Dividend Income Update – August 2014

rising-dividendsAnother 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.

August was just another big step in the right direction toward financial independence. Waking up to more money in my account than I had the day before is simply one of the most phenomenal feelings in the world. That means I’m actually getting richer while I sleep. Investors talk all the time about sleeping well at night, and I have got to tell you that my dreams have never been sweeter! How can you not sleep well when you have companies out there working on your behalf and sending you cash?

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 other interests than full-time work. Without further ado:

August 2014 Dividends Received

  • AT&T Inc. (T) – $23.00
  • Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) – $20.67
  • Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) – $13.21
  • Raytheon Company (RTN) Β – $15.13
  • Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) – $101.50
  • The Clorox Co. (CLX) – $25.90
  • General Dynamics Corporation (GD) – $12.40
  • Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD) – $15.40
  • ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) – $20.13
  • American Realty Capital Properties Inc. (ARCP) – $14.17
  • Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) – $77.40
  • The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) – $32.82
  • Realty Income Corp. (O) – $12.80
  • Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (OHI) – $30.60
  • ONE Gas Inc. (OGS) – $2.24
  • Orchids Paper Products Company (TIS) – $21.00

Total dividends received during the month of August: $438.37

Man, what a month! 16 different wonderful companies sent me a check over the course of August. That is much better than when I used to rely only on a day job for income, and would receive 2-5 checks per month. I’d much rather have 16 than 5! Now, my dividend income still doesn’t come even close to what I was making when I used to work in the auto industry. But this income was passive, and these checksΒ were depositedΒ into my account while I was literally sleeping, as described above. That’sΒ a lot easier than running around a dealership for 50+ hours per week.

I’m still a long way from financial independence, but I can’t help but reminisce about how far one can travel in just a few short years. I’ve been at this for a little over four years now. It’s had its ups and downs like anything else in life, but it’s largely been extremely enjoyable. And after just a few short years of my life I’m routinely receiving hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in dividends from fantastic companies whose products and/or services are so ubiquitous that many of them can’t help but become more successful over time. And that’s a wave of success I’m happy to ride.

This month’s dividend income total was 28.4% higher than what I received in August of 2013. So that’s a solid year-over-year improvement right there, and certainly something I hope I can continue building upon as I go along.

[show-rjqc id=”6″]

I was able to cover 23.3% of my personal expenses this past month via dividend income alone. I feel like I’m at a point where my dividend income is routinely covering aboutΒ ΒΌ of my personal expenses, which is wonderful to know seeing as how I’m about 25% of the way into my journey to financial independence. And this month was actually a bit difficult as I had a rather large one-off expense this past month which I’ll be discussing with my upcoming income/expense post.

Looking forward, September is going to be an absolutely huge month of dividends. I’m extremely excited to see how the next few weeksΒ shape up. I woke up to quite a few dividend payments just the other day to get the month started. That’s better than any breakfast I can think of!

One of my big goals this year is to receive $5,200 in dividend income throughout 2014. I now have eight months booked in, and after tallying up all the dividends I can proclaim that I’ve received $3,556.00 in dividends during the year so far. That averages out to $444.50 per month, so August was right on pace. I’ve completed 68.4% of my goal, so I’m on target to exceed my goal by a comfortable margin.

I’ll update my dividend income page to reflect August’s dividends.

Full Disclosure: Long all aforementioned securities.

Did you have a great August? Receive a healthy amount of dividend income?Β 

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: sscreation’s/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Similar Posts

99 Comments

  1. Great job DM! Lots to like with $400+ in dividends and 20%+ expense coverage. September is going to be awesome for us all and I expect you to completely knock it out. It sure is a great feeling to start getting paid while you sleep. I can’t think of many things better than that.

  2. JC,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    I’m completely with you. How could you not like getting paid while you sleep. I like to think of those old Serta mattress commercials where they had the sheep that people were supposed to count. Well, I’m counting dividends in my dreams! πŸ™‚

    Keep up the great work over there.

    Cheers.

  3. I LOVE the thought of earning money while sleeping, what a great concept!

    Nice work on getting over $400… That’s a huge chunk of living expenses paid for without even thinking about it. And great year-on-year progress. Thanks for sharing Jason πŸ™‚

  4. R2R,

    Thanks so much!

