| Dividend Update - April 2018

Dividend Update - April 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.

The first month of each quarter is typically a bit of a let down after the large payout from the end of quarter month; however, I have no complaints with how April turned out.  My FI Portfolio produced $304.67 in dividends during the month, which was the first time a non-end of quarter month achieved that since August 2016.  My Folio First account chipped in another $5.79.  My Roth IRA added $39.10 as well.  Combined the 3 portfolios produced $349.56 during April.

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $304.67 in dividends last month.  The quarter over quarter comparison showed an excellent 10.5% increase.  Although a good chunk of the increase was due to the timing of payments rather than dividend increases.  Normalizing the dividends received across both time periods shows a still strong 6.7% increase.

The year over year comparison gives a better look at growth since most companies maintain the same payout month from year to year.  Compared to April 2017 last months dividends showed a solid 8.6% increase and that's with including General Electric's (GE) 50% dividend cut late in 2017.

Roth IRA Portfolio

April was another solid step forward for my Roth IRA in terms of dividends.  During the month my Roth IRA generated $39.10 in dividends.  Compared to January 2018 that's a modest 0.7% increase which is thanks to dividend reinvestment alone.  Looking back at April 2017 last months dividends showed a 10.9% improvement solely from dividend reinvestment and dividend increases.

Dividend Raises During the Month

The pay raises just keep on coming.  April was a solid month for dividend increases with 5 of the companies owned in my FI Portfolio announced pay 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 5 different pay raises in April alone compared to a big, fat zero from my day job.  Combined those 5 companies increased my forward 12-month dividends by $52.99.  Even better is that the raises came from wide variety of industries: consumer staples, health care, technology and oil.

Through the first 5 months of 2018 there's been 24 announced raises from 23 of the companies that I own combining to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $214.68.

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended March at $6,190.06 while my FolioFirst forward dividends are at $79.05.  That brings the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends to $6,269.11  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends ended the month at $338.52.  Across all 3 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $6,607.63 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 $484.11 per month which is a solid $11 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 April 2018

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

With the first quarter in the books how are you doing on your goals for the year?

Let me know in the comments below!