Dividend Income Update – May 2015

moremoneyAnother 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 publish articles updating my 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, getting closer to covering one’s expenses.

I had a great month of May when it comes to dividend income. Of course, how can it not be great when we’re talking about collecting a paycheck without having to go into an office somewhere and work for it? What’s not to love about collecting a dividend payment? I wake up in the morning and the dividend is already in my account, waiting for me. What I do for the rest of the day, however, is up to me. It’s like getting paid just to wake up and be alive. How wonderful!

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. What you’ll see below is a list of every dividend I collected over the prior month, which company paid the dividend, and the amount of the dividend. Without further ado:

  • Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) – $21.45
  • Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) – $15.16
  • Deere & Company (DE) – $18.00
  • AT&T Inc. (T) – $47.00
  • General Dynamics Corporation (GD) – $13.80
  • Clorox Co. (CLX) – $25.90
  • Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD) – $16.20
  • Apple Inc. (AAPL) – $2.60
  • Realty Income Corp. (O) – $13.27
  • Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) – $33.81
  • ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) – $33.28
  • Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (OHI) – $10.80
  • Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) – $86.40
  • Orchids Paper Products Company (TIS) – $21.00

Total dividends received during the month of May: $358.67.

Just incredible. This is actually my worst month in almost a year in terms of the total amount of dividend income I received over the course of a month, and yet we’re still talking about more than $350. How amazing is that when you’re baseline is so high that over $350 is a low relative number?

I’ve mentioned this numerous times, but I remember just starting out in the auto industry as a parts driver. So I’d have to show up to work at 7:00 a.m. to get the truck loaded for its first run of the morning. I remember being out behind the dealership in the middle of a Michigan winter morning where it’s dark and somewhere around 20 degrees, and here I am loading up this small truck with boxes of parts. Fun stuff, right?

Well, it would have taken me an entire week of doing that kind of work to earn the same amount of money I just received over the course of May from the equity I own in the collection of wonderful businesses you see above.

So a week of waking up way too early, being way too cold, and doing work that was way too miserable, or a month of doing nothing but maintaining ownership in great businesses?

I think we both know the preferable choice there.

Moreover, I’d rather rely on 14 “paychecks” rather than just one.

Even better, this is something almost anyone can do. Financial independence is actually attainable for just about anyone and everyone that lives in a first world country. But you have to want it. And you have to be willing to work hard and do what’s necessary to attain it. I’m living proof of that. No silver spoon. No college degree. No prior financial knowledge. Yet here I am with more than $350 this past month just forΒ being me, all because I’m willing to work hard and do what’s necessary to escape the rat race. And that $350 will likely be even larger next May.

You can see that growth play out – this May’s dividend income was 16.5% higher than what my Freedom Fund generated in May 2014. Not bad considering one of my heavy hitters – OHI – paid out a prorated dividend, which negatively affected May’s comparison. I certainly don’t mind when a company wants to split a dividend and pay out a good chunk of it early, as that gives me an opportunity to reinvest it even faster.

DividendIncomeUpdate

I was able to cover 17.8% of my personal expenses this past month via passive dividend income alone. This result, while pretty solid, was significantlyΒ lower than it normally would be, and that’s because there were a lot of expenses realized during May relating to the trip to Omaha to attend the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) annual shareholders meeting. Nonetheless, I’m pretty happy with being able to cover nearly 20% of my expenses during a month when both the dividend income is lower than averageΒ and expenses are higher than average. What a great position to be in.

One other thing I really love about these dividend income reports is that they’re always moving in the right direction – always up. While my portfolio value might decline here and there, the annual dividend income continues to increase every month. That juxtaposition shows the differenceΒ between relying on the stock market for income (selling shares) and relying on the businesses you own a piece of to send you your rightful cut of profits. One position relies on millions of traders to come to some kind of consensusΒ on what your slice of equity is worth (an unlikely proposition). The other just relies on wonderful businesses to do what they do best and send you a check (they’re generally pretty good at this).

I’m very excited about where things are going. I’m staying incredibly active in regards to adding to the portfolio, and so I think the second half of the year is going to be a lot of fun. Free cash flow is the best it’s been since I quit my full-time job last year and I’m buying stocks at a pace not seen in a long time. This might be one of the best summers I’ve ever had in terms of deploying capital.

One of my goals this year is to receive $7,200 in dividend income during this calendar year. We’re five months into 2015 and I can proudly say my dividend income total YTD is $2,560.85. I’m behind my goal at only 35.6% of the way there thus far, but I think June’s going to be a fantastic month for dividend income andΒ will put me pretty close to back on track. And, as aforementioned, I anticipate finishing the year strong with some serious capital deployment occurring over the next few months. Stay tuned!

I’ll update my Dividend Income page to reflect April’s dividends.

Full Disclosure: Long all aforementioned stocks except BRK.B.

Did you have a great May for dividend income? On track for your goal this year?Β 

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: holohololand/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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127 Comments

  1. Nice going, Jason. A $350 baseline is pretty awesome – even when you’ve had a bad month in almost a year. A pro-rated dividend from OHI also caused a bit of a drop in my dividends this month – although it bumped my dividend amount in Apr.

    Best wishes. Keep up the great work!
    R2R

  2. Jason,

    Almost 18% of expense covered with your pay check from the great companies you invested in. Perfect and it will continue to grow based on your re-investing strategy… what can the people ask more?

    We just bought Nestle share, that will give an additional 1000 USD of dividend next year, so our money is continuously working for us. Great great.