    I’m glad this is inspiring. The great thing is that I’m nobody special. Anyone can do this, and probably do much better than I have. You just have to be consistent and stick with it. Success begets success, and before you know it you have a snowball rolling away from you.

    Best wishes.

  5. Great job Jason! Very good progress on your August dividend income. We’re both working one step at the time toward our FI. πŸ™‚

  6. Congrats on the large year over year increase. Pretty soon you will be over half of your monthly expenses covered by being an owner of a bunch of good companies!

    Have you thought about the dividend goal for 2015? Looks like you may need to increase it substantially (which is good news).

  7. 20+% coverage, even with a big expense?! Congrats!

    Wholeheartedly agree – nothing better than to wake up and realize “hey, look, more money!” πŸ™‚

  8. Hi Jason,
    congratulations to your August performance.
    My “German” portfolio did not give me that good numbers. But I was also able to grow my income compared to last year.
    Hope you will soon be able to cover half of your monthly expenses.
    Best regards from Germany
    rickrack

  9. DM, I can never quite keep pace with you! I was $1,401 vs $1,178 for a 19 percent increase. Bravo, way to go! Best, DD

  10. Awesome progress on the passive income. I’ve just recently been a convert to the DG model (5 weeks and counting) and between my 401k, Roth, and Brokerage accounts, I was able to pull in $231 in August. Future months will be better considering the amount of investment rearrangement that took place the first week of August. My current forward looking post-tax annual dividend projections have me to be on target for $5000 a year. Really looking forward to the rest of 2014 and 2015.

    Even my son’s modest portfolio is at $56 on the year with a forward annual dividend payout of $220, so he’s on his way as well.

  11. How did you make that awesome interactive graph that gives the numbers when I rollover? Is this a wordpress plugin?

    PS good job on the dividend income too πŸ˜‰

  12. ERG,

    I’m totally with you! Who needs to count sheep when we could be counting dividends? πŸ™‚

    Appreciate the support. It’s definitely a nice chunk of expenses paid for. I know that no matter what happens in life, I won’t starve. And that takes quite a bit of stress off the shoulders.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Cheers!

  13. Tawcan,

    I still have a long way to go to catch up to you, but it’s one step at a time. FI is getting closer and closer. πŸ™‚

    Keep up the great work.

    Take care.

  14. Aspenhawk,

    I’m with you. Investing in wonderful companies that regularly and reliably pay rising dividends is the only way to invest. πŸ™‚

    Hope all is well over there!

    Best regards.

  15. Vawt,

    Thanks so much! It was a solid month. And September looks to be even better. πŸ™‚

    That’s a great question in regards to the 2015 goal. It really all depends on how I finish up this year, which will also depend on capital availability. But I’m thinking somewhere in the $6,700 range. We’ll see how it goes!

    Best wishes.

  16. Seraph,

    Thank you. I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

    It’s indeed wonderful to wake up richer than you were the day before. That’s better than pancakes…and pancakes are pretty damn good! πŸ™‚

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

    Cheers!

  17. rickrack,

    Growing it year after year is all that matters. Tough to compare yourself to others, because we all have different means and goals. But as long as you are meeting your goals, that’s all that matters. πŸ™‚

    Appreciate all the support. It’s just one step at a time. Keep at it over there!

    Best regards.

  18. DGJ,

    Thanks so much!

    I couldn’t agree more. Consistency is where it’s at. And my results kind of prove that out. I don’t make much, and never have. But consistent application of the tenants I’ve laid out can have wonderful results, even with modest input.

    Appreciate the support. Glad to see you staying consistent over there as well!

    Take care.

  19. Ace,

    Absolutely. That’s not enough to live off of quite yet, but it does cover a nice chunk of bills. It definitely covered all of my food expenditures, and I have a healthy appetite. πŸ™‚

    Nice to know that you’ll never starve. Makes life a lot easier.

    Cheers!

  20. DD,

    I think it is I who is not keeping pace! You had a great month! πŸ™‚

    I hope to hit those kinds of numbers in about five years or so. It’ll be nice to exceed four digits in one month for the first time. Looking forward to it very much.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best wishes.

