November Update

Dividend Update

And I'm back for more! November is over and that means the dividends have to be tallied and shared.

• STAG: $1.76
• ABBV: $6.40
• PG: $44.13
• VZ: $14.75
• T: $44.59
• Total: $111.63

All in all, it was a great month for dividends. Compared to the $25.89 received last year, the $111.63 received this year feels great! It's exactly what you want to see when you expect the dividend snow ball to really start rolling. 

Life Update

Life has been busy! This last month/month and a half has been chalk full of working on editing my novel, working on my insurance designation, and preparing for the little man to arrive (3 months left!).

 

The novel has been going well. I just finished my first full edit of it last night and I now have to move on to the plot holes that I found along the way. Once that's finished, I plan on printing the first copy and handing it to my wife for our Christmas book exchange and then giving it one final read through before publishing it to Amazon like my other previous works. 

As for my insurance designation, I have two tests left. The first of the two will be taken soon in the next couple weeks and the last will be taken (hopefully) right before the little man is delivered. Hopefully, for my sake, he decides to wait it out until I can get it finished. The tests are incredibly hard and I'd hate to have to study for them with a complete lack of sleep. It feels a little selfish but at the same time, if my son comes early, it's bad for him as well. So with enough luck he'll wait and finish cookin' in momma's easy bake oven until I'm done! :)

Finally, we've been doing as much work as possible with the spare bedroom that used to be used as my home office/gaming room. We've moved everything out of it and rearranged the living room to fit the computer/desk to be moved out into it and we've started moving things into what will now be the nursery. Buffalo plaid is the main scheme we're going with and we made little man a little tie blanket to match and put it over the little rocker we picked up for Mrs. DR. It's really coming together! 

Moving forward, things will only start to pick up speed. As little man's delivery date grows closer and closer and the new year arrives, there will be more and more opportunities to grab life by the teeth and I very much intend to. Thank you for reading my update and I hope you're all well. 

Wealth: April Dividend Income

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by for my monthly dividend income report. The dividend reaper was very successful this month. Multiple companies made payments and the dividend scythe swung hard to collect all that could be taken. This left my family with $45.51 in total dividends received by the scythe this month. This is slightly lower than the expected average payment per month but that is to be expected given that it's a monthly average and not a guaranteed monthly breakdown.

The key is to simply stay on track. Each month, as long as the received are larger than the previous years (given little/no surprises), that month should be seen as a success. That being said, this month has been a huge success. The scythe shows a 230% increase YOY for this month's dividend income. One can't complain when leaps forward are at that big of an increase.

Wealth: March Dividend Income

March 2017 Dividend Income

GME - $30.40

ARII - $6.80

QCOM - $15.37

STAG - $1.75

TGT - $9.00

EMR - $7.68

LB - $4.80

WFC - $8.36

Total March 2017 Dividend Income: $84.16

Total March 2016 Dividend Income: $20.40

Percent Increase: 312% increase

Now that March has come and gone, it's evident that the Dividend Scythe has been hard at work. If we're only looking at the change from the previous year to the current year, the percent increase has been phenomenal! It's enough for me to even wish for a positive increase year over year but an over 300% increase from last year is exactly what I want to see and more! Moving forward, I'm sure that I probably won't see these high percentages as it will be harder to see huge jumps as the portfolio grows but it's incredibly pleasing on the eyes as I get to look at it now. 

Wealth: February Dividend Income

Moving forward from February to March, life marches on and so do the dividends! This was a very good month for me - in health, in stocks, and in life. That is no lie.

February was most prominently a great month for my health. I've taken major steps forward with the weight that I've been able to lift in the gym. I've moved from doing three sets of ten on moderately decent weights to lifting four sets of fifteen on high weights and the results are really showing. Where it might just be through my clothing, I know that it is a positive sign for the future if I continue on the path that I am going.

As for stocks, February was also a great month. I feel like I grabbed one of the best companies that I could with the acquisition of QCOM. It's a great company with a strong moat, a long history of dividend payments, and a strong brand name. It's also a name that I am very familiar with since I grew up in San Diego where the company calls home. There were also other potentials that were fairly priced but only QCOM grabbed the monthly funds.