    Cheers,

    RA50

  3. R2R,

    Yeah, not a bad baseline. πŸ™‚

    The OHI dividend was actually really nice. I didn’t mind at all. I’ll never be upset with faster cash.

    Thanks for dropping by. I’m sure you had a great May as well!

    Cheers.

  4. Ken,

    I’m with you. Well over $300 and it’s an “off month”. I’m very fortunate. πŸ™‚

    Let’s keep it rolling!

    Cheers.

  5. RA50,

    Nice move over there. NestlΓ© is a fantastic company. Truly one of the best. A lot of exposure there to processed food, but they’re also incredibly diversified. And an extra $1,000 all in one shot is awesome. I can’t say I’ve ever come close to that kind of move up all with one stock purchase. Just never had that kind of capital available.

    We’ll see how the rest of the year goes for dividend income, though. I anticipate having an excellent second half. Just working hard and staying committed to the plan. πŸ™‚

    Best wishes!

  6. DD,

    Yeah, it was definitely low, though I think the Jason of early 2010 would be amazed with collecting over $350 for doing nothing. I always try to keep that perspective.

    June should be fantastic. Really looking forward to posting that update and seeing how things look halfway through the year.

    Thanks for stopping by. Keep up the great work over there!

    Best regards.

  7. Can’t help myself, but your chart looks like raised middle finger… Are you trying to tell us something? LOL

  8. Martin,

    Ha! I figured someone would point that out. I kind of noticed it myself. Maybe next month it’ll look more like Devil’s Horns. πŸ™‚

    Cheers.

  9. Hi Jason
    You are not the only one with a low dividend from last month.

    I only resived 252,00 dkk from Coloplast during Maj but my portfolio is also much smaller than yours:
    http://myroadtofinancialindependence.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/portfolio/

    I dont know if you already covered the needs to have another spending habit than your peers. I dont know about you but I often hear that I should buy a car or extra cloth because I have “a lot of money in stocks”. If you have not written anything about this subject then it might be an idear

  10. Nice result for may Jason! the “middle finger” works for you πŸ™‚ anyway, still looks like a good month.

  11. A nice dividend stream that you are setting up. 350USd for doing nothing at all is great. I hope june puts you back on track.
    Being index investor, it is nice to see that later on in my journey I could switch to DGI. Blogs like this show what kind of numbers I could be looking at.

  12. I collected $220 in dividends last month. That was 109% increase over May of 2014 so I am extremely excited about it. Keeping a close eye on the dividend income each month and more so its growth is a great motivator to stay the course and keep investing on a regular schedule. I haven’t made a purchase for a couple months but will be toward the end of June.

  13. Love it… keep the inspiration flowing. I see we have a few names in common for the month which is nice. Worst month??? Just think about what that $350+ can buy for a month? Power, utilities, insurance, car payment… It’s awesome. Now that we are in an end of month quarter, which is always a fun month to be in as a dividend investor, we’ll see what the six month mark is and how close you are to your goal for the year. I still think you can make it with some fresh capital added and six more months of compounding to go. Might be a close finish though. Best of luck.

  14. Jason,

    Not bad still, even though you’re ‘behind’ for the year. Most people who call what you have amazing, but I love the strive to make it better. Also nice to see we share a number of positions, something that will probably continue as we both add more positions.

    Long DE, T, KMI, AAPL, and O as well,
    -Gremlin

  15. Jason,

    Great work there again this month. $350 is a dream for us at this early stage. Keep up the inspiration. 14 companies with probably over a million employees combined working for you. Sounds like a pretty sweet “gig” if you want to DGI a gig. Easiest money we are all ever going to make. Keep up the inspiring posts and putting that capital to work for your future self.

    All the best.

    FD

  16. I’m looking forward to see how it looks after the halfway mark of the year. June should be a big month.

    You’re off to a fast start on putting your capital to work. I’m looking forward to the next purchases!

  17. Jonas,

    We have up and down months, but as long as the overall income is increasing, we’re on the right track. πŸ™‚

    I’m not quite sure what you’re saying there at the end, but spending like everyone else means you’re going to live like everyone else. And that’s probably not all that attractive of an end goal. Constantly chasing a non-existent carrot will only wear you out. I’ve covered the psychology of frugality and the benefits of living below your means pretty in-depth across the blog. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for if you poke around a bit.

    Cheers!

  18. M-D,

    Yeah, I guess this chart has a bad attitude. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for dropping by. Just another month of fully passive income. Life is good!

    Take care.

  19. ambertreeleaves,

    Yeah, the possibilities of living off of dividend income are really wonderful. Getting paid just to wake up is just the kind of job I’ve always been looking for. πŸ™‚

    Best regards.

  20. BCS,

    Awesome work over there. Great YOY numbers. Keep it going!

    I think you’ll start to see the snowball really start to roll here. Generating $300 or $400 per month in dividend income starts to hit a critical mass where your dividends are regularly fueling stock purchases.

    Best wishes!

  21. DH,

    Absolutely. $350 can cover a good chunk of my bills, as you can see above with the coverage ratio. And that’s on an expensive month with travel.

    We’ll see how it finishes down the stretch. It looks like I’m going to come a lot closer to hitting/exceeding this goal than I initially thought. I remain pretty aggressive with the stock purchases, which will certainly help. And selling the car gave me some breathing room when it came time to write that check for taxes, plus I’ll be spending less going forward. All good stuff.

    Hope you had a great month of dividend income over there as well!

    Best wishes.