  21. DH,

    Glad to hear you converted over. Sounds like you’re off to a blazing start already. That’s fantastic! Keep it up. πŸ™‚

    As far as your son’s portfolio, big things come from small beginnings. He’ll be a happy camper when he’s older!

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Best regards.

  22. Bridget,

    That’s a WP plugin called RJ Quickcharts. It’s not the prettiest out there, but it’s super easy to use. And that’s why I like it. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well over there!!

    Cheers.

  23. DM,

    As always congrats on the $400+ month in dividend income. I’m excited for when you say – I have 100% of my expenses covered. Think about that for a second – the funny part of it – IT WILL HAPPEN and soon, I am betting. You definitely crushed me in dividend income amount as my $180 doesn’t sniff yours. Great job and congrats DM, getting after it like always!

    -Lanny

  24. Wow, great month here Jason. I am so pumped to see where you are in a year or so from now, when you’re portfolio has turned over on itself once more and you’ve taken advantage of another year of growth. I believe the next couple of years will be monumental for you in your journey.

    Just a year ago you were starting to see high hundreds in dividend income, and here you are a year later working for yourself. Keep it up!

  25. I wonder if I’ll ever cross 5 digits n one month? I guess anything is possible if u keep plugging away.

  26. Lanny,

    Thanks, bud!

    I’m also excited for the day when I hit 100%. And I know that it’s coming. Slowly, but surely…it is coming. Even just getting to 50% coverage will feel amazing. To know that I only have to go out and earn, say, $800 or so per month is really awesome. Hard to be all stressed out when you don’t need to go and bang it out for a big paycheck. You’re not really beholden to anyone anymore at that point.

    You had a great month over there as well. I was exactly where you are right now not that long ago. I’m sure at your rate you’ll surpass me here in a year or two, and then you’ll be off to the races!

    Best wishes.

  27. W2R,

    I’m also really excited for what the future brings. I’m an optimist, and I can’t help but smile when I think of the possibilities. πŸ™‚

    And you were right about where things were going for me. You predicted I wouldn’t be working at a dealership next year, although I accidentally moved up the timeline a bit. No regrets there!

    This community is really great in that you can see people grow and change, and how that impacts their respective journeys. It’s just awesome.

    Keep up the great work over there. Looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings you as well.

    Cheers!

  28. Kipp,

    Haha. I hear you there. Got a little lingering student loan debt that I’ll be kicking to the curb before I hit FI. It’ll be nice to write that proverbial last check. πŸ™‚

    Take care!

  29. DD,

    I can’t see why not. It’s all a function of time, rate of return, and capital invested. Maximize all three as much as possible and I bet you’ll surprise yourself! πŸ™‚

    Cheers.

  30. Well done, that’s a good improvement not just from last Aug but also just comparing to Feb and May of this year which should mean those months will be set up for big YOY gains next year.

    August is a high month for me since KMP and VZ are 2 of my 3 top holdings.

    Sept started off well with F, COP, PSX, WFC, WEC already paying me but it won’t be as high as Aug.

  31. pacer45,

    Nice! Sounds like you had a very nice August. πŸ™‚

    It’s actually tough to compare my August to those months because of the large semi-annual VOD payout. August’s dividend from that company represents their final payout, which is always larger than the interim dividend.

    Sounds like your September started off with a bang there. I also had the COP, PSX, and WFC payments hit the account. Loving it!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Best wishes.

  32. Henry,

    Thanks so much!

    I’d love to be in a situation where I was FI on expenses that low, but it would be pretty much impossible. However, I’m sure your expenses will rise over time. I’m confident you don’t want to live with your parents forever. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Best wishes!

  33. Jason,

    Know you saw the drop in apple today and I know you’re thinking about adding it to your portfolio.

    JUST DO IT!!

    Or maybe you weren’t, but buy apple. It will make the CCC lists and you can best their profitability. I added to my shares today on the dip.

  34. This will always be my favorite series. It’s pure evidence that the DGI approach is robust and powerful. You’re covering over a 5th of your monthly expenses, which is a fantastic accomplishment.

