May Dividend Income

I won’t pull any punches. May has not been a great month for dividend income. It is the first time since I’ve started down this road of dividend investment that I’ve made less than the previous year’s results. While this may on the surface sound like a pretty big deal, I want to instead approach it as an opportunity to face my portfolio’s time of adversity. Instead of sitting here and talking about what went wrong, I instead want to talk about what went right and what will be going right with these results having come to fruition. Let’s start with what I was paid for the month of May.

STAG: $1.75

ABBV: $6.40

Total Dividends – May 2017: $8.15

While this amount may be lower than the total dividends received in May, 2016, it is still $8.15 that I did not have to work for. It is still $8.15 that my wife and I did not have to contribute towards our retirement but that still posts towards it regardless. It is still $8.15 worth of financial freedom that we did not have previously.

In addition, on further inspection, this lower amount than previous year comes with a caveat. The reason that it is lower is because the typical payers who would issue their payments in the month of May have decided this year to issue payments in April or June instead. This should be recognized and not taken lightly as the larger scope should be the total amount of dividends received through the year as a total rather than what it breaks down to as a monthly amount. Payers of dividends will likely never get to the point where they can guarantee the month that the payments are made because of the way financial reports are made up. General accounting assist these payers to toy with their payments to look better at certain times of the year and this includes when it would be best to issue.

Finally, I want to see this as an opportunity looking forward to find companies to branch out to that could pay during the month of May. By doing so I can specifically target companies that may be able to inflate the months of which dividend income would be preferable. All in all this “bump in the road” if you want to call it that provides an opportunity to step back and take an inventory of what could be done better. It provides a lens with which to look at where we are and where we have been.

That being said I do want to move on to other areas of note. The month of May might not have been the most lucrative for dividends but it was highly lucrative in personal development. I was able to pass another one of my insurance examinations – the CPCU 540 which has the highest failure rate of all of the CPCU tests that can be taken. I started to pour a good amount of time into creating and sharing videos on Youtube under the Dividend Reaper name so that others can more readily find information on investing and bettering their lives. I also started to learn and start to develop the Twitter account for the website. All of these items come with more exposure and give me further chances to reach out and make a positive impact on the lives of others.

With greater knowledge of insurance through the CPCU exams I can better help others understand what they’re getting out of their insurance and how they could make better decisions with their current protection. With new Youtube videos comes the chance to better myself as a public speaker and share the knowledge that I have obtained as I’ve learned to invest. And with the Twitter account I can quickly learn of updates in the market, connect with other finance bloggers, and share quick quotes to motivate others.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ve also gotten to sneak in some time to read. This month’s read was “Unshakable” by Tony Robbins. It was one of the best reads I’ve had in a very long time. Even though he can get a little sing-song about his beliefs, it’s always great to have such a positive force present knowledge that I may have already known much of but that also gives gentle reminders to relax when the market goes through its ups and downs. I’ve placed a link to it on the sidebar of the website if any of you are interested in purchasing a copy and I plan moving forward to try to post about new books as I read them each month.

In conclusion, the month of May 2017 wasn’t the most successful dividend producing month but it brought along with it so many opportunities and development that I would never seek to ask for a redo. Hopefully you’ve all had successful Mays as well. Catch you next time!