Dividend Update - February 2014

February has come and gone and now it's time for again for my favorite monthly update, my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits and I hope can help inspire you to take control of your own finances and to invest to build a passive income stream.  What you use that stream for is up to you, whether it's to fund early retirement, just provide some FI/FU money, or even to provide for an annual vacation; the key is that it can provide options and opens up all sorts of possibilities.  February treated me quite well on the dividend front, as it was a big increase from November.  You can check my dividend income or progress page to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.  The beauty of investing in dividend growth stocks is that you don't have to spend 40 hours a week earning that money.  The companies do the work for you and cut you a check.

I received a total of $224.49 in dividends in my FI portfolio in February and have received a total of $373.77 so far in 2014.  However, February was another zero payment month for my Roth IRA so I'm still at $12.39 dividends received.  For the FI portfolio, February's dividends continued to show huge improvements.  February's total was a 65% increase from November 2013 and a whopping 257% increase from February 2013.  I'd love to keep those growth rates up but I know they'll start trending down.  I don't necessarily look at the typical payout dates of the companies I own but it's good to see the February, May, August, November schedule building up.  I'm only 8.31% of the way towards my goal of receiving $4,500 in dividends this year but March should be a huge month of dividends for me and help push the total further along.

I made quite a few purchases during the month including Unilever, Phillip Morris, and PepsiCo twice.  The new purchases, as well as dividend increases from 5 of my holdings, helped to increase my forward 12-month dividends by over $200 to $3,996.65.  It's so close to $4,000 and a quite robust $333 monthly average.  I'm now 79.93$ of the way towards my goal of $5,000 in forward dividends by the end of 2014.  My Roth IRA's forward 12-month dividends are at $216.09 and will only make baby steps going forward.

I've added a new chart showing the yearly monthly dividend totals to show how the dividends received from my portfolio continue to increase.  It's not always an increase as some companies have weird payout schedules and eventually you'll be forced to sell a position or two, but the long term trend is what matters.


FI Portfolio - Dividend Income
Company Dividend Amount DRIP Shares
Procter & Gamble (PG) $27.70 0.357
AT&T (T) $9.70 --
Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) $70.27 2.074
Air Products & Chemicals (APD) $12.95 0.125
Realty Income (O) $10.01 0.244
HCP Inc (HCP) $43.60 1.149
American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP) $8.44 0.610
General Mills (GIS) $13.30 0.276
Vodafone (VOD) $28.52 --
February Total $224.49
2014 Total $373.77

I've updated my Dividend Income and Progress pages to reflect February's changes.

How did your dividends do in February? 

Comments

  1. NIce work JC. I didn't realize you had also picked up Unilever. I enjoyed my checks from General Mills and Procter & Gamble also. Here's to a great March!
    -Bryan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan,

      Yeah I had to take advantage of the dip in UL in early February. Should be the beginning of a great long term relationship. Of course there's about 4 products of theirs that I like a lot and use on a regular basis, so I might as well get a piece of that action.

      March should be huge.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Good stuff, JC. Thats a hefty jump from Nov 2013 and Feb 2013 totals!

    regards
    R2R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roadmap,

      I was quite surprised to see how big of a jump it was for both comparisons. Now if I can only find a way to keep these growth rates up.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. Wow, great progress JC! You can really tell how all of the capital put to work in 2013 is really affecting your dividend income when looking at the chart. The year over year increase is really phenomenal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. w2r,

      Even though I felt that the markets were due for a pullback I still knew that I needed to continue making progress and putting some capital to work. Sure I might not have got the best deals throughout 2013, but it's hard to argue with the progress from the capital that was invested. And based on how 2013 ended up, I should have put even more capital to work early in the year rather than building cash up.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Hi PIP,

    the chart is really motivating!
    Every month and every year, the dividend income is growing higher and higher!
    That´s the power of DGI ! :-)