  22. congrats on the success! It is great to see these little $20 checks add up so quickly. It is very inspiring. My May this year was 62.64, but only $27 last year.

    Do you expect to get your first $1,000 month in June?

  23. Gremlin,

    I’m really fortunate. I’m basically in this position where I’m living as if I were already financially independent… all at 33 years old and only a few years after starting out below broke. So it’s amazing and I’m so happy. But I continue to strive for more, for financial independence. And that’s because I crave that freedom and flexibility. Who knows what the future will bring? I’d like to be prepared for anything.

    Glad to be a fellow shareholder with you in some amazing companies. I hope to increase my modest position in AAPL here, but I’ve been deploying capital at a pretty good rate this month. We’ll see what else I can do.

    Best regards!

  24. FD,

    Absolutely. It’s the best gig I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. No time clock, no boss, and getting paid just to wake up. I’m digging it. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for the support. I’m so glad you find this inspirational. Inspiring others is the biggest reason I continue to write and share everything. FI is possible. It’s out there waiting for you. And you guys are doing a great job at achieving it, slowly but surely.

    Keep it up!

    Cheers.

  25. $350 is excellent dividend income. It is not to be sniffed at. The question is where will you invest this capital? Will it go into your bank account for expenses *I think this is unlikely) or will it be reinvested back into the companies that generated it in the first place?

  26. RTR,

    Me too. Really looking forward to seeing how things look at six months in. I think I’m going to be pretty close to 50%, and that’s before really having that opportunity to finish strong toward the back half. I’m very excited. πŸ™‚

    June has been crazy thus far. I’ve got a lot of articles to get out going over these purchases. The collection is growing, and I’m so fortunate for it.

    Thanks for the support!

    Best regards.

  27. Mike,

    Congrats over there as well. That’s a big move up YOY. Keep it going and you’ll see just how powerful this strategy is. πŸ™‚

    It doesn’t look like I’ll be hitting $1,000. March was great, but BBL’s semi-annual dividend made up a good chunk of that. Nonetheless, it should be a pretty strong month and put me that much closer to the annual goal. We’ll see how it goes!

    Keep rolling that snowball over there.

    Best wishes.

  28. Another great dividend month Jason, and love the diversification you’re getting with those paychecks! Covering nearly 20% of your expenses is awesome. You’re definitely on an unstoppable march towards financial independence with these slowly, steadily increasing dividends!

    Cheers,

    Jason

  29. That middle finger chart would make a good GIF. At the bottom write “What F U money looks like”!

  30. That is not a bad baseline to have there DM! DGI is just too fun when we see the results and how real they are. Up or down stock price, doesn’t matter, we still get paid. Gotta love that. June will be a nice bump in the yearly goal. Thanks for sharing.

    – HMB

  31. Congrats on another great month DM.

    I did pretty good myself, nearly doubling my dividends from last month since I deployed a lot more capital. Keep it up.

    DB

  32. Jason,

    I’ve been subscribed to your blog for quite a while now. Not out of any kind of real understanding of what it is you do, but more-so because my gut told me I should pay attention to the things you write. Just recently, I actually looked up (read: Googled) what Dividend Growth Investing actually is, and I am intrigued!

    Is there some way I can calculate or project what kind of dividend growth I might see over a year for a selection of companies (because we don’t invest in stocks, we invest in companies apparently!)?

    Thanks again for being such an inspiration on the path to financial independence and achieving reliable passive income.

  33. Jason,

    Thanks so much for the support!

    Yeah, I do believe FI is an inevitability at this point. Just a slow, steady march up the mountain. Can’t wait to see the view up there. πŸ™‚

    What’ll really be wonderful is that I won’t be alone up there. You and many others are marching up that mountain as well. It’ll be nice to share the experience.

    Cheers!

  34. HMB,

    Absolutely. Market goes up and it goes down. But the dividend checks continue to roll in and just go up. Love getting paid. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for dropping by. Looks like you had a great month over there as well. Keep at it!

    Best wishes.

  35. Hey Jason,

    350$ in may is still pretty solid! By combining my online passive income and dividend income I made 289$ this month but dividends alone were pretty low (62$).

    You might already have written a post about that but how do you plan to “normalize” your monthly dividend income once fully retired? Will you keep a quarter worth of dividends in you account and withdraw the same amount each month? Will you rebalance your portfolio in order to receive the same amount of dividend each month…?

    I’m just curious πŸ™‚

    Cheers

  36. Good stuff, DM. Could June be your first ever $1,000 month!?

    As an aside, how would you treat a special dividend? I’m long KRFT and can’t decide how I should think of the $16.50 special from the merger with Heinz. It’s obivously income, but should I count it as progress towards my dividend income goal this year? How have you done it in the past?

  37. One of your worst months and you still got paid $350 for doing absolutely nothing? I’d take that any day. That’s why I love dividend income so much. Keep up the great work Jason.

  38. Allan,

    Nice job over there. Sounds like you had a great month with the income sources. Awesome work! I don’t include my online income in these reports because, well, it’s not dividend income and it’s far from passive, but all income sources in May were fantastic. I’ll be publishing May’s budget here pretty soon. πŸ™‚

    As far as living off of dividend income, I don’t have any plans to flatten it out or anything. But I don’t think those that are good at budgeting need to worry about that. If your income is more than you need in one month, then the money will just sit there until you need to make up a shortfall the following month. If you’re regularly and routinely saving 50%+ of your net income, then spreading out your income shouldn’t be too difficult.

    Thanks for dropping by. Keep it rolling over there!

