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. 

June Dividend Income

July is here and that means more sun, less rain, and a vacation to the family cabin is on the horizon. It also apparently means that our patio has become a nest for black widow spiders. Just the other day I was tending to the banana peppers that I planted seeds for and as I was transplanting the saplings over to larger pots I noticed a big blob of white that appeared to be mold attached to the outside of one of them. Thinking that I had over watered the plants, I grabbed at the blob to remove it from the side of the pot. As soon as I grabbed it, a large black widow popped out and attempted to attack me.

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.

2016 Dividend Income

Where in the world did 2016 go? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was staring down the barrel of January 2016 wondering where dividend growth investing would take me and my wife. One minute I'm getting married and the next minute we've crushed any expectations of income I had prior. I've just completed putting all the numbers together in the spread sheet and I am happy to report that it is all good news. 

Total 2015 Dividend Income: $62.25

Total 2016 Dividend Income: $322.91

What an eye watering difference a small year can make in terms of passive income. This is only with regular additions of income towards the greater purpose of passive income for early retirement or additional freedom. That's also $322.91 that my wife and I had to do nothing to generate. Passive income really is one of the best things in the world! 

Other changes in the portfolio have come from the addition of new companies to the portfolio. Where it started with only a small hand full of companies, the portfolio now holds a respectful 17 different companies that have met my stringent requirements. I believe that they all hold the potential to be long term positions in companies that should continue to pay dividends. Where this might not be the case for all of them as the unexpected is almost guaranteed to occur, the hope is that the majority of them hold their ground and only get better and better.

Moving forward into 2017, the mission is to continue growing the dividend scythe portfolio. At this time I have a goal of 20 total companies in the finalized portfolio. Once that number is reached, I intend to add to the positions that I feel open ample opportunity for entry. If none offer what I'm looking for at that time, I plan to expand further outwards before upward. Only time can tell however. Other than portfolio outlooks, I plan to post more often than I have in the last few (admittedly slower) months. These posts will be much more geared towards personal finance as a whole rather than just investing as I feel that personal finance success is the ultimate goal and dividend investing is just the vehicle. 

Hopefully I will continue to see all of your friendly posts and hear your input on the ideas that I share. Feel free to comment and say hello. I'd love to also see the results of your own portfolios if you're willing to post the results here. Happy 2017 everyone!

-Dividend Reaper

Recent Buy: Verizon

I've added another great company to the Dividend Scythe! This time around, I've chosen to add Verizon to the portfolio. What attracted me to this company was the seemingly overzealous and breeding type of business that Verizon runs. One has to respect a company that thrives to be the best, even if it means having to charge customers a premium to do so. In addition, I can't over look how many people I know who have the service and have no other complaints that aren't related to the price that is attached to their service. That's saying a lot in the world we live in today. It's a fine product that they market - both telephony and internet services.

Although Verizon has been going through some changes inside their enterprise, functionally they are still the same great company that has taken off through the years. This should therefore solidify them into the future and make it another great company to hold in the portfolio. It was basically as no-brainer to add Verizon alongside the already well performing, AT&T inside the Dividend Scythe. Now let's look at the final compilation of the purchase.

Purchased: 25 shares of VZ @ $49.07/share

Total purchase: $1,236.74

Annual dividend added to the Scythe: $57.75

New Projected Annual Dividend Income: $505.37

And with that, the Scythe has officially passed the $500 mark for annual income. All I have to do is keep the train rolling. Thanks for reading, everyone. 

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

Recent Buy: Coca Cola Co.

October has been a very slow month for my blog. Not just slow, but deathly so. I want to make sure you all know however that rest assured, I am still here and stocks are still bouncing their way into the dividend scythe. Work has just gotten to the point where it takes all of my energy and leaves me with very little that I am able to pour into much else when it's all done with for the day.

That being said, I have added another great company to the dividend scythe. This month's grab is a new position in Coca Cola Co. (KO). I have been wanting to open a position in Coca Cola for a very long time but I had a few other companies that I wanted to grab first while the price came off the high that it was sitting at for the last few months. Now that it has positioned itself much lower, it was ripe for the picking. It's a household name that would be very tough to dethrone. Even though Pepsi Co. (PEP) is in my opinion, a better holding, I had to work with what was timed right for purchase.

Here is a summary of the purchase:

Purchased 23 shares of KO @ $42.71/share

Total Purchase: $992.53

Additional Dividends Produced: $32.20

New Projected Total Annual Dividend Income: $447.62

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

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.

Investment Essentials: Dividends

Income stocks are the bread and butter of any defensive investor's portfolio. When I talk about income stocks, I of course point towards dividend paying stocks. If you don't know what dividends are however, you may be a little confused.

Dividends are payments that are made to investors on behalf of the company they invest in. These payments are paid to the investor without the investor having to actually sell any part of their shares. By collecting these dividends, your portfolio can grow without having to worry about making capital gains. It can make gains just by the dividend payments that are issued.

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 Employees

Do you remember when you were young and you made minimum wage at your first job? I do. I was making almost nothing working at my old football coach's dive of a laundry facility. Every day for four hours a day I would make my way to the shop, tag people's dry cleaning, and bag it for the facilities crew to complete over night. It wasn't much but it created a wage that I was able to live off of at the time (under my parent's house). Imagine if we could create a copy of ourselves to work another job for us? Wouldn't that be great? Even if they could only ever hope to generate a minimum wage, wouldn't it be great to have that has supplemental income? This is how I like to think of my dividend investing.

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.

Recent Buy: Kohl's

Kohl’s, Kohl’s, Kohl’s – the United States dividend department store currently on discount. Kohl’s, if you haven’t heard of it, is a company that owns and operates numerous stores throughout the USA. They offer clothes and other household items for men, women, and children and they are a common household name that many people recognize. They operate through brick and mortar stores but they also have a growing online business as well to reach those who don’t wish to actually walk around their smooth color toned stores.

Sold: GAP Inc

I hate to sell any part of the Cookie Jar portfolio. I really, really do. Sometimes however, it has to be done. The name of the game is dividends and GPS recently announced their next dividend payment. Unfortunately, that new payment is the same as it has been for the last year. This means that they decided not to raise the dividend for the next year and therefore in my mind, it stops being a dividend growth stock.

Watch List: Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is the owner of a large series of multinational banks. They also offer multitudes of financial services to bring in other income. Their services cover basic banking, loans, retirement, and investment options. As one of the big four banks in the USA, they hold a strong national recognition and they will likely withstand the test of time that many banks topple over when faced with adversity.

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

Dividend Increase: WMT

Oh what a wonderful year it has been for the Cookie Jar so far and this month is no different. Although the market has recently seen some volatility, WMT again decided for the 43rd consecutive year to raise its dividends and guess who owns a nice little piece of WMT? We do! This means that without us lifting even the smallest amount of our fingers, we’ve effectively seen a raise from a great company that still shows support for its investors. Although the company itself has seem some slowing over the most recent years, they still show that they are a dividend paying contender.