The quarter end baby! We all look and wait for a big dividend income month and September, usually never fails. The leaves are changing colors, the temperature is dropping and I have a sweatshirt on. Sitting here with a nice cup of joe and looking at the Dividend Income that flowed into my account. Blessed beyond belief everyone. Now let’s grab that cup of coffee and see my September dividend income results!
Dividend Income
I received a total of $1,736.98 of dividend income in September. Dividend increases have been insane and you can truly see/feel it during this month. Further, this had months of reinvestment and purchases to back it and wow, the dividend income was real, another record-month setting dividend period. I can’t wait to measure this one against the upcoming December quarter-end results. 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 3.5 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 September!
31… different entities/companies paid me a check this month. Wow. Additionally, we have a lot of NEW players that I see here, such as Muncy Financial (MYBF) and Isabella Bank (ISBA). Further, BHP Billiton is back baby (BBL) and paid me a heft dividend, which was nice on the reinvestment. Feast or famine with them over the years I’ve owned them, but love the cash flow that comes my way. Additionally, so many companies here have already increased their dividend and I couldn’t feel any more lucky than I do right now. I hope my additional purchases in Kraft (KHC), Dominion (D), start to pay off, as well.
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 $757.77 (up from $547.21 last year) or 43.62% of my income from retirement accounts and the other 56.38% 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 27.9%! I’ll be well over $2,200 next year, if I can keep that same growth rate up. Crazy thing is, I think I can fricken do it. Honestly, from the taxable account, not too much has changed. We can see my BBL dividend was about $30 higher than last year, thanks to them really bringing back and increasing their dividend. Dividend reinvestment has fueled most of the other growth that we see, not to mention massive dividend increases. The fun one has been Norfolk – as that’s up over 30% since last year. Further, Delta (DAL) was in on last year’s but they paid in August, this year. That swapped in with DowDuPont (DWDP) this year. The Kraft (KHC) is much bigger, due to further investment. Mattel (MAT) cut their dividend completely, weak. It’s been a crazy, busy year and the dividend growth engine is full-fledged as well. The fuel, though, this month has been a straight combination of dividend growth, dividend reinvestment and additional capital. The trifecta to fuel the engine!
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! McDonalds (MCD) came in with the big-mac of all dividends, at almost 15%! This was also UNEXPECTED from a dividend investor’s standpoint. The Tax Cuts Jobs Act (TCJA) must be paying off that well or, this can be just a benefit of owning a great & well-run company. I’ll say both. Further, Lockheed (LMT) came in with a scorching double-digit increase, thank you! In order for me to add $58.71 to my dividend income, I would have to invest $1,677 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 2x of my average $984 monthly expense, which includes the mortgage, property taxes, insurance and utilities. Though not every month is a quarter-end, this would cover almost the entire-month’s cost of living, gosh dang does that feel incredible. 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? Are you on the war-path to financial freedom? Had a record-breaking quarter-end? Do you see investments that are paying me, that don’t look right? Would you sell or not own any of what I have? Let’s hear it everyone, please comment below! As always, appreciate the love and feedback on the road to freedom, good luck & happy investing!