Wealth: January Dividend Income

Part of investing in dividend growth stocks is trusting in the process. There are going to be some good months and there are going to be some bad months. The trick is to try to align for dividend payments to be about equal every month. This is a trick that I have not yet mastered. As one can see from last years dividend payments, I might be a little off as far as consistency goes.

I can't give up though. The dividend snowball is a slow moving process at the start as you try to build up a good enough roll to get it moving. While months like this January may have felt small in comparison to some other months or small in comparison to where I thought it might be by now, it is still an amount of money that I wouldn't otherwise have.

It's good to keep this lesson at the forefront of my mind as I don't want to start straying from this path. If I think too much about other "get rich quick" schemes, I may find myself potentially falling for them and that just simply will not do! It simply will not do at all - not one bit! One has to remember the other types of dividends that have been given through the month.

Dividend Income: November

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. With the arrival of December comes the monthly honor and duty of counting up the dividends received over the past month and recapping the movement that got us here. That being said, overall, the month was a pretty decent month in relation to others. Here's a quick recap of our payers.

• AT&T - T - $14.88
• YUM Brands - YUM - $3.57
• Abbvie - ABBV - $5.70
• STAG Industrial - STAG - $1.74
• Total: $25.89
• Total Dividends for 2016: $269.08

I know it doesn't look like much in the grand scheme of the portfolio but it looks like a lot to me because it shows the building block style of investing. Only a year ago I was looking at less than $100 total dividends for the entire year (it was actually only barely over $50. That means that this year alone has already completely shattered last year's results. If I can continue that trend, the additional investment income that dividends provide start to become a snowball that rolls itself. 

With kids on the horizon, it's important for me and my wife to put away as much as possible right now so it's locked in during the months/years that it will be even harder to find the additional income to invest. Although we have yet to be successful in having kids, it's an almost certainty in the near future and I would be an idiot to not prepare ahead of time for that life adjustment. Anyway, that's all I've got for today. 

Dividend Income: October

Moving on to November means that it's time to tally the dividends received in October. It also means that we'll very likely be seeing a huge shift either up or down as the next President of the USA is elected in this next month. Whether that means good things or bad things is up to the votes. Regardless, I can't let myself get clouded with wondering. 

Whether it moves prices up or down, I need to keep the dividend train moving forward. That's why I grabbed up Coca Cola (KO) when I did. It's a huge company that regardless of the election should find a place to land. I'm just hoping that my strategy moving towards the election holds up. Let's calculate the income for the month of October. 

Dividends:

RAI: $14.26

RCL: $5.28

STAG: $1.74

GE: $5.75

Total October Dividends: $27.03

2016 Total Dividends: $243.19

Dividend Income: September

Money, money, money, it's time to count the money! With the end of the month of September comes the chance to count the dividends that have been issued. That being said, September was an awesome month for historical dividend income! Let's count them up:

WFC - $8.36

LB - $4.80

WMT - $8

EMR - $7.60

STAG - $1.74

GME - $7.40

ARII - $6.80

Total: $44.70

Current 2016 Earnings: $216.16

Total 2015 Earnings: $62.25

I think that the most motivating thing about dividend growth investing is seeing the difference between the yearly earnings. So far in 2016, we have completely destroyed the earnings that were taken back in 2015. Because there is such a mental aspect to investing, it's so important to keep track monthly. One or two slips can make it seem like you're not gaining speed. If you feel like you're not gaining speed, you just get more and more discouraged. 

Thankfully, I'm good at keeping track of nearly everything in my life. Watching my investment income is no different than anything else in my daily life. Keep track and you will be rewarded. Let's just keep the train moving forward and on track. 

Dividend Income: August

The best time of the month has finally come. It's time to compile all the dividends received and see just how much is sitting at the bottom of the passive income coin jar. Although this month was not the most extravagant that the blog has ever seen, it wasn't exactly dead either. Let's see what we brought in this month:

Dividend Income: August

STAG - STAG Industrial - $1.74

ABBV - Abbvie - $5.70

YUM - Yum Brands - $3.22

Total: $10.66

Total Dividends in 2016: $171.66

Total Dividends in 2015: $62.25

Increase YOY at Present: $109.41

Alright, so it's not the most that we've ever seen the Dividend Scythe pick up but it's still moving us forward on our way. Like I remind myself every month, it's the sum of the smaller parts that make up the great whole in the end. It's best not to lose sight of that.

