Dividend Income Update – November 2014
Another month has passed by, and it’s time for me to post an article on my favorite subject: dividend income. The reason why I love to post articles on dividend income is because it’s pure numbers. It’s hard to argue the success of long-term dividend growth investing when you can slowly and surely see dividend income rise over time and get closer to covering one’s expenses.
What can I say? It feels great to receive passive income. Waking up richer than you were the day before is a wonderful feeling, especially knowing that you didn’t have to do anything for it. Before you even go out into the world and try to make money for yourself, your money is already working hard on your behalf and generating wealth for you. All by itself. I’m a hard worker, but my money puts me to shame!
I hope these monthly dividend income reports provide inspiration for any investors out there that are just starting out. It’s easy to see these payments rising month after month and it shows that it’s possible to one day pay for monthly expenses with dividends, which would provide an investor opportunities and freedom to pursue interests other than full-time work. Without further ado:
November 2014 Dividends Received
- AT&T Inc. (T) – $23.00
- Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) – $21.45
- Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) – $12.72
- Deere & Company (DE) – $18.00
- Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD) – $15.40
- ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) – $20.65
- Clorox Co. (CLX) – $25.90
- ONE Gas Inc. (OGS) – $2.24
- General Dynamics Corporation (GD) – $12.40
- American Realty Capital Properties Inc. (ARCP) – $23.33
- Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) – $32.82
- Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (OHI) – $31.20
- Realty Income Corp. (O) – $12.82
- Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) – $79.20
- Orchids Paper Products Company (TIS) – $21.00
Total dividends received during the month of November: $352.13
What’s not to like about that? Over $350 I didn’t have to go out and work for. I remember back in 2005 just starting out in the auto industry, where I was a parts driver. So I would deliver parts to wholesale clients like body shops as well as other dealerships. I made $9.50 per hour at this job. So that means, over a full-time week of 40 hours of work, I would have grossed just a little more than what I was able to generate in passive income over the course of the last month. The me of 2005 would be proud. Hell, the me of 2014 is proud!
This tangible success is one of the big reasons I love this strategy so much. Stock prices fluctuate so much it almost seems unreal at times. But cash flow is very, very real. And it’s very, very nice.
A bit over $350 in passive income doesn’t render me financially independent. But it’s another step in that direction. And that’s what this journey is really all about: taking a step forward every single day. Success begets success. $350 begets $400 begets $475. So on and so forth. The snowball accelerates. Financial independence becomes more realistic.
This month’s dividend income was 89.2% higher than what I received last November. One year. Almost a 90% increase. I do love the sound of that, though these increases will naturally decline in relative terms as the absolute numbers grow. But it is, after all, the absolute numbers I’m really after.
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I was able to cover 16.3% of my personal expenses this past month via dividend income alone. This is a bit of a disappointment, but I’m still working through some large, temporary expenses that will abate after the start of 2015. I’m looking for this number to improve dramatically as 2015 wears on.
December should be a blockbuster month for dividend income, and will likely compete with this last September for an all-time high. I’m extremely excited to finish the year strong and start the New Year off on the right foot. Every dollar of dividend income is of course wonderful, but the more the merrier!
I have a goal this year of exceeding $5,200 in dividend income throughout 2014. Now that November’s results are recorded, we can see that I’ve collected $5,036.73 in dividend income this year thus far. Bam! I just exceeded $5,000 in a single year for the first time ever. That feels amazing. I’ve surpassed both $4,000 and $5,000 this year, and I’ll come pretty close to hitting $6,000. All in one year. I’m going to crush my dividend income goal by a wide margin, which will just add to the celebratory mood around New Year’s excitement. 2014 will go down as my most successful year yet by a number of measures, not the least of which is the success here on the dividend income front. To 2015 and beyond!
I’ll update my Dividend Income page to reflect November’s dividends.
Full Disclosure: Long all aforementioned securities.
How was November for you? Exceed your expectations? Setting yourself up for a great finish to 2014?
Thanks for reading.
Photo Credit: holohololand/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Edit: Corrected update.
Love the comparison to your old auto industry job. Soon your money is going to be working that parts delivery job for you, full time. 🙂
Congratulations on passing $4,000 and $5,000 in one year!
Congrats, great month!
Some great numbers from a multitude of companies! Very impressive to almost double your year over year number! It’s great to see you are well on the way to passing your 2014 goal and by a long shot. I’m excited to see what 2015 brings you and wish you the best.
Jason:
Nice work on the dividends. I’m impressed in how far you have come on the passive income front.