    Best regards.

  39. Congrats Jason! A $350 min is awesome and im sure the Jason from the beginning of your journey would be amazed at where you’re at now. Looking forward to your Jube update and im expecting some really good things for you this month. Keep up the good work.

  40. widerhakenhome,

    Thank you so much. It was really another great month. It doesn’t look like I’ll hit $1,000 in June, but I think it’s going to still be one of my better months. BBL’s semi-annual dividend was a good chunk of March’s payout.

    As far as special dividends, I definitely count them. But with the caveat that the special dividend isn’t somehow changing your equity in the company or isn’t attached to some other major change in your ownership. For instance, I counted TROW’s special dividend toward my annual dividend income, but I didn’t count VOD’s major return of capital last year toward my dividend income. But if it’s a straight special dividend, then I do count it.

    Thanks for stopping in!

    Cheers.

  41. Tawcan,

    Absolutely. That’s like $80/week just for being alive. My life is becoming more and more valuable. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for the support!

    Best regards.

  42. JC,

    Thanks so much! πŸ™‚

    Yeah, I was mentioning in another comment how the me of 2010 would be absolutely amazed at collecting this much dividend income. I still remember hitting $100 in one month and thinking how special and amazing that was. I still get those warm and fuzzy feelings.

    I’m sure you had a great month as well. Excited to read about it.

    Best regards.

  43. Jason,

    Your portfolio keeps on chuggin’ no stopping it now even if you tried.
    My portfolio came in at a 19% increase in dividend income over last May. I’m only at 33.5% of my dividend goal of $5,250 for the year. June will no doubt be a big month!

    I’ve been buying some lower yielding dividend growers like HSY, BEN, AAPL, and SBUX recently.

    I need a couple big buys on some higher yielders like O, KMI, DEO or an oil major in June or July to make sure I get over the hump and hit my goal for the year. Sounds like you are ready to deploy some big capital in the coming months.

    Best of luck hitting that $7,200 for the year! Tough goals for both of us. Better to come up a few bucks short than to low ball the goal and leave money sitting in cash or spent on material junk. Looking forward to your future updates.

  44. Love reading these updates. I am not a dividend investor but I believe in your strategy. Your writing is very good and you post very thought provoking articles that make me come back for more. Your hard work really shows through every post. This stuff is very motivational. Keep up the great work and really hope you achieve all that you are trying to with your Freedom Fund. Looking forward to the next post….

  45. Jerry,

    That’s awesome! Sounds like you’re just about as far along for your year as I am mine, considering our goals and progress thus far. But I think with a strong June, we’ll be sitting in a good spot for a strong finish down the stretch. πŸ™‚

    Yeah, I’ve been deploying capital at a rather rapid pace in June thus far. Four stock buys to start the month off, though I haven’t really been hunting yield much. Just the best quality at the best price, while keeping overall allocation in mind.

    Best of luck with your goal. I think you’ll finish stronger than you think.

    Cheers!

  46. Grettman,

    Thanks so much. I appreciate your feedback and support.

    I’m glad that the inspiration and motivation comes through, even if you’re not necessarily interested in this specific strategy. Although I’m a dividend growth investor (due to what I feel is the superior and robust nature of the strategy), the takeaway should really just be to live well below your means and invest that excess capital in the best investments you can possibly find at the best available value. If you do that consistently, you’ll do well over the long term and very likely achieve freedom no matter the strategy. πŸ™‚

    Best wishes!

  47. Dividend Mantra,

    Congrats on the dividend income. I bet some of us commenting would like e-mail your dividend income chart to our employers right now if we were farther a long on the goal of financial independence LOL.

    You should have a great June.

  48. DM,

    Another great month in the books and you are flying out of the gate this month with some nice purchases. It’s good to see that you aren’t resting on your laurels. I feel confident that you will hit your $7200 goal for this year. You seem highly motivated and goal oriented. Keep carrying that torch!

    MDP

  49. Congrats on the baseline increase! Its so good to see your progress and achievements. You are truly inspirational and thanks for your sharing and kindly answering my questions!

  50. IP,

    Ha! Wouldn’t that be awesome?! πŸ™‚

    Appreciate the support. Really happy with the way 2015 is progressing thus far.

    Cheers!

  51. MDP,

    “You seem highly motivated and goal oriented.”

    I’m all over it, my friend. My motivation has never been stronger. πŸ™‚

    Appreciate the support and encouragement. I’m having a great time over here. 2015 is just a great year – not only for me, but the entire community. Dreams are coming true in real-time. It’s amazing.

    Keep up the great work over there!

    Best wishes.

  52. shamonne,

    Thank you very much. πŸ™‚

    I’m more than happy to answer any questions. I’m so fortunate to be in a position to inspire and motivate others. Freedom is truly out there waiting for us. And we’re gonna go out and take it!

    Cheers.

  53. Heck yea! Over $350 and you didn’t even have to do anything. We didnt quite hit that mark, we ended up at just over $250, but our percentage gains were outstanding year over year. These continue to be my most favorite posts all across the blogosphere. It doesnt matter if the people are generating thousands of dollars a month or just a few hundred, the excitement in the posts and the comments wishing people good luck in the future is inspiring. I can’t wait till one day we are hitting the thousands of dollars a month in dividends.

    But until then, keep up the great work! Like you said, you have been putting an incredible amount of capital into the market and have no plans on stopping. I can’t wait to see the June’s total… Perhaps your first $1,000 month!! Pretty awesome!

