Currently is ice raining here in Cleveland.  However, for the most part, winter has been warm and even sunny on a few days.  One thing, though, is certain.  Dividend income arrives – rain, snow or shine baby!  Time to warm up and check on the dividend income that my stock portfolio delivered last month!

Dividend Income

Dividend Income is the fruit from the labor of investing your money in the stock market.  Further, Dividend Income is my primary vehicle on the road to Financial Freedom, which you can see through my Dividend Income and my Dividend Portfolio.

How do I research & screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase?  I usually put the stocks through our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on Ally’s investment platform (one of our Financial Freedom Products).

See – Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener

See – Financial Freedom Products

I also automatically max out, pre-tax, my 401k through work and my Health Savings Account.  This allows me to save a TON of money come tax time (aka thousands), which allows me to invest even more.  In addition, all dividends I receive are automatically being reinvested back into the company that paid the dividend.  This helps take the emotion out of timing & making a decision.

See – Tax Strategy – Part 3 to Reduce Taxes & Increase Investment.

See – Why I Don’t Time or Predict The Market

Lastly, Dividend Increases add quite a bang to the portfolio, as well.  As you saw from my recent post in January, dividend increases added almost $415+ for 2019!  I do this to show YOU the power of dividend investing – the increases is the trifecta in the dividend equation.

See – The Impact of Dividend Increases through December of 2019

On to the numbers… In February, we (my wife and I) received a total of $899.53 of dividend income.  Almost to 4 digits, but we will crush that in March, cannot wait.  Consistent investing into the stock market, specifically dividend investing, continues to pay off.  Receiving dividend income at this level for February is solid, especially since it’s a non-quarter end.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month of February:

Not many large dividend hitters in February, but there was at least one.  That one is AT&T (T), as the big telecommunications company paid me $116.24 during the month in my taxable account and my wife received $49.41 within her IRA.  It’s no wonder they are one of our Top 5 Foundation Dividend Stocks for your Portfolio.

Lastly – Citizens & Northern (CZNC) also paid, in total, a large dividend of $104.57.  They are a growing community bank in Pennsylvania and are about to undergo another acquisition I believe.  Slowly growing and the yield continues to be over 4%, love it.

See – Top 5 Foundation Dividend Stocks

Here, it shows that we received a total of $357.21, (up from $286.75 last year), 40%, from retirement accounts and the other 60% was from the individual taxable portfolio.  This % allocation improved from last year (54% was from taxable), due to bringing in my wife’s portfolio and just continually pouring money into the taxable account, as well as dividend increases and reinvestment, of course.

See – Maximizing your Roth for 10 Years… Then Set It & Forget It!

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Dividend Income Year over Year Comparison

2019:

2020:

Dividend income, year over year is higher by $131.03 (including my wife’s dividend income of $140.02 last year with mine).  This is a 17% growth rate from prior year.  Incredible results baby! Love setting record months for February and this month showcased quite a bit.  First, CZNC had a special dividend in 2019 vs. this year of no special dividend. In addition, the list is simply getting longer with higher dividends, outside of Senior Housing (SNH) and Diversified Healthcare Trust (DHT).

At this rate, we should be well over $1,050+, right?  Let’s get it!  Dividend increases and dividend reinvestment should take care of most of the growth.

Dividend Increases

Four stocks were on Bert’s Expected Dividend Increases in February, with Pepsi (PEP), 3M (MMM), UPS (UPS) and T. Rowe Price (TROW).  Damn, did T. Rowe deliver with an astounding 18% dividend increase!  8 dividend increases this month was a blast to have happen.  For the most current version – see Bert’s Expected Dividend Increases in March and see if your stock is on the list.

The favorite here is a no brainer. T. Rowe Price’s 18.4% dividend increase took the cake, especially while the Coronavirus is taking down the economy at the moment.  In addition, Pepsi (PEP) came in at a hot second place with a solid 7% dividend increase.

Overall, $85.31 dividend income added would require an investment of $2,437 at 3.50% yield, in order to produce that result.

See – The Impact of The Dividend Growth Rate!

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary

The name of the game is to apply what you learn through financial education.  The next steps are to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live a balanced life.  My plan is to demonstrate that dividend income can be a revenue engine.  A revenue engine that allows you to take back control of your life.  A revenue engine to help you reach financial freedom.  Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier and starts to immensely make sense!

There is a nice adjustment to my most recent monthly expenditures article.  Sadly, my property taxes increased by 14% in 2018.  Therefore, our average is $1,040 per month  Due to that, my current dividend income would cover 89%+ of that amount.  Almost to 100%, almost there.

Excited for the future, no doubt.  Further, all of the investing from last year and moves this year, shows that my aim to save 60% of my income, and making every dollar count, has allowed promising results already this year.

Now that the market is showing slight signs of undervaluation from the recent market plunge (i.e. 7 days in a row from 2/20-2/28), it’s time to make some moves.  Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, insert your freedom phrase here, awaits!  Please share your thoughts, questions and feedback below.  Excited to read how everyone did this month, as well.  Thank you again, good luck and happy investing!

The post Lanny’s February Dividend Income Summary appeared first on Dividend Diplomats.