I love the comparison to your job as a parts driver. It’s actually quite amazing when you think about it. You get the income but you don’t have to spend every day driving from one place to the next. Instead, you get to do what you love doing.
You should definitely end up well above your goal for 2014. December is a great month for dividend income.
Steve
Great job DM! Keep the snowball rolling. I received $145.40 myself in November. That was 87.6% higher than November of last year. I crushed my goal of $1,000 for the year two months ago. Going to be closer to $1,500 by year end which I am stoked about.
Congrats on the dividend income, DM. Great month yet again.
R2R
DM,
Awesome! You have quite a few companies paying in Novemeber which is just perfect. I guarantee you’ll come closer to a 90 percent growth rate this time next year, pretty good hunch.
Congrats on crossing 5k! That is sweet, and you’ve crossed 2 big milestones and potentially may cross 3. Knowing you’re going to crush your 5200 goal is nice as well – should help in planning out 2015.
Nice job again DM and I bet the December dividends have already been streaming in! Talk soon.
-Lanny
Hi Jason
Great income for November. Exciting to look forward to what will bring you in December!
Regards, DH
Congrats on your 90%+ victory over last year.
Crushed last years number. I wonder what your 2015 projections will be as you are now a self employed writer with a tough to predict income.
DIV Mantra…time to buy some more oke or oks !!! what a dgi machine! 🙂
Wow, great job on breaking $5k already! I think my total dividends were around $12 in November… And there is a very high chance that my portfolio is about to die as I am considering taking programming lessons which will wipe out my savings and investments to nearly $0… Guess I have to keep living off of your postings for the time being (I had started a blog but that is going to be not very useful soon) as my goal posts have changed recently.
Tommy,
Thanks! 🙂
It’s definitely another step in the right direction. I hope you had a very successful November as well.
Cheers.
Agent,
It was a big YOY jump. Those kinds of gains in percentage terms will naturally fall as the totals rise, which is totally fine by me. 🙂
Appreciate the support. It’s been a great year for many of us. Excited to see how it all finishes out!
Thanks for dropping by.
Best regards.
Steve,
Yeah, I’d MUCH rather have my money working for me, rather than the other way around. 🙂
Congrats to you over there on your recent move to retirement. Life is good!!
Appreciate the support. December should indeed be pretty strong. The year should finish very nicely. I’m sure the same is true for you.
Take care!
BCS,
Congrats on the great work over there. You’re exceeding your goal only because your saving and investing more than you anticipated. Which is obviously a testament to your consistency and persistence. Keep it up. 🙂
It sure feels great to set up a solid goal and then crush it!
Best regards.
R2R,
Thanks so much. I’m extremely pleased with the way things are moving along thus far. I can’t ask for more!
Hope you had a great November as well. 🙂
Cheers.
Lanny,
It’s definitely nice to have so many high-quality companies paying me a portion of their profit. I would never sacrifice quality for the sake of diversification, but most of these companies are really great businesses (notwithstanding ARCP’s accounting issues).
I actually doubt I’ll be anywhere near a 90% growth rate next November. That would require a pretty massive jump in dividend income for November. Perhaps if the values in stocks just happen to be those that pay out this cycle, but it would be tough. Nonetheless, I’ll be giving it my all!
Appreciate the support. You know all to well how it feels to set up a solid goal and then knock it out of the park. Life is good for us dividend growth investors. 🙂
Best wishes.
DH,
Thanks for dropping by!
Appreciate the comment. I’m also looking forward to what December will bring. Should be a blockbuster, as I’m sure it will be for many others. Let’s finish 2014 with a bang. 🙂
Take care.
Boom!
Awesome month Jason, well done. 89% increase YOY……. wow. I thought that the longer you do DGI, the lower the YOY increase becomes, I believe that to be the case as a general guide, but 89% from someone that’s been doing this for 4+ years is very encouraging.
Congratulations on taking another big chunk out of your 2014 Dividend target. It’s great to hear that you’re going to end up smashing it too. I can remember you saying 6 months ago (ish), that you felt the dividend income was going to be tight, and here you are predicting an almost 20% increase on your 2014 goal.
Well done my friend. Thanks as always for sharing!
Huw
Justin,
Thanks so much. It’s a big move in the right direction. I’m just hoping to keep it going. 🙂
Cheers!
A-G,
Yeah, my income is indeed tough to predict. And a good portion of it is almost completely out of my control. But I’m trying to stay busy, and November was actually a record for output in regards to writing. However, there’s only so many articles I can write before the quality starts to suffer. But it’s a good mix right now.
