Dividend Update - April 2022 #Dividend

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.

Well the volatility that's reared it's head thus far in 2022 continued during April.  That's no big worry for me though as I focus on the dividends the business produces.  Despite the short-term volatility it's long been a winning bet to buy great companies and it's a bet that I have and will continue to make as long as I'm able.

 

During April my FI Portfolio produced $679.27 in dividends with my Loyal3 FolioFirst Interactive Brokers portfolio chipping in another $25.60.  My Roth IRA added $76.74 and my Rollover IRA generated $230.12.  For the month I received $704.87 across my taxable accounts and $1,011.73 across all accounts.  

Making Money While I Sleep

The power of joining the ownership class is that those companies can work much harder for you than you can.  Think about it.  By myself I have to devote my own time to a job in order to make money.  However, by buying a stake in a high quality business I now get to leverage my own time that I exchanged for money into companies that are working around the clock to make products or provide services for their customers.  Those companies are working 24/7/365 which means that I make money even when I sleep.

During April the companies I own paid me $33.72 per day or $5.90 per hour assuming 8 hour work days.  While YTD those are $40.35 and $7.06, respectively.  

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $679.27 in dividends during April which was the first time we've had an April over $600 and we nearly hit $700.  Compared to April 2021, my dividends were an incredible 40.5% higher while the YTD period versus 2021 is showing an excellent 27.1% increase.

Roth IRA

My Roth IRA generated $76.74 in dividends during April which is an excellent 22.2% increase compared to 2021.  The year over yera increase was due to all three legs of the dividend growth stool: dividend growth, dividend reinvestment, and new purchases.  The YTD comparison shows an equally impressive 29.7% increase compared to 2021.

Rollover IRA

In March of 2019 I mentioned that I would start reporting on my Rollover IRA.  The bulk of those funds are invested in dividend growth companies, although there's a few that aren't, so to give the cleanest picture I will show just the dividend growth investments during my monthly reports.  That being said I'm not too worried about any particular month/quarter of dividends since my current plan is to be a bit more active with these funds than I would in my taxable accounts.  

My Rollover IRA produced $230.12 in dividends during April which is an 11.4% decrease versus April 2021 due to a merger that moved one of my company's April payment away from this cycle.  Looking at just the companies that paid across both periods, 2022 was a solid 8.1% increase. The YTD comparison shows a very strong 20.8% increase as well compared to the same period in 2021.

Dividend Raises During the Month

April was a steady as she goes month for dividend increases.  Five of the holdings in my FI Portfolio announced raises which combined to increase my forward 12-month dividends by $52.36.

I love dividend increases because it means (1) the company is doing better and (2) I get paid more while doing absolutely nothing.  That's about as good as it gets.  Year to date in 2022 I've received 24 raises that increased my forward 12-month dividends by a combined $217.29.

Dividend Increase Source

I've started breaking down the monthly dividend increase into its components: purchases, re-investment and dividend raises.  This lets me see what is the bigger contributor each month in my pursuit of financial independence.  I'm only tracking this for my main FI Portfolio since that is the portfolio that I want to ultimately provide the bulk of our income.

After two poor months of growing my dividends, April helped right the ship with a total increase of $169.87 to my forward dividends.  There was a sale during the month; however, that was just a small portion of my ESPP shares and the proceeds were re-invested within companies within the portfolio.

Through the first 4 months of 2022 purchases have widened their lead with $372.93 in additional forward dividends.  Of course the sales are also a $127.69 headwind putting the net gain from purchases at $245.24.  Raises are much closer to the net purchase gain coming in at $217.29 thus far in 2022 while reinvestment is well behind at just $58.26.  I do reinvest all my dividends it's just that most of them are taken in cash rather than DRIPped.  

All in all despite the sales and one big dividend cut I'm still at a net increase of $409.85 to my forward dividends and the monthly average is back up over $100.

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended March at $10,020.73 while my Loyal 3 FolioFirst Interactive Brokers forward dividends are at $184.90.  That pushes the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends up to $10,205.63.  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends are at $994.03.  My Rollover IRA's forward 12-month dividends are at $4,324.03.  Across all 4 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $15,523.69 in dividends over the next year.

We've also officially crossed the $10k mark for forward dividends within the FI Portfolio which is a great milestone.  Next stop $12k to get that sweet $1k per month average!

Monthly Average

The following chart shows 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 ended April at $754.92 per month which is $56.14 higher or a 8.0% increase compared to 2021's monthly average of $698.78. 

Dividends Received Breakdown

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

Have you reached any dividend milestones so far in 2022?  

Let me know in the comments below!