Dividend Income Update – March 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 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, getting closer to covering one’s expenses.

Boy, things are moving along now! The snowball is definitely rolling faster and faster, starting to almost take off without me. And that’s really where I want to be: I want to push hard for a few years or so, but eventually let that thing roll along without any further effort. And toward that end, March was absolutely incredible. If pennies are drops in a bucket, I’m getting pretty close to being able to swim.

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:

March 2015 Dividends Received

  • Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) – $31.50
  • Phillips 66 (PSX) – $13.50
  • ONE Gas Inc. (OGS) – $2.40
  • ConocoPhillips (COP) – $40.15
  • Aflac Incorporated (AFL) – $39.00
  • Visa Inc. (V) – $2.40
  • Orchids Paper Products Company (TIS) – $21.00
  • Target Corporation (TGT) – $36.40
  • Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) – $41.30
  • Lorillard Inc. (LO) – $33.00
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – $70.00
  • International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) – $16.50
  • Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) – $13.80
  • Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) – $28.20
  • Chevron Corporation (CVX) – $42.80
  • Unilever PLC (UL) – $32.53
  • Southside Bancshares, Inc. (SBSI) – $16.10
  • Avista Corp. (AVA) – $18.15
  • Realty Income Corp. (O) – $13.23
  • McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) – $51.00
  • Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.B) – $23.50
  • Harris Corporation (HRS) – $18.80
  • National-Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NOV) – $29.90
  • BP PLC (BP) – $48.00
  • T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) – $10.40
  • PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) – $50.44
  • Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) – $55.25
  • BHP Billiton PLC (BBL) – $142.60

Total dividends received during the month of March: $941.85.

Do you see that? Over nine hundred buckaroos. And guess what I did to collect that income? Nothing!

I clocked in nowhere. Dealt with a non-existent boss. And woke up when I wanted to (which isn’t particularly early).

But the past me did have to make great decisions with capital so that the current me can enjoy this income. Don’t neglect the future you.

I’m so stoked to write this update. This is the first time I’ve ever come anywhere near this much passive income in one month. I broke through the $800 and $900 milestone all in one shot. But what’s really incredible about all of this is that I haven’t even been at that long. I started in mid-2010 with a modest income and big dreams. And here we are five years later with almost $1,000 in passive income hitting my wallet in one single month. It’s absolutely incredible.

Look, I often state that if I can do this, anyone can. Sure, it’s a cliché, but it’s also absolutely true. I worked at a car dealership for most of my career. That couldn’t be further away from the financial industry if I tried. I have no special training or education. I didn’t (and still don’t) make an incredible, six-figure salary. But yet here I am five years down the road earning substantial dividend income.

And you can do this as well.

This month’s total was 32.9% higher than the dividend income my Freedom Fund generated in March 2014. I’m surprised I achieved such a solid year-over-year percentage increase since last March’s total was already such a huge base to improve upon – it was my previous best. But even better than the percentage increase is the fact that this month’s total was more than $200 more in fresh, crisp cash flow.

DividendIncomeMarch2015

I was able to cover 41.6% of my personal expenses last month via passive dividend income alone. I believe that’s close to my all-time high, and I’m more than pleased with that. To be able to cover such a huge chunk of my expenses with income that I don’t have to go out and work for is incredibly reassuring. Life’s a lot less stressful when you know that a significant portion of your expenses are already covered before you even think about making money via the exchange of your time.

What this report shows – like all the others – is that a few dollars here and there add up in a hurry. You can see that quite a few of my holdings paid out $20 or $30, but when you diversify your portfolio across 50+ positions and consistently add new capital you can clearly see what’s possible.

What I also like about this month’s report in particular is the juxtaposition between the all-time high dividend income against the portfolio update that showed the value actually declined slightly over the course of the last month. Capital gains come and go, but dividends tend to keep on coming.

I’m looking forward to keeping this train moving with continued purchases in April and beyond. So keep an eye out for more record breaking!

One of my major goals for 2015 is to receive $7,200 in dividend income during this calendar year. The first quarter is behind us and I’ve now received a total of $1,753.59. That’s 24.4% of my goal, so I’m right about on pace. There was a big semi-annual payment this month from BBL which inflates this quarter’s result a bit, but continued purchases should get me pretty close. As always, I appreciate all of your continued support. So let’s continue to strive for financial independence together!

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

Full Disclosure: Long all aforementioned stocks.

Did you have a great March as well? On pace for your 2015 goals? 

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: holohololand/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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211 Comments

  1. Great job! It’s quite the feeling to receive so much passive income in one month. This is what DGI and being consistent is all about. Hope you have a great April as well.

    – HMB

  2. WOW!!! Thats fantastic Jason. You are just that much closer to hitting the magical four digit number. I bet you will hit that number next quarter. Its pretty amazing that you broke through both $800 and $900 together at at the same time. Congratulations on the dividend income and keep up the great work.

    Thanks for sharing
    R2R

  3. Congratulations! What a feeling it must give you when your dividend payments reach this level 🙂 I hope April is just as fantastic for you!

  4. WOW. I don’t know what else to say DM. Outstanding and congratulations is probably a good start.

    Hugely inspiring and encouraging for people like me just starting out. I hit an all time high this month, which I was delighted with. It was significantly higher than my previous best last year (% wise). It looks like March has been a good month fro many people.

    Great work on the Quarter tracking as well. That’s going to be an exciting watch over the year.

    Keep up the good work my friend!
    Huw

  5. R2R,

    Thank you. It was a really fantastic month. I’m not only glad because it’s more money in my pocket, but also because it shows what’s possible here in a relatively short period of time and without a ton of capital. 🙂

    Probably won’t hit four digits next quarter because I’ll be lacking that big BBL payout, but I’ll give it my best shot!

    Best regards.

  6. DM,
    Great work! I was pulling for the $1000 level but it’s hard to complain with your results!

    My wife and I are in month 3, but we are looking forward to joining you in FI within a decade!

  7. Nicola,

    Thank you! 🙂

    It’s a great feeling not only because it’s awesome to receive so much passive income, but also because I’m able to show that this does indeed work.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best regards.

  8. Huw,

    Congrats on the big month over there for you as well! That’s awesome. Over 170 euros covers a good chunk of your low expenses. 🙂

    We’re climbing Mt. Freedom one dividend dollar at a time. Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  9. Patrick,

    Hitting over $1,000 would have been fantastic, but I’m really happy with this kind of progress. And this is what’s possible starting somewhat late in life without a huge salary. The me of 27 years old never would have imagined collecting over $900 in passive income in one month at 32 years old.

    Congrats on starting down your own path. The first year or so is when you make huge strides and everything is extremely exciting. Some people lose that hunger after making that initial leap. Make sure to stay hungry. 🙂

    Cheers!

  10. Great job, keep it up. I have to admit its a pleasure to read your monthly updates and see how things are going with your DGI. I started reading your updates from the very beginning late last year. Every 1st of the month for 2015 I find myself all twisted waiting for you to post the latest update. I was disappointed to see u posted the watchlist because it wasnt the update I was expecting. Its all very inspiring, TY.

    I did start my port. I cant wait till Jan 2016 to start so I can officially a year long track. Like you, for 2010, 2015 for me is my seed year. Hopefully I too can watch this thing grow year over year. Finding capitol isnt easy and spending it on stocks not knowing much about stocks is even harder. Im reading, learning. Its a learning curve.

    Best wishes
    grez

  11. Hi Jason,

    What an amazing month for you, congratulations! My month was pretty good also. I received a little over 100 € in dividends. This is the time of year when most finnish companies pay out their dividends and I’m also expecting a strong april as well. Looks like you are going to crush your goal of 7,200 in dividends this year. I’m very happy for you! Keep up the great work!

  12. Dividend Mantra,

    Congrats on the impressive month. All the sacrifices you made over the last 5 years are showing you now it was worth it when you see results like this. Each purchase and dividend payment gets you closer to FI.

  13. DM,

    All I can say is WOW. What an amazing month. You have come such a far way and are making some serious progress towards financial freedom. Where do I begin? First off, ~34% year over year growth in income alone. That’s a pretty impressive number considering the size of your portfolio last year. It is one thing to achieve such a high growth rate at my level when your income last year was $40, but your March 2014 was much much higher. Think of the incremental dollar amount to achieve such a high growth rate. Very, very impressive. Secondly, you are getting close to the point where half of your monthly expenses will be covered during four months of the year (March, June, September, and December). If half of your expenses can be covered from income generated from doing nothing, you should have more income from your core job to save and invest. Every extra dollar from online revenue then will go straight into your savings account (and then hopefully into you investment account).

    Man, I am very excited for you DM! Keep up the great work. Your life has transformed over the last year and you made some tough decisions along the way. Months like this have to be extremely rewarding for you and further justification that you made the right decision and you are well on your way towards financial freedom and living the way YOU want to.