I think a goal of $7,000 or so would be realistic for 2015. Depends on how busy I stay this month and what kind of dividend growth I’ll anticipate. We’ll see!
Best wishes.
Seraph,
Haha. Yeah those early days in the auto industry were tough. I wasn’t making much money and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. But I worked hard, caught some breaks, and ran with it. Life is really good. 🙂
Appreciate the support. It’s been a great 2014 thus far. 2015 should be even better!
Best regards.
cn1ght,
Hey, that’s okay. Our needs and goals sometimes change, and we gotta roll with the punches. If you’re able to turn those programming lessons into a career where you’re able to earn a really solid income while hopefully enjoying what you do, then you’ll be in a great spot to put some serious capital to work down the line. Stocks aren’t going anywhere. The key is to be happy, whatever that looks like. 🙂
Cheers!
Huw,
Haha. You are right there. The percentages will go down over time. I’ve been fortunate this year to continue investing at a rather rapid rate, and it looks like this cycle just happened to be a large beneficiary of that. But I would be willing to bet that next November’s YOY percentage gains are much less.
Yeah, I’m so excited to break through this goal. I wasn’t sure how it would go with self-employment, as I was making a lot less money from my online endeavors back in the spring. But it’s far exceeded my expectations. This has set me up for a really nice finish to the year and an even better start to 2015.
Looks like things are moving along very nicely for you as well over there. Keep it up!!
Cheers.
I received $31 in net dividend income in November. Not much but I only started with this in August.
Nice job!
I’ve been trying to get some people to read your blog and see how much sense this makes. Not sure if they’re lurking yet or not. lol
I brought in $45 in November from my one monthly dividen payer. Not great, but i expect Dec to be much better and definitely break the $100 mark.
A few weeks ago, I calculated out a year in dividend payments based on the stocks i currently own. It came in near $1k. Pretty happy with that. 🙂
Do you have a place where we can see your portfolio of stocks?
These are by far the best posts any DGI blogger writes. It’s always fun tallying up the passive income received. Curious to know what your passive income goal will be for 2015 since you smashed through your 2014 goals with relative ease. Look forward to the next update.
Jason,
Congrats on the 90% growth rate over November last year. I hope to be hitting those same numbers next year. Looking forward to December’s dividends as it will be my largest month yet at over $300.
Jason, glad to see the snowball rolling steadily towards FI and buying you more and more time to yourself (and Claudia). You think you’re going to miss the excitement of counting monthly dividends and getting closer and closer to such a big goal each month, after you have reached it? 🙂
Too bad I lost my job a couple of months ago, so at least for the time being mine won’t be growing, but I’m still happy for you! And I have noticed that the dividends help quite a bit also when you’re unemployed, hehe =)
mike,
The pipeline plays are really strong right now and many of them are increasing distributions at a rapid rate. It’s really exciting, though there’s some debt and risk to keep in mind as well. I’m going back and forth right now and adding some exposure there, to either KMI, OKE, or another. Energy is already such a large component of my portfolio, but the yield and growth prospects are wonderful.
Best regards!
ThomasDV,
Congratulations! You can go back to some of my earliest reports and see similar results. Stay consistent and you’ll surprise yourself with how much progress you can attain. 🙂
Keep it up!
Take care.
DC,
That’s really great! $1,000 is a nice start, and will add to the available ammo you have next year. $1,000 is almost a purchase all in itself. 🙂
I earned not much more than that throughout the whole course of 2011, so you see how quickly things can ramp up. And I know that I missed some opportunities in there as well, or I could be doing even better.
Appreciate the support and readership. I hope those people take some time to stop by and see what this is all about. If not, that’s okay too.
Best wishes!
DivHut,
I agree. These are my favorite posts both to write and read. This is really at the heart of what we do and what we’re after, so it’s fun to see the results bear out. 🙂
The next update should be one of the best, if not the best, of the year. And that’ll set up my goal for next year. I’m thinking probably around $7,000, but I’ll have to calculate what I think I can invest, what I think dividend raises will look like, etc. But $7,000 puts me on target for my overarching goal of FI by 40.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers.
Mr. Stock Fox,
Thanks! It’s been a stellar year. I’m blessed. 🙂
December sounds great. Seeing $300 in fresh dividend income hit your account over the course of just one month is always a pleasure. Knowing that it’s only accelerating is even better. Let’s finish the year strong!
Best regards.
Sweet!! Keep us motivated. I’m anxiously waiting for my first dividends but slowly but surely i’m building my dividend portfolio.
There are many ways to invest when you are young. One of the best is to invest in yourself with an education and skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. As Jason rightfully points out, stocks will always be there.