    It’s always good to look back and appreciate how far you’ve come. There was a day when all you received were a few bucks from the two or three companies you started out with. Now you have a dividend engine that is a force of its own.

    We’re enjoying using our dividends to pay for things now. It’s very gratifying to reap the rewards of our labors!

  35. Hey Jason,
    I can’t believe how well you are doing and it’s truly amazing how someone can change their life in just 4 years. At this rate you will probably be a millionaire at some point in your life. Thanks for sharing your dividend income!

  36. Wow. Very impressive numbers. Long time lurker, first time poster here. I love the part about getting paid while you sleep; it gets no better than that! I’m a co-owner with you in several of those stocks, albeit a very very small owner lol.

  37. It’s all about the numerous small victories that add up to the one huge goal. I look at my dividend income as covering small expenses I currently have. Is my Internet covered? Cel phone? Nat. gas bill? Etc. With each month and each year I can answer “yes” to an increasing number of items and those are the small monthly victories I can claim with my dividend income. Thank you for sharing your recent update. You have a great tally for 2014 and keep up the continued inspiration. I’ll be posting my August dividend income in a couple days. Look forward to more of your updates.

  38. The fun part of dividend investing is when you get back from the long holiday weekend and realize you received more cash on Tuesday than you spent over the weekend.

  39. Because of the personal finance blogs I read daily (yours is high on the list!), August provided me with my first ever stock dividend and I was so happy! It was $1.97 and I think that is a fantastic start, thanks to all of you who motivated me to finally get off my butt and start investing outside of my retirement accounts (because I want to reach FI earlier than age 65). In my 401K where I make regular contributions to a few funds and stock, I also get quarterly dividends as I invest a little bit into the company I work for, and this month, I’m expecting to get $7.30 or so. πŸ™‚

  40. DM,

    As always the best articles, and as usual nice YOY improvement. Keep it up.

    – Grem

  41. “And this month was actually a bit difficult as I had a rather large one-off expense this past month which I’ll be discussing with my upcoming income/expense post”

    Congrats on getting engaged! Or maybe not πŸ™‚ I just remember reading your recent post about your girlfriend moving up and saying to myself “there will be an engagement announcement soon” as women don’t usually move across state lines for nothing. Especially from Florida to Michigan AND with a kid. Anyway, just having a bit of fun here – congrats on another solid dividend month!

  42. Very well done my friend. I’m glad to see you have a Canadian company among your August paychecks – The Toronto Domion Bank. I own this bank since 2009 and I am very pleased not only with it’s dividend politics but also with the voerall performance and the yield on cost I have today.

    Nice achievement of over $400 in August. I have to admit I only had ~$180 the last month (CAN only), but looking forward to a huge fall…

    Have a nice week
    Walt

  43. Everything seems working like a well oiled machine! Awesome cash output by the portfolio Jason. Also, great to see you as a full time writer as your posts are showing real good quality writing.

    Take care & stay focused.

  44. In 2010 and 2011 you made $1471 in combined dividends…
    In the past 3 months (June-Aug 2014) you made $1452 in combined dividends…

    I would say you are making some progress..Cant wait to see what 2017 brings..at this pace, perhaps you will be making around $5-6K per qtr!!..Good Work.!

  45. Sydog,

    I actually didn’t notice the drop in Apple. Although, I don’t think that was that big of a move. I really missed my opportunity to buy Apple before the 7-for-1 split and dividend raise announcement. Trading in the mid $70s (pre-split) was a pretty solid price. However, I’m just not that enthusiastic about tech companies in general. I was a shareholder in INTC for a while there, and I found myself spending a disproportionate amount of time tracking that one stock over all of my other ownership positions. I have a position in IBM, but it’s small. And its businesses are much more stable right now. I also own a piece of DLR, but it’s a real estate investment trust.

    We’ll see, but I don’t know if I’ll really add any tech holdings from here.

    Cheers!

  46. Spoonman,

    That’s great! I have to imagine turning the corner and actually living off of your dividends is extremely gratifying. Can’t wait until I’m in a similar position. πŸ™‚

    Yeah, looking back is fun, isn’t it? It’s great to see how far the dividend income has come. Really just goes to show how powerful this strategy is.

    Enjoy the lifestyle!