    Bert

  14. Hi Dm,

    Wow it seems it has been a great month for you. 940 dollars for doing nothing at al, you could stay in bed for a whole month or walk on the beach everyday and still see the money flowing in.

    Keep up the awesome work.

    Cheers,
    G

  15. grez,

    Glad the blog is providing inspiration your way. That’s exactly why I write and share so much. I truly believe in my heart that financial independence is accessible for almost everyone and anyone out there that truly wants it. This strategy works. 🙂

    Best of luck with your journey. This is such an exciting time for you. You can see what’s possible in just five years, and I certainly could have done even better. Consistent saving and investing does pay off. Stick with it!

    Take care.

  16. Sampo,

    Congrats on your big month as well. 100 euros turns into 150 euros turns into 200 euros. Success begets more success. 🙂

    Appreciate the support very much. I’m extremely pleased with how this month is progressing thus far. Just gotta keep it up!

    Best regards.

  17. IP,

    Thank you!

    You’ve got it. You can clearly see that persistence, consistency, and patience pays off. These results are in real-time, which is wonderful. Can’t say it doesn’t work when it’s working. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by. Hope you had a great March as well!

    Best wishes.

  18. Bert,

    Thank you! 🙂

    It was a really great month. But, just as importantly, this shows that the strategy works. You can see the dividend income climbing every single year – freedom is actually becoming more accessible and realistic with every additional dividend dollar.

    Appreciate the support. My life has changed so much over the last few years. It’s really incredible. I’m just so fortunate that the Jason of 2010 decided to get in gear. It could have easily gone the other way, with me deciding to keep the status quo out of ease. I’d then still be broke, unhappy, and working far too many hours at the car dealership. But life is good!

    Looks like Lanny had a great March as well. Hope yours was awesome too.

    Cheers!

  19. Geblin,

    I’m getting closer to that position – being able to do whatever, whenever. That’s really what it’s all about. Whether you want to chill all day at the beach or work on things that you enjoy, it’s all up to you. Being in complete control of your life is just such an amazing concept. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope your March was fantastic as well!

    Best wishes.

  20. DD,

    I’m really looking forward to hitting four figures of passive income in one month. I think I’ll get there by the end of the year. We’ll see! 🙂

    Cheers.

  21. Congrats on a record-breaking dividend month! I love following your posts for inspiration – although I’m not looking to have dividends cover all my expenses, I can’t wait until my own dividends cover some of my expenses, eg my utilities bills for example. I achieved my own ‘record-breaking’ amount this month, a grand total of £14.68 but well, we all have to start somewhere! 🙂

  22. Wow Jason, that is great! I can’t wait for the years to come for both of us. I started last summer and it looks like i’ll crush my goal of €7 50 this year. I just turned 20, that means if i’ll do as good as you do i will be rich when i am 40! I love this. You mentioned it a thousand times before but when the snowball slowly starts rolling the fun begins! Good luck, stay hungry.

  23. Mantra,

    Holy Smokes. $941?! New record AND over 40% of your expenses covered? This is called “winning” in my book and the strategy and your pursuit are MORE than well on the way. What’s wild is how many different little “soldiers” were battling for you this month. If I’m counting right – was there 28 different companies paying you? Wild.

    Congratulations DM, on pace for your goal and I’m looking forward to you CROSSING the goal. Talk soon and keep smiling about this!

    -Lanny

  24. Great Jason! Very close to $1000 – nice amount for your freedom fund. Snowball starts rolling more and more!

  25. This just shows what hard work and perseverance can do over time, being consistent in your goals of financial freedom through dividend growth investing really pays off, literally!

    CHEERS

  26. Well done and many thanks for all past updates as well – because your actual and my future holdings do not differ that much, with posts like these I know what I would have received were I already invested without looking up the exact paying dates. For me it was only 163 EUR from XOM and 577 EUR from BBL in March.

    Keep up this great and inspirational work!

  27. Great news im very happy for you and grateful to you and fellow readers for sharing how you are all progressing, do you intend to continue with your page after you reach your goals to inspire people still aiming to reach their own FI.
    Thanks.

  28. Jason,

    Congratulations on a successful month. The great thing about this is many of the companies on the list have not even announced their dividend increase yet, which is almost sure to come. Keep up the great work.

  29. weenie,

    Hey, we all have to start somewhere. I had a very similar start, as you can see with my first year of dividend income. But big things can and often do come from small beginnings. 🙂

    Keep it up. You’ll be covering a good chunk of expenses with passive income before you know it.

    Best regards.

  30. FS,

    You’re off to a really great start over there. I can only WISH I would have started when I was 20. You’ll be sitting on massive dividend income by the time you hit my age if you stick with it. I started relatively late in life, yet I’m here at 32 years old with significant dividend income. So that just goes to show that you don’t need to start super early and/or with a big income. But having those advantages will put you in an even better spot. 🙂

    Keep it up!

    Take care.

  31. Lanny,

    Thanks so much!

    Those little soldiers are off doing battle for me, that’s for sure. One battle at a time eventually wins the war. 🙂

    You had a great month over there as well. We’re getting there, slowly but surely.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best wishes.

  32. M,

    You’ve got it. One of the major reasons I write and share everything is to show how this works in real-time. The results pretty much speak for themselves. This works if you put in the effort and give it time. 🙂

    Hope you had a great month as well!

    Best regards.

  33. farrell,

    Sounds like we’re a fellow shareholder in some companies. Happy to see that! 🙂

    Appreciate the support. Let’s keep fighting for freedom.

    Take care.

  34. daren,

    Thank you. I’m really grateful for the readership and support. The community we have here is wonderful. 🙂

    As far as writing and updating the blog 8-10 years down the road, it’s tough to say. Like I mentioned in my email to you when you asked this same question, it’s difficult to say what I’ll doing a decade down the road – writing or otherwise. The plan is to continue writing to show not just the path, but the rewards of the path. But it’s obviously impossible to say exactly how that’ll go. I have no plans to ever stop as it is, but writing can burn you out over time. So I’m careful not to promise anything that far in the future. We’ll see!

    Cheers.

  35. What an amazing month, Jason. So close to the 1K mark for doing absolutely nothing! March was historically been one of my weakest month for dividends, March 2015 was disappointing as I stayed flat compared to last March at just over $400. I will be adding some new capital in April, so I am expecting good upward progress in the later months of the year.

    The latter part of Summer (July, August) and Fall (October through December) are my powerhouse months for dividends.

    I can’t wait how these updates will look as the year goes on. Simply phenomenal.

  36. Lukaivan,

    Exactly. The income only grows from here, even if I stop contributing fresh capital (which isn’t happening). Dividend raises will surely grow this total from here, which I’m so excited about. And the bigger the base, the more those raises impact your income. Success begets more success and the snowball starts to really roll…

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best wishes.

  37. Winston,

    Hey, I’d still be quite happy with over $400 in passive income. That’s about what I hit the last two months. Nothing wrong with that at all. 🙂

    The rest of the year should really pick up for you then, though. Looking forward to that. Hope you have a killer rest of the year!

    Cheers.

  38. I love the numbers! 🙂 March was pretty dry for me only $22. But the April should be a bit jucier with 140$ in passive dividend income!

    Looking forward to End-year update.

    Regards
    James

  39. That’s a great month. Close to $1000 in a single month is wonderful.. My March was great as well and of course, BBL’s semi-annual dividend skews the numbers a bit. But we are happy nonetheless.

  40. Wow, now that’s some serious returns this month! There’s so many great companies that pay at the end of the quarter and it looks like you own quite a bit of them. It looks like your averaging around $584 per month now if I’m not mistaken. Keep it up!

  41. Just a fantastic month Jason! Almost hit that $1000 mark… The March, June, Sept, Dec payouts and the subsequent blog posts that go along with them are awesome to read! So many great totals are being thrown out, mine included.

    To be able to cover almost 50% of your expenses in one month has got to be an incredible feeling. I cannot wait until I am able to say the same with regards to my taxable account.

    Keep up the great work!

  42. James,

    That’s okay. Can’t get to $1,000 without first getting to $22. But it sounds like next month will be even better. Keep it rolling!

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Take care.

  43. DGJ,

    Gotta love those months that fall at the end of each quarter. Four-digit updates are just around the corner. 🙂

    Glad that you had a great March as well. Every month of dividend income puts us that much closer…

    Best regards!

  44. Captain,

    Yeah, those end-of-quarter updates are always really nice. I’m attempting to average $600/month this year, so I’m right on the cusp. Some additional purchases here and there should put me pretty close. We’ll see how it goes! 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Best wishes.

  45. ADD,

    It still blows my mind that I received almost $1,000 in dividend income this past month. That’s life-changing money. And I’ve done all I can to show how it’s done right from the beginning. No one can say it can’t be done when it’s being done. 🙂

    Appreciate all the support. Hope you had an excellent March over there as well!