Great progress on income this month! It is so freeing knowing that you can pay a portion of your bills for the rest of your life without doing any work at all!! My ultimate goal is to have enough passive income to safely pay my mortgage. Of course, i would not use the money to actually pay the mortgage unless times got tough, but my point is that having the safety of passive income for the rest of your life is a wonderful thing! Keep on working at it…i am sure in no time at all most of your bills will be able to be paid with passive income alone!
Well done Jason! Looks like the cash keeps on coming. Without a doubt, 2014 will be looked at as a rousing success, and I’m glad to have been along for the ride. The next couple of years are going to be tremendous for our portfolios, as well as the community, given the increase of bloggers and folks with a DG focus.
Keep on charging!
Hi Dm,
congrats on another solid month. Keep pushing that snowball. If you get $5200 in dividends that is a bit above $14 a day. Just for waking up, heck you can even sleep al day.
Cheers,
G
ITs always great when you can say you surpassed 5000 a year in passive income. I am looking forward to December to see if I can achieve a new milestone as well. Good luck.
$147 here, can’t complain!
I built up some major debt this year with home, car, & a 401K loans (for the home down payment) so next year will probably be slow on the investing front while I get those paid down. I’ll try not to be too jealous watching all your recent buys and dividends!!!
DM,
That is awesome considering the 2nd month in the quarterly cycle is like the middle-step child of the dividend cycle. I really enjoy the 89% increase, such a high number this far along. Cannot help debate that kind of YOY success.
As for breaking the 4 and 5k marks, that is really big news. You will destroy your goal this year, and I can only imagine how good next year will be. Keep it up, its exciting to watch someone succeed.
Thanks,
Gremlin
I remember when I was making $4.75 per hour back in the late nineties, that was my first job here in the US and I was so happy making $350 every two weeks. But life was much simpler back then.
Congrats on another solid month Jason! I can see from your graph where the trend is going for your December dividend, I am betting another all time high!
Oops, I think you meant to say “November” in your last sentence, not “October”.
Congratulations on another great month! And for surpassing the $5,000 mark 🙂 I’m looking forward to see where you finally end up at the end of the year – I have a feeling it’s going to be good!
Very nice year over year improvement. I wish I could perform half as well. Very good job.
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
$275 after-tax and just shy of $500 in the 401k in November. November in my after-tax account was larger than September (a QE month), so the changes I made in August are starting to pay off.
Another great month! Have you thought about thinking how much you’re expected to receive in dividends next year?
Josh,
Exactly. Before you even go out into the world to try and make money to cover your bills for the month, your money is already working hard for you here. That’s just a wonderful part of investing and this strategy in particular. The income is flowing, regardless of what’s going on with the stock market. Bills don’t oscillate much, so it’s nice when the cash flow behaves the same. 🙂
Cheers!
W2R,
The cash is relentless. Just like me. I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂
I’m with you. I think the next couple of years is going to mark an inflection point. You’re going to see a big group of people – an entire community – all earning substantial passive income and seeing their dreams come true. Can’t wait!
Thanks for the support.
Best wishes.
RichUncle EL,
Thanks, bud. It’s definitely great to average more than $400 per month in passive income. That’s pretty close to covering my rent at this point, which is really nice. 🙂
I hope the journey is proving to be fruitful for you as well.
Thanks for dropping by!
Take care.
Alexg,
I’ll keep doing my best to motivate if you keep investing. 🙂
It’s an exciting time for you, just starting out. Every step forward is a huge leap right now. Keep at it!
Take care.
Nice! Guess you get to open that bottle of champagne this New Year’s Eve. 😉
Tommy,
Nice!! $147 is very solid. Not much less than I made last November. You’re right there. 🙂
That’s unfortunate you have some debt to work through, but I’m sure you made the right choices for you and your situation. I’m still working through some student loan debt myself. Looking forward to the day that’s all gone.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best regards.
Gremlin,
Haha. Redheaded stepchild, huh? I guess that’ll make December the golden child. 🙂
Appreciate the support there. Breaking through $4k and $5k in relatively short order is pretty exciting. I’m guessing I’ll break through $6k and $7k for the first time next year. These milestones are fantastic, and I’m so grateful I started when I did. I couldn’t imagine still being at the start line, working at the car dealership, and wishing for a better way. I think what these updates show is that it doesn’t take that long to build up a life-changing source of income. $500 per month can change your life and it only took a few years to get here.
Thanks for dropping by!
Best wishes.
Mark,
Thanks for catching that. 🙂
I fixed the error. Appreciate you being on the lookout.
