March 2015 Dividends

Well as the month of April comes to a close I finally got around to totaling up my dividends from March.  There were some increases most notably HMN with an 8% increase (see my review here).  Also upon review I came across some dividend cuts so now I have to decide on selling or not.  I should sell but if they are worthless and still paying a dividend I tend to hold on to them.  For example AGNC had a big sell off yesterday as the declared that dividend cut and now I missed the boat.

There was no additional capital put in March however my year over year dividends increased by 551%.   Checking out my dividends page the total dividends for March came to $63.48.  I am OK with that for now however I need to make further changes after using Dividend Life's cross-over calculator.  According to it I need to be saving 20% a year just to reach financial independence by the age of 65.  I still think the emergency fund should come first but now at least I know what I need to save and invest to reach my goal.  It was eye opening.  Check it out to see if you're on track. 

Company
Held In
Dividend Paid (Qtr.)
Amount Received
Shares of Life
Note
COP
Taxable
0.73
8.86
0.1359

AGNC
Taxable
0.22
6.11
0.286
Div Cut Declared for May
IBM
Taxable
1.1
4.43
0.0276

HRZN
Taxable
0.115
6.88
0.4811

VNR
Taxable
0.1175
0.26
0.0184
Div Cut in Feb, should have sold
NUS
Taxable
0.35
8.1
0.144
1% increase, slowed way down
CTL
Taxable
0.54
9.16
0.2628

FTR
Taxable
0.105
11.01
1.5041
5% increase, payout ratio  200%
HMN
Taxable
0.25
8.67
0.2528
8% increase


Happy dividend collecting,

DFG

Comments

  1. ADDApril 30, 2015 at 9:20 PM

    That calculator you mentioned seems a bit off. It does not include the amount of capital you currently have invested so the compounding is starting from zero and not say $140,000 like I have right now.

    Anyways, keep saving money, keep investing and enjoy life along the way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dividend LifeApril 30, 2015 at 10:57 PM

    Hi ADD,

    The calculator calculates and displays income, not total return (value of capital). The amount of capital that you're starting with is irrelevant so it's not an input into the calculator.

    E.g. if you have $140,000 now and you get $5000 a year from it, the calculator compounds the $5000 at your expected growth rate, plus it adds the additional income from adding new capital each year. It's only trying to generate a ballpark estimate of how much you'd need to add in new capital each year to reach your desired income level from any given starting point.

    Best wishes,
    -DL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dividend LifeApril 30, 2015 at 11:07 PM

    Hi DFG,

    I'd take a 500%+ increase in dividend income any month :) Congrats on a good month and I'm looking forward to seeing April's results too as last year's amount was quite high.

    Sorry to hear about the dividend cuts - the yields look pretty high still though so you might still be earning more income than had you picked companies with a lower yield that increased payments? The real question is what are those companies going to do in the future - can they recover or will they get worse?

    Cheers,
    -DL

    ReplyDelete
  4. No More WafflesMay 1, 2015 at 6:01 AM

    DFG,

    What's not to love about 500% YoY growth? That's some serious compounding right there!

    Keep it up buddy, I'm sure you'll find room to invest some more soon.

    Best of luck,
    NMW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyMay 16, 2015 at 8:31 AM

      Yep no complaints there. For us just starting out it is easy to see big YOY growth. When our portfolios get up in the millions that will be a different story. It will be a story of us retiring from the day job and living life the way we want!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Will Dividends Teach My Kids to Work Hard?

After reading an article about education and learning from Mr. Money Mustache last week I starting thinking about my kids and their upbringing vs. how I was raised.  There was lots of discipline but also a tremendous amount of freedom.  That combined with loving parents taught me many lessons in life that I believe have led me to a great career and the joy of raising a large family.  The one thing that worries me the most is a fear that my children do not value gifts or money they receive as much as I did as a child. As a child I remember talking with my sister days before my birthday.  We share the same birthday one year apart.  We would spend the time talking excitedly about what we might get for our birthday.  Gifts were usually only on birthdays or major holidays.  Easter baskets filled with candy, or presents on Christmas or birthdays. Growing up with one TV that didn’t get the best reception left us with plenty of time to day drea...
Read more

What to write about when you have no money to invest?

Image
Without any money to invest from January all I could do is screen and learn about some new stocks that came up this month.  It is my hope still to save enough where I can actually invest on a regular basis again.  Part of me wants to start using loyal3 or computershare.com .  Buy for free and sell for free on Loyal3 or for a fee on Computershare.  That way I can continue to invest in some of the strong dividend payers these companies allow you to buy.  The other part wants simplicity and is willing to pay the fee to keep all my money in one place with one tax document.   The third part just reminded me my goal is to first rebuild an emergency fund.  That part is such a downer and is no fun.  The fourth part is my wife who wants me to put any free money into home improvements.  I avoid that conversation at all costs.   The house will hold up and last longer than me.  My time is what I want not a nicer house. I cou...
Read more

The Cost of A Vacation for Six

Image
All investing and no fun can lead to a happy me but a not so happy family .  I am the only one who actually doesn't mind managing the finances and money matters in my family.  The kids are slowly learning and my wife leaves it to me since I use my computer and online services.  Both systems work but my system allows me to get things done faster and produce reports I enjoy studying. Here is the breakdown of our 7 night trip to the beach and a 2 day visit with my brother: Lodging $1,966 This was the largest expense.  We stayed at hotels during the trip there and while visiting my brother.  Luckily we have a relative that works at a major hotel chain and is able to pass a discount on to us.  The remainder of it which was the big chunk was the condo on the beach that we stayed at.   I found it as one of the deals on Kayak.com .  Overall the site was easy to use and compare different places.  Unfortunately I should have listened to ...
Read more

Investment Disclaimer

This webpage is provided for general information only and nothing contained in the material constitutes a recommendation for the purchase or sale of any security. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at dividendfamilyguy at gmail dot com.