    Best wishes.

  47. Mongrel,

    Thank you so much. Appreciate the kind words!

    I do anticipate becoming a millionaire. I actually wrote an article a while back that shows how a little hard work early on can actually guarantee millionaire status. Get a snowball rolling early enough and you can’t help but be successful. I could actually stop investing fresh capital right now and the portfolio would still cross over a million in a few decades.

    Hard work, especially early on, goes a long way. πŸ™‚

    Keep up the great work over there.

    Take care.

  48. Agent Dividend,

    Thanks for taking the time to comment!

    Getting paid while you sleep is a really wonderful aspect of this strategy. No action on your part; the dividends will roll in no matter what. I sleep like a baby. πŸ™‚

    Best of luck with the new blog.

    Cheers!

  49. DivHut,

    I’m with you. I do the same thing. It’s fun to check bills off the list with dividends.

    I remember crossing food permanently off my list a while back. Once I knew that I could essentially eat for free for the rest of my life I felt pretty good. I had a hard time accessing food when I was young, as my parents abandoned us. So I’ve always had this natural desire to make sure I could eat. Now I know that, no matter what, I’ll eat. Something basic and instinctive about that.

    Looking forward to seeing your dividend income update. Onward and upward for all of us!

    Best regards.

  50. Jamie V,

    That’s fantastic. Congratulations!

    My beginning looked a lot like that. It took me almost an entire year to get to some of the first dividend updates on this blog, and they were under $50/month. Big things come from small beginnings. Never forget that!

    It’s one step at a time. πŸ™‚

    Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  51. Insourcelife,

    Haha. That’s a pretty keen observation. Although that wasn’t the one-time expense I was referring too, that particular announcement probably isn’t far off. And you are correct. That discussion DEFINITELY came up before talking about moving halfway across the US, and rightfully so.

    The expense actually relates to a ticket I bought for her to fly up, take a look at Ann Arbor, and discuss our next step in person. The weekend I choose to fly her up (late October) actually coincides with our five-year anniversary, so it’ll be a wonderful time. She hasn’t seen a fall in many years as she’s lived in Florida for quite a few years, and she’s originally from El Salvador. So we’ll have a great weekend spending time with each other, rekindling our relationship, walking the city while the leaves are falling, and seeing what’s next. I’ve got some really cool plans in mind like a visit to a beautiful park and an apple orchard, where we’ll get some warm donuts and apple cider. Yum.

    We’ll see how the visit goes. The next step might be to go back to Florida. Or she might fall in love with A2. Either way, we’ll have a nice weekend.

    Cheers!

  52. Walt,

    TD is a great bank. I’m glad I bought in a little while back. The semi-annual dividend raises have been much appreciated. I also own a piece of BNS. That’s another great business.

    ~$180 is still a very solid month there. That covers a pretty healthy chunk of bills for most people, myself included. And next year it’ll be even more! πŸ™‚

    Keep up the great work. And glad to be a fellow shareholder with you in TD.

    Take care.

  53. Sunny,

    Well, I take a look at what I was able to accomplish the prior year, what my anticipated dividends look like at the beginning of the year, and how much capital I think I’ll be able to invest. I kind of already had an idea in mind at the beginning of the year in regards to pursuing writing on a more full-time basis, so that’s why I set the bar where I did. Now that I can see I’m still investing decent sums I hope to set a slightly more aggressive goal next year.

    Cheers!

  54. DividendVet,

    Thanks, man. The machine continues to receive grease on a regular basis, so it’s still humming along. πŸ™‚

    I appreciate the compliments on my writing. I take it very seriously, so I’m always very grateful when others enjoy my work. I hope to keep writing for many years to come.

    Keep up the great job over on your end as well.

    Cheers!

  55. Congrats on your awesome month! And the coolest thing is that, as long as you stay invested and keep investing, you can likely expect the dividend income to keep increasing every year- imagine what it will be in 1, 5, or 10 years??? Pretty awesome!!

  56. Great dividend report jason. Do you have a plan on how to tackle / minimize taxes when your snowball gets bigger since all your money is invested in after tax accounts? During financial independence I assume income will be lower, but just curious to know your strategy? My strategy is a 50 / 50 mix of Roth / After Tax accounts, as to reduce taxes somewhat.

