Dividend Update - March 2023 #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.

And just like that the first quarter of the year has already come and gone.  I know it doesn't feel like three months have passed since the calendar moved forward.  Of course that's why most of us are working to reach financial independence so we can reclaim our time.

As usual, March was a great month for dividends.  My FI Portfolio produced $1,539.30 for the month with my Loyal3 FolioFirst Interactive Brokers portfolio chipping in another $13.03.  My Roth IRA added $126.51 and my Rollover IRA generated $644.54.  For the month I received $1,552.33 across my taxable accounts and $2,323.38 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 March the companies I own paid me $74.95 per day or $13.12 per hour assuming 8 hour work days 5 days a week.  YTD that's $49.35 per day and $8.64 per hour.  

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $1,539.30 in dividends during March which is by far the best monthly result I've ever had.  Additionally this is the first time we've crossed $3k throughout the first quarter of the year.

That's the power of time and consistently investing into solid business.  March's results were an excellent 18.5% increase compared to March 2022.  The YTD results compared to 2022 have 2023 coming in 21.5% higher.

Roth IRA

My Roth IRA had another solid month with March generating $126.51 in dividends.  Compared to March 2022 that's a strong 12.7% increase which is even more impressive since the rise was solely from organic dividend growth and reinvestment of dividends.  The YTD results have 2023 17.9% ahead of 2022 through March.   

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 a total of $644.54 in dividends during March which is modest 8.2% increase compared to March 2022.   Although that's still a pretty solid result considering that no new capital has been added to the account.  

The YTD results through March have 2023 at a miniscule 2.0% increase compared to the same period in 2022.  

Dividend Raises During the Month

After February's hectic 18 raise month, it's not surprising to see that March took a big step back.  In total there were just 2 increases from my FI Portfolio holdings during March.  Combined the announced raises boosted my forward 12-month dividends by $3.44.  So far in 2023 I've received 26 total increases which have increased my forward 12-month dividends by $317.96.

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.

This year has gotten off to a pretty slow start; however, it's honestly been better than I expected.  If you'd have told me that I'd be averaging over a $100 per month increase to my forward 12-month dividends during the 1st quarter while only making $500 in additional contributions I wouldn't have believed you.  

Purchases have been slow to start the year as there's a lot of needs for our cash at the beginning of every year.  For starters we have our property tax bill and then we also fund our Roth IRAs so excess cash is typically pretty tight through Q1.

Luckily dividend growth investing isn't built to rely solely on one source of dividend growth.  When one is lacking you can still rely on the other two to help you out.  

Dividend increases have carried the weight thus far in 2023 with nearly a $106 per month average.  That's going to come down as the year goes on, but solid results nonetheless.   

That's what's really cool about finally hitting some scale with your investments and dividends.  Dividend reinvestment and organic dividend growth can do the heavy lifting for you and eventually will far surpass what you can do with savings alone.

During March our forward 12-monthd dividends rose by $40.47 and through Q1 they've increased by $316.08.

Looking Forward

My forward 12-month dividends for my FI Portfolio ended March at $11,545.40 while my Loyal 3 FolioFirst Interactive Brokers forward dividends are at $239.48.  That pushes the total taxable account forward 12-month dividends up to $11,784.88.  My Roth IRA's forward-12 month dividends are at $1,137.49.  My Rollover IRA's forward 12-month dividends are at $4,676.83.  

Across all 4 accounts, assuming no dividend cuts or position size changes, I can expect to receive at least $17,599.20 in dividends over the next year.

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 March at $900.54 per month which is $44.53 higher or a 5.2% increase compared to 2022's monthly average of $856.02.

Dividends Received Breakdown

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

Have you set any personal bests or crossed any milestones during the first quarter? 

Let me know in the comments below!