January 2017 Dividends

Hello all,

Is it another month already? Yes indeed it is. Somehow it feels like I just wrote the post to summarize my December 2016 Dividends. It definitely feels like time is flying, so are you having fun yet? I certainly hope so.

You know what's fun for me?

Counting my dividends roll in!

So let's get to it:

Taxable Accounts:
Walmart (WMT) - $1.50
Cardinal Health (CAH) - $7.18
Prospect Capital (PSEC) - $19.76
Cisco System (CSCO) - $9.62
New Residential (NRZ) - $17.94

Taxable Account Total: $56.00

Roth IRA Account
Disney (DIS) - $8.58
Cardinal Health (CAH) - $5.87

Roth IRA Account Total: $14.45

Overall Total Dividend Income for January 2017: $70.45

Forward 12-Month Project Dividend Income: $1,503.64


My Thoughts
Here we are in a group of months (January, April, July, and October) that lag behind the other months, in terms of Dividend Income. Sometimes this is just how it shakes out when, among all other factors, value comes into play, and there may not have been enough value present for me to purchase the stocks that pay out in January/April/July/October, to eclipse what the stocks in the other months are paying out. This I am fine with, though. Value is a major factor in my buying decisions, and something I rank higher in importance over even distribution of payments across months.

Let's look at my dividend payment history:

Month	2014	2015	2016	2017
January		$14.38	$14.42	$70.45
February		$49.07	$50.38
March		$50.22	$52.16
April		$10.83	$27.91
May		$46.52	$59.42
June	$6.69	$47.51	$90.97
July	0	$18.99	$51.37
August	$33.96	$50.11	$86.07
September	$54.75	$55.61	$101.70
October	$10.94	$14.42	$72.53
November	$48.79	$50.11	$103.31
December	$63.55	$49.89	$168.03

and that history charted:






When I fill out the previous month in the above table, my first move is to compare to the prior quarter (in this case, that would be October 2016). When I do this, I'm startled to find out that my January 2017 dividend income came in lower than my October 2016 dividend income.

"It just can't be!" I told myself.

However, I then sit back and look at the situation, and realize why my October 2016 dividend income was higher. My October 2016 dividend income was reported as $72.53. With a closer look, however, I realize that $14.60 of that was payed out by IVV and IJR, iShares ETFs for the S&P 500 Large Cap and Small Cap, respectively, on October 3rd. Normally these ETFs pay out their dividends at the end of the months of March, June, September, and December. Their payments did not happen in the end of September, as anticipated, and came instead in early October. Not including the dividends from these 2 ETFs, my October 2016 dividend income would have been $57.63, which would then result in January 2017 dividend income being an increase. But I digress...

The number are the numbers, so we'll go with the actual numbers. For a Q/Q, comparison, my dividend income officially decreased by 2.9%, which is not ideal, but when looking at the payments which normally come in October, I feel good about the amount that has now come in for January.

For a Y/Y comparison, my dividend income increased by a whopping 388.6%!

Now hold on, before you shower me with praise, understand that a big part of this is that my January 2016 dividend income ($14.42) was quite sad. A year ago, I wasn't even providing regular contributions as I am now. When you start at sad, it doesn't take a whole lot to show great improvement!

Of course, I recommitted to consistent contributions as of March of 2016, and the progress has been steady and encouraging. If I can help it, I will keep the consistency up to grow my monthly income even more.

I'm excited to find out how much it can grow with years of consistent contributions behind it, and am also encouraged by all the other dividend income reports I see from those investors who have been practicing DGI longer than I have.

How was your January, did you start the New Year off right? Let me know in the comments!