Friday, December 30, 2016

DECEMBER 2016 SETS NEW RECORD FOR MONTHLY DIVIDEND INCOME!

O.K., so I knew this was going to be the best month ever for dividend income.  But I was not expecting it to beat the previous record, set in July of this year, by over 30%!  This month's record was helped along by 32 dividend payments, the most I've ever received in one month.  Add to that a couple of special dividends and the first monthly dividend from GAIN and it was a sure bet to be a great month!

What makes it even greater is, the first of January is only a day away and I'll be kicking off the new year with another great round of dividends!  Although I'm only expecting 27 dividends in January, it should still be a good month, with three new monthly dividend payers (SPLV, FSC and CCD) all paying their first dividends.  The first goal of 2017 is to purchase two more monthly dividend stocks before the end of March to guarantee at least a one dividend payment per day for the new year.  From that point on, I'll be concentrating on increasing positions in the 5 star funds, going for quality holdings and boosting monthly income through reinvested dividends and additional cash purchases.

I'll be working New Year's weekend to get the double time pay for the holiday, so I'd like to wish everyone a say and Happy New Year's Eve!



Tuesday, December 27, 2016

2016 YEAR IN REVIEW

Wow, here we are less than a week away from 2017, seems like the year has flown by.  Time to review accomplishments in my investment portfolio and finalize investment plan for the new year.  

Major goals for 2016 included doubling annual dividend income, reducing taxable income while increasing non-taxable income and keeping investment costs to a minimum.  I was able to keep investment costs low by reinvesting dividends for free and making larger cash investments, reducing commission costs as a percentage of investment.  As for doubling annual dividend income, that's in the bag.  Turned out it was much easier than I'd expected.  Not sure it will be so easy in 2017, but I'm optimistic, since I'm already projecting a 50% increase.  

The majority of dividend income for 2015 came from my taxable account.  So in order to reduce taxes on dividends, I opened a Roth IRA in 2016 and made the majority of new stock purchases through the Roth account, for tax free income.  I sold some stock in my taxable account and transferred the money to the Roth account and boosted monthly dividend income by a significant amount, while reducing taxes.  I also collected cash dividends from the taxable account and transferred that money to the Roth account as well.  Bottom line, the Roth account now makes up the largest of my 4 investment accounts and generates the lion's share of monthly dividend income tax free.

Balances in my taxable account, the IRA, 401k and the Roth account continue to increase every month from reinvested dividends and additional cash investments.  Monthly dividends go up every month and total number  of shares owned nearly doubled during the year!  I had planned to make a "dividend per day" my main goal for 2017, but was able to increase total dividend payments to 348 in 2016, so it turns out this will be only a minor goal, since I only need to add an additional 17 dividend payments.  All in all, I'd say it's been a great year!

Friday, December 16, 2016

CHANGE OF PLANS, NCV IS OUT, CCD IS IN.

Made a last minute change to my stock order, cancelling NCV purchase and replacing it with CCD.  While CCD is higher in price and has a lower dividend yield than NCV, I would have had to wait until February to catch the first dividend from NCV.  If I purchase shares of CCD instead, I'll get the first dividend in January.  That's the main reason for the change, but I also had to take into consideration that NCV is quite similar to NCZ, which I already own quite a few shares of.  So making the change adds to more diversity in my overall portfolio of investments.

This will lower the monthly income increase from 8% to 7%, but a 7% increase is still quite good.  I may still purchase NCV later in the year, just have to see how things go.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

BOOSTED MONTHLY DIVIDEND INCOME ANOTHER 8%!

Just collected another 5 dividends for the month of December!  That brings total dividend payments for the month up to 16, with 16 more to go!  It's going to be a very Merry Christmas as the dividends just keep rolling in, especially since some of the largest payments are yet to come.

Also received my Christmas bonus from work today.  Wasted no time in putting that to work by transferring half my bonus to my Roth IRA and purchasing stakes in SPLV and NCV.  The combined monthly payments from these two funds will boost monthly dividend income over 8% starting in January!  What a great way to start off the new year!  No time for resting on my laurels though, I'm already planning the final purchases to bring total dividend payments up to 365 per year.  Once I've got a dividend per day rolling in, I'll be concentrating on building up quality holdings, mainly through 5 star funds and individual stocks from the dividend aristocrats.