  57. DM,

    Nice month! I actually was “eyeballing” TIS today, but then I jumped on BP after the big drop. I am looking forward to seeing what is on your radar this month. Keep up the great work and enjoy that midwestern fall weather. I will be enjoying the cool temps in Cedar Falls in a few weeks.

    MDP

  58. E-Man,

    You know, I hadn’t noticed that. Thanks for bringing that to my attention! πŸ™‚

    I’m excited to exceed all of 2013’s dividend output here pretty soon. I’ll eclipse that here in a few weeks, so the rest of the year at that point is just all progress. I’ll break through both the $4,000 and $5,000 annual milestones. Onward and upward.

    But the tangibility of this strategy is really what makes it so effective. The increasing cold, hard cash makes it easy to see the charts pointing north. You can actually visibly see financial independence coming into view, and that’s really captivating.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  59. Dee,

    Thanks so much!

    And you are absolutely right there. Even if I never invest another dollar this income will increase fairly substantially all by itself. That’s why it’s so important to start young and be aggressive from the outset. Getting a large snowball rolling along pretty swiftly from the top of a tall hill requires very little effort after short while. But you have to put in that hard work at the beginning.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  60. RichUncle EL,

    Well, most of my dividends are qualified and will be subject to fairly low taxation no matter how much income I ultimately receive. I originally planned to have very little tax exposure at all once I was living off of my dividend income. However, I didn’t foresee enjoying writing so much and earning as much as I do from this. Of course, that’s a wonderful problem to have. Although, even a Roth IRA wouldn’t have exactly allowed life changing results due to the max contribution limits of $5,500 per year and my relatively short investing timeline.

    I’m honestly not worried about taxes. I could stop writing once I was FI and pay very little at all in taxes, avoiding any self-employment tax. But I enjoy this too much, and would rather earn $1 and pay $0.25 or whatever. Worrying about taxes would be like forgoing a $20,000/year raise because of the additional taxes you’ll have to pay on that income.

    I discussed my use of taxable accounts (and why) a while back here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2013/08/why-i-hold-100-of-my-equity-investments/

    But I think your strategy sounds great. That’ll likely lower your taxes to a comfortable level. I could have never used a 50/50 mix because I invest too much.

    Best regards!

  61. MDP,

    I like TIS quite a bit. I don’t want to go too heavy on that one because it’s a very small company. Furthermore, it hasn’t really proven itself as a long-term investment. And I don’t know if they’ll continue raising the dividend or not. But they’ve made some sizable investments to ensure future growth, so I’m excited. The entry into some western states should bode well for them.

    Nice job there on BP. I’m not sure what to make of that ruling. I’m confident this will drag out for a long time with appeals, but it’ll be interesting to know how much they ultimately have to pay. I can’t see them cutting the dividend, but I’m also not sure what future raises will be like in the interim. Of course, even holding the dividend steady for a few extra quarters is still quite nice. I just hope we don’t see a cut.

    I’ve heard good things about Cedar Falls. Sounds a lot like our city of Grand Rapids. Hope you enjoy it!! πŸ™‚

    Best wishes.

  62. Hi Dm,

    Congrats on the great month. I love these companies that are sending cash to me while I’m sleeping.
    Did you ever attend a shareholder meeting? It is fun to do and meet new people.

    Keep up the great work.

    Cheers,

    Geblin

  63. If she’s from El salvador and moved to FL, I’d wait till after a winter in MI before I proposed. She might say screw this and fly south. My 2 cents, anyway

  64. Tales,

    Thanks, bud. It was a very solid month. I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made.

    I think I’ll be routinely collecting $1,000+ per month in dividends in five years, so I’m really excited. Hitting four figures of dividend income in one month is the next big milestone I’m looking forward to for dividend income. $200k for the Freedom Fund won’t be too bad either. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  65. Geblin,

    I’ve never attended a meeting. Would love to go to one if it was nearby and didn’t cost too much to get there. Even though I’m not a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder I do hope to attend one of their meetings sometime. Maybe 2015!

    Thanks for the support. Hope all is well over there!