    Catch ya next month! Good luck and keep trucking bloggers!

    ADD

  54. ADD,

    I’m with you all the way. These are not only my favorite posts to read, but they’re also my favorite to write. πŸ™‚

    Onward and upward. As individuals and a community. It’s incredibly exciting to see financial freedom slowly come to fruition for us.

    Keep it rolling!

    Best regards.

  55. May was a relatively weak divi month for me, 1573, but up from 1124 last May. Good progress. Great progress for you as well, Jason

  56. Granted, NestlΓ© is a must-have, very reliable!

    Nevertheless, I sold off all my NestlΓ© shares some time ago (luckily with some profite), after the dividend payout actually. It was so very disappointing: 35% of swiss tax* on top of domestic tax. I was told there might be a way to retrieve some of it, but not without some tedious paperwork.

    _____
    * I am German, maybe US citizens have better deals with swiss authorities??!!

  57. @RA50

    I wrote a reply concerning NestlΓ© … dunno why, but it materialized right above your post … bizarre!

  58. I just love the first week of each month when the DGI community is reporting their passive income, its like a report card back in the school days except this are all good news πŸ™‚ each results are better than the year before.

    Keep inspiring Jason!

  59. DM,

    Very inspiring! Your blog is one of my “must” reads as I embark on my own DGI journey. Thanks for sharing and motivating.

  60. KMI leading the pack nicely there, as it did for me too. Looking forward to KMI’s next dividend declaration. Will there be a rise, again!?

  61. Hi Jason

    I came across your blog yesterday thanks to a referral in a Spanish forum for particular investors.

    I am just starting in my own process to escape from the rat trap now, and I will be happy to read your old and future posts. You have done a great job πŸ™‚

    Last month I got my first dividend, 22 euros and, after some readings, I am determined to work hard to learn more and more.

    Take care πŸ™‚

  62. Hi DM,

    Like Johnny Depp says in the movie fear and loathing in las vegas “Good mescaline comes up slow” your numbers are adding up nicely.

    Will be starting soon too.

    Regards,
    Amro

  63. May is always a slow month for me too. Only 4 stocks in my portfolio usually pay a dividend during the month.

    Very encouraged by your results and look forward to reading about your dividend income in June.

    BTW – I hear you on those cold Michigan mornings. I use to work outside for many years up in Michigan and dreaded it so much!

    Thanks for sharing.

  64. Good morning Jason
    dividends paying the bills so you can enjoy life, Love it. Enjoyed the update. Cheers

  65. So this morning I was listening to the radio (actually a station in your area) and they were doing this give away of $500 but the person had to give half to their father. So one of the hosts was saying that $250 isn’t that much money well the other host argued for doing nothing but making a phone call that was good money. I immediately thought of this post, you made more then $250 for doing nothing last month.

    Later this month I will receive my first dividend payment of around $1.10 not much but the start of my snowball. I’ve decided to celebrate by starting my own financial blog, and I hope to be partially as inspirational and successful as you.

  66. This has always been my favorite series, who doesn’t love dividends rolling in?

    That’s $358 in your pocket, well done. Your average monthly dividend income is monotonically increasing, that’s a wonderful thing. A stready march upwards, through market meltdowns and exuberances, to the wonderful pastures of FI.

    Keep on trucking!

  67. This is just fantastic Jason! With another 50 cents or so, your “worst month” would cover my half of the rent! How nice would that be to know that even on your lowest month of dividend income you will have a roof over your head?

  68. Awesome no work dividend income Jason! The 14 different paychecks definitely beat one or two, now that is diversification at its finest. Plus, you can always increase a single source by simply investing more into a current holding. In essence, the control factor is just tremendous force when looked into things deeper.

    Keep on doing what you doing, take care.

  69. Jason, I am a long time lurker and first time commenter. πŸ™‚ I really look forward to these update posts on your dividend income!

    You have provided an excellent example of how to life below your means and create a lifestyle that works for you and your family. Your passive dividend income will be able to support your expenses, probably faster than you expect. I point out your situation with my 23 year old daughter – who will be getting married later this year. I wished I could have had the foresight to do this 25 years ago! πŸ™‚

    You are a great example to other people out there that feel they are stuck and don’t have any options to leave the rat race. It seems to me that the common theme is that we get to a point that were sick and tired of the status quo, we start to align ourselves to a big exciting goal, we save and/or start a side gig to finance this goal, and then we ultimately jump in with both feet. You are accomplishing this with dividend income and your writing.

    My wife and I struggle with this last step of leaving our jobs behind. Financially we can do it now but we just seem to think we need to wait just a little bit longer. We are working on that fear of leaving our steady paychecks behind and believe we will be there next year.

  70. I hear you on those cold mornings. My new position in the bank will require me to be up at 5:30AM some days. All I can do is the same thing you did; to keep fighting for financial freedom.

    And $350 on a bad month is pretty damn good. June is gonna be a monster for you, I can feel it. Why was this May so little compared to other 2nd months in the quarter? Did you compare results to see what happened (I know OHI paid a prorated dividend. I guess they normally would have paid in May but instead is paying half now and half next month?)? I wonder how your dividends actually went down?

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  71. PIM,

    We will absolutely achieve FI! πŸ™‚

    When you put your mind to something, amazing things are possible.

    Thanks for the support. 2015 is turning out to be another great year for many of us. Good things are still yet ahead.

    Cheers!

  72. DD,

    Awesome progress over there. That tells me you’re saving and investing a ton of capital. That will surely pay dividends for you, literally and figuratively. πŸ™‚

    Best regards!