Cheers!
Geblin,
Yeah, it’s amazing. Getting paid just to be alive. It’s a nice arrangement! 🙂
Thanks for the support. Hope you had a great November as well.
Cheers!
Nicola,
Thanks so much! It’s a huge milestone. Knowing that there’s a pretty good chance I’ll make more than $5,000/year for the rest of my life feels really good. And pretty much anyone can do this as well. Consistent saving and investing has a huge effect on one’s life. I’m out to prove that you don’t need to make a ton of money to radically change your life.
Appreciate the support. 🙂
Take care!
DM,
Great progress! What jumps out the most to me — and why I bookmarked this article — is the fantastic collection of dividend payers you have assembled in an otherwise slow monthly cycle. Just off the top of my head I’d love to add CLX, DE, OHI and TD to my stable of stocks within the next couple of years.
A 90 percent year-over-year increase. Sit back for a second and let that soak in 🙂
Keep rocking it!
Best,
DWC
FFF,
It’s amazing how far we’ve come, isn’t it? I wasn’t even grossing $400/week not all that long ago. Now I’m making more than that every month completely passively. Moving from the working class to the investor class is one of the best moves I’ve ever made. 🙂
Looks like you’re doing great over there as well. Keep at it!
Cheers.
Robert,
I’m sure you’re doing much better than me over there with that massive portfolio of yours. 🙂
We’ll keep cranking away!
Take care.
DH,
Nice! That’s a very solid total right there. Good to hear the taxable account is moving along nicely for you, as that will allow you a bit more flexibility down the road. Keep it up!
Best regards.
Henry,
Thanks!
I think my goal for 2015 is going to be somewhere around $7,000. That keeps me on pace for my overarching goal of FI by 40. We’ll see where I finish the year out at. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers.
KeithX,
Haha. Claudia might have something to drink. I’ll probably just stick to a cold can of Coca-Cola. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by. Hope your November was fantastic.
Best regards.
DWC,
Thanks. It’s a great collection of businesses up there. I really can’t complain much about the portfolio these days. The quality is really high, and it just continues to grow and spit out cash. The machine is humming away. 🙂
It was a great November. Another step in the right direction.
Best wishes!
Very nice! I have just started my investing journey this year. Your site here has inspired me to get that cash flow Machine to work. I had an all time high of $28.86 in dividends for November and I am currently projecting to almost triple that number in December with $82.92. I decided to double down my position in LVS recently at $63.58/share. My current stake of 45.29 shares will bring in $22.65 alone.
Congrats man, I’m following along right there with you!
Congrats on breaking 5K for the year – that’s a big deal especially considering when and where you started.
Seems like I must be the only one who has Feb/May/Aug/Nov as the high months of the cycle – if every month was like those I’d be retired. November was a record for me $2841 ($2350 taxable + $491 401k) – but its probably going to stay the record for a while now (600 shares of KMP getting converted to KMI amounts to roughly $185 less in divs next Nov).
DM,
Great month, $350 is amazing! Especially for a month like November that is considered an “off” month in my eyes. I’m exciting that you are knocking on the doorstpeo of your actual dividend income received during this year. Heck, by the time you will read this you will be halfway through the door. December is that fun, crazy month where you never really know just how much dividend income you will receive.
Just out of curiosity, you mentioned that your expense coverage ratio was impacted by many one time expenses. Since those are non-recurring expenses, did you happen to calculated an adjusted ratio to ballpark what you coverage ratio will be once the one-time hitters tone down?
Again, great month DM. Keep up the great work. I’m excited to see what your final 2014 tally will be at this time next month.
Bert
TDM,
That’s fantastic. The first year is extremely exciting, but I can tell you it only gets better! 🙂
Keep up the great work over there. Hard work pays dividends, literally and figuratively.
Best regards.
pacer45,
Wow. Now that’s a hell of a November right there! 🙂
I’d probably be financially independent on that kind of dividend income, even if the other months are lighter in comparison. Very nice!
Your income may go down a bit in the interim, but I suspect the growth via KMI will make up for it at some point.
Thanks for sharing!
Best wishes.
Bert,
December will definitely allow me to blow past my goal, which I’m really grateful for. Should be a very exciting finish to the year. 🙂
I haven’t calculated my coverage ratio like that because it’s easy to start throwing out expenses and go through a “coulda, shoulda, woulda” type scenario, but I like to deal with actual numbers. Besides, it’s oftentimes those “one-time expenses” that seem to creep up all the time and become recurring expenses. So I like to deal with actual dividend income received against actual money spent. That way I know exactly where I stand. And I suspect the ratio will improve substantially over the course of the next year or so. Things are looking up!