    Best regards.

  46. DM,

    Badass month right there! Your journey is really starting to get interesting. No doubt your future self is trying to high five you right now!!! The rest of the year will be fun to watch. Five or ten years from now we are going to have to have DGI/FIRE convention of some type. The future looks so bright for so many on this path you’ve shown us. I am also really pumped up about the progress of some of the younger (mid 20 year olds) are making. You should feel even more proud of the movement you have helped create the past 5 years. Keep up the effort and the great motivation.

    MDP

  47. i was 4285 v 3436 last year. i am happy w this progress. Conrats to you DM, you are making incredible progress.

  48. Quite simply, amazing! It’s funny how we DGIs can live so vicariously through one another. I honestly felt as happy and excited reading your post as I would have been had it been my own dividend income!

    A phenomenal month and incredible milestone, for sure!

  49. Hello! I have been creeping on this blog for quite some time now and this is my very first comment. First of all, I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS for all that you have achieved so far and many more best wishes to you! I hope to be where you are someday and you are truly an inspiration to me. I am 23 years old and have around 50k invested but I am very ambitious and hope to retire in 10-15 years! 🙂

  50. MDP,

    Ha! I think you’re right there about my future self giving the me of today a big high five. I know I’m doing the same to the me of five years ago. 🙂

    Really appreciate the kind words and support. This community is really amazing, and I’m so incredibly proud of what we’ve collectively done as a group. Everyone within this group is improving their individual lives, while simultaneously inspiring others to do the same. The thought of being a reason for the building of that community in the first place is just really crazy and something I’ll always be grateful for. I’m very, very happy. And the community is growing all the time.

    Thanks for dropping by. You had an incredible month over there as well. Hope to catch up to you in about a decade!

    Best wishes.

  51. DD,

    Congrats! That’s an amazing month right there. I’d be financially independent and then some with that kind of passive income. 🙂

    Keep up the great work. You’re in an excellent position!

    Best regards.

  52. DM-

    Congrats, that’s awesome! I just started DGI in November of 2014. I brought in $107.92 this March, which is a personal best for me 🙂

    I hope to hit $800 this year!

    -DLee

  53. ZTZ,

    Thank you. Very kind of you.

    I know exactly what you’re talking about over there. I’m also so happy to read others’ updates on their progress and see people on track for their dreams. It’s just as great as if it were me. And I think that’s a good portion of the value of the community. We’re all in this together. 🙂

    Looks like you had a great month as well with over $50 in dividend income. That’ll just continue to snowball for you as long as you keep it up. Awesome work!

    Cheers.

  54. Jason,

    Absolutely tremendous March and end to Q1. Your posts are definitely an inspiration to many including us. We can’t wait to see you pass by all of your goals this year and beyond. Keep up all of the great work and all of the inspirational posts.

    All the best.

    FD

  55. TDL,

    Thank you so much! Appreciate you taking the time to drop a comment today. 🙂

    I’m so glad that the blog’s inspiring you to make those changes. You’re in a fantastic position there at 23 years old with $50k under your belt already. That’s really incredible. You’ll be killing my results by the time you get to 32. Stick with it. Don’t let the 40-year-old version of yourself down!

    Take care.

  56. FD,

    Thank you. Really appreciate that. Doing all I can to progress at the level I hold myself accountable to while simultaneously inspiring others to do the same. Freedom is out there for us. Just gotta work hard, which puts you in a great position to reach out and grab it. 🙂

    You guys have done the most important thing of all, which is actually starting.

    Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  57. This is such an awesome and inspiring read. I apologize for the lack of reading as of late, it’s been quite busy.

    I’m finally in a position to drop about $1,000 a month into dividend stocks, when about 6-8 months ago that only $500, after raises and really buckling down on debt and un-necessary expenses, it’s become more and more of a reality. And you are to thank for that (and a finance group that I’m in on Facebook).

    So how far do you think your going to go, I mean past your 100% ratio of expenses? Thinking of it in this mindset, I could reach that goal in a little over 5 1/2-6 years (which would actually be less than that at that point because I won’t have a $600/mo car payment to deal with anymore).

    I hope your journey spreads like a wildfire, too many people are living in that financial ball and chain.

    Hope this month is just as prosperous as last month.

  58. Great to see the progress!

    Organic raises plus reinvesting dividends alone should grow the income 6-8% per year, even once the portfolio starts to get fairly large. The new capital will decline as a percentage over time, but great to see growth in the high single digits by simply staying invested.

  59. Steve,

    No problem. You stop by whenever you can. No quota. 🙂

    Congrats on the additional capital. Those moves you made to free up an additional $500 per month will make a massive difference for you over the long haul. You’ll likely start to see the results pretty quickly. Nice!

    As far as saving/investing past 100%, I have no plans to do that. It’s unlikely I’ll never make another active income dollar once I’m FI anyhow, so I don’t see the need/purpose to keep saving and investing until I’m dead. I think it’s almost as bad to suffer from OMYS as it is to never have started the process in the first place, as you might end up in the same position: working for most of your life, possibly at a job you don’t completely enjoy.

    Appreciate all the support. I’m doing my best to spread the message and inspire more people every single day. I think reports like definitely help show what’s possible here in a relatively short period of time.

    Keep up the great work!

    Best regards.

  60. DLee,

    You’re doing great, especially for not starting that long ago. That hard work is paying dividends for you, literally! 🙂

    Best of luck with the goal this year. You’re certainly off to a great start with March’s income alone.

    Cheers!

  61. ravi,

    Yeah, organic income growth should increase the dividend results nicely. The additional capital I continue to throw at the portfolio will just continue to supercharge that. Hoping to continue making this kind of progress for at least a few more years. Just doing my best to work hard and take advantage of every opportunity. 🙂

    Cheers!

  62. Congrats! Jason on hitting close to $1000 in dividends, really cool. This is something you do not need to work for 🙂

    I also had a blockbuster month of March and I’m sure most DGI bloggers as well. This is the thing of beauty when it starts rolling, keep throwing rewards along the way beyond our imagination. I’m already seeing this effect myself and this month alone, my passive dividends income was almost close to whole of year 2013.

    Great job there!
    PIM

  63. Hey mr.Mantra. See all the love you get bud. That’s because you’ve inspired many of us including myself. I continue to read all your posts and thank you for your efforts. Awesome month. You’re ripping it up and slowly and surely building this craziness bigger and bigger. Much love to you bud. Take care. Tyler.

  64. Remarkable! Interesting that you blew by the $800 and $900 milestones in one go, just like I did with the $500 and $600 milestones… Congratulations with your new record. Hopefully, you can hit the magic $1,000 sometime this year!

    Cheers
    FerdiS

  65. Excellent. Money making money, making more money! I feel the excitement, I see the results. I feel the empowerment. All great. I have been doing this for 20 years now. I am banking all of my employment income and dividends/interest. Spousal income pays for everything. Pushing $4k on dividends per month.

  66. PIM,

    Looks like you had a great month over there as well with over $300 in passive income. Awesome progress! 🙂

    We’re getting closer and closer to financial independence every single day. Keep it up!

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Cheers.

  67. Tyler,

    Thank you. I’m so grateful for the community we’ve built over the last five years or so. It’s incredible to be a part of a group of people that are so mutually supportive and like-minded.

    Looks like you had a monster month of dividend income over there. Over $1,700 in one month is crazy. You’ve obviously been hustlin’ for a while now with that portfolio value of yours. Keep it rolling.

    Appreciate the support very much. Doing my best to keep plugging away and inspiring in the process! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  68. Ferdi,

    Yeah, I wouldn’t mind repeating that with the $1,000 and $1,100 milestones! 🙂

    Congrats on passing up $500 and $600. We’re really starting to earn some income as a community.

    Thanks for the support. 2015 has been an incredible year thus far. Just hope to continue progressing along at a similar rate.

    Cheers!

  69. NRG,

    I hope to be able to say that “I’ve been doing this for 20 years now” as well one day. I’ll get there! 🙂

    Congrats on the success. $4,000 in dividend income is pretty insane. I’d be financially independent twice over on that kind of income. I don’t even know how I’d ever spend that kind of money. I probably couldn’t even if I tried, not nowadays.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Take care.

  70. Hi Jason,

    it looks like that your dividend income ist accelerating faster and you are on the best way to reach your goal. As I can see you have four big dividend months in the year where it is not a long time away that you can cover all monthly expenses. Congratulations for that.

    At the moment additional investments are really useful, but on the other side the increase of the divivend income is starting to get real power. I think three years in the future new savings are becoming less important because your portfolio will get a real money machine accelerating itself. I like the progress you make and your portfolio will do in some years itself to get more and more money without work. Even if you are taking the whole passive income out to live from it.

