Dividend Income – July 2015

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Officially over half way through 2016, and our dividend income machine is rolling. We still have a long way to go, but as each month passes, we get one step closer to financial freedom.

At the end of each month, I like to give a run down of how our dividend income portfolio (known as the Money Sprout Index) is doing.

While we are still a long way from hitting our goals of financially independence, these monthly updates help keep us motivated.

Here is our dividend income results for July, 2015 –

2015 July Dividend Income Results

While not the biggest dividend month ever, July will go down as a success just the same. Actually, every month we are earning dividend income is a successful month.

For the first time ever, we hit triple digits in dividend income for July. Remember that last month we set a new all time record, so this was a nice follow up.

For reference purposes, I like to look back and compare our dividend totals from the same month over the past couple of years. This helps us see the growth of the Money Sprout Index and keeps my wife and I motivated in meeting our goals.

Here are the dividend income earnings for the month of July from the past 3 years and our total for 2015 –

July 2015 Dividend Income – $102.80

As you can see from previous years results, dividend income has grown each July with a big increase over the past two years. That is a result of new capital beging pumped into the market.

We saw an increase of over 32% last month compared to July 2014.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income (by stock) in July, along with the number of new shares added from DRiP –

  • Cincinnati Financial Corp. (CINF) – $33.49 (.63 shares)
  • Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS) – $0.17 ($0.17 cash LOYAL3)
  • The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) – $7.70 ($7.45 cash LOYAL3 for one time merger and .003 shares)
  • The Coca-Cola Company (KO) – $4.49 ($4.49 cash LOYAL3)
  • Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) – $41.51 (.21 shares)
  • Realty Income Corporation (O) – $6.65 ($6.65 cash Robinhood)
  • Sysco Corporation (SYY) – $9.04 (.25 shares)

Note – All of the dividends we currently receive are reinvested into new shares of the same stock using DRiP – except those purchased through our LOYAL3 and Robinhood accounts.

New Capital Invested in July

July was a down month as far as adding new investments. All of our tax return money was invested earlier in the year, so we are back to just our automated investments for now.

We are starting to bring in some side income from other sources and the intent is to invest 100% of it. As this extra income starts rolling in, you will start to see our investment dollars increase.

Here are the new investments we made in July –

  • $82.64 lump sum investment in Caterpillar (CAT) – 1 share
  • $150 automatic investment in Microsoft (MSFT) – 3.36 shares
  • $50 automatic investment in Unilever (UL) – 1.11 shares
  • $50 automatic investment in Verizon (VZ) – 1.01 shares
  • $150 automatic investment in WalMart (WMT) – 2.07 shares

Nothing too special here during July, except for purchasing 1 share of Caterpillar. We had enough funds in our Robinhood account to buy a single share of the undervalued company. The nice thing about Robinhood is that we don’t pay any commission on our trades. So if we have money to invest in just a single share of stock – why not?

We also continued with our monthly automated investments through LOYAL3 and Computershare for a combined $400.

The total amount of new capital invested in July was – $482.64

Here are the new investment totals for the year –

  • January Investments – $475.00
  • February Investments – $1,067.30
  • March Investments – $652.26
  • April Investments – $1,094.77
  • May Investments – $4,219.12
  • June Investments – $1,148.80
  • July Investments – $482.64

New 2015 Investments – $9,139.89

12 Month Forward Dividend Income

We continue to track our 12 month forward dividend income each month. While this number does not guarantee any future dividends, it is a good indicator of how much income we will earn over the next 12 months.

Our 12 month forward dividend income will increase month to month as a result of 3 different factors. The first is any time we add new shares of stock (i.e. CAT) to the Money Sprout Index, our future dividends should go up.

Second, any dividends that are reinvested back into new shares of stock through DRiP (i.e. LMT) will increase our forward dividend income.

Finally, anytime a company raises its annual dividend – we will see a spike up.

12 Month Forward Dividend Income

  • March 2015 – $1,239.21
  • April 2015 – $1,288.31
  • May 2015 – $1,501.44
  • June 2015 – $1,570.40
  • July 2015 – $1,590.65

Comparing the past five months, our 12 month forward income has grown by 28.4% or by $351.44!

Note – The majority of the increase between April and June was due to $5,000+ being invested. Most of these funds came from our annual tax return. While we certainly welcome the increase in future dividend income, it will not be sustainable for the remainder of the year. We expect about a $20 to $30 increase each month in future dividend income for the rest of 2015.

Final Thoughts

The dividend income earned in July ($102.80) was a nice follow up from our highest month ever back in June.

To date, we have earned a total of $726.32 in dividend income for 2015. At that rate, we would earn a little less than $1,250 in annual dividend income this year. Since our goal is to earn $1,500 this year, we have a lot of work to do over the next 5 months.

Our 3-month rolling average continues to increase each month. The average of the past 3 months makes it easier to track month to month totals. During July, we were able to raise our 3 month rolling average again, which built on what we accomplished last month.

Our rolling average is now $111.23, which was an increase of $3.37 compared to May. As long as this number continues to grow, I know that we are moving in the right direction.

How was your dividend income in July? What stocks are you buying in this market?

Full Disclosure – At the time of this writing, we owned shares in the following stocks noted in this post – CAT, CINF, DPS, KHC, KO, LMT, MSFT, O, SYY, UL, VZ, and WMT. 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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