Monthly Dividend Income (Jan. 2018)

Wow, just like that… 1 month down in 2018.  The markets stayed red hot to start 2018 before cooling off a bit the final week of January.  Perhaps we’re due for some additional volatility in 2018.  It’s always nice to get off to a good start, but it’s a long year.  With the impressive returns that 2017 brought, 2018 Portfolio performance will have a high bar to jump.  Luckily, dividend income doesn’t fluctuate anywhere near as much as portfolio value.  Hopefully, I’ll have a nice steady climb to new dividend income records by year’s end.

For 2018, I decided to enhance these dividend income reports just a bit… more on that below.  I hope you find it interesting.

Let’s check out the dividend income I collected in January.

 

Dividend Income

January’s dividend income total came in at $541.98… a solid 6.88% increase compared to Jan. 2017.  This is slower than the average growth exhibited last year, but I expect to pick up the slack next month.

A total of 14 companies paid me a dividend this month.  The largest amount came from RPM International (RPM), ringing in the new year with over $73.  The least came from Ensign Group (ENSG), at a hair above $9.

The dividend amounts from CAH, OZRK, NKE and O mainly increased thanks to additional purchases over the past year.

Increased amounts for other companies were a result of dividend increases and reinvested dividends over the past year.

The decrease from WPC was a result of partial sale during the past year.

Air Lease (AL) was a special case.  I had a partial sale of AL during the past year, but this was offset by a healthy dividend increase.

Only one new January payer popped up, and that was ENSG.  ENSG is one of my higher growth, lower yield companies in the portfolio.

My FNGN position was closed out early last year, and thus provided no dividend income.  FNGN will fall off the list by the time April’s report comes around.

You may notice that I added a new column to the table.  In the “Add’l Fwd Inc” column, I show the amount of additional annual forward dividend income that resulted from reinvesting each of this month’s paid dividends.  January saw an addition of $17.03 from this category.

 

Dividend Raises

Last Oct. & Nov. I had some terrific dividend raises by various companies in my Portfolio.  I came oh so close to having those dividend raises boost my annual forward dividend income by $100 for a single month, but came up short.  I was hoping that in 2018 I’d finally be able to reach that mark.  January brought some strong dividend raises, and things were looking good to reach the $100 mark.  However, late in the month, an expected raise from HanesBrands (HBI) didn’t look like it was going to materialize (HBI perhaps pushed it into Feb. to coincide with their earnings report). I thought I would fall short again.  Then, the unexpected happened, and Aflac (AFL) delivered a surprise dividend raise on the last day of the month, after raising their dividend just last quarter!  It was not only a raise, but the biggest of the month in terms of dollar amount, and this allowed me to eclipse $100.  Sweet!

All in all, I had 7 companies raise their dividend, and the majority were quite healthy.  I received 15+% dividend raises from BLK, FAST, APD & AFL.  The raises from OZRK, O & OHI were much smaller, but since they tend to raise quarterly, the annualized amounts end up being more impressive than they look.

These raises contributed a total of $123.41 to my annual forward dividend income!  Not only did I cross the $100 mark, I blew through it… incredible.

I’d have to invest $5,016.67 at my portfolio’s average yield of 2.46% in order to equal the same boost to my annual forward dividend income that these dividend raises provide.  Whoa!

 

Dividends Due To New Investment

I had one purchase in January.  I established a small position in Texas Instruments (TXN).  Details on this buy can be found in my Recent Buy – TXN post.  This purchase added $62.00 in additional forward dividend income.

 

Summary

I certainly feel like I got off to a good start to 2018.  Dividend income increased nearly 7% compared to last January.  In addition, the forward dividend income total was boosted by 3 sources:  reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of new capital.

I’ll be tracking this trifecta of income boosters each month this year, in a new table.  Each month could easily provide a different leader.  It will be interesting to see how things end up at year’s end.  Here’s what I’ve got after January….

As you can see, the most impressive item from January was certainly the dividend raises.  But the other sources contributed good amounts as well.

All this gave me an outstanding start in terms of meeting my 2018 goal of reaching $8,700 in annual forward dividend income by year’s end.  I need to average roughly $115.25 per month in new forward dividend income in order to reach my goal.  So, with $202.44 for January , it was definitely a strong start to the year.

 

How did January deliver for you?  Did you have a solid YoY gain in dividend income?  Did the year start strong, or were you slow to get out of the gates?  Please share in the comments…

I have updated the Portfolio & Dividends pages in conjunction with this monthly update.

16 thoughts on “Monthly Dividend Income (Jan. 2018)

  1. Those are some impressive numbers. My year started out average with 8.92 Euro. I believe my February numbers will be better!

    1. Thanks Mr. Robot, I’m looking at a better February as well, at least from a YoY dividend growth perspective. Keep investing and the numbers will grow like weeds.

    1. Welcome, Jordan. Thanks! January was solid, yet I should do even better in February based on my projections. I’m excited about what I might accomplish with the Portfolio in 2018. Thanks for leaving a comment. Please drop by again.

  2. Awesome results, ED! It’s really cool how you break down the growth down in to reinvested dividends, dividend raises, and investment of new capital. $541.98 on 6.88% YOY growth is a spectacular start to 2018. I can’t wait to follow the rest of your progress this year. Keep it up!

    1. Welcome, RTC! Thanks for your comments. I’m glad you like the breakdown… something new for 2018. I find all the numbers quite interesting, so I’m happy to share them. January was a good start to the year with over $500 in dividend income. I’m hoping I can reach a minimum of $500 each month this year, but I’ve got some work to do to get there. However, if I keep getting more of those awesome unexpected dividend raises, I won’t have to do anything! Hope to have you stop by on a regular basis… always great to see new visitors. Take care.

  3. Sorry for late comment, trying to catch up with my subscription articles after vacation 😀
    I would like to congratulate you with a great month! It shows that your strategy is working and I am hoping to have similar results to yours in the future 🙂
    I really like the new table you included in the end as well. It’s a great demonstration of how well your portfolio works for you!
    Keep it up,
    -BI

    1. No problem, BI. I’m glad to have comments come in at any time.
      Vacation sounds nice… hope you are refreshed and ready to get back at it.
      As far as the dividends go, just keep investing in quality companies and let the compounding works its magic. It will happen!
      I’m happy to hear you like the new table. It should prove to be even more interesting as the year progresses.

  4. You are off to a great start here ED. These dividend increases are insane. Just think about all the extra income you added. Oh yeah, it is only going to get better with your additions of O/XOM in February. Keep the good times rolling!

    Bert

    1. They are indeed rolling, Bert. If you think January’s dividend increases were insane, wait until you see what I report next week for the month of February.
      You are correct in that the O and XOM buys will just pile on to the dividends coming in. 2018 is off to a terrific start. As always, thanks for stopping in and commenting.

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