  71. Jason

    Congratulations on a fantastic month, looking forward to your future months and possibly hitting $1,000!

    Just like you I have had a great March, and love to see how the snowball can grow with no effort, and I love the fact that one of my accounts has grown it’s dividend income by 25% in March, without adding any extra cash in the last 12 months except for re-invested dividends (I will be posting on my March dividends later today).

    It is fantastic to see what can be achieved by ordinary people in a reasonably short time if you commit to cutting out the spending on “things” and instead spend on buying control over your time!

    Best Wishes
    FIUK

  72. A solid milestone to say the least. Congrats on an awesome March. You really hit the notion of dividend investing home when you state that you have no special finance degree, education or training. These updates truly highlight that anyone can be a dividend growth investor with discipline and patience and modest investments. Your buying has definitely accelerated in recent months as well and those buys will be bearing fruits in 1 to 3 months so I expect to keep seeing these amazing numbers going forward. Keep writing these inspiring posts and marvel at your own continued growing passive income stream. Thanks for sharing.

  73. Jason,

    Holy hell! That’s one massive list of dividend payments and incredible income. Congrats on breaking the $800 and $900 barrier at the same time! It won’t be long now until you cross the $1,000 mark.

    What’s even more incredible to me is the fact that you managed to increase your income with one third compared to last year. That’s not an easy feat considering you’re already receiving a ton of dividends.

    Keep showing us how it’s done!

    Cheers,
    NMW

  74. Do you literally use your dividend income to pay your expenses or do you re-invest it? I’m new to your blog so I’m not sure if that’s what you mean. Either way, it’s incredible what you’ve done in such a short time.

  75. Congrats Jason! Crossing the $800 and $900 levels in one month is fantastic. I still remember when crossing the $100 or $200 level was exciting for you. And I think that speaks to how DGI is semi-addicting. Once you start receiving money for doing absolutely nothing, other than occasionally using one of the companies you own products, you start to get a thirst for it. At least that’s the way I feel about it. I can’t wait to be crossing off milestones of my own like this. What’s really amazing is how you’ve done this on a middle class income and in a relatively short period of time. Consistency has definitely been the key for you. Keep up the good work and keep on inspiring others.

  76. Hi Jason –

    Wow such progress! Very impressive to say the least.

    Do you ever write any cover calls? In some cases I do, and I feel this is a fairly safe way to earn a bit more income.

    Just wondering, I cannot remember seeing you write about this in the past.

    For us readers, what are the pros and cons of this from your perspective?

    Your portfolio is just plain smoking hot right now!

    Congrats!

    Ray

  77. Jason,

    Wow over $900 in one month?!?!? Congrats for that, really shows how having a plan and sticking to it can pay off. One question I have for you is, do you know the average yield and/or growth of dividends from your 50+ company portfolio? I know it would be a lot of work to hammer down those numbers, but was curious if you had ever done that. Keep up the great work!

    Nate

  78. Salut Mantra! Almost 1k USD in a one month is the bomp the bass! I just gained my first 100k EUR and my snowball is starting to roll. It is a incredible feeling when the money is making money. As we investor brothers truly know, money never sleeps… 😉

  79. Jason,
    Inspirational! I was wanting to ask you what is the total principle ( not reinvested dividends)you have invested from the start?

  80. Yeah thanks, sometimes it is so hard to “get it” that I could actually live on this passive income (as I calculate it — my forward annual dividend income is 34K). I live in DC are which is totally insane expensive for housing. But you are right, if I could find a location to relocate that my wife an I like that has very much lower housing prices, we could survive on the 34K and increasing passive. Right now our total spending rate is about 70K with 45K of that going to rent, utilities, and other expenses related to the house we rent. We could also cut back a bit on the 25K of spending that is not related to housing in “retirement”. It would be tight but with a low rent we could survive on the current passive even with roughly the same current lifestyle.

  81. Great job Jason, doesn’t take long right? 🙂 Won’t be long before the monthly income is average of $1000 per month and then $1500 then $2000 etc etc…exciting times for sure. T

  82. olli,

    Yeah, you’re absolutely right. The power of dividend growth investing starts to become pretty apparent just a few short years into the strategy. And I like to think when I’m earning $18,000/year in dividend income (my target for FI) that dividend raises will far exceed my ability to put new capital to work. 8% dividend growth on $18,000 is $1,440. I’d have to invest over $40,000 at a 3.5% yield to achieve the same effect. So you can see how things start to really snowball there. That’s already happening right now, though at a smaller scale.

    I discussed the power of dividend growth and how it can overwhelm fresh capital here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/07/building-a-snowball/

    But I’ll be going over dividend growth and income growth on a quarterly basis from now on, starting this month. That’ll start to show how this works and what that looks like with real money in real-time. 🙂

    Cheers!

  83. FI UK,

    Absolutely. We’re all regular people here. I don’t know of anyone that blogs about retiring early by living off of dividend income that’s also a professional investor. None of us work on Wall Street. And I think that’s what’s so relatable, robust, and realistic about this strategy and the end goal: we can all do it. 🙂

    Congrats on your huge March over there as well! Keep it up. The snowball’s starting to roll along now.

    Best regards.

  84. DH,

    Definitely. I was just mentioning that in the previous comment. There’s no “secret handshake” or special education necessary to succeed at this. But whereas it’s simple, it’s not necessarily easy. For some people, it’s just difficult to imagine saving and investing. That’s a shame because I didn’t know one iota about any of this in early 2010. Yet a few months later I was well on my way.

    Appreciate the support. I think that we’re doing great things as a community. Let’s keep it going! 🙂

    Cheers.

  85. NMW,

    Thank you. It was definitely an incredible month. The good news is that the last month in every quarter should be pretty spectacular from here on out, which will go a long way toward helping me reach my annual goals. 🙂

    You’re off to a great start over there as well. You’ll be recording similar results within a few years. Happens before you know it!

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Cheers!

  86. Kimmoy,

    Thanks for stopping by the blog. Glad you found it. 🙂

    As far as dividends go, I reinvest them all. Until I’m financially independent and living off of this income, I’ll continue to reinvest it so that I can keep growing the portfolio and dividend income. However, I don’t necessarily reinvest dividends back into the same company that paid them:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/03/selective-dividend-reinvestment-vs-drip/

    Hope that helps!

    Take care.

  87. JC,

    Yeah, I still remember those days as well. I remember the first time I crossed $100 in one month and thinking to myself: “This could work!” Definitely a eureka moment for me. 🙂

    I hope this shows that you don’t need to earn an amazing income to become financially independent, or at least dramatically change your life. Even if I quit now, ~$600 per month that will surely grow faster than inflation would change the rest of my life. You don’t even need to reach the finish line to completely change your whole reality, which is something I’ve been writing a lot about lately. The benefits are in the journey itself.

    Thanks for dropping by. I’m sure you’ll be passing me by some time pretty soon!

    Best regards.

  88. Ray,

    I don’t write covered calls. I don’t have an interest in cutting branches off the tree and selling any of my growing income producers at all, so that makes no sense to me. Dividend growth investing is really beautiful in its simplicity. One doesn’t need to mess with options and the extra tax headaches and/or additional fees. To me, options are just a way to complicate things and an attempt to time the market. They’re completely unnecessary.

    Just my take on it!

    Cheers.

  89. Awesome job, DM!

    We had a great March over here, too, but it’s nothing compared to your absolutely dominant one. I draw a lot of inspiration from watching your numbers just keep going up. I can’t wait to see what your June, Sept, and Dec are like!

    Keep crushing it for us!
    Charles

  90. Holy cow, $941.85! That’s awesome, congratulations! Gotta love that long list of awesome names there.

    You are about to pierce the $1000 barrier, it’s gonna be a huge milestone. When we crossed that threshold, I knew that our future plans would solidify nicely.

    Congrats again, and as always, keep on trucking!

  91. Nate,

    Thanks!

    You’re right. It’s really just formulating a plan and seeing it through. This is hard in our society since everyone wants instant gratification. But what’s more gratifying than being able to retire in your 30s or early 40s?

    As far as your questions go, my overall yield is a little under 3.5%.

    The dividend growth averages somewhere around 7% per year. I’ll be tracking the dividend growth and actual real-life income growth starting this year, so you’ll be able to see how that works. Stay tuned! 🙂

    Take care.

  92. Sandels,

    That’s awesome! I didn’t hit $100k too long ago myself, so you’re right on the cusp. 🙂

    Money never sleeps. But I do. That’s why I’d rather have my money working for me rather than the other way around!

    Thanks for dropping by. Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  93. Christine,

    I don’t track total principle invested every single month. I have a spreadsheet that I use to track XIRR, which uses all cash inflows against the total to determine my internal rate of return. The last data I have on that is at the end of last year. Up until that point, I have invested a total of just under $120,000. That includes my initial seed capital.

