August 2017 Dividend Income – $163.01

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Another month has passed in 2017 … and once again it is time to publish our dividend income results. We had an excellent month of August as far as dividend income earned … as our sustainable side income stream keeps growing and growing.

Every month we are earning 20% to 40% more than we did during the same month a year ago. For example, just last month (July 2017), we earned almost 40% more than the same month exactly one year ago (July 2016). That is some serious growth!

Well guess what? We did it again this month … August results this year were 42.3% higher than last year.

You may be wondering how in the world do we increase our income by over 40% month after month? There are 3 different factors that go into helping our income grow each month.

First, we are able to grow our portfolio (and future income) by reinvesting all of the dividends we earned … either through dividend reinvestment plans (DRiP) or through one off transactions in our Robinhood account. So the estimated $2,400 we expect to earn in dividends for 2017 will all be used to buy more stock.

Second, future growth is also fueled by company dividend increases. We didn’t receive any dividend increases from company’s this past month, however we do get them throughout the year. Receiving these increases is awesome … because we don’t have to do anything except hold onto our shares for the long term.

Finally, the majority of our dividend growth right now is driven by new investments. We have been trying to invest 20% to 25% of our income for the past 10 months. That is where most of our growth is coming from.

So … here is our dividend income portfolio results for August 2017 –

2017 August Dividend Income Summary

While it was no surprise, we recorded our highest August dividend income results this past month. It was nowhere near the record setting dividend income we earned back in June … but every little bit counts!

We earned an awesome $163.01 in dividends from stocks that we own during August.

That $150+ in side income could be used to pay for a bunch of items in our monthly budget like – gas and electric bill, water bill, internet and phone bill, and a whole bunch more.

It is kinda cool to start thinking about what this monthly passive income source could be used for. Of course, we have no plans to use this income to pay off bills but rather reinvest it so we can continue to grow our dividends.

Month by month, year by year … we continue to slowly grow this sustainable income stream.

Just take a look at the growth we have seen over the past 6 years based on August dividend income results –

August 2017 Dividend Income – $163.01

 

 

We saw an increase of 42.3% last month compared to August 2016!

This latest increase shows all the new capital we have invested into the market over the past year is working very hard.

August 2017 Dividend Breakdown by Company

Overall, we had 9 stocks pay out a dividend in August. Solid dividend paying companies like Clorox, Lowe’s, and Procter & Gamble gave our family a paycheck … and we didn’t have to do very much to earn it!

Recent investments in Apple (APPL), CVS Health Corp. (CVS), and Omega Healthcare (OHI) over the past couple of months are a big reason for these increases.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income (by stock) in August –

  • Apple Inc. (AAPL) – $8.19
  • Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) – $15.60
  • The Clorox Company (CLX) – $28.65
  • CVS Health Corporation (CVS) – $2.50
  • Lowe’s Companies (LOW) – $10.41
  • Realty Income Corp (O) – $13.32
  • Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) – $54.40
  • Procter & Gamble (PG) – $13.02
  • Verizon Communications (VZ) – $16.92

 

 

Note – All of the dividends we currently receive are reinvested into new shares of the same stock using DRiP – except those purchased through our Robinhood account.

New Capital Invested in August

Over the past 10 months, we have been focused on growing our forward annual dividend income to $3,000 by the end of 2017. We set this goal last November (2016) and have been busy investing new money into dividend stocks ever since then.

The goal requires that we invest 20% to 25% of our income … which can be difficult during certain times of the year. That comes out to around $1,400+ per month.

As you can tell below, we have been up and down with these new investments. We had several good months in a row (April to June), but fell flat in July and had a worse month in August.

Here are the new investments we made in August –

  • $50.00 investment in Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF) – .65 shares
  • $70.63 investment in Kroger (KR) – 3 shares
  • $124.05 investment in Omega Healthcare (OHI) – 4 shares
  • $106.08 investment in Qualcomm (QCOM) – 2 shares

Note – All of these investments were made through our Robinhood and transfer agent (CINF) accounts … which means we did not pay any commissions or fees on these trades.

The total amount of new capital invested in August was – $350.76

Here are the new investment totals since the start of 2017 –

  • August 2017 Investments – $350.76
  • July 2017 Investments – $694.02
  • June 2017 Investments – $1,448.59
  • May 2017 Investments – $1,232.63
  • April 2017 Investments – $4,862.18
  • March 2017 Investments – $988.23
  • February 2017 Investments – $647.76
  • January 2017 Investments – $600.42

New 2017 Investments – $10,824.59

Growing Our Dividend Income

The dividend income earned in August ($163.01) was up over 42% from the same time last year. If we could repeat that growth month after month and year after year … that would be awesome. However, that is likely unattainable but still great to see this past month.

On top of the growth, for the first time ever we topped $150 for the month of August. This is another little milestone that we hit and will help motivate us to keep building and growing our sustainable income stream. Unless we see a bunch of dividend cuts, it is safe to say we will earn over $150 per month moving forward.

All of the increases this past month were from a combination of new investments made, dividend reinvestment’s, and company dividend increases.

However, for the first time this year … we did not see any company dividend increases during the month. That’s okay because we have several big ones expected in September. Plus we were able to continue growing our future dividend income through new investments and dividend reinvestment.

Our goal for 2017 is to earn $2,400 in dividend income.

We have earned a total of $1,522.74 in dividends for 2017 … which means we need to earn around $875 the remainder of the year. That is an average of $219 per month.

Unlike 2016, reaching our goal in 2017 will be challenging but within reach. Last year, we set an unrealistic goal and didn’t come close to reaching it.

As long as we keep up with our new investments, I think reaching our 2017 dividend income goals can be attained. And if all goes well, we will be on our way to reaching a goal of $3,000 in dividend income for 2018!

How was your dividend income in August?

Full Disclosure – At the time of this writing, we owned shares in the following stocks noted in this post – AAPL, CAT, CINF, CLX, CVS, KR, LOW, O, OHI, PG, QCOM, and VZ. The material above is not a recommendation to buy. Please do your own research on a company before deciding to invest.

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