get to retirement age, you should be sitting on a mountain of money.
LeBron is a puzzle. He left Cleveland, came to our city (Miami), won us some titles, and then went back home (with great fanfare) to Cleveland. I will be surprised if he leaves again after all of that. But you never know with that guy.
Lanny,
Sorry about your Cavs. However, I would say your game 1 loss was an inside job… Meanwhile my Caps won it all for once. Neat.
That is a boss month for dividends, and it was good to see your recent PG buy. I should be making another move soon to up my market share soon. KMI – finally paying out that sweet $. Also DE – very nice, been waiting for that!
– Gremlin
Nice YOY increase! Isn’t it great to get over $450 without lifting a finger? Keep up the great work! 😀
MDD –
I wish there was another 0 on the end of that : ) One can hope/or at least soon, right?
-Lanny
Nice month. I like how you broke down the percentages of where the dividends are coming from too. Taxable account or otherwise. Makes sense when planning and budgeting expenses for early retirement. Since you can’t access the tax break accounts dividends really right away. Three quarter ending months left this year. Looking forward to seeing some serious numbers out of you!
What will you do now that the Fish CCC list is no more? Possible blog post about alternatives?
DI –
So sad, a legend, but we shall invest on in his honor!
-Lanny
That is great YoY growth, and encouraging to see as I just started investing in dividend stocks and have some overlap with your holdings. Also, liked seeing you comment that you reinvest into the company paying the dividend as I am planning the same thing and for the same reasons–remove the emotion and don’t try to time the market. Let the snowball build and keep rolling downhill.
Keep up the great work!
Set it and forget it. So true. Nice to see your income continue to roll in at a nice clip and produce a record month for you. Clearly you are on the right path. That DE raise was pretty sizable too. Kep up the good work. Time for me to post my results too for May. I have yet to tally it up.
DH –
Rinse and repeat, as well : ) You are killing it over there sir. DE was nice and then CAT just came in with a nice pump up too! LETS GO!!!!!!
-Lanny
Nice, steady progress, Lanny. You are so consistent it seems easy to overlook your outstanding YoY increase in dividend income. Happy to see your recent investments are starting to pay you… always a good feeling, I’m sure… and you have more on the way! Looking forward to higher heights for you.
Eng –
Thank you very much. Consistency is key and gosh dammit, I want more! Let’s keep it going.
-Lanny