Dividend Update - August 2014
August was a great month for dividends and was my first non March/June/September/December month to surpass $300. These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits and I hope can help inspire you to take control of your own finances and invest to build a passive income stream. What you use that stream for is up to you, whether it's to fund early retirement, just provide some FI/FU money, or even to provide for an annual vacation; the key is that it can provide options and opens up all sorts of possibilities. You can check my dividend income or progress page to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.
I received a total of $324.42 in dividends in my FI portfolio in August and have received a total of $2,526.03 so far in 2014. What's pretty amazing is that I'm just $20 short from what I received in all of 2014 but still have 4 full months left in the year. I'm only 56.13% of the way towards my goal of $4,500 in dividends received for the year so I'm off pace to hit my goal as of now. I think I should reach my dividends received goal since there's still 1/3 of the year and I'm projected to be about $65 dollars short assuming no further investment, which that won't be the case. It'll most likely come down to the timing of purchases and whether I get the next dividend payment from every purchase. The Roth IRA continues to see very little growth as I can't make new contributions due to being above the income threshold but August did see a nice bump thanks to Bank of America's long awaited dividend increase. I didn't receive any dividends in my Roth IRA during August so I'm still at $122.77 for the year. For my FI portfolio, August saw a 32.68% increase from May 2014 and a 86.11% increase year over year. Step by step, month after month is the name of the game with dividend growth investing.
With the stock market swooning a bit to start the month I added to my positions in Aflac (AFL) and ExxonMobil (XOM). I also initiated a new position in a great dividend growth company 3M (MMM) during the first half of the month. I didn't make any more purchases in the second half because some of the value had evaporated with the markets continuing their climb higher and honestly my priorities weren't on investing. I finally started a new portfolio with Loyal3 as a way to dollar cost average into positions over time and have been adding a bit more capital there every week. Eventually I plan to invest about $1,000 each month so I can constantly get my money working for me and then be selective with larger purchases in my regular taxable account. With the purchases during the month and a few dividend increases my forward 12-month dividends increased to $4,990.16. That's 99.80% of the way towards my goal of $5,000 and I've still got 4 months to add to that. What's really exciting is that I can expect to receive over $415 on average each month in dividends. Now that's dividend growth investing at work. My Roth IRA's forward 12-month dividends ended August at $247.41. I'm going to raise my forward dividend goal up to $5,500 by the end of the year although I'll run some numbers to get a better idea of what I could possibly be at based on assumed savings and investment.
Below is the chart showing the monthly dividend totals for each year that I've been investing as well as the monthly average. It's not always an increase as some companies have weird payout schedules and eventually some positions will get dropped, but the long-term trend is what matters. It's great to see that my 2014 average through August is at $315.75 and $100 above 2013's monthly average of $212.23. With more contributions/investments and expected dividend increases the gap should widen that much more.
| Company | Dividend Amount | DRIP Shares |
|---|---|---|
| Procter & Gamble (PG) | $44.03 | -- |
| AT&T (T) | $9.70 | -- |
| Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) | $93.93 | -- |
| Air Products & Chemicals (APD) | $14.23 | -- |
| Realty Income (O) | $10.18 | -- |
| HCP Inc. (HCP) | $44.23 | -- |
| American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP) | $16.03 | -- |
| General Mills (GIS) | $14.46 | -- |
| Verizon (VZ) | $6.89 | -- |
| Starbucks (SBUX) | $7.31 | -- |
| Vodafone (VOD) | $33.83 | -- |
| YUM Brands (YUM) | $7.40 | 0.099 |
| Deere & Company (DE) | $22.20 | -- |
| August Total | $324.42 | |
| 2014 Total | $2,526.03 |
I've updated my Dividend Income page to reflect August's changes.
How did your dividends do in August? Are you on target to reach any of your dividends goals for 2014?