That being said, I wanted to make sure to include the difference in this month's tally from the prior year to show just how far the portfolio has come from the year prior. This serves as a good indicator of whether or not we're heading in the right direction and I'm happy to say that it confirms good things. There is at this time a difference of $109.41 over the entire last year's passive income (and we've still got a few months to go!). Even though the $10.66 of income this month may seem small, it is a small piece of a much larger puzzle that is being put together.

Moving forward this month I really want to hone in on a good high yielding dividend stock. I know that there aren't many out there that have solid numbers but the portfolio has reached a point where it can take some chances to further fuel the ship into outer space. If you've got any ideas of where one might find this fuel, please leave your comment in the section below.

Dividend Income: July

It's the beginning of another month and that means that it's time to tally the dividend payments from the previous month. All in all, it was a great month. I find that pretty much any time there is a payment incoming from AT&T (T), I can expect a fairly decent payment. It definitely helps boost the confidence moving forward that the strategy of dividend investing is a good strategy.

Where it may still not seem like a whole lot at a total of $28.25 for a whole month of dividends, it actually is a big enough amount to do something with. Hell, for a good portion of my portfolio, the stock price per share is less than that. That means that this last month provided for me the opportunity to add even one more share (theoretically) to the portfolio. With one more share there comes one more payment of dividends that further propels the snow ball forward.

I also want to remind myself with another month past that it is important to not bench mark your portfolio based on other investor's portfolios. Even though this can sometimes be a great motivator for future success, it can also give an unfair view of things as investing in dividends can be a very skewed curve when graphed out. The more dividend payments coming in, the faster the trend line goes up so it does not accurately represent a slow and steady trend upwards but more an increasing stream that will eventually become a roaring river. I just have to keep my eye on the prize moving forward and have faith that the small stream of income I've built will eventually pick up more and more speed. Anyways, here is the breakdown for the month:

July Dividend Income

RAI - Reynolds American Inc. - $5.88

STAG - STAG Industrial - $1.74

GE - General Electric - $5.75

T - AT&T - $14.88

Total July Dividends: $28.25

Recent Buy: Reynolds American Inc.

I talked about it and I wrote about it on my blog here just a few days ago. Just as a predicted, the price would be too good to pass up on Reynolds American Inc. That being the case, I had to pick up a few more shares for the Dividend Scythe portfolio. I was able to pick up a total of 17 more shares at $50.11/share which came to a total purchase price of $861.94.

This addition added a sizable amount of projected dividend income to the portfolio. At $1.68 per share in yield, this added a total of $28.56 to the projected annual dividend income. With this addition, the total projected annual dividend income moving forward is a solid $362.92. This should propel the portfolio much further as it will add further capital to future investments and further grow the snow ball.

This acquisition also helped me pass a major milestone. The portfolio is now officially over $10,000! It's taken a little while to get here but it's nice to see it finally hit five figures. I have my increased saving habits and better financial handling skills to thank for this milestone. Without them I would still very likely be in the four figure range and very likely still at the bottom or mid range at that!

I know this isn't a huge milestone compared to some who have been investing for a long time but for me this milestone is huge. It shows that I am capable of making the money add up. I look forward to the newer, bigger snow ball effect that will be seen in the future. Onward and upward is the way to go!

Dividend Income: June

Dividends, dividends everywhere! That’s how I feel looking back at my dividend income for the month of June. Wow, what an incredible turn out for the stocks that I own. It’s really great when all the chips come down at almost the exact same time. Pair this month’s huge amount of payouts with the current upward trend of all my stocks now that everything is rebounding from the Brexit news and my week has been nothing short of incredible to watch.

Months like these remind me just how far I’ve come from the start of the portfolio. When I first started I was barely getting anything out of each month’s dividend payments. My eyes would get tired just thinking about how long I thought it might take to finally see some noticeable movement in my portfolio with dividend payments alone. I was seeing the good capital gains in the portfolio (unrealized) but I wasn’t seeing the true power of the dividend payments. I was simply believing that one day they would start to roll in at a more noticeable rate.

That month has finally come even though the total payment is still only just barely a drop in the bucket when you think about it. Regardless, it makes me feel so much better to see months like this when everything happens all at once. It gives support to the future vision of what the payments will be in the future when I collect even more companies that I love and invest even more in those that I already own that I wish to hold more of. With that being said, let’s compile them together and show what has come in for the month of June.

