Dividend Update - March 2014

March certainly was a great month for dividends in my portfolio and everyone else's as well I'm sure.  The majority of the dividend growth stocks that investors love pay out on the March, June, September, December schedule so the end of each quarter usually comes with a bang.  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 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.  You can check my dividend income or progress page to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.  I was able to set a personal best in dividends received during March which is great motivation and helps to keep me on track.

I received a total of $565.55 in dividends in my FI portfolio in March and have received a total of $939.32 through the first quarter of 2014.  So far in 2014 I'm 20.87% of the way towards my goal of $4,500 in dividends received.  I'm off pace to hit my goal as of now but I think with additional investment and dividend increases I should be able to make up the approximate $450 that I'll be short.  The Roth IRA continues to see very little growth as I can't make new contributions due to being above the income threshold but I'm not too worried about that.  The main thing is to make sure the taxable account continues to increase month after month.  In my Roth IRA I received a total of $30.27 in dividends bringing the total for 2014 to $42.66.

For my FI portfolio, March saw a 5.68% increase over December 2013 and a great 60.52% increase over March 2013.  As I mentioned above, I can't contribute to the Roth IRA due to income being too high, I know it's a good problem to have.  March was a disappointing 13.56% decline from December 2013 and a 5.41% decline from March 2013.  The declines in the Roth IRA were mainly due to my closing of my TWGP position (big mistake on that one, not on the sale except for waiting as long as I did) and having the proceeds go towards PM which pays on a different schedule.

I made purchases of KMI and GE during March and that, coupled with 6 dividend increases helped to boost my forward 12-month dividends to almost $4,150.  Sadly I also had a call option on Intel execute and subsequently had the shares called away lowering my forward dividends.  At the end of March, my forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio stand at $4,046.48 and is 80.93% of the way towards my goal of $5,000..  That's almost $340 per month that I won't have to spend time in an office to earn.  It's exciting to see the forward 12-month dividends continue to move higher and higher as they will eventually allow me to reach financial independence and at least contemplate retiring early.  My Roth IRA's forward 12-month dividends ended March at $239.81.

Below is the chart showing the monthly dividend totals for each year that I've been investing as well as the monthly average.  It's not always an increase as some companies have weird payout schedules and eventually some positions will get dropped, but the long-term trend is what matters.  It's great to see that my 2014 average through the first quarter is well above 2013's monthly average.  With more contributions/investments and expected dividend increases the gap should widen that much more.


FI Portfolio - Dividend Income
Company Dividend Amount DRIP Shares
Wells Fargo (WFC) $16.40 0.356
ConocoPhillips (COP) $12.15 0.183
Bank of America (BAC) $1.62 0.093
McDonalds (MCD) $84.97 --
Intel (INTC) $24.14 --
Phillips 66 (PSX) $3.22 0.042
Emerson Electric (EMR) $15.72 0.241
Walgreens (WAG) $21.76 --
Harris Corporation (HRS) $34.65 --
Cummins (CMI) $14.57 --
Target (TGT) $54.79 0.901
Aflac (AFL) $17.07 0.272
Lorillard (LO) $31.15 --
BP (BP) $23.09 --
Microsoft (MSFT) $11.44 0.302
Chevron (CVX) $54.50 0.476
ExxonMobil (XOM) $23.00 0.244
Realty Income (O) $10.06 0.239
IBM (IBM) $20.06 0.107
Visa (V) $3.61 0.016
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $9.97 0.107
American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP) $8.49 0.581
PepsiCo (PEP) $34.70 0.417
Unilever (UL) $10.96 0.277
Centerpoint Energy (CNP) $23.46 1.016
March Total $565.55
2014 Total $939.32


Roth IRA - Dividend Income
Company Dividend Amount DRIP Shares
Wells Fargo (WFC) $7.93 0.172
Norfolk Southern (NSC) $21.34 0.226
Bank of America (BAC) $1.000.058
March Total $30.27
2014 Total $42.66

I've updated my Dividend Income page to reflect March's changes.

How did your dividends do in March?  Are you on target to reach any of your dividends goals for 2014?

Comments

  1. Very nice buddy. At the rate your portfolio is growing, you'll make up the $450 shortfall soon. By the way, I wanted to mention that ARCP insiders have been making big purchases in the past week!
    -Bryan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan,

      I'm pretty sure I'll make up that $450 shortfall but it will really depend on the timing of purchases/dividend payments. I noticed that about ARCP as well and might have to dabble a bit more. I was so close passing $1k dividends for a quarter for the first time. Although if I make no more sales and there's no cuts then I should be over $1k each quarter the rest of this year. It's pretty amazing to me considering I didn't even earn $1k in the whole first year of following DGI and now it should be 3 times this year that I do that.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Wow, great stuff JC. Thats a hefty paycheck coming in for the month of March. Congrats on the progress and Im sure you will be able to catch up to your goal, come December.

