Keeping The Momentum | Dividend Update - February 2018

Dividend Update - February 2018

It's the end of one month and the beginning of another so it's time for my favorite update: my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits. I hope they 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 open up all sorts of possibilities. You can check my dividend income or progress pages to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.

February saw a solid continuation after January's start to 2018.  My FI Portfolio produced $281.34 in dividends during the month while my Folio First portfolio chipped in another $1.50.  My Roth IRA, as usual, was a no-show for the 2nd month of Q1.  The three portfolios combined to generate $282.84 of dividends.

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $281.34 in dividends last month.  On the surface that's a 7.9% increase compared to November 2017, but just a 2.6% increase compared to February 2017.

The quarter over quarter increase was skewed by Starbucks that paid in February, but not in November.  Excluding Starbucks' dividend payment changes the quarterly comparison to a 1.4% increase.

The year over year comparison requires a similar adjustment.  In February of last year YUM Brands (YUM) paid their first quarterly payment of the year; however, the dividend in 2018 won't be paid until March this year.  Normalizing the dividend payments across both periods increases the year over year change to a 7.5% increase.  

Roth IRA Portfolio

As per usual my Roth IRA contributed $0 dividends during February.  None of the 6 holdings held in the Roth IRA pay dividends during the mid month of each quarter.  

Dividend Raises During the Month

The pay raises just keep on coming.  February's 7 dividend increases was an excellent follow up to January's 8 raises.   You mean a company I own a piece of, albeit tiny, wants to pay out more of their profits to me just because I own part of the company?  Sign me up!  

That's 7 different pay raises in just one month compared to a big, fat zero from my day job.  Combined those 7 companies increased my forward 12-month dividends by nearly $60.50.  Even better is that the raises came from wide variety of companies from industrial giants to fast food restaurants to real estate behemoths.

Through the first 2 months of 2018 there's been 15 announced raises that have combined to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $138.63.

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended January at $6,023.83 while my FolioFirst forward dividends are at $78.47.  That brings the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends to $6,102.30  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends ended the month at $336.46.  Across all 3 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $6,438.76 in dividends over the next year.

Monthly Average

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, as we saw above, and eventually some positions will get dropped, but the long-term trend is what matters.  

The rolling 12-month monthly average for my FI Portfolio is at $474.70 per month which is just slightly above 2017's monthly average of $473.37.  This should continue to increase throughout the year assuming no dividends cuts.

Monthly Comparison of Dividends Received From FI Portfolio

Dividends Received Breakdown

Dividends Received Breakdown February 2018

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

How are you looking on your goals through the first 2 months of the year?  

Let me know in the comments below!