    Hope that helps! 🙂

    Take care.

  94. DD,

    I hear you. It’s difficult for some people to shift from saving/investing mode to living off of the income they worked so hard to generate in the first place. Just make sure you do eventually shift before it’s too late to enjoy it. I’ve received emails from people in their late 50s that continue to work at jobs they don’t really enjoy to keep saving and investing even though they’re FI twice over. So they save and invest so that they can escape a job they don’t like… only to continue working at a job they don’t like. Don’t let OMYS get to you. 🙂

    Cheers!

  95. T,

    You’re absolutely right. Success begets more success, especially when it comes to compounding. Every additional dollar increases one’s compounding capabilities exponentially. It’s really just an incredible thing to watch this happen in real-time. 🙂

    Thanks for the support!

    Best regards.

  96. Charles,

    Thanks so much. It was a great month, but the key is to stick to the plan and make sure your numbers are working for you and your goals.

    Looks like you guys had an awesome month, though. Almost $500 in passive income is incredible. That’s not far below my average for the year thus far. Keep it rolling!

    Cheers.

  97. Spoonman,

    Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well!

    I’m really excited to break through $1,000 in one month. You start to see dividend income like that and you can see how early retirement/FI is a concept that’s realistic and really right in front of you. It’s tangible cash flow against tangible expenses. And once you see a good chunk of your bills being paid, it’s just a matter of time then.

    I’m sure you had a killer month over there as well! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  98. Jason – congrats what a great post for yourself and for all of us following in similar foot steps. keep it up!

    -RyanV

  99. DM,
    Wanted to congratulate you on your big month! This is the result of hard work, persistence, and a rock solid strategy. Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge with the dividend investor community. Your inspiration means the world to your readers!
    Sincerely,
    Ian

  100. Jason,

    You destroyed March, I knew you would – regardless of stock value drop. Going back 1 post, I really like the companies you picked out especially UNP. I have had them up on my computer screen now just about every day … UNP is just a winner.

    Congrats,
    Gremlin

  101. Yeah, if I work another 18 months (at 50) I can add a pension to the passive divis (around another 50 k), so makes sense to do that. After that, if I’m still working, its only if I get offered some amazing dream job that would be fun every day. We could live super well by then on at least 85k passive, even though we have no real estate at all. I wish I could’ve got in a position to retire at 40 but 50 is better than most. Thanks for the reminder and the inspiration.

  102. Ryan,

    Thanks! 🙂

    This is definitely proof that this works. The cash flow speaks for itself.

    Hope you had a great month over there too.

    Take care!

  103. Ian,

    Thank you. Your support from early on has really been incredible and helpful. Appreciate that very much! 🙂

    I couldn’t do this without readers like you. Without you, the blog likely wouldn’t exist anymore. So thank you.

    Best regards.

  104. Brian,

    Thanks! I’m getting there one invested dollar at a time. The climb might seem steep at first, but the momentum that compounding provides is such a massive boost.

    Appreciate you dropping by.

    Cheers!

  105. Gremlin,

    March was crazy. I mean I planned for this kind of progress from the outset, but it still feels so great to actually be sitting here in this position. Planning for it doesn’t make it feel any less special. 🙂

    And I love the juxtaposition this month. Falling portfolio value on one side of the coin; massive dividend income on the other.

    Appreciate your thoughts there on UNP. I’m definitely going to initiate a position in the company. Really just a matter of time and capital availability now. We’ll see how it goes!

    Best of luck with the new Civic. Keeping my fingers crossed for you for no car troubles for a decade!

    Best wishes.

  106. Super March results there, Jason. And very inspiring for all of us. Keep the ball rolling man 🙂

  107. Wow that’s a nice jump in dividend income. Gotta love getting money for doing absolutely nothing at all. A 32.9% increase is very awesome, keep up the great work man.

  108. Over $900 in a month from dividend income. I think that’s what I earn per quarter!

    I just have in my head Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey from “Wayne’s World” going “WE’RE NOT WORTHY!!!! “.

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  109. Congrats DM!

    Quantifiable rewards for your planning, patience and persistence.

    Full Disclosure: Long Consistency

  110. Tawcan,

    Appreciate it, man. Doing my best to stay on the ball and work hard every single day. I’m a little ahead of pace at this stage in the game, which is amazing. Although, it’s hard to say how that’ll continue to work out since my online income is less than what I was making before. Either way, I’m thoroughly enjoying every single day. Life is so incredibly good. I’m blessed. 🙂

    Looking forward to your March report. I’m sure you killed it!

    Cheers.

  111. Oh man, just amazingly awesome month Jason! Must be a record for a total number of paychecks received as well for a total of 28! Now that is diversification at its finest.

    Going to be super sweet hitting the next big achievement of $1,000 in a single month. Definitely gets me enthusiastic just talking about it!

    Keep on inspiring.

  112. ARB,

    Haha! Classic movie right there. But you’re definitely worthy, my friend.

    We all have different means, goals, and backgrounds. There are a lot of investors way ahead of me. But I’m incredibly happy with where I’m at, relative to my own goals. If you would have asked me five years ago if I’d be sitting here with almost $200k in liquid assets pumping out almost $7,000 per year in passive income, I’d look at you like you were crazy.

    Keep at it. Every day is a new opportunity!

    Take care.

  113. TDE,

    Thank you! 🙂

    You’re absolutely right. This dividend income didn’t materialize out of thin air. Required years of planning, hard work, consistency, and persistence. But that all pays off, literally and figuratively. The proof is in the pudding, right?

    Appreciate the support. Let’s keep it going.

    Best wishes.

  114. DV,

    28 different “paychecks”. It’s awesome, right? That’s really just one wonderful part about all of this. Combine that with all the sources of online income this past month and I’m looking at around 35 different “paychecks”. Better than just one check from the old day job! 🙂

    You’re doing great over there as well. Slow and steady, my friend. Keep at it!

    Best wishes.

  115. Jason, man thanks for sharing. I started reading a year ago from your first post on up. It is incredible to see where you are today. You give me hope brother!

  116. Hi again Jason

    I have just posted my thoughts on the BHP Billiton split, and I was wondering what you are thinking of doing about the split (if anything). I think the outcome could be quite productive as I believe they will still be paying out the same after the split, which could mean a great opportunity for buying some huge dividend yield.

    Would love to know your thoughts, as you always seem pretty switched on.

    Best Wishes
    FIUK

  117. Justin,

    Thanks for the readership. Appreciate you taking the time to start reading from the beginning. There’s something like 650 articles on the site now, so that’s plenty to keep you busy. But starting from the beginning almost reads like a book, where you see this journey kind of unfold in real-time. 🙂

    There’s definitely hope for us all. There’s so much abundance and opportunity in first world countries in 2015. And financial independence is certainly realistic, even at a young age and without a big income. We’ll get there!

    Best regards.

  118. DM,

    All I can say is wow…! That’s a phenomenal achievement. I sometimes think that I’ve achieved alot, but I’m almost embarrased given where you’ve come from, what you’ve gone through to where you are today. A great inspiration to folks out there that anyone can better themeselves with some self belief and application. Best of luck in hitting your $7k in dividends for this year. To get to this level of dividend income in just 5 years on an average US wage is truly incredible

  119. FI UK,

    I read your post there. Keep in mind that the market will reprice shares. Every time a company has any kind of action like this where a part of the company is split off, the shares are repriced to reflect that. It’s just like when a stock goes ex-dividend – the shares are repriced accordingly. So there really isn’t any mystery in the short term. What investors do with BBL shares from there (over the long haul), however, is anyone’s guess.

    BBL has already stated that they don’t plan to rebase its dividend after the demerger. So when shares are marked down, the yield will naturally rise. I expect that to probably increase demand, and allow shares to eventually rise once more to where they were before. In addition, we get a dividend from South32 since it plans to pay out 40% of underlying earnings. South32 won’t be a very large company, so I don’t expect the dividend to be very large either. And the pro forma financial information shows that South32, as an independent company, would have only made $103 million in after-tax profit in FY 2014. But whatever dividend they pay will be extra income, nonetheless. 🙂

    Bottom line, I don’t plan to sell either BBL or the new South32 shares after the demerger.

    Cheers!

  120. Gen Y,

    Haha. I won’t be catching MDP any time soon with his massive income. But we’re in totally different life situations. As long as I’m on pace for FI by 40, it’s all good. 🙂

    Appreciate the support very much. Doing all I can to motivate and inspire.

    Best regards!

  121. Integrator,

    Thanks so much. We all have unique situations that are either advantageous or disadvantageous, but life is less what happens to us and more how we respond. I’m proof of that. Growing up in the ghetto of Detroit in a house that was eventually raided by police isn’t exactly fertile ground for retiring early. Throw in the now lack of an extended family or a big income, and there you go. But that’s why I often remind people that if I can do this, anyone can. 🙂

    Appreciate the support. Giving it 100% and then some.