Thanks for stopping by. Keep up the great work over there.
Cheers.
Great work! The dividend income you are making is phenomenal when you look beyond the simple numbers.
Someone might look and say “$350 in a month!? That’s it!? Years of investing for THAT!?”. When I first started investing, I had a debate with a friend who through all his money into Citigroup stock and was planning on selling it as soon as it went up a few bucks. When he asked me how much I was making per dividend payment, the fact was that I was making only a few cents to a couple of bucks each. It wasn’t impressive, and that’s why he stayed away from dividends, but that ignores the big picture.
Sure, you used to make more in a week working in the auto industry than you do in a month from dividends. But as you said, the auto industry money came from a 40 workweek while the dividend income came from NO WORK WHATSOEVER! More importantly, that 90% increase. At our jobs, we jump through hoops and move Heaven and the Earth, giving our customers the sun and the moon and all the stars in the sky in the hopes of impressing our bosses enough to get, what? A promotion with a 2% raise and twice the responsibility? How many of us have jobs, though, that just hand us a 90% raise just for breathing? Jason, I wonder what your November 2015 report and your November 2016 report and your November 2026 report will all look like if you keep getting these 90% raises. And again, all for no work being done. THAT is the big picture that all the dividend naysayers keep overlooking.
Congrats on another great month and surpassing the $5000 a year dividend income milestone. Your “own little worker” is working harder and harder for you and never calls in sick. Nothing to complain about there. I like to say to people, I never have to work to pay for groceries ever again and soon it will be another bill and so on.
Posts like this get me so motivated to buy more stock. Great work!
Great Job!
November was a good month. 16.5% over November 2013 and 5.4% over August 2014.
Hey DM,
A great month and a great year. You’ll be excited to see those numbers for December so you can close out your goals and really cement some new ones for next year.
2014 has been an interesting year for me, a new job/industry/working arrangement and a project I have been heavily invested in is finally moving to construction (and finally will start repaying equity and profit in 2015). One thing I have failed in is purchasing a genuine dividend growth stock. That has to be achieved in 2015, it will be my one goal (hopefully repeated) to finally get my snowball rolling. This year has been great cash wise, my income peaked at $28,000 net for a month and if I see similar cash next year I am going to have lots of interesting choices to make.
Someday I’ll grab that beer with you if I ever stop working.
Hello DM, This is Finland calling. Another solid month of steady stream of dividends, congratulations on that! It is nice to see what the number is after December – looks like it is going to be huge.
After the last drop-in I achieved a new personal record in monthly savings rate. In november it was 47,7% – compared to the 3,7 % in January. I was also able to make additional purchase (VZ) to my ‘That Side of the Pond’-portfolio I started less than 2 months ago. Waiting for those first USD dividends to materialize next year. I’m currently in a position where a bit over one months expenses are covered with yearly dividend income, so the snowball is building up quite ok.
Keep up the good work & thank you (once again) for sharing your inspirational journey towards FI!
Hi Jason,
One word describes: AWESOME
I look forward to reading on continued growth!
Ray
Joey,
Absolutely. Some people get that and some don’t. But for those that do, it’s life-changing. To know that your money can work for you rather than it always being the other way around is a completely different way to think about life and money. And then there’s the fact that the pay raises are so much more substantial as an investor than a worker. It’s just amazing.
These totals will only climb more aggressively as time marches on, due to the effects of compounding. It takes a little while to get the snowball rolling, but it’s practically unstoppable once you get some serious size and speed going.
Appreciate the support!
Best wishes.
IP,
Definitely. It’s all about covering one bill at a time. Before you know it, 25% of your monthly bills are covered. Then 50%. So on and so forth. 🙂
It feels good to know that my rent is covered through passive income alone. Just knowing that you’ll always have a roof over your head no matter what is awfully reassuring.
Thanks for dropping by!
Cheers.
G,
That’s why I write these posts. 🙂
Take care.
LDG,
Nice! That’s great work there. Keep the train rolling. 🙂
Best regards.
KM,
That’s great income there if you’re able to replicate it on a regular basis. Indeed, you’ll have plenty of capital available for investing. Just putting away a portion of that over the course of a year would put you in a great position with a nice portfolio. 🙂
I don’t really drink, but I’d be happy to grab a Coke or a Pepsi sometime. Gotta give love as a shareholder (and a consumer/fan).
Best of luck with 2015 as the project comes online and you’re able to start saving/investing some pretty serious capital.
Cheers!
