March 2017 Dividend Income – $279.72

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The first quarter of 2017 is complete and March went out like a lion as far as earning dividend income.

Traditionally March, June, September, and December are always big months for earning dividend income for our portfolio. That is because over half the stocks we own pay a quarterly dividend falling on these months.

While most of our focus is building and reporting our annual dividend income numbers, months like these are fun to talk about too. Each little milestone gives us more motivation to continue growing our portfolio of dividend stocks.

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

2017 March Dividend Income Summary

Oh Yeah! We set a new all time high record in March for dividend income. March has always been a very good month for earning dividend income (see below). So it is not a huge surprise that we passed our previous high set back in September 2016.

Since we are constantly investing new money and reinvesting our dividends … our income stream should continue to grow every single month. And that is what we saw last month … all those dollars hard at work earning more dollars.

During March, we continued to grow our new investments as well as our most recent dividend income earnings.

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 March dividend income results –

March 2017 Dividend Income – $279.72

 

Dividend Income by Stock in March 2017
March Dividends 2012 to 2017

 

We saw an increase of 33.8% last month compared to March 2016! That is awesome growth for this portfolio.

This latest increase of over 30% is consistent with past months and shows all the new capital we have invested into the market is working hard.

March 2017 Dividend Breakdown by Company

Overall, we had 16 stocks pay out a dividend in March. This was the largest dividend income amount we have every received in one month!

Awesome companies like Aflac, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Exxon Mobil gave our family a paycheck for not really doing much at all. How great is that?

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

  • Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) – $14.40
  • Aflac Incorporated (AFL) – $23.18
  • Consolidated Edison, Inc (ED) – $25.54
  • Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) – $24.00
  • Intel Corporation (INTC) – $12.59
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – $23.78
  • Kellogg Company (K) – $3.12
  • The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) – $0.86
  • McDonald’s Corp (MCD) – $34.99
  • Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) – $32.02
  • Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) – $16.01
  • Realty Income Corp (O) – $8.42
  • Target Corp (TGT) – $27.09
  • Unilever plc (UL) – $6.63
  • VF Corp. (VFC) – $0.20
  • Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) – $26.89

 
Dividend Income by Stock – March 2017
 

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 March

The start of 2017 wasn’t the best for new investments. Both January and February, we fell well short of our new investment goals.

And while we didn’t hit our target in March either (around ~$1,400), it was a step in the right direction.

Here are the new investments we made in March –

  • $150.00 investment in Apple Inc. (AAPL) – 1.06 shares
  • $25.00 investment in Best Buy Corp. (BBY) – .56 shares
  • $50.00 investment in Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF) – .70 shares
  • $68.45 investment in Cisco Systems (CSCO) – 2 shares
  • $25.00 investment in Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) – .26 shares
  • $494.78 investment in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – 4 shares
  • $150.00 investment in Target Corp (TGT) – 2.76 shares
  • $25.00 investment in VF Corp (VFC) – .47 shares

Note – All of these investments were made through our Robinhood, LOYAL3, 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 March was – $988.23

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

  • March 2017 Investments – $988.23
  • February 2017 Investments – $647.76
  • January 2017 Investments – $600.42

New 2017 Investments – $2,236.71

Conclusion

The dividend income earned in March ($279.72) was up over 33% from the same time last year and set a new record high for a month. These increases were from a combination of new investments made, dividend reinvestment’s, and company dividend increases.

Speaking on company dividend increases – we got a few this past month – Realty Income Corp (O) 0.24%, Best Buy (BBY) 21.4%, and Genuine Parts Company (GPC) 2.7%.

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

We have earned a total of $556.14 in dividends for 2017 … which means we need to earn around $1,840 the remainder of the year. That is an average of $205 per month.

Unlike 2016, I think 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 March?

Full Disclosure – At the time of this writing, we owned shares in the following stocks noted in this post – ADM, AFL, AAPL, BBY, CINF, CSCO, DPS, ED, EMR, INTC, JNJ, K, KHC, MCD, MSFT, NSC, O, TGT, UL, VFC, and XOM. 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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