Congrats on your progress. Looks like you're well on your way to reaching your stated goals. It is interesting to note the income restrictions placed on investor contributions to retirement accounts. It seems to me that we should be free to save however much we want towards retirement without placing restrictions on us. One of the things I do are annual Roth conversions. That way my IRA doesn't grow too fast and profits are directed into my Roth. Since I can't predict what future tax rates will be, I can convert regular amounts to my Roth at tax rates I am aware of,
ReplyDeleteArizona Trader,
DeleteI expect to do pretty well on the dividend goals this year, although it's looking like I might have been a bit short-sighted on setting some of them. The income restrictions are a pain but we have to deal with what we can. I've thought about doing the backdoor Roth conversions but I don't think it makes much sense right now due to our high tax bracket. Since I have some capital from a rollover 401k that would factor into the calculations I don't want to get that taxed at the 28% rate when I know we'll most likely drop down in a couple years.
Thanks for stopping by!
Pretty awesome JC! Love the year over year chart showing the power of continued invested and dividend growth. You're primed for a hell of a September given how March and June shaped up.
ReplyDeleteI think the Roth IRA challenge is one that many mid-to-high income folks are experiencing. While I'm not at the point where I am limited from contributing just yet, I am rolling over and converting a 401(k) from the job I just left to my Roth IRA, plus putting another few grand in over the next six months to boost my account. It should get it to the point where it is kicking out about $1,700 per year in dividends, enough to pretty much stand alone and compound on itself. A couple more years of dividend growth and it might be of a decent enough size to turn off the DRIPs and be more selective in what I invest in.
w2r,
DeleteI was running projections and either September or December should be my first $700+ month and that's going to be pretty cool.
The Roth IRA issue is just a pain right now but it's something my wife and I will be able to remedy over the next few years once we drop down into a lower tax bracket. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay taxes in the 28% bracket if I can avoid them by waiting a few years and do conversions then.
That's going to be great getting an additional $1,700 per year in dividends from your 401k. That's really going to help out. I wish my employer offered a Roth 401k so the rollover wouldn't trigger a taxable event, but it is what it is.
Thanks for stopping by!
PIP,
ReplyDeleteGreat progress on your goals. Funny, I haven't set goals for dividend income per se, but am converting from index funds to dividend growth stocks (mostly, with a couple high growth non-dividend stocks thrown in). I was surprised to add up the dividends and see that I received $973 in August. I guess that isn't surprising since I'm converting 3 decades of savings.
Thanks for the inspiration (or I would only have looked at my annual dividend total, not the monthly total).
KeithX
KeithX,
DeleteDamn, almost $1k in just August is awesome! Great job! I'm looking forward to when I can convert some of my retirement accounts to DGI to see what they'll do. Right now I could generate about $4k at a 3% yield between my 401k and old rollover IRA.
Set some goals for the end of the year to see where you end up!
Thanks for stopping by!
Nice progress!
ReplyDeleteThanks DD!
DeletePIP,
ReplyDeleteSolid month! Good luck hitting $5500 in forward dividends.
MDP
MDP,
DeleteI think I can reach the $5,500 mark pretty easily if I get everything invested but it's going to depend on how things develop with Lucas. I'm wanting to build up the emergency fund a bit more in case the expenses are more than we expect.
Thanks for stopping by1
Nice month PIP! Over $300 in dividends for the month is great. We didn't do as good this past month but the second month of each quarter has been generally slow for us. I really need to look into buying a few of the names you have above to increase my FEB/MAY/AUG/NOV dividends!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and best wishes! AFFJ
AFFJ,
DeleteMy dividends are heavily concentrated at the end of each quarter but the first 2 months for each quarter are slowly making progress as well. I don't specifically look to have them even but a bit more evenly weighted would be nice.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, you're making great progress. To get over $300 in divs for a non-quarter end month is awesome. I've been eying MMM myself.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Kay,
DeleteI should have bought MMM a couple years back but kept wanting to hold out for $1 cheaper share price. Ooops!
This was the first time I crossed the $300 mark for a non quarter end month and it was great to see. Very much welcomed.
Thanks for stopping by!
JC,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a great month! A 80% YOY increase is definitely nothing to sneeze at. Especially when you're already working with fairly strong numbers to start with.