    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. R2R,

      March was great and I'm excited that the Jan & Feb schedules are actually becoming significant too. For a while there the March schedule was way higher than the other two but it's a bit more even now. I think I'll catch up but as of now I've got some work to do.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. Keep it up!! Good luck on your goals!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FFDividend,

      Thanks and you had a great March as well. Best of luck the rest of this year. And go pass that test so you can have more capital to invest.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Unless I miscounted, you received dividends from 25 different companies in March. That is so cool. Thats like having your own 25 man salesforce working hard for you. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MDP,

      26 when you count the Roth and NSC! I love having companies working for me instead of the other way.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Congrats on this nice chunk of passive income, well done! Keep up the good work, you'll hit FI in no time ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Dream,

      March was a great month and I hope to be able to push December up to near $700 by year end. It'll take a lot of work and a lot of capital to do so but there's a chance to do it. Especially if the markets correct a bit.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Those are really impressive YOY gains. Here's to hoping you can do it again over the next 12 months. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Done by Forty,

      I'd love to keep these kinds of YoY percentage gains up but I doubt that will happen unless I come into a lot of money somehow. I think the absolute dollar gains will be fairly consistent and hopefully increase as time goes and an dividend increases are more meaningful to the actual payments. A 10% increase on $4k, is $400!

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. I just gave my portfolio update today as well. I made $60.60 in March. Moving up! Slowly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WE,

      Even though it might seem small that's still $60 that you didn't have to work for. That's over 7 hrs at $8.50 / hr you didn't have to work. Keep up the good work and keep focused. Dedication and remaining motivated will be the biggest determinants to how you succeed.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  8. Congrats on your March Dividends. Your dividend growth especially YOY is impressive. You are definitely on your way to achieving your yearly goal of $5k in dividends. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richie,

      March was a great month, as the end of every quarter is usually stellar. I'd love to keep the % gains up, but that would mean getting up to $900 for March 2015. Not entirely sure that can be done although it's possible.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  9. Pretty awesome start to 2014, JC! Just shy of $1k in dividends already after the first quarter of the year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. w2r,

      It's been great so far and I should be over $1k every quarter the rest of the year. Barring any sales/cuts. That's pretty amazing to me. I actually passed it this quarter but that's due to some special dividends from ARCP and VOD. Since they aren't regular payments I don't count them towards my dividends received.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  10. Pursuit,

    A great month right there. I think you'll easily exceed your goal assuming you invest somewhat regularly this year. I know you've got a lot on your plate, especially with the rental property considerations, but your high income almost ensures you're going to knock it out of the park this year. :)

    Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,

      March was great and I'm excited to see that I should be over $1k in dividends every quarter from here on out. That's pretty awesome! There's a lot of ideas and the rental property has been difficult to try and move forward on. I don't want to abandon the idea because I think it's a great opportunity for further diversification and to smartly use debt/leverage to increase cash flow, but it's just very difficult to try and make real progress towards it when I'm home for 3-5 days at a time. If I do decide to pass then that'll free up a lot of cash to put to work in the markets if they ever pull back some.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  11. Great Job Pursuit!

    You are making great progress! Just look what you accomplished from 2012 to now!

    Keep on saving!

    ILG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ILG,

      It's pretty awesome to see the progress from year to year and even quarter to quarter. Now that my dividends are a fairly serious chunk of cash I think the growth will just accelerate.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  12. Congrats on the tremendous progress again. Way to put that income toward such good use with the purchases this month! You're moving at such a fast rate, I can't wait to see your portfolio a year from now. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan,

      I think I'd be foolish to not put my high income to work for me so hopefully I won't have to work in the future. I'm pretty excited for the next few years as the growth should hopefully start to accelerate and I'll get to see some great gains. Unfortunately aiming for a quick FI takes some of the advantage of compounding out of play but any bit helps.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  13. That is great increase over March 2013 dividend income. On the INTC stock did you consider doing a leap call to say JAN16 so the premium made up for the lack of dividend gain?

    Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gareth,

      In regards to INTC I didn't want to go long-term on the calls although I probably should have checked some longer duration ones to see if the risk/reward made sense. Like I said in my post about the sale, I was getting pretty fed up with INTC so it wouldn't have hurt my feelings at all if I got rid of the shares.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  14. Awesome work JC! Curious, you would love for the market to correct a bit, right? This way you are still saving/investing the same amount and thus buying a higher yield.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evan,

      I would most definitely like to see a 5-10% pullback in the markets. Psychologically it's good to see the portfolio value increase, but logically lower prices = higher yields = less time to FI.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  15. Well done! That's awesome to see, and very inspiring. Thanks for sharing to help keep me motivated!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan,

      Thanks for the kind words. I hope to help motivate, inspire, and teach others so it's always good to hear about it when I do.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  16. Solid month! Keep up the good work and let those dividends keep rolling in. You are building your portfolio at a very nice pace. I'd like to add CMI or UL at some point myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AAI,

      I always love dividend payments and dividend increases. You mean you're going to pay me and I don't have to work? Oh and now you want to pay me more? Sure thing! I really like UL as a complement to PG. That's quite the consumer goods powerhouse right there. I still want to add some Nestle in the future, but it's a lot harder to analyze the foreign companies and some of their financial reporting is harder to find and not broken down as much as US based companies.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  17. That is one great March there! You own a great portfolio of very solid companies. Just getting better and better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SWAN,

      It was a great month and I'm excited for what Q2 ends up bringing. If only we could get a bit of a pullback so I can put some more capital to work.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

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