Fjonsson,
Congratulations on the very solid savings rate. That’s the foundation of your success. You can be the greatest investor in the world, but a lack of a steady stream of cash doesn’t allow you to put your talent to work. One’s chances at achieving financial independence depends on their ability to save. Great job!
Happy to be a fellow shareholder with you in VZ. Not big growth or anything, but should be able to continue paying out steady and large dividends for the foreseeable future.
Keep up the great work!
Best wishes.
Ray,
Thanks so much. Appreciate the kind words. 🙂
I hope all is just as well with you!
Best wishes.
Hey, Jason, I have a question for you. You have OKE in your portfolio, and I just read an article by DGI from 2012 in which he recommends OKS instead, which is OKE’s MLP. Which one would you recommend? Would you recommend both? What really IS the real difference between them in what they do? I tried to figure it all out with Kinder Morgan and was still a bit confused.
Jason,
Your killing it with your passive income! I am hoping I can share the same success you have had in the next four years. I wish I would have started when you did because that was a great time to get started. However I think I will do fine if I stay consistent and avoid speculative stocks. I can’t wait to see if you buy anything in December and I have a close watch on some of the Canadian Banks right now. TD and BMO starting to look good. But I have to a little more research.
Wow, 89% YTY increase. That’s amazing! Great job Jason. Do you think you can continue to grow at that pace? I shuffled my stocks a bit this year so it’s not useful to look at that number. I’ll calculate the whole year after December.
Hi Jason, congrats from Holland for beating the 5000 mark!
You’re on the right track, that’s for sure. I’m turning my portfolio in a dividend machine, also cranked out a few hundreds of euros in dividends last month.
Aiming to be FI at 58, and hoping for 55.
Cheers!
Joey,
OKE is the general partner, whereas OKS is the underlying limited partnership. So think of OKE like KMI and OKS like KMP. Similar structure. OKE will feature a lower yield, greater growth potential, and less tax headaches. OKE also features the IDR as part of the GP structure, like KMI. That’s why its dividend growth will be far greater.
I hope that helps. 🙂
Best regards.
DM,
The key is actually starting, which you’ve done. Many people don’t even get that far. And while I certainly wish we had a cheaper market, I believe time is the friend of the long-term investor. KO may seem pricey here at $43, but I’m confident it will one day be $50, then $60, then $70, etc.
But definitely stick to quality. I could have been picking up spec plays all along over the last four or so years instead of focusing on building a high-quality portfolio that I’m sure will build sustainable and rising income for the rest of my life. Of course, doing that instead would mean I likely wouldn’t now have the river of passive income flowing my way.
Keep at it!
Cheers.
Joe,
Thanks for dropping by!
That’s a good question there about pace. I’m honestly not sure. If you’re talking about the percentages, no. If you’re referring to the absolute gains, I think so. It’ll really depend on how much income I can continue to generate while working from home. As you know, that kind of income can oscillate pretty heavily. But I’m really enjoying myself and staying incredibly busy. So it’s working out great thus far. 🙂
Looking forward to seeing where your dividend income landed for the year. I’m sure it’s going to be a very solid total.
Best wishes!
Awesome work brotha. Your blog alone has inspired me more than I can express, and I tell everyone who will listen (and some who won’t) to follow your journey.
I just have one question about the investment account I’m using. I’m currently building my DG portfolio in a Fidelity Ira, so obviously I’m just reinvesting the dividends and don’t plan to touch that money until I retire. Do you think it would be wise to open another account like the one you have to start building a portfolio that has already been taxed? I think I like the idea of having both. Btw, which brokerage firm are you with? I know you’ve answered that question many times but I just can’t remember.
Thanks, and keep up the great work!
Dutch Guy,
Thanks for dropping by from Holland!
Congrats on the solid month. You’re doing great.
FI by 55 is still very early. I don’t know what the situation is over there in Holland, but few people here in the US retire at 55. Just doesn’t happen often, even though it’s obviously very realistic if one takes the proper steps. And based on average life expectancy, 55 is still quite young. 🙂
Keep at it!
Take care.
1 month ago I predicted $5,568.14 dividend income for 2014.
I guess I will be about $200 wrong. And I’m glad with that!
stugats,
Thanks so much. I really appreciate that kind of support. Spreading the message means a lot to me. 🙂
As far as your question goes, that really depends on what kind of goals you’re after. I use a taxable account only because I plan on using the dividend income this portfolio generates when I’m 40. An IRA makes that pretty difficult. I think that while tax-advantaged accounts are preferable for most people that aren’t as aggressive as me in regards to how early they want to retire, they’re also not completely necessary for those that do want to become FI very early in life. And I’m out to prove that.
