January 2018 Dividends

The goal of dividend growth investing is to create an income stream from many companies that increase their dividend each year.  To protect the income stream they should also be a diversified set of stocks.  My portfolio has been a bit heavy in the financial sector which are usually the hardest hit in a recession.  Luckily last year was good and one of those stocks paid an extra dividend.

Old Republic International Corporation (ORI) has been on the DFG watchlist for some time now.  While the dividend growth rate is less than spectacular everything else looked good to me.  So overtime I have been picking up more shares.  At the end of January they paid a special $1 dividend.  It is probably the closest I will come to winning a lottery so I am very happy.

Here are the companies that paid dividends to DFG in January:

AmTrust Financial Services Inc
AFSI
$133.62
Cardinal Health Inc
CAH
$55.49
Gladstone Investment Corporation
GAIN
$6.50
General Electric Company
GE
$0.48
Old Republic International Corporation
ORI
$1,622.00
SCANA Corporation
SCG
$61.25
Whitestone REIT
WSR
$9.50

Total
$1,888.84


This additional boost of income has gotten the DFG family off to a great start this year and has definitely skewed the YOY chart so much that I can barely make out my 2017 January income.


With the additional funds I have been able to pick up some great dividend growth stocks over the first few weeks in February.  The additional purchases and slimming the financial sector will get my portfolio in a more balanced state.  I hope you had a great January collecting dividends and I hope you are NOT worrying about the market.  Capital appreciation is great but dividends are by far better!

Take care,
Dividend Family Guy

Comments

  1. Dividend DrivenFebruary 10, 2018 at 10:03 AM

    CELEBRATING your success! Congrats and what a way to start off 2018.

    ReplyDelete
  2. dividendgeekFebruary 10, 2018 at 10:14 AM

    Congrats mate! Awesome dividend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Passive Income PursuitFebruary 10, 2018 at 10:46 AM

    DFG,

    Man that's a crazy YoY increase and huge special dividend total from ORI. It really does dwarf your totals from Jan 2017. It seems like you have a pretty healthy weighting in ORI compared to the other companies that paid in January. Are you looking to diversify out of that by trimming it back some or just funneling dividends and new capital into other positions? Hope you have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyFebruary 11, 2018 at 7:28 AM

      Hey PIP, Yes I was able to trim back on it before all of this craziness started. Still heavy in the financials but I will get there.
      DFG

      Delete
  4. Engineering DividendsFebruary 10, 2018 at 4:14 PM

    Hello DFG.... first time visitor here. Wow, a sweet dividend from ORI, indeed. That definitely gets you off to a terrific start for 2018. It appears you would have had a solid month even without it.
    I own CAH and SCG. What are your plans for SCG? Are you holding out for the merger with D?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyFebruary 11, 2018 at 7:34 AM

      Hi Engineering Dividends,
      Unfortunately I read to much news and was spooked by the volatility of SCG. Sold out on it. D is my actual utility so I will need to check them out. Maybe I should have held them ;-)
      Thanks for stopping by,
      DFG

      Delete
  5. Dividend DiplomatsFebruary 11, 2018 at 1:20 PM

    DFG -

    Special dividend or not, you made the investment and the investment is paying off : ) Congrats!

    -Lanny

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyFebruary 17, 2018 at 7:54 AM

      Yep sometimes it pays to have your money all in (the market). You never know what you will miss sitting on the sidelines. Thanks Lanny.

      Delete
  6. PassivecanadianFebruary 11, 2018 at 9:52 PM

    Nice work and fantastic income. Congrats on the bonus!
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyFebruary 17, 2018 at 7:55 AM

      Thanks passiveCanadian. That income will help get me closer to freedom by reinvesting in more dividend growth stocks.
      Peace,
      DFG

      Delete
  7. DivHutFebruary 14, 2018 at 5:59 PM

    Holy crap!!! That ORI dividend is huge. Do you plan to even out your dividend payments going forward so as to not become overly reliant on just a handful of dividend stocks for the majority of your income? Either way an impressive total for the month.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dividend Family GuyFebruary 17, 2018 at 7:57 AM

      Yeah more diversification is needed. I did manage to sell off some ORI and reinvested it in other excellent dividend growth stocks. However bargains are hard to find. The market needs to drop further...
      Later,
      DFG

      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.