  73. Thanks Jason!

    I’ve been wanting a piece of BRK/B for a couple years now and finally pulled the trigger on 10 shares today! I’m excited…I will not receive any dividends from this investment, but I’m looking 20+ years out before I start living off dividends and I’m confident this investment will be rock solid.

    Maybe I’ll even attend a shareholder meeting down the road!

    I hold some KRFT in my portfolio and will get a large dividend boost from their proposed special one time $16.50 dividend post 3G/Heinz merger. Even though this will be a one off event, it is passive cash that will show up in my account and get me closer to my passive income goal.

  74. Thor3,

    Yeah, that’s unfortunate. I wish investing in foreign stocks was somehow made easier, but it is what it is. We’re fortunate here in the US in that we have tax treaties/agreements with a number of countries around the world. And a number of companies go out of their way to make their stock accessible/attractive to US investors. NestlΓ©, for instance, delays their dividend payment so that US investors pay just a 15% withholding (which can later be reclaimed). But it isn’t always this easy, which is why I generally stick to just a few select countries when looking outside our border. Besides, we’re extremely fortunate to have the US market at our fingertips, which is the most robust in the world.

    Cheers!

  75. FFF,

    Indeed. Much like a report card!

    I’ve behaved well, my grades are really good, and I get along with just about every class mate. I think I might just do okay here. πŸ™‚

    Looks like your report card is pretty fantastic as well. I think we’re on the right track!

    Best wishes.

  76. Becky,

    Thanks so much. That means a lot to me. πŸ™‚

    Doing all I can to share, inspire, and motivate. A better life is out there for all of us. Now that I’ve had a taste of it, I can’t ever go back.

    Stay in touch. And best of luck to you as you continue down your own path.

    Take care!

  77. DL,

    Yeah, KMI is a beast. I didn’t initially plan on it being such a large position, but I just couldn’t help myself there. I’m not unhappy about it. πŸ™‚

    Glad to be a fellow shareholder alongside you.

    Best regards.

  78. Segis,

    Glad you found the blog. I hope you find a lot of value here. I do my best to put out great content on a regular basis. πŸ™‚

    Congrats on your first dividend. The first of many, I’m sure. You can go back and read my old dividend income updates and see the progression there. Happens faster than you might think. Keep it up!

    Thanks for dropping by. Stay in touch!

    Best wishes.

  79. Amro,

    The snowball starts small and slow, but it grows bigger and picks up speed. Can’t wait to see this thing accelerate even more. Look out below! πŸ™‚

    Best of luck as you start your journey. It’s a ton of fun. Very, very rewarding.

    Cheers!

  80. John,

    Michigan mornings in the wintertime are brutal. I don’t miss them at all. I sometimes miss the four seasons and all, but never again will I be outside when it’s pitch black and 10 degrees.

    Thanks for the support. It’s a great ride. And it’s a lot of fun being on that ride with such a great community!

    Cheers.

  81. Tyler,

    I’d definitely agree that $250 for making a phone call is a pretty nice payoff. Certainly a wonderful return on investment. πŸ™‚

    Best of luck with the blog. I’ve found blogging to be uniquely rewarding in many ways. It’s a lot of hard work, but I’ve have a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot along the way. Not sure how long I’ll continue blogging, but I’ll never forget the experience. I’m sure you’ll love it.

    Congrats on the first dividend as well. It starts out slow, but it can accelerate much faster than you ever thought possible. Just keep at it.

    Best wishes!

  82. Spoonman,

    Absolutely. I’m like Rockefeller when it comes to the dividend checks. Pure pleasure. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for the support. Really appreciate it. Hope you and Spoongirl are enjoying Montreal!

    Best regards.

  83. WBAN,

    Absolutely. I was actually just referencing that in last month’s update – that my average dividend income can actually cover rent. It’s indeed wonderful to know that I’ll have a roof over my head no matter what.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Take care.

  84. DV,

    Absolutely. And when factoring in my online income, I actually received income from something like 27 different sources. Much, much better than relying on just a single paycheck. πŸ™‚

    You’re doing great over there, my friend. Keep it going!

    Best regards.

  85. Bryan,

    Thanks so much. Really appreciate the comment and support. I’m doing all I can to show another way. If Plato’s Cave is the grind where you’re chained to a desk, I’ve stepped out of the cave and seen the light. And let me tell you, it’s beautiful. πŸ™‚

    I see so many people out there chasing a carrot around. But they’ll never get the carrot. And that’s because there is no carrot.

    In reference to your site name, you may find value in this:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/09/dont-succumb-to-omys/

    Stay in touch. And best of luck finding a way to escape “one more year”. πŸ™‚

    Best regards.

  86. ARB,

    Ouch. I feel your pain, my friend. I never had to go to work quite that early, but I still remember getting up way too early (for me). I think one of the best perks of financial independence is just setting your own schedule. The simple things in life are really the best. And waking up at a decent time is one of those really wonderful things that basically costs nothing (but also costs a lot since you generally have to be FI first).

    “Why was this May so little compared to other 2nd months in the quarter?”

    Not every company pays out on the same schedule. And not every company pays out every three months like clockwork. That’s why I compare apples to apples and look at the prior year, not the prior like quarter. For instance, Vodafone pays a semi-annual dividend, which was received in February. So that obviously makes it impossible/inaccurate to compare Feb to May. I also sold ARCP at the end of last year, so that’ll affect comparisons as well.

    Best wishes!