And I use Scottrade for my brokerage.
Thanks again!
Best regards.
Nuno,
Ha. I suspect that you’re right about that. It looks like I will finish somewhere around the $5,800 mark for the year. It’s been an incredible and amazing year in so many ways. I’m truly blessed.
I hope you’re having an even better year!
Best regards.
Congratulations on a great month and hitting both your $4k and $5k in the same year – awesome!
I love seeing your dividend updates. I have been reading for quite a long time and it finally hit me that I could retire early t0o if I tried. About 6 months ago I finally opened an investment account and I am trying to retire within 15 years!
Great work Jason. 89.2% YOY increase is very impressive. That number right there just showed that you’ve been working hard to increase your freedom fund and have it producing more dividend income for you. It would be very impressive if you can continue such YOY growth.
Congrats! Jason for achieving almost 90% more than last year. Its these number that show the power of DI investing.
I also made huge progress this Nov compared to last year’s. Hope 4th quarter is a home run for us 🙂 Best.
Weenie,
Thanks so much! I’ve worked really hard over the last few years, but I’ve been fortunate as well. I’m hoping to finish out 2014 strong and get off on the right foot for 2015. 🙂
Appreciate the support.
Best regards.
FreeIn15,
That’s fantastic! I’m glad you decided to start down your own journey. Inspiring others to do just that is a major reason I write and do everything I do. 🙂
I wish you the best of luck with your 15-year trek. It’ll be tough but incredibly rewarding.
Best wishes.
Tawcan,
I’ve been working hard, but my capital has been working even harder. Put the two of us together and look out! 🙂
Thanks for dropping by.
Cheers!
PIM,
Thanks! It definitely shows the power of consistency, a high savings rate, and dividend growth investing.
I think we’ll have a particularly strong fourth quarter. I’m very optimistic. 🙂
Appreciate you stopping by.
Take care!
Congrats a great month. Curious to know why the totals went down this month compared to August 2014?
DGJ,
My position in VOD pays out semi-annually. Their final payment occurs in August, which is why there’s a big difference between the two months. Unfortunately, not all companies out there pay neatly every three months. 🙂
Cheers!
Looks good Jason, keep up the good work!
All though good habits you have developed these past several years are really paying off…literally 😀
Ace,
Thanks so much. Appreciate the support!
You had a great month as well. Congrats. You’re just a few dimes away from crossing $1,500 for the year. Keep it rolling. 🙂
Best regards.
The degree I already have (electrical engineer) was supposed to have been the education and skill-set which served me for the rest of my life. Instead each day I wake up dreading going to work blah blah blah (complainy pants goes on). The sad part is that if the programming thing goes the way it looks like it is supposed to I will not only have a significantly better work-life (translating to a better life overall) along with significantly more money. That is what pisses me off the most: my current occupation is bloody hard and yet I am trying to move into a much easier career which is also much better paid.
“Stocks aren’t going anywhere.”
Not to cause an argument, but you are probably wrong. They are statistically likely to go up due to increasing dividends haha.
The happiness is exactly what I am aiming for. Doing rough calculations shows that I could maybe retire in 20 years at my current income/expenses. I am in the progress of cutting costs (moved to cheaper apartment which also allows me to take the bus instead of driving, switching from VZ to republic wireless for cell, etc) but even so doing it in 20 years would have been difficult. The expected salary (based on salary.com and other readings) is significantly higher than my current salary so with my combined cost cutting and huge increase in salary this step back is a springboard for huge leap forward. But, I hate my current job, I dread going to work each morning, so the time I have to work until I retire will (hopefully) be much better besides. At least I am trying to find happiness (or find less unhappiness) instead of sulking around all day buying expensive toys for the next 40 years complaining about how my life should have been better.
Jason, That’s a great “Mantra” — Money working for me rather than me working for money —
dannn,
The joy of moving from the working class to the investor class. The money works for you in the latter scenario. 🙂
Cheers!
$352 in passive income! That’s pretty sweet. I’m just starting out, if I could get half of what your collecting in dividend income in 4 years, I’d be ecstatic. Congrats on your journey to financial independence.
The Lion’s Shares,
Just gotta stay consistent, my friend. I don’t make a lot of money and I never have. Probably never will. But consistently living below my means and investing that excess capital into wonderful businesses that pay and increase dividends has led me to this spot. You’ll get there too if you stick with it. 🙂
Thanks for the support. I wish you the best of luck in walking that same path!
Cheers.