Dividend Update - August 2018

Dividend Update - August 2018

It's the end of one month and the beginning of another so it's time for my favorite update: my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits. I hope they 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 open up all sorts of possibilities. You can check my dividend income or progress pages to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.

Well August was a bit of a let down compared to the fun of July, our big family trip to the Cayman Islands; however, my investments and dividends didn't let me down.  My FI Portfolio produced $300.34 in dividends during the month while my FolioFirst portfolio added another $1.84.  My Roth IRA was a big, fat goose egg but that's been the norm for the middle month of each quarter.  Across all accounts I received a total of $302.18 during August.  

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $300.34 in dividends last month.  Compared to May that's a solid 4.2% increase which was fueled by dividend growth and reinvestment alone.  However, compared to August of last year the increase only came in at 6.3%.  

Given that discrepancy I can see that the difference was due to YUM Brands (YUM) paying a dividend last August, but not this August.  They've changed their payout schedule over that time which is throwing off the year over year comparison.  Adjusting for that to give a more accurate representation shows that the year over year increase climbed to 11.3%.  That's what I'm talking about!  Especially since that doesn't account for new capital being deployed.

Roth IRA Portfolio

My Roth IRA was a no-show, as per usual, during August.

Dividend Raises During the Month

The pay raises just keep on coming.  August saw another 5 dividends being raised up among my FI Portfolio positions.  You mean a company I own a piece of, albeit tiny, wants to pay out more of their profits to me just because I own part of the company?  Sign me up!  

Combined those 5 companies boosted my forward 12-month dividends by $46.79.  Through the end of August I've had 43 announced raises from 39 of the companies that I own combining to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $390.35.

What's really amazing is that organic dividend growth this year has already surpassed 2017's total of $267.57 by nearly 50%.  

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended August at $6,452.56 while my FolioFirst forward dividends are at $91.05.  That brings the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends to $6,543.61  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends increased to $371.75.  Across all 3 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $6,915.36 in dividends over the next year.

Monthly Average

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, as we saw above, and eventually some positions will get dropped, but the long-term trend is what matters.  

The rolling 12-month monthly average for my FI Portfolio is at $496.85 per month which is a decent $23 above 2017's monthly average of $473.37.  I'm inching my way to $500 per month!

Monthly Comparison of Dividends Received From FI Portfolio

Dividends Received Breakdown

Dividends Received Breakdown August 2018

I've updated my Dividend Income page to reflect August's changes.

How was your start to the second half of 2018?

Let me know in the comments below!