Dividend Income – August 2014

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The Money Sprout Index consists of 19 different dividend stocks (at the time of this writing) from 9 different sectors. This portfolio of stocks has become a sustainable source of side income for me for over the last 3+ years.

As I continue to invest in only the bestnd paying stocks, I have seen this income stream grow year after year. At the end of each month I report out the dividend income earned, new money invested, and any additional changes made to the portfolio.

Here are my results for August, 2014 –

2014 August Dividend Income Results

During the calendar year, August is generally one of my slowest months for dividend income. Since all of the stocks I currently own pay quarterly dividends, my monthly totals really fluctuate. For example, just last month I earned over $75 in dividend income and the month before that it was over $110.

This month I didn’t even it the $50 mark, but that doesn’t mean my portfolio isn’t growing. Instead of comparing my dividend income each month, I focus on a 3 month rolling average. As long as that value is increasing each month, I know that my portfolio is growing.

August 2014 Dividend Income – $41.10

Note – All of my dividends I currently receive are reinvested into new shares of the same stock using DRiP. The only exceptions are stocks that I purchase through my LOYAL3 account – which does not currently offer dividend reinvestment.

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

  • The Clorox Company (CLX) – $23.30 (.27 shares)
  • Lowe’s Companies Inc. (LOW) – $5.56 (.12 shares)
  • The Proctor & Gamble Company (PG) – $11.04 (.14 shares)
  • (Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) – $1.20 (.02 shares)

New Capital Invested in August

In order to accelerate the growth of my dividend income portfolio, I need to continue to invest new capital. Reinvesting dividends into new shares of stock using DRiP helps me grow my portfolio, but not fast enough. Since I am still in the allocation phase of building my dividend income portfolio, I need to continue to invest new capital at any chance I can get.

How do I remember to invest new capital each month? By taking advantage of automatic monthly investment plans. These plans are a great way to accumulate stock in a variety of companies with minimal capital to invest and with very little investment costs.

Here are the new investments I made in August –

  • $50 automatic investment in Intel (INTC) – 1.51 shares
  • $25 automatic investment in Coca-Cola (KO) – .63 shares
  • $50 automatic investment in Microsoft (MSFT) – 1.17 shares
  • $50 automatic investment in Verizon (VZ) – 1.01 shares
  • $50 automatic investment in WalMart (WMT) – .68 shares
  • $250 automatic investment in Exxon Mobile (XOM) – 2.51 shares

Note – As with all of my recent purchases, all of my stock buys in August were from automatic monthly investments.

The total amount of new capital invested in August was – $475. I originally set a goal to invest $850 per month during 2014, but I wasn’t able to sustain that type of investment. Here are my new investment totals for the year –

  • January Investments – $1,747.41
  • February Investments – $475.00
  • March Investments – $575.00
  • April Investments – $725.00
  • May Investments – $725.00
  • June Investments – $725.00
  • July Investments – $475.00
  • August Investments – $475.00

New 2014 Investments – $5,922.41

Final Thoughts

The dividend income earned in August ($41.10) was much lower than the previous 2 months. Since I only had 4 stocks payout a dividend this month, my monthly dividend income dropped. This has been a typical pattern with my monthly results since I started reporting them.

While looking at my monthly dividend totals can be helpful, I prefer to focus more attention on the 3 month rolling average. Since all of the companies I own pay a quarterly dividend, the average of the past 3 months makes it easier to track month to month totals. During August, I was able to raise my 3 month rolling average to $79.33, which is an increase of $1.21.

My total dividend income earned for 2014 so far (January to August) is – $564.15.

Full Disclosure – At the time of this writing, I owned shares in the following stocks noted in this post – CLX, INTC, KO, LOW, MSFT, PG, VZ, WMT, 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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