What a month it’s been. It’s been a great month – definitely on the cold side, but by far the fastest passing month that I can remember in quite some time. I am just about 4 months into my new career, recently got married and set a new October Dividend Income record! What’s not to love? Whirlwind, yes, but a successful month? Without a doubt. Consistently investing in the sporadic market has kept the portfolio moving in the right direction. Let’s check out the results. 
Dividend Income
I received a total of $468.27 of dividend income in October. Another record, no doubt, but not by much and wasn’t as strong of a dividend earning increase versus other competing months. However, it’s in the green or positive. Further, 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, (though I have the breaks on the 401k, as I recently posted due to the 6 month waiting period, only a little over 2 months of waiting to go!) 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 October!
So what’s going on above? 14 different companies sent checks my way, thank you guys! We do have a few new names, as I am now invested in an aristocrat – Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and an Italian food company – Armanino Foods (AMNF), whom just announced the 2nd best quarterly earnings in it’s company’s history. The dividend checks flowed and were all reinvested, as well. Philip Morris (PM) dividend continues to make me laugh, standing tall at over $100!
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 $49.14 (up from $36.59 last year) or 10.49% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 89.51% was from my individual taxable account portfolio. This ratio also has stayed fairly consistent. 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 happened month over month? First – my income was up 10.96%! I’ll be well over $520 next year, if I can keep that same growth rate up, which I have no doubt I will – time to keep killing it. Outside of the new names mentioned above, companies have really increased their dividend, such as Canadian Imperial (CM), Diageo (DEO), Cisco (CSCO) and Philip Morris (PM). Dividend reinvestment has fueled most of the other growth that we see.
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 increase announced this month from my portfolio.
Dividend increases this month did not disappoint! Another 3 companies lined up October with dividend increases. What is AWESOME, is that 2 of the 3 above are NEW positions in my portfolio – WestRock (WRK) and Iron Mountain (IRM) baby! Glad those two investments are already showing more fruit from the initial capital injection. Lastly, Visa (V), oh Vice, announced their second dividend increase in 2018. I’ll always welcome that! In order for me to add $11.88 to my dividend income, I would have to invest $339.43 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 almost 50% of my average $984 monthly expense, which includes the mortgage, property taxes, insurance and utilities. This shows promise and as long as I keep those expenses in check, this coverage should continue to grow bigger, closer and closer to the 100% mark. What a month, everyone, what a month. 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? Any surprises in October for you? Did you dress up for Halloween? Did any dividend income company play any tricks on you? Please share your feedback and comments below! As always, appreciate the love and feedback on the road to freedom, good luck & happy investing!