    Best regards
    D-S

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D-S,

      I'm glad that the chart is motivating. It's definitely not a get rich quick method, but time and consistency will eventually win out when you invest in some of the best companies in the world. There's been a few decreases in that time but for the most part each month builds on the previous one, and each quarter builds on the previous.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Congrats on closing in on the $4,000 milestone! That's great, and I'm confident you'll hit your annual goal for 2014.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Done by Forty,

      It seems like I just keep inching my way there but one more buy and I'll cross that threshold, hopefully to never see it again. I think the forward dividends goal is very likely to be reached but I'm not really sure about the 2014 dividends. It'll really depend on the timing of investments and dividend payments but I'm more focused on the forward goals anyways.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Evan,

      It's been great so far and I hope to keep up the steady increases. The high savings rate really helps to boost up the growth rate.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. JC,

    Great job! Congrats on the $4k milestone, seeing as how you're going to surpass that within days. :)

    Another very solid month in the books, and I'm confident you're going to exceed your goal this year. I'm wishing you the best with it!

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,

      Slowly getting to the $4k mark and all I'll need is an increase or two or one more purchase. It'll be great to finally cross that threshold though.

      I've got a lot of capital set aside should my wife and I pass on a rental property so I've got some good ammo if we get some really good opportunities in the market. Around $25k right now counting my expected savings from March so that would add $750 in forward dividends right there. We'll see if the dividends received this year gets crossed because that's highly dependent of the timing of purchases and payouts but I'm pretty confident in hitting the $5k forward mark by the end of the year.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  8. Nice JC. You are truly an inspiration. I hope to be where you are at eventually.

    I didn't receive any dividends in February as I was just starting up my journey this year. I'm going to have to consider ARCP, O, and PSEC for monthly payouts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richie,

      Give it enough time and consistent investing and you'll begin to make progress on your goals. I'm glad that you find my story to be inspiring. It still seems kind of surreal that my story/journey helps others but it's following along with everyone else that really pushes me to do the best that I can.

      The monthly dividends are pretty nice so you can have something coming in every month.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  9. Jc,
    I'm looking into getting KMI as I think it's oversold. Always enjoy watching others net worth growth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charles,

      KMI is great and if I didn't have as much allocated there then I'd probably add some more. Honestly I think I'll be adding some if it dips to $30-31. It's always great to see how everyone keeps progressing on their own journey. It just helps to keep me motivated.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  10. This was a great month for you! Big congrats! I'm excited to see which new purchases you make next! I still find myself acting a little emotional seeing the dip in February and wanting prices closer to those. I'm forcing myself to remember I'm in it for the long haul and averaging down is all part of the plan. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan,

      Shoot, I still want prices from 2011/12 when I was first starting out. Just make sure to do your homework and come up with a price that you're comfortable buying at. If it's at that price or cheaper then go ahead, you can always average down later if the price continues to fall.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  11. Congrats on the progress. I added some more shares of KMI and PEP to my portfolio in February. I thought about buying more BP but it makes up a bit too much of my dividend portfolio right now so I held off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First Million,

      KMI and PEP are both solid buys. I've got a lot of exposure to O&G so I've tried to limit myself on adding there but eventually some of the defensive names will go out of favor and let us bring up those weightings.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  12. Hi Passive IncomePursuit,

    Nice purchases. I just added Unilever recently and have General Mills on my shortlist as a future buy, I'm sad that it rebound up from 47$, would be a great purchase at that price.

    Will keep following and see how you fare!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Venture,

      I like UL as a good complement to PG. More emerging/developing market exposure plus I use some of their products anyways. I also wish GIS would have stayed down around $47 so I could have averaged down a bit, although we'll see it again at some point.

      Glad to have you following along and thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  13. Very nice month in February. Good buys now equals lots more dividends later. We may see you hitting a big league grandslams in March and beyond!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SWAN,

      February was a great month and March is already turning out to be a better one. I can't wait to be able to add a multiple of 10 to these updates.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

Post a Comment