    Thanks for stopping by. Keep up the great work over on your end as well!

    Best wishes.

  122. Wow DM! Outstanding month. I thought my month was good at $692, but your March was fantastic. $1000 is a big psychological hurdle and you are almost there. Thanks for the continued inspiration.

    I switched my floundering portfolio to a dividend growth strategy in April 2014. Before that, my March 2014 dividend income was $65. March 2015 was 10X that!! So, I am also feeling the same kind of progress you are.

    Funny how each dividend payment is like opening a Christmas present. It is also funny how we wish for the stock market to fall so we can snatch up better prices for terrific companies. And when a company announces they are raising their dividend, that feeling is off the charts…

    Thanks again for so eloquently sharing your story. I feel even more of a connection because we both have Michigan roots.

  123. Hello sir.

    I’m curious how the performance of your portfolio in the past few years has compared to an ETF like SCHD that focuses on dividend paying companies?

    Congrats on this portfolio thus far.

  124. You’re welcome sir,

    I have a feeling that if today, I gave you enough cash to retire on, it would be an empty victory.

    That’s not an offer.

    Full Disclosure: Long Slow&Steady

  125. Jason,
    I am just starting, but you give me hope (though I don’t think I will have stomach if the market takes a dive again)! Thanks for sharing! That’s good karma!

  126. Nice update, always like to see your dividend income tick up each month (as well as mine) to remind me that this is definitely going to work. I wish I had $940 this month, I only have $1080 so far this year, but I have a lot of foreign one time payers that are coming up next month along with special dividends, so I should be hitting my stride. Tax times are here, hope you didn’t have too bad of a hit, mine were about $1300 out of pocket, so less buying this month. I am aiming for $5k in divvies this year, and targeting high yielders right now to get the ball rolling if prices drop when rates rise. High yield base should get the ole’ snowball rolling for reinvestment when the opportunities arise.

  127. WOW! That’s awesome! Congratulations!
    I am about to get my first dividend of $12.60 this month, but I am just started couple months ago. Hope to be where you are in five years. You story very inspirational. Thank you for sharing it!

  128. DGI Novice,

    Glad to have another Michigander here!

    You’re definitely no novice with almost $700 in dividend income last month. 🙂

    Glad the strategy is working out so well for you thus far. It’s just such an amazing way to simultaneously build wealth and income. Even better the income is growing all by itself via the dividend raises as well as the fresh cash flow you’re adding in regularly. And that cash flow is tangible, as well as comparable to one’s expenses.

    Appreciate the support. It’s great when almost every morning is Christmas morning, right?

    Cheers!

  129. WHAT THE WHAT!!! Jason, you almost made it to $1,000! That’s freaking incredible!!!!

    And I absolutely agree about not needing special financial education or a huge salary to be able to do this – it’s all about hunkering down and having the willpower to save that money and invest wisely. This blog and you are living proof of that.

    Fantastic! Just fantastic! Congrats on a blockbuster month!

  130. Daniel,

    Hey, you’re sitting in a great spot there with already almost $1,100 under your belt and plenty more to come. Glad to hear you’re just hitting your stride. I expect a really nice second half of the year, so we’ll see how that goes. 🙂

    I owed a pretty big chunk of change this year for taxes. My federal liability was over $4k. That was mainly due to the fact that I didn’t adjust my quarterly estimated taxes last year to reflect my increased online income. Live and learn, but I’m glad I’m in a position to write that kind of check and not even flinch.

    Keep up the great work. Best of luck with your $5k goal. I’m rooting for you!

    Cheers.

  131. zmag,

    Congrats on your first dividend! That’s awesome. I still remember collecting my first dividend back in 2010. It’s an amazing feeling to see fresh cash deposited to your account; cash you didn’t have to work for. Like someone else mentioned, it’s like a Christmas present. 🙂

    Thanks for the support and readership. Much appreciated. Stick around. The best is yet to come (for both of us).

    Best regards.

  132. Divorcedff,

    Thank you. It was an excellent month. I’m still letting it sink in. 🙂

    Looks like you had a great month over there as well with over $80. Very nice. It will surely grow from here if you stick with it.

    Take care.

  133. Seraph,

    Thank you so much. It was really crazy. Almost couldn’t believe it the first time I looked at the total. It’s one thing to plan for something and quite another to actually see the results right in front of you. Really crazy. 🙂

    I couldn’t agree with you more about willpower. I once mentioned in a podcast that you have to want this. If you want it, you’ll do what’s necessary to have it. But if you don’t want it, it doesn’t matter what kind of education you have or how much money you’re making. Willpower is far more important.

    Congrats on you hitting your all-time high as well. Awesome work. We’re reaching freedom one month and one dividend dollar at a time.

    Best wishes!

  134. Great month, and you can’t argue with the results! $1,000 payout is just around the corner and should arrive before the year’s out.

    Keep fighting the good fight!

  135. FI Fighter,

    Thanks so much, bud. I’m fighting for FI right alongside you, that’s for sure! 🙂

    We’re getting closer every single day. I’ve got a lot of fight left in me and I’m sure you do as well.

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Cheers!

  136. Hi DM
    You are not the only one who did break a record this month.
    My dividends looked like:
    A.P.Møller – Mærsk A : 600 dkk+3342 dkk
    Danske Bank : 962,50 dkk
    Novo Nordisk A/S B : 495,00 dkk
    Coca-Cola Co. : 274,56 dkk

    Total 5.674,06

    It was greatly influenced by A.P.Møller’s ekstraordinary divident. One should also note that most of the companies on my list only pau divident once every year

  137. Congrats for this great month again.
    It’s always very impressive to see what you have accomplished so far.
    In another way, trying to do the same thing as you, I cant figure out how/when I will be able to reach those numbers.

    Keep on the good work !

  138. beer119,

    Congrats on the big month over there! That’s over $800 if I’m looking at that correctly. That’s fantastic. 🙂

    Keep up the great work. It will likely only get bigger from here.

    Cheers!

  139. LD,

    It might seem like a really tall mountain to climb, but you can see what I’ve done in five years. So it really doesn’t take all that long to make a dramatic impact on your life. Just make sure you’re saving as much as possible and the rest should take care of itself. 🙂

    Thanks for the support. Much appreciated!

    Best regards.

  140. Congratulation! Your dividend income is awesome considering you started only in 2010. You are a great role model for young folks just starting out.
    We had a great March as well with our dividend income. We received just a touch over $1,000. I’m excited to see where we will be in 5 years.

  141. I agree on some levels it’s silly to compare your returns to S&P 500 returns, but comparing your returns to a fund that is largely comprised of what you would buy anyway makes complete and total sense. I get that it would kind of derail your whole purpose for having this site, but one should always be considering options.

    The fact that you could get 90-110% of the performance and zero headache makes me wonder what the point in is staying an “active” investor versus leaving it to automation

  142. Joe,

    Thanks so much. Truly doing my best to show others that this can be done. 🙂

    You had a great month over there. Really killer dividend income. Things are taking off for you in a big way in regards to the passive income. Congrats!

    Thanks for dropping by.

    Best regards!

  143. Ricky,

    “…to a fund that is largely comprised of what you would buy anyway…”

    Well, that’s part of the problem. I can pick out probably 10 out of the top 25 holdings for SCHD that I wouldn’t buy. Furthermore, SCHD’s yield is about 80 basis points lower than mine and the track record for the fund/dividend growth is extremely short. Add in the fact that I’ll be paying fees for as long as I own the fund and it seems like I’ll be sacrificing quality of stocks, yield, dividend growth history, and pay fees for the privilege. Great deal!

    Nevertheless, I think funds are appropriate for a lot of people. That’s especially true if you don’t have an interest in building up your own portfolio. But I think you presume too much when you say “zero headache” since this is all fun for me. If it’s a headache for you, then I would absolutely recommend buying a fund or three and forgetting about it.

    But I’ve already discussed these topics ad nauseam on the blog. Feel free to use one of the search bars.

    Take care!

  144. Nice job with the dividend income–it looks like we both had record-smashing months!

    I think your chart would be more useful if it showed your monthly income over the previous 13 months (i.e. the current month plus the previous 12 months), rather than over the current year. It would better show the growth in your investment income over the past year and make y/y comparisons easier.

  145. jd,

    Yeah, I thought about adding a second or even third set of bars in there to show YOY increases in income. I even created a chart for that purpose. But it was way too much, especially toward the end of the year when you’ve got 11 or 12 months worth of data there to contend with. But now that the totals are pretty large, you won’t actually see much growth there over a rolling 12-month period. I mean I could stretch the chart way out or something, but that’s just be an illusion. In any case, you can visit the page on my dividend income to actually see the YOY changes in income on an annual basis, which shows the scale better. 🙂

    Congrats on a big month over there. Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

  146. So far that little car has been pretty awesome I must tell you. Filled it up for the 1st time today, 12 gallon tank – $25, mileage range = 430 ish. Pretty darn good with DC traffic.