Just picked up a copy of Charles B. Carlson's book, The Little Book of Big Dividends.  Carlson is one of my favorite investment authors, so I'm looking forward to reading his book.  While I may or may not learn anything new about dividend investing, I've found that even one good idea can make you thousands of dollars.  So it's always worth a look.

Friday, December 9, 2016

NEW STOCK PURCHASES ADD OVER 8% TO MONTHLY INCOME!

In my previous post, I mentioned I would be buying shares of SPLV and NCV with money from my Christmas bonus, as a Christmas gift to myself.  In the mean time, I transferred cash from my investment savings account to the Roth IRA to purchase shares of FSC.  I've since calculated the projected income from all three stock purchases and was pleased to see that they will increase monthly dividend income over 8% starting in January 2017!  What a great way to kick off the new year.

Just collected another dividend for December from CNP.  This makes 8 dividends so far, with 24 more to go before the end of the month!  The 3 new stock purchases mentioned above will add another 36 dividend payments per year, getting me much closer to my goal of a dividend per day for 2017.  With the completion of these three stock purchases, I'll only need to add another 17 dividend payments to get to 365 dividends per year.  Will most likely get very close to that with the first of the year purchase of shares for my IRA account.  

Since I have regular monthly cash flow from dividends and a system in place to keep the income growing, I've been thinking about doing a little stock trading in my Roth account.  The idea is to set aside a certain amount of cash for trading and see if I can't boost overall portfolio value by trading for capital gains.  Of course I'd most likely only work with dividend paying stocks, so if the share prices didn't go up, at least I'd be earning income from dividends.  It's just in the idea phase right now, but I'm giving it some serious thought.  

  

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

WHAT TO GET YOURSELF FOR CHRISTMAS?

Christmas is the season of giving and while I enjoy giving gifts to family and friends, I've always included myself on the gift list.  I used to buy myself gold jewelry at Christmas every year, a little trinket to wear as a reward for all the hard work I'd put in all year long.  But now the jewelry sits in a box and is rarely thought of or worn.  It's just more stuff I have laying around that I paid way too much for and has very little resale or sentimental value.

So this year I decided to give myself something I can enjoy for years to come.  I'm going to put half my Christmas bonus to work, buying shares of SPLV and NCV for my Roth IRA.  It's the gift that truly keeps on giving, since both pay monthly dividends.  This will add another 24 dividend payments per year, bringing my total to 336 starting in January 2017.  Now that's a Christmas gift I can get excited about!

While this might seem a bit selfish or self centered, I know that the better off I am financially, the more generous I become with others.  The less I have to work to earn a living, the more time and money I have to give to others.

Friday, December 2, 2016

DECEMBER 2016 KICKS OFF WITH 9 GREAT DIVIDEND PAYMENTS!

Started the month of December off right with 9 great dividend payments and 23 more payments to come before the end of the month!  While I plan to reinvest all income for the month, it still makes for a very Merry Christmas season!  Still not sure what kind of Christmas bonus I'll receive this year, but I plan on investing at least half of it.  I've done this with all the other bonuses I've gotten at my current job, giving me 3 monthly dividends, one for each bonus.  It's like I get three bonuses every month since it was bonus money that purchased the three stocks to begin with.  I'll be happy to add a fourth.

Just got a big unexpected expense out of the way today, replacing all the tires on my car and getting an all wheel alignment.  I'm glad to be all set for winter driving, but I sure regret having to spend the money.  That being said, I shopped around and got a great price on the tires from Amazon.  Then I checked with several tire shops to find the least expensive place to have the work done, so I was happy about keeping the price down.  Also used my Chase Visa to pay for the work, so I'll collect rewards points good toward an Amazon gift card.  I always try to figure out a way to get as much, of the money I spend back, as I can.

Starting this month, I'll also see my first dividend from GAIN!  The 13 dividends per year from GAIN brings me up to a total of at least 312 per year to start off 2017!  With any luck, I'll be able to add another monthly dividend payer before the end of this month and kick off the new year with 324 dividends per year.