American Railcar – ARII - $6.80

GameStop – GME - $7.40

L Brands – LB - $4.80

STAG Industrial – STAG - $1.74

Emerson Electric – EMR - $7.60

Walmart – WMT - $8.00

Total Dividends Paid in June 2016: $36.34

What a year I’ve had so far in 2016. It’s completely crushing the previous year of 2015 and we’re only barely over halfway through the year! This month’s dividend payments have come together to equal the highest monthly pay out that the Dividend Scythe has seen to date. It also serves to breach the $100 total dividend income for the year which helps to shatter the goal this year of breaching $100 total in dividend payments. I can’t wait to see where it will be at the very end of the year when all the payments are in. I know that I shouldn’t wish for time to go by quickly because time is valuable but it’s so hard not to wish to be there already when you’re seeing progress and growth.

Anyways, onto bigger and better things in the future! Hope to continue to see all of you in the comments section of my various posts through the next month. Let me know how your own portfolios did this last month in the comments section of this post. I’d love to see where my readers are with their own goals.

Dividend Income: May

Another month has come and gone and now it's time to collect the dividend payments that were made to my account in the month of May. All in all, it's been a great month for dividend income. My key player, AT&T (T) has made a payment and some of my other holdings have as well. I was also able to make a great collection of new buys that supplemented income in the future.

Unfortunately however, May did hold a sell off. It was only one but it's very unfortunately whenever even one needs to happen. As you all know, I like to hold my stocks as long as possible (forever if possible) but sometimes it's just not possible. The sell off was of course the sell off of Kohl's (KSS) as it had not even mildly performed as I would hope and there numbers were showing that it did not seem that would be changing any time soon.

This did come with the chance to buy new holdings. In the Month of May I was able to purchase three new holdings - RAI, LB, and GME. Granted, I never thought in a million years that I would be adding GME but it came at a time where I had been proven wrong. The company appears to be doing much better than my initial take on them and I have high hopes for them in the future. With all of this being said, let's compile the dividends for May and see how it all stacks up.

STAG: $1.74

ABBV: $5.70

YUM: $3.22

T: $14.88

Total for May 2016: $25.54

Total for 2016: $96.21

Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to break the $100 total for the year but it's still on track to do very well for the total of 2016. With a few big payments coming next month, there is almost no way that the portfolio won't break $100 for the year by the end of next month. Moving forward, I hope to continue making great stock choices, collecting dividends, and x'ing out any companies that decide that they know better what to do with their money than to pay dividends. 

Dividend Income: April

Well folks, it has now come to my favorite time of the month for investing. That's right, it's time to count the dividend payments for the month that has now passed us. 

What a month it has been! The Dividend Scythe continues to see YOY growth as we move forward through the second year of its life as a dividend growth portfolio. The growth is at current very small but the most important thing to remember is that the growth is much like a game of "frolf" (pictured here - my friends and I playing a round - me at the tee off about to drive that sucker into the sun). 

Each year we find ourselves at the tee off, hoping to get an incredible score by the time we hit the chains and sink our frisbee into the stand. It may have crushed the score of our last hole or it may have come a little short. The larger picture however is that there is a whole round of frisbee golf to complete before the day is out. Whether one year is better than the next or not, as long as you keep playing, the accumulation of your shots at the end of the day will yield a tremendous amount of points.

This is how I like to picture my dividend yields. One year I may do extremely well. Another year I may fall short or flat line basically across the income sector if something is to come up that would stall my ability to invest. However, as long as I keep playing, the income will continue to grow at a rate that is moving upward and onward. That is the most important thing to remember. But enough talk, Let's get into the nuts and bolts of this thing and start seeing some real numbers!

April shows us a big milestone for the portfolio. As of April dividends, we have officially driven past the total dividends received in all of 2015! This has been achieved in only four months. In 2015, the total amount of dividends received was $62.25. In April alone of 2016 however, we received $13.75 in dividend payments. This is added to the already collected dividends from 2016 and we come to a grand total of $70.67 collected so far this year. It's so great to see how far the portfolio has come in such a short amount of time. Even though the amount feels very small in relation to how much the wife and I make on a daily basis at our jobs, it's almost more amazing to see this passive income stack up because we haven't had to left a finger to generate the passive income. It's very cool!