    Best wishes.

  66. blahblah903,

    Haha! Great point there.

    She actually lived in Oslo, Norway for a few years. So she is familiar with cold weather. But I also know she’s in no mood for it anymore.

    We’ll see how our trip around A2 goes. The end result might be going back to FL, which is just fine with me. We’re currently discussing all of the pros/cons of both Michigan and Florida, and weighing our options carefully. Some of the reasons I came up here in the first place are somewhat invalidated, so that does change the dynamic of the situation. I’m excited either way. And it’ll be a wonderful way to spend our fifth anniversary, at a crossroads of sorts.

    Cheers!

  67. August is the lower month of this second part of the year and October will be the biggest, so all unfold quietly, whatever the markets.
    Cheers

  68. Hi DM,
    Congrats on an awesome month for income! $412 is fantastic; that’s equivalent to working a 40 hour week at $10 an hour. “Do you want fries with that?” “No, I’ll just take the dividends thanks!”

    Looking forward to reading about record numbers next month πŸ™‚

    Keep the snowball rolling!

    Best wishes,
    -DL

  69. A-G,

    Thanks!! 2014 is going really well so far. I’ve had a lot of changes, and I’m really enjoying writing. Meanwhile, the dividend income just keeps on rolling in. Gotta love it.

    Keep up the great work over there as well. Hope to catch up to your dividend income sometime in 2050. πŸ™‚

    Cheers!

  70. farcodev,

    Yep, no matter what mood Mr. Market is in our dividends continue to roll in. The joy of being a dividend investor! πŸ™‚

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Take care.

  71. DL,

    Haha! I’d much rather handle annual reports than fries. πŸ™‚

    But that’s the wonderful thing about this. We have thousands of others out there working on our behalf, allowing the companies we own a stake in to generate ever greater profits, of which we get a portion of via our dividends. It’s a wonderful life!

    Looks like things are going quite well for you over there as well. Keep it up.

    Best regards.

  72. You know the best part of it all? How easy it is for you to say “maybe I’ll just move to FL”… You worked hard and created a situation where your “job” can be done from anywhere and if you want to work from the beach you can set yourself up to do just that in less time that it’ll take me to quit my job (assuming a two week notice). Financial independence is great, but the true beauty is that you start to reap the fruits of your labor long time before you actually get there.

  73. Insourcelife,

    I’m really lucky and fortunate in that regard. And I’m obviously incredibly grateful for it. I couldn’t be any happier.

    I’d give it about a 95% certainty that I’ll end up going back to FL. I don’t think Claudia wants anything to do with winters up here, which speaks to why I initially thought she didn’t want to come up here in the first place. I think if I begged her to come she would. But after some recent experiences I don’t have any motivation to do such a thing. Gotta pick your battles, and that probably isn’t a battle I want to pick. But we’ll see. πŸ™‚

    I may be more flexible than you right now, but that won’t always be the case. You’re aware of your situation and actively making it better, which means every day offers you more flexibility and opportunity than the last. Therefore, your future is much brighter than your past. Keep it up!

    Best regards.

  74. PIM,

    Thank you so much. I’m doing my best to lead the charge and spread the good word. I think a lot of people have a great chance to radically change their lives. It just takes some hard work and persistence, but freedom can be had for so many people.

    I hope my journey is inspiring others out there to seek freedom out as well.

    Appreciate all the support. Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  75. Dividend Mantra;

    I currently have a 401k and roth ira. I am wanting to do exactly what you are planning just do not know how. i would appreciate it if you email me and i can catch you up on how much i currently have and see if you could help me get on path with what you are doing also.

  76. Not only do you pay much lower taxes on dividends, but you DON’T pay any
    Social Security or Medicare. Been doing what you are doing for 22 years. Reinvesting
    (Compounding) is great. Plus, now discount brokers save you money on fees.

  77. William,

    Exactly! I’ve discussed the attractive nature of dividend taxation before, but that’s the gist of it. No FICA, and the federal taxes are pretty modest on dividends compared to earned income. It’s just another reason to move from the working class to the investor class.

    Keep up the great work over there. I hope to attain a 22-year record one day myself. πŸ™‚

    Cheers!

Leave a Reply