Dividend Update - October 2018

Dividend Update - October 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.

October was a bit of a let down in terms of dividends compared to September although that's the norm so I'm not really disappointed.  My FI Portfolio produced $291.30 in dividends during the month.  My Folio First portfolio chipped in $8.28.  The Roth IRA was able to churn out $46.44 in dividends as well.  Across all 3 accounts my investments provided $346.02 in income for October.

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $291.30 in dividends last month.  Compared to July that's a solid 3.9% increase.  However what's really exciting is that year over year that increase jumped up to 14.4%!  That growth was primarily fueled by dividend growth and some select dividend reinvestment.

What I think really shows the power of dividend growth investing is that the YTD, through October, total for 2018 is almost $450 higher than 2017.  That's a healthy 9.9% bump and has mostly been due to dividend growth rather than new purchases.

Roth IRA Portfolio

My Roth IRA chipped in a solid $46.44 during October.  That's a huge 15.0% increase compared to July of this year.  Compared to last year it was an even bigger 23.7% increase.  What's really great about that is that it's 100% from dividend increases and reinvestment and truly shows the power of dividend growth investing.   

Dividend Raises During the Month

The pay raises just keep on coming.  October saw another 3 dividends being raised up among my FI Portfolio positions.  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!  

Combined those 3 companies boosted my forward 12-month dividends by $10.75.  Through the end of October I've had 51 announced raises from 44 of the companies that I own combining to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $462.65.

What's really amazing is that organic dividend growth this year has already surpassed 2017's total of $267.57 by 73% and there's still 2 months to go.

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended September at $6,786.99 while my FolioFirst forward dividends are at $90.88.  That brings the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends to $6,877.87  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends increased to $397.36.  Across all 3 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $7,275.23 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 $510.69 per month which is a solid $37 above 2017's monthly average of $473.37.  I also officially cross the $500 month mark which means over $6,000 of dividends received over the TTM!

Monthly Comparison of Dividends Received From FI Portfolio

Dividends Received Breakdown

Dividends Received Breakdown October 2018

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

How were your dividend for October?  Are you on track to smash your goals for the year?

Let me know in the comments below!