With that being said, I have huge expectations for next month as a few of my key holders such as AT&T (T) issued their dividend for the quarter in May rather than in April. That means that instead of having an expected three to be received in April, we'll be gaining four payments total(of stocks currently owned). That being said, my expectations for the payout for April are set very high. I hope to see the portfolio break through the $100 mark but I am certainly not holding my breath. Things can change at a moment's notice and as investors we always need to be prepared for that to happen. 

Lastly, I want to talk quickly about my moves heading forward into May. Heading into May, I see a few good discounts in the market. One of the most notable is a huge discount in L Brands (LB). They are the spearhead for Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works (LB). Their yield is fantastic, their business is solid, and they issue special dividends on an almost annual basis. What's not to like? My eyes are set on acquiring a piece of their company or as a secondary option I will try to grab a piece of Starbucks (SBUX) or Apple (AAPL) while they are deflated as well. I just love how these deals were hardly there a few months ago but now they are all ripe for the picking. Let the games begin!

Dividend Income: March

March has come and gone but the dividends go on! With the end of the month comes the collection of dividend payments and the compilation of purchases (2!) made this month. Let's get into it!

March 2016 Dividends:

ARII - American Railcar Industries Inc - $6.80
KSS - Kohls - $6.00
EMR - Emerson Electric - $7.60

Total dividend income for March: $20.40
Total dividend income for 2016: $56.92


Stock purchases for the month of March:

3/4/2016 - KSS - Kohls - 12 shares at $47.50/share
3/14/2016 - ARII - American Railcar Industries Inc - 17 shares at $41.77/share


March was a great month for investing. I came away with two new companies in portfolio and only had to give one of my old companies away (dividend cuts suck!). In addition, I also got to cash in on three dividend payments; two of those payments of course coming from the two newly acquired companies. Although it only totals out to $20.40 in payments for the month and this really just offsets the trade fees, it still ramps up the snowball for more and more payments to come.

With that being said, I've closed in on the amount that was accumulated over the entire year of 2015 in just three months. If you don't remember, in 2015, the total dividend payments were a "whooping" $62.25! I'm hoping that next month, I'll pass this amount and soar on forward! The plan then, going forward, is to add further diversification to the portfolio. I feel like it's a very healthy mix right now but I still feel that it has to gain much further growth outwards rather than upwards.

It's important to always remember to diversify. If there are great companies out there, one should have their hands deep in multiple cookie jars if you catch what I'm trying to throw. This also benefits my intelligence as to invest in any of them, I will have to understand what I'm investing in. This means that I'll have to expand my knowledge base of the industries I'll hope to get into.

That's the plan at least. We will have to see if the plan works out the way I hope it does. I've been keeping my eyes on Wells Fargo and I'm hoping and praying that I can grab a piece of the action while the going on it is good.

Dividend Income: February

Where or where did the month of February go? It seems like just yesterday that I was posting the ending results for January but here we are at the annual post for February dividend income already. Without further delay, let's get started.

February 2016 Dividends:

YUM - YUM Brands - $3.22

Total dividend income for February: $3.22
Total dividend income for 2016: $36.52


Stock purchases for the month of February:

2/3/2016 - EMR - Emerson Electric - 16 shares at $45.65/share


All in all, February was a slow month for dividend income but at least it came with the acquisition of a great company, EMR. This means that even though the portfolio is still not at the stage where it necessarily brings in a giant snow ball of wealth, as long as I continue to add to it, the snow ball inevitably becomes bigger and then yields more returns in the following years. This should be and always will be the most important thing to dividend investors such as myself. The short term is something that we cannot be too concerned about. We should instead keep our eyes on the long haul and focus on creating a small piece of a giant masterpiece that is yet to come. Every journey starts with the first step and these are some of my first steps.

Moving forward I want to continue investing in companies that meet the exact criteria of my past analysis on the stocks I already own. The process has worked so far and if it works, why reinvent the wheel? This should ensure continued success in companies that are not short term bets but instead are meant to be seen in the portfolio for many years to come. In the short term, I would like to set my eyes on adding an auto stock or a bank stock to the portfolio. These sectors appear to be down right now given the awkward movement of oil prices and that means that they come at a well deserved discount.

Thanks for reading,
Dividend Monster