    Take care.
    -Gremlin

  147. Gremlin,

    That’s awesome! Glad to hear it. Every dollar less in that gas tank is one more in your wallet (and eventually the portfolio).

    My Corolla got pretty good gas mileage as well. If I ever own a car again it won’t be one with bad gas mileage, I can tell you that.

    Cheers!

  148. Hi DM,

    I really enjoy seeing your amazing results every month, congratulations! Just a quick question: which trading platform do you use and what do you do when the dividends come in every month? Do you let them build up in cash until you can re-invest?

    Sorry if you have already answered these questions, if you have, could you redirect me to somewhere I could read them? Thank you for your time, love reading your blog.

    Adam

  149. Adam,

    Thanks for following along! Really appreciate the readership. 🙂

    I currently use Scottrade. If you’re interested in using them as well, I can give you a referral code which will give us both three free trades. However, I’m probably going to open a second brokerage account very soon here because my balance with Scottrade has grown quite a bit. So it makes sense to diversify accounts.

    As far as the dividends go, that’s right. I let the dividends build up over the course of a couple weeks or so and then add in fresh capital from my bank account before making a stock purchase.

    I described that process in more detail here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/03/selective-dividend-reinvestment-vs-drip/

    Stay in touch!

    Best regards.

  150. DM,

    Thank you for your response. I also am using Scottrade and it is reassuring to hear you use it.

    I just read the article you attached and it cleared up all my questions, really appreciate it.

    Looking forward to staying in touch, thanks again.

    Best,
    Adam

  151. First off congrats on a huge month.

    Second I thinks it’s interesting to see that you compiled nearly $1000 in dividends via 28 payouts with only one I think topping three figures and a couple with only a few dollars. It’s the basic principle of small numbers over time turning into big numbers just like your overall portfolio, but here in a monthly fractal. Pretty neat.

    Thanks for sharing and I look forward to some of the new portfolio tracking numbers you plan to add this year!

  152. I’m so happy to see you blasting through with almost $1,000 in March! Your story is beyond in inspiring my friend. You’ve given so many of us ‘regular’ non professional investors a voice and strategy that is proven to work. I’ve always admired your passion and genius. I’m itching to you break that $1,000 / month barrier in half a year. Congrats again!

  153. Sundeep,

    Yeah, I love to point out that $10 here and $20 there can add up to significant amounts. That was something I wrote about early last year – the power of pennies. You might not think a $0.20 quarterly dividend or whatever can possibly pave the road to riches, but that road is most definitely paved with pennies.

    Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate the support!

    Take care.

  154. Ryan,

    Thank you. Always appreciate the support and kind words. And I’m glad we had that recent email exchange. Hope that’s working out great for you.

    You’re doing great over there. Really proud of your results as well. This community is accomplishing incredible things as a group, in aggregate. Feels great to be a part of something like that.

    Let’s keep it rolling!

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Best regards.

  155. I knew you are going to have a huge March but your result blew my expectation! Congratulations on a monstrous dividend Jason! It is true when you said that if you can do it, I can do it! Thank you very much for keep on inspiring, from the bottom of my heart! 🙂

  156. It worked great! Thanks again for the help in using the XIRR function. I factored in a few brief speculative investments I made before I discovered you. Luckily it was during the beginning of 2013 when it was almost impossible to lose money in the market. My annualized rate of return went up much higher as you predicted into the 17% range and would probably be even much higher with the last few ‘up’ days in the market. Like you, I probably won’t find the need to run those numbers again anytime soon. But the education you’re providing me is making me a much better investor and seeing those results solidified the strategy even that much more. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to answer personal emails like that, you are a true friend and mentor!

  157. Congratulations, Jason!!

    I just started the dividend growth investment path. And you are the virtual mentor of mine along the path. Thank you so much for being such an inspiration!

    Keep up the good work!

  158. 900 bucks!!!! What a heck of income for doing bloody nothing!!! My dream!

    Hope you will be getting this every month.

    Congrats!!!

  159. FFF,

    Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. I’m further ahead than I thought I’d be at this point in time, which is fantastic. I’m just doing all I can to work hard and keep it going. 🙂

    You’re doing great over there as well. Every dollar saved and invested today can turn into two a decade from now. Keep plugging away!

    Cheers.

  160. MU,

    That’s fantastic. I’m always so happy when someone takes it upon themselves to start down their own path to financial independence. The hardest part is actually starting. From there, the snowball builds momentum and it gets easier. 🙂

    Thanks for the support and readership. I’m blessed to be in a position to inspire others. Hope to continue that ability for many years to come.

    Best wishes!

  161. Martin,

    Thank you. The snowball is definitely picking up steam now. 🙂

    Planning to be at this level every month within the next few years. I’m giving it all I’ve got!

    Hope you had a great March over there as well. Thanks for stopping by.

    Take care!

  162. BBL dividend will not be sustainable over long term with Iron Ore prices at these levels, OIL being down 50% will not help either, I think the dividend will be cut in 2016 to reflect the 30-40 % revenue drop

  163. Well, considering how bad March was overall, it was good and I made money. My dividends continue growing too and I am happy for it.

  164. Great work Jason! Congrats on the big improvement over last year.

    Towards the end of your article, you mentioned, “That’s 24.4% of my goal, so I’m right about on pace. There was a big semi-annual payment this month from BBL which inflates this quarter’s result a bit, but continued purchases should get me pretty close”

    Considering the “predictable” nature of dividends, it’d be interesting to see your “forecast” your progress and how far you are from reaching your goal.

    See work below:
    http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11BiQdtlroNLwgvOFn5iwfkB6u2hZf2iGjp_O27l5zic/edit?usp=sharing

  165. Dear Jason,
    I am sorry if you explained this somewhere in your blog, but why don’t you use Sharebuilder (capital one) instead of Scotttrade?
    Thanks for responding!

  166. Bruno,

    We’ll see about that. BBL actually reported a pretty solid half, considering what happened over the second half of 2014. That includes the big drop in both oil and iron ore, though sustained weakness there could cause issues. In addition, the recent decision to not rebase the dividend after accounting for South32 and also the recent decision to raise the interim dividend YOY are both pretty solid indicators from management. Of course, over the long haul anything is possible.

    Cheers!

  167. dukeofism,

    It’s tough for me to really extrapolate out where I think I might be because my income oscillates quite a bit right now. So I’m not quite sure how much I’ll be able to invest over, say, the next six months. In addition, I’m not really targeting certain stocks with certain yields or anything because I’m not interested in sacrificing quality to chase yield to try and meet my goal. In the end, I take the dividend income I’m already set to earn over the next twelve months and then add in anticipated dividend raises and a roundabout guess for investment capital and yield to come up with my goals. But it’s certainly not something set in concrete. Sometimes I’m really close, but last year I blew it out of the water. Hope I can repeat that. 🙂

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Cheers.

  168. Absolutely! 🙂 And that’s what I love about it. Making money 😉 Like Mr. Garfield.

    I had one trade which turned bad in March (very bad) but I was able to navigate out break even, so my options trading ended up 2.93%, I do not have my dividends income counted yet, but will do so soon (well, as soon as my laziness ends up). Cheers and good luck in April!

  169. Happy,

    Thank you so much. I’m really grateful for the success thus far. Just hoping to keep it going. 🙂

    Hope you had a great March as well!

    Best wishes.

  170. DM Congrats again, as a new dividend investor this site is fantastic and inspirational. Really don’t have much of a snowball at the moment but I know I’ll get there. I’m curious as to your strategy when allocating capital for purchases. Since I have limited capital each month to invest I’m thinking about finding the best values and loading up on a particular stock as much as I can rather then diversifying at first. I figure the diversification will come following good value. However when do you decide that you have enough of a particular stock for the time being?

  171. Congrats DM, you are humming right along! I had $243 in dividends for March. That was 81% higher than March of ’14. I am excited to see what April does compared to last year for me, because that will be past one full year since I have actively been investing in dividend growth stocks. It will be the first time I can truly measure the “organic” growth of my dividend producing portfolio. I am slightly behind my overall goal for the year, but hopefully it will pick up as the year progresses.

  172. YM,

    Thanks so much. Appreciate the kind words. 🙂

    Glad it’s serving as inspiration. This is indeed possible for almost anyone and everyone out there that lives in a first world country. The opportunities are out there. Just gotta reach out and grab them.

    Cheers!