And I like the purchases. I have to take a look at MMM again sometime soon here. Haven't looked in more than a year, but I remember not liking their share dilution policies. However, that might have changed over the last year or so.
Keep up the great work. One month closer to FI. :)
Best wishes.
DM,
DeleteThe 80% YoY was great. I know the increases will slow down but in percentage size but start to make up for that with a larger base and larger $ increases.
I'll have to look at the share dilution issue. Just looking at the share count it looks like they tend to decrease shares except for possible acquisitions. But that's something I probably need to check a bit more on.
Thanks for stopping by!
Congrats, JC. Thats a great month and love your YOY increase. Also, I had to peek at your portfolio to figure out how big your position in KMI is, to see those massive dividends. I have 100 shares of KMI but want to buy more....will be looking to add more in the future....but for now, Im concentrating on rebuilding my cash positions.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work and best wishes for your future investments
R2R
R2R,
DeleteThe KMI position is quite nice and those dividends are wonderful. And there's no complaints from me about the forecast 10% annual growth through 2020. I don't expect to be as active in the markets unless they dip from here. Hopefully they will since I still have some cash ready to be put to work.
Thanks for stopping by!
Over $300 for the month of August is a very respectable passive income. Happy to overlap with you on several names for the month of August as well. Enjoy reading your progress. Look forward to your next update. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDivHut,
DeleteSeptember is going to be a really badass month. It should be my best month ever and I can't wait to get it in the books.
Thanks for stopping by!
JC,
ReplyDeleteGreat month. I like that you are getting really aggressive allocating your cash on hand. And the Loyal3 action is a good strategy. I'm considering YUM position there myself.
-RBD
RBD,
DeleteI'm pretty annoyed that I didn't jump on adding to my YUM position when the food quality issues came out. For some reason I kept trying to wait for the price to dip a bit more and now that train has left the station, for now at least. I'm looking at making a larger purchase of YUM if it gets down under $71 though.
I think the Loyal3 plan is good since I normally have a lot of capital saved each month. It allows me to get some capital invested but still have a large chunk to invest and make larger purchases with. Win win in my eyes.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi JC,
ReplyDeleteCongrats! $300+ in a non-prime month is a great achievement, and the awesome thing is, it'll likely never drop below that amount again but keep on increasing. And we're both in the $300 club this month, so that's extra great!
Keep up the great work!
-DL
Dividend Life,
DeleteI hope to push into the $400 club in November but I don't think I'll make that big of a jump, maybe by February of 2015. September is going to be awesome with the majority of companies I own paying out this month.
Thanks for stopping by!
PIP,
ReplyDeleteSolid month, kinder Morgan is pretty generous to you! Thank you for sharing, im looking to finally dip into the America market so its nice to get ideas form like minded people
Cheers
Ace
Digger,
DeleteI went pretty heavy into KMI and I haven't been disappointed. The prospect of 10% annualized growth after the consolidation is even better.
Thanks for stopping by!
Congrats on the awesome progress, JC! You're already knockin on your 2014 goal's door with four more months to go!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up, you've got a new fan!
NMW
No More Waffles,
DeleteI think there's a good chance I'll surpass both of my dividend goals for this year which will be awesome. I've already raised my forward dividends goal which is the really important one so I'm quite excited about that.
Thanks for stopping by!
Great month PIP. Over 300/month is great. I am still at the 100/month level, but something is better than nothing. I hold some of the stocks that you mentioned and hope to initiate positions in additional stocks as time goes by.
ReplyDeleteDGJ
DGJ,
Delete$100 per month is still awesome. Don't get discouraged about it at all. You can't just decide on DGI and automatically start receiving $500 per month in dividends. It's a long term strategy that needs time to really work.
Thanks for stopping by!
Crushed your year over year. Cant wait to see 2015 in effect!
ReplyDeleteA-G,
DeleteThe YoY was quite nice although I expect the % changes to decline for most YoY comparisons the overall $ increases will be higher. 2015 should be a great year!
Thanks for stopping by!