  87. All the REITs are going down and some of them are trading at 52 weeks low (OHI, WPC etc). What is the reason for them going down. I read somewhere about the impact of increasing interest rates. How is it going to impact OHI and WPC? Would they be paying less dividend if the interest rates go up?

  88. Rav,

    Why do all stocks go up and down every day? Why is a $300 billion company supposedly worth $1 billion more or less on Tuesday than it was on Monday?

    It seems people like to somehow correlate interest rates with REITs without any substantiation. Is there any research that you can pull up that shows REITs perform poorly either operationally or in terms of stock prices (the former would be really far more insightful) during periods of rising rates?

    Cheers!

  89. Pretty darn awesome slow month you had here, Jason! June is going to be a big one for you in payouts and contributions… I can feel it! I just averaged down on some more OHI myself, seemed pretty obvious at these levels. I also accepted a new and better job offer which is a little scary because I have nothing lined up past February, but I’ll be able to contribute a little bit more each month until then…so I hope to read more of your wonderful investment ideas! Hope all is well for you, my opposite coast friend. These are always my favorite posts, thank you so much for sharing!

  90. Awesome earnings Jason; I certainly wouldn’t mind having this kind of payout as one of my “lowest months”, haha! Keep it up, and before you know it, your lowest months will be paying you double this amount. I look forward to seeing that day come to light πŸ˜‰

    Cheers my friend!

  91. Ryan,

    Wow, that’s fantastic news. Congrats on the new position. Hopefully, things pan out and you’ll continue your recent roll of massive success. Good things happen to good people with good attitudes who work hard. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for all the support. Keep up the great work over there. 2015 is turning out to be a fantastic year for us both!

    Best regards.

  92. ZTZ,

    Thanks so much. I’m pretty happy with collecting $350 for doing nothing, especially when that’s an “off” month. Life is really, really good. I’m fortunate. πŸ™‚

    You’re doing great over there as well. And your baseline continues to move up as well. Keep doubling and tripling those payouts. You’re moving along at a great rate. Wish I would have started as young as you!

    Have a great weekend.

    Best wishes.

  93. Hello DM, I see that my DEO stock has jumped 8.70% today! I checked Yahoo Finance and it says this is due to talk of a possible takeover.
    I had planned to build a larger position in DEO – I wonder what will happen!

  94. Thanks for the reply. My portfolio includes OHI, WPC, STWD and NYMT, Currently I am getting around 1200$ per year dividends. I have some extra cash (around 2K) ready for investment. I thought of buying CB/TROW/PEP/PG this week. Suddenly I noticed that OHI and WPC are available with higher yields because of the recent drop. I am in the first phase of dividend investment (portfolio total 28K) and adding around 2K capital per month. Should I concentrate on high yielding REITs or regular stocks (avg around 3% yield) during the initial phase. That’s where my confusion is..I have the exposure to following..AAPL(50),AFL(17),BAC(25),BNS(19),CVX(18),DIS(4),GE(84),JNJ(20),KO(25),MSFT(3),NYMT(186),OHI(29),PM(12),SBUX(26),STWD(66),T(59),TROW(12),WPC(17),XOM(10)

  95. Jan,

    I’m so happy for DEO shareholders, but that’s like the worst news all day for me. 3G is just killing me over here. DEO is still among my top ideas, and I was extremely confident that I was finally going to initiate a position next month. Looks like I may wait on that now.

    If they are bought out, I hope shareholders get a nice premium for their holdings. But, as someone interested in acquiring the stock, I’m hoping it falls through. I guess we’ll see!

    Best wishes.

  96. Rav,

    It seems like you have a nice portfolio over there. Great job! πŸ™‚

    I never personally concentrated on yield much as I built my portfolio out, and I still really don’t. I consider fundamentals, competitive advantages, and overall valuation as more important considerations than a stock’s yield. That said, it can make sense to go after the high-yield stocks during the early accumulation phase so as to get the income snowball rolling, assuming you’re still looking at quality stocks trading at attractive valuations. If I were starting over again, I might pay more attention to yield so as to get things rolling. However, I’m not recommending that you chase yield and forget about quality.

    You might find some value in these articles, where I explored that concept a bit more:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/06/a-multistage-rocket-model-for-a-dividend-growth-stock-portfolio/

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/07/limiting-risk-a-little-exposure-to-high-yield-goes-a-long-way/

    Finally, I do think that some of the REITs make a lot of sense here, regardless of where you’re at in terms of portfolio construction. I’d be looking at WPC and OHI, for instance, no matter if my portfolio were $50,000 or $500,000 in value, assuming I had room in the portfolio for them. And seeing as how my overall REIT exposure is still lower than my target, I’ve been actively buying these stocks. I think O is another one to consider, though I’d like to see it a bit lower.

    But my initial comment was basically recommending to ignore the noise. There’s a lot of noise and speculation in the universe of investing. Ignore the macroeconomic predictions and focus on the long term. Focus on what you can control, which is the saving and regular investing.

    Hope that helps!

    Best wishes.

  97. Oh no, I’ve been eye DEO for months now! Was hoping to get it for my wifes new account, the lack of withholding taxes would have been perfect. Darn! The 1% are taking it away from us! Ha ha ha.

    Anyways, I’m on track to get around $700 CAD this year.. a bit depressing. Still have have a few thousand I could deploy to get it up to $1000 a year, but thinking I will wait for some pullback. Just nibbled on some PM and WMT today since we had a great pullback. Will hopefully be able to move some cash into the account in a month or so… but like you say, those dividends add up and dividends beget dividends!