  173. Keith,

    Yeah, that’s a good question. I basically look at costs and the time it takes to research a stock. I don’t want to spend time really running the numbers and everything if I’m only going to invest $100. In addition, brokerage costs factor in. I basically try to limit my overall costs during the accumulation phase to 0.5% per transaction, on average. My current brokerage, Scottrade, charges a $7 fee for buying and selling stocks. So that means I try to make sure purchases are around $1,400, on average. I’ll often get free trades for referrals, which means I can be a bit lax there from time to time. But that’s generally my line in the sand. Significant fees can really eat into your returns, but I think 0.5% is a good upper limit.

    I’m currently looking into a new/cheaper brokerage because my balance at Scottrade has grown large enough to where I’d feel more comfortable diversifying accounts. So that means my transactions could be smaller moving forward while still maintaining a similar cost structure.

    Best regards.

  174. BCS,

    That’s fantastic progress you’re making over there. An 81% jump is really huge, almost double. It’s definitely nice in that the further along you go, the more data you have… which means you’ll absolutely start to see the exponential growth take hold. 🙂

    Keep it up! I’m rooting for you.

    Best wishes.

  175. I’d be very interested in knowing how much of each stock yielded the dividend. I think it would be more helpful for viewers/readers if you put a bracket after the name of the stock that indicated the number of shares you have.

  176. BMG,

    Thanks so much for the feedback. Much appreciated.

    You can actually view exactly how many shares of each stock I own – along with the corresponding yield – via my portfolio page:

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

    It seems redundant to post the same exact information over and over again, which is why I have all that listed in a centrally located place. 🙂

    Hope that helps!

    Take care.

  177. Very impressive Jason! You are soooo close! 😀 You’re definitely on your way to reaching your ultimate goal and I admire you for that!

    Cheers!

    Mike

  178. Mike,

    Thank you. I can see myself getting closer and closer to the finish line every single day. The key is just to stay consistent. 🙂

    Appreciate all the support. Excited for your RV plans as well. Life is good!

    Best regards.

  179. That is absolutely amazing! You must be chuffed to bits. To break two new $100 marks in one month is pretty spectacular. $800 down. $900 down. Next stop $1,000!

    Keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing April’s total. Do you expect it to be stronger or weaker than March?

  180. Thats nearly half the month you could pursue other interests if you wanted to and still be “paid”.
    I love the fact you show this.It really matters that people dont see this as getting to 100% or nothing.Lets say life changed and you had to stop investing now.Having 41% of the year where you dont have to work sure sounds nice.In that time you could maybe train in something you enjoy.Maybe start a small business.Lots of things.Its also a lot easier in the jobs market if you only need to earn half what you need.So not only does it buy freedom,it lowers stress levels.

  181. TDD,

    Thank you so much. It was really amazing. Beyond just the fact that more than $900 hit the account, I’m so excited because this is showing a lot of people that this can be done. There is this opportunity out there waiting for you – money can work for you. 🙂

    April won’t be nearly as strong because such a significant portion of my portfolio’s stocks pay out during the last month of every quarter, but every month is a move in the right direction.

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Best regards.

  182. John,

    Absolutely. This is real money. Real cash flow. And while I reinvest all of it right now, I don’t have to. I could use it to pay for rent, or food, or whatever.

    Freedom exists on a spectrum. It’s not all or nothing:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2015/02/freedom-exists-on-a-spectrum/

    And this money could definitely be tapped for whatever:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2014/04/break-in-case-of-emergency/

    Thanks for dropping by. Glad to see you understand how this works!

    Best regards.

  183. My pleasure. Exactly, it is great to see the progress build up.

    I am still at the stage when £100+ monthly income is the upper limit at the moment. It will build though! In March I received just shy of £100 and next month, unlike you, I have a much stronger April which should be about £170.

    I can feel the momentum building though which is great. Not quite up to your speed yet!

  184. Hi, congrats on a great month of dividend income! I’m currently 28 years old earning around 5k in dividends this year and live in NYC, so the tax is eating about 30% of it. I am wondering if you have any tips in how I can keep more of the income. I also plan to retire early and live off dividends like you 🙂

  185. Charles,

    I can imagine the taxes take a bite up there in NYC. I decided to move down to Florida years ago so as to take advantage of a more favorable tax situation, but we’re obviously comparing apples to oranges.

    The only thing you can really do – outside of moving somewhere – is to maximize your exposure to retirement/tax-advantaged accounts. I use taxable accounts only because I’m okay leaving a few bucks on the table if it means I have access to my wealth/income ASAP, but maxing out accounts like your 401(k) and shielding as much of your dividend income as possible through IRAs is your best defense. You’ll just have to decide for yourself how much you’re willing to deal with any drawbacks there (accessing some of your money later in life, the potential for penalties for early access, the rigmarole of taking on something like a SEPP).

    Hope that helps!

    Best regards.

  186. DM: I found your blog late last year and it has provided motivation for me to invest more in quality dividend paying companies. I started my own journey in 2013 and have invested in a total of 9 companies so far. Seeing your journey has accelerated my investing however. Thanks for sharing your story and information. This March saw my first $100 month so I’m pretty far behind yourself, but seeing the growth in dividend income has been amazing. Best of luck towards FI!

  187. Kevin,

    Thanks for sharing that. So glad to hear things are rolling along for you now. I still remember hitting my first $100 back in 2011. It’s such an amazing feeling. You kind of feel at that point that this can definitely work. If $100, why not $500? If $500, why not $1,000? So on and so forth.

    Appreciate the support. Keep it up over there! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  188. carson,

    I don’t think so. Keep in mind a fund isn’t anything magical. It’s just a group of stocks (or other investments) picked by someone else for a fee.

    I compared the idea of funds to individual dividend growth stocks here:

    https://www.dividendmantra.com/2013/04/why-i-vastly-prefer-dividend-growth/

    You still have to watch commission fees as a percentage of your capital invested (I try to keep it under 0.5% per transaction), so if that’s an issue, I’d try to figure out how to maximize income, minimize expenses, or both.

    Hope that helps!

    Cheers.

  189. Hello Jason,

    Thanks for sharing all these valuable information, I’ve been reading your blog since I’d like to start an strategy on dividend stock, so I’ve been reading these last days about the topic.

    As for today I have other sources of passive income like niche sites, real state and some licensed intellectual property (you can check that in my blog, in spanish though), so I’d like to start with dividends seriously.
    Could you give me an idea on average what % you get from the money “parked” in those stocks? that would be helpful for me to compare with other type of investments.

    Thanks! and congrats for March.

    Erik

  190. Hello Jason

    Sorry posting again I don’t want to spam you 😀 I was checking at your portfolio that is around 190k which in 2014 gave you over 5.6k in dividends which is something around 3% ROI. is that right?
    I have some questions

    1) I see that you trade every month (sell and buy stocks) but I don’t see any profit income coming from that stream
    2) How much are you paying for the trading platform I didn’t see that in expenses (2014)
    3) Is your online income coming from this site?

    One more thing, I saw you got engaged Congrats!
    Does this change the game for you? I mean, wife, children etc will increase inevitably your living costs so, achieving the goal of living from dividends will take a little bit longer, right?

    I ask you these because I’m currently on my way to achieve it, if all goes as planned I will achieve living from passive income at 40 (now 36) the date was delayed because of getting married and children on board.

    Thanks for posting!
    Erik

  191. Erik,

    Thanks for following along. I really appreciate the readership. 🙂

    Sounds like you’re in a great spot over there. I’m a huge fan of diversification, so having other sources of passive income makes a lot of sense to me. Some of those strategies are outside my circle of competence or personal interests, but that’s great that they work for you.

    I’m not sure if I understand your question on the %. Are you asking yield? The average yield of my portfolio was about 3.4% or so last I looked. It’s generally oscillated around 3.5% over the last couple years. Dividends are obviously just one component of total return (the other being capital gains), but that’s a fairly accurate number.

    Hope that helps!

    Take care.

  192. Erik,

    Good questions there.

    As I stated in my last response, dividends are only one component of total return. The other component is capital gains. You’ll notice that I have unrealized capital gains of somewhere around $40k right now. And that’s factoring in a number of stock sales (forced and not) over the years. All in all, I’ve done well. 🙂

    Most of these questions can be answered by reading around the site.

    1. The “profit” is in the dividend income and unrealized capital gains.

    2. I pay $5 to $7 per transaction, though I often receive free trades from my brokerage. All in all, I try to keep transaction costs well below 0.5%.

    3. Online income is from the site and from freelance writing. Right now, freelance writing accounts for much more.

    As far as getting married changing things, it really won’t. Claudia and I maintain separate budgets, so it doesn’t really change anything at all. And we’re not having any children together. Having kids can certainly change things, though that all depends on how expensive you want to make it. Having kids isn’t a game changer necessarily. Like anything else, you have to be intelligent about it.

    Hope that helps!

    Cheers.

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