    My crown jewel would be to get MMM at a good price. I see that company everywhere. Walk into our lab at work and bam, MMM is all over the place. Go into my office and hey, MMM is stuck to my monitor. Such a great company and I love great companies!

  98. Stephen,

    Yeah, I’m starting to really dislike 3G. We’ll see how it pans out. Could just be speculation.

    Great job over there with the recent buys. If I didn’t already have 115 shares, I’d be all over PM right now. An incredible value when considering the long-term earnings power there. WMT is getting back to the level where it’s interesting again. I took a look at it a bit ago and thought it was worth about $70 or so. $73’s not bad. But it was definitely overpriced at $90/share earlier in the year. Glad to see it’s come back down to a reasonable valuation. I could probably nibble there a bit. Not a real big fan of retailers in general, but WMT is a great company.

    MMM would be a great investment. One of those stocks that I mistakenly passed up on a while back. Just couldn’t buy them all, and my capital was really limited my first couple years at this. I hope to rectify that at some point. V, DIS, and BDX are a few others I regret not buying earlier on. I’ve already grabbed a little D and VIS, so the others are due up at some point here.

    Cheers!

  99. Great comment and I look forward to your journey as a dividend growth investor. In short time you’ll be amazed at your dividend income and your year over year progress.

  100. Hi Dm,

    Even for a slow month is great because the only thing you had to do to gain this money was to make a good decision in the past.

    My month may was beyond great. More then 6000 EUR in dividends( many european companies pay their dividend on annual basis in may). This massive cash inflow was the main reason I could push the pedal so hard on my O&G purchases.

    Have a great weekend!

    Cheers,
    G

  101. Mantra,

    Definitely placing it in perspective when the low bar is $350… how funny is that? I was talking to co-workers in the car on Thursday on a trip back from a client. I don’t know if they interpreted it well, but I went along the lines of abbreviating and said “I should receive between and 8 and 9 this month” – wonder if they knew i meant hundreds of dollars? I talked to the one co-worker and said I earned $100+ on the first day of June from multiple companies. I don’t know if they fully understand it yet… rather – one of them (which I just plugged my ears) told me of a chinese stock his friend from college told him about. Not my goal there, not my goal.

    Anyways – covering over 17% and knowing June’s blockbuster month is on this horizon is exciting. A few dividend increases and reinvestment along the way should be bode to a nice month for all portfolios. Looking forward to it!

    Congrats DM.

    -Lanny

  102. Geblin,

    The annual payment thing is actually pretty nice. Get all of your dividend income in one fell swoop, instead of having to wait the rest of the year. But I guess you just have to be diligent and patient with capital deployment at that point.

    Meanwhile, those O&G buys will spread that income out a bit and you’ll be seeing some additional dividend income here pretty soon. Nice!

    Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

    Cheers!

  103. Lanny,

    Yeah, co-workers can be funny. I was somewhat open about my goals and what I was doing for almost my entire time at the last dealership, which was over four years. Of course, a whole crew from Today came out to the store and interviewed me, so there wasn’t much to hide. But I still remember putting in my notice there at the end and I had people who were curious on “how I was going to get by”. In one ear and out the other…

    Thanks for all the support. You guys are rocking over there as well. It’s a lot of fun seeing the community grow wealth/income almost in unison. I think we’re not only radically changing our lives, but others’ lives as well in the process. It’s a great thing.

    Best regards!

  104. So thankful for this blog and you for writing it. Such an inspiration! Just starting our snowball and really looking forward to watching it pick up flakes as you would put it πŸ™‚ Great job Jason!
    (ps – new to this & haven’t figured out how to change my icon yet lol)

  105. BSR,

    Thanks for the support. Much appreciated. I’m just fortunate to even be in this position. Earning significant passive income truly is all it’s cracked up to be. πŸ™‚

    Let’s continue fighting for freedom!

    Best regards.

  106. DS,

    Thank you very much. So glad you found the blog and find value in it. πŸ™‚

    Best of luck starting to roll that snowball down the hill. It’ll pick up snowflakes before you know it!

    Stay in touch.

    Cheers.

  107. Jason, congrats on your progress. What is your opinion on Powershares Exchange (PGF)? It’s a preferred stock ETF. Do preferred stocks have a place in a diverse portfolio like yours?

  108. Ryan,

    Thanks for dropping by!

    I don’t have any interest in any funds at all due to my strong preference for individual stocks, which I’ve discussed quite a bit. As far as preferred stocks, the returns they have offered over the long term trail common stocks by quite a bit, so I see no reason to buy them. Just my thoughts. πŸ™‚

    Take care.

  109. Hi, I am brand new to your blog after reading your article in the Daily Trade Alert. Forgive me if this question has already been answered 1,000 times, but how much money total do you have invested in order to make these monthly dividends? I’m wondering how much capital I would need to invest to make a few hundred dollars in dividends on the side like you do. Thanks!!

  110. Michelle,

    Thanks for stopping by. Glad you found the blog! πŸ™‚

    I’ve been 100% transparent since the initiation of the blog back in early 2011. As such, you can find everything you’re looking for here.

    You can view exactly how much I have invested and where it’s invested here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/portfolio/

    You can see my historical dividends here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/dividend-income/

    You can see exactly what I’ve purchased, when I purchased it, and how much capital I’ve put to work here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/category/recent-buy/

    And you can see my savings rates here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/monthly-budgets/

    That should get you started. πŸ™‚

    Best regards.

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