Unilever (UL): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $3 (Roth)
PepsiCo (PEP): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $3 (Roth)
Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $3 (Roth)
Starbucks (SBUX): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $3 (Roth)
Kroger (KR): $3
iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $3 (Roth)
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A little later than I like, but the time has finally come to log the dividends for March. Let's freaking go.
Intel (INTC): $0.14
AGNC: $1.58
J.M. Smucker (SJM): $0.22
JP Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $2.41 (IRA)
Yum Brands (YUM): $0.24
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $1.27
IBM: $0.19
Kroger (KR): $2.06
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $0.71
Sherwin Williams (SHW): $1.43 (IRA)
Chevron (CVX): $0.54
SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.17
Emerson (EMR): $0.49
Wendy's (WEN): $3.05
Microsoft (MSFT): $0.04
Target (TGT): $0.53
Pfizer (PFE): $1.39
Kellanova (K): $2.06 (IRA)
WK Kellogg (KLG): $0.73 (IRA)
SJW Group (SJW): $4.06 ($0.86/$3.20 IRA)
3M (MMM): $0.55
Flowers Foods (FLO): $1.61
GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.32
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3.35 ($0.26/$3.09 IRA)
ConEd (ED): $0.88
Hershey's (HSY): $2.74 (IRA)
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.15
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3.66 ($0.57/$3.09 IRA)
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $0.66 (IRA)
Stanley, Black & Decker (SWK): $4.86 (IRA)
Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): $0.87
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $5.17 ($0.76/$4.41 IRA)
McDonald's (MCD): $0.56
Home Depot (HD): $4.50 (IRA)
Strategy Gold Hedged Bond (GOLY): $0.06
Cheesecake Factory (CAKE): $1.35 (IRA)
VF Corp (VFC): $0.78
iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $4.13 ($0.34/$3.79 IRA)
Unilever (UL): $0.41
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $5.80 (401K)
Blackrock (BLK): $0.14 (IRA)
T Rowe Price (TROW): $4.96 (IRA)
Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): $0.04
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $5.74 ($0.66/$5.08 IRA)
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.16
DFA US Small Cap: $2.78 (401K)
Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $0.31
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $9.54 ($3.12/$6.42 IRA)
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $0.79
Scott's Miracle Gro (SMG): $7.92 (IRA)
Wisdom Tree (DON): $0.35
Vanguard US REIT ETF (VNQ): $0.81
Realty Income (O): $9.79 ($7.48/$2.31 IRA)
Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $0.58
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $9.52 ($4.97/$4.55 (IRA)
Woof, that takes some doing. The taxable sub-total came to $41.44. Retirement accounts came in hard with $78.28. All in all, the portfolio pulled in $119.72 in income this month.
Interest clocked in at $8.62. This doesn't include the "foundation" account which brought in $0.04, It's a pittance now, but give it a couple of years. This is gonna be cool.
It was a seemingly light month on the purchase front. There was one round of buys on Robinhood and I bought 1 share of Flowers Foods (FLO).
Luckily, Publix picked up the slack. March is the month where the 401K match gets distributed, and we also get a dose of company stock. It added a nice little kick to the balance sheet and the May dividends are going to be interesting.
That about wraps things up. 2024 continues to chug along and the "setup 2025" plan is going well so far. We'll see how things progress as we move into the second quarter.
Emerson (EMR): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $3 (Roth)
Lockheed Martin (LMT): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $3 (Roth)
General Dynamics (GD): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $3 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $3 (Roth)
Kroger (KR): $3
iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $3 (Roth)
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It's the beginning of the new month after leap day, so let's see if the dividends did any leaping.
General Dynamics (GD): $0.33
AGNC: $1.56
Main Street Capital (MAIN): 0.55
Tanger Factory Outlet (SKT): $1.44
Gold Hedged Bond ETF (GOLY): $0.06
General Mills (GIS): $1.66 (IRA)
Apple (AAPL): $0.02
Kinder Morgan (KMI): $3.11
GlobalXSuperdividend ETF (SDIV): $0.30
Paychex (PAYX): $2.37
Inverse Cramer ETF (SJIM): $0.05
Clorox (CLX): $1.18 (IRA)
Papa Johns (PZZA): $0.19
Lowe's (LOW): $3.30 (IRA)
Starbucks (SBUX): $0.37
Westrock (WRK): $2.31
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $0.12
JP Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $2.40 (IRA)
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.15
Colgate (CL): $1.31 (IRA)
Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $0.31
Procter & Gamble (PG): $5.22 ($2.40 taxable/$2.82 IRA)
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.18
Baird Aggregate Bond fund: $4.88 (401K)
Hormel (HRL): $4.36 ($1.53 taxable/$2.83 IRA)
Realty Income (O): $9.75 ($7.44 taxable/$2.31 IRA)
Omega Healthcare (OHI): $5.49
Verizon (VZ): $7.47 ($0.82 taxable/$6.65 IRA)
AT&T (T): $4.64
Publix: $64.34 ($41.73 taxable/$22.61 401K)
Subtotal in the taxable accounts came to $77.47. Retirement accounts threw in $51.95. All in all, the grand total comes to $129.42.
Interest brought in $7.36.
Pretty light month as far as buys go. There was one round of buys on Robinhood (you can read about it here).
I did buy a share of SoFi's weekly dividend paying ETF (WKLY). It would have been a great add, building up a position that paid weekly would have made those "off-season" months go so much smoother. Alas, I found out a few minutes after I bought it that they were going to be shutting it down, thus I sold it. I did make a good ten cents on that day trade; still, it's a pity. I did buy a share of Hormel to even that out. Maybe one day Vanguard will create its own weekly dividend paying ETF, fingers crossed.
The recurring buys continued for the first half of the month. I re-paused them, as the snowbirds are going to be leaving soon so I have to brace for water treading. The only one still going is the $50 into Best Buy. It's something, at least.
I was surprised to see the Inverse Cramer ETF pop up this month. E-trade had shown that it only paid in December so I hadn't really given it much thought. It turns out that that ETF is shutting its figurative doors as well. It's a shame, that one would've been interesting to watch. I never watched "Mad Money", but the meme was (and still is) pretty amusing.
Nothing too out of the ordinary this month, just keep things chugging along.
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Emerson (EMR): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
PepsiCo (PEP): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $7 (Roth)
McCormick (MKC): $3
iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $7 (Roth)
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New year, new dividend post! Let's see how the new year started off.
Paramount Global (PARA): $0.53
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): $0.31
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $0.08
Kimberly Clark (KMB): $1.30
Iron Mountain (IRM): $4.21
PepsiCo (PEP): $5.93 ($2.13 taxable/$3.80 IRA)
Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $0.49
AGNC: $1.54
Realty Income (O): $9.46 ($7.15 taxable/$2.31 IRA)
Main Street (MAIN): $0.52
Leggett & Platt (LEG): $2.51
Franklin Resources (BEN): $3.62
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13
Gold Hedged Bond ETF (GLDB): $0.06
Best Buy (BBY): $13.84
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.17
Armanino Foods of Distinction (AMNF): $0.66
Campbell's (CPB): $4.11 ($0.41 taxable/$3.70 IRA)
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $4.16
The taxable sub-total comes to $39.66. Retirement accounts pulled in $13.97. That brings the total to $53.63.
Interest clocked in at $7.27.
I went a little off the beaten path this month. The automatic recurring buys continued (even added a couple).
There were, of course, the Robinhood buys, that you can read about here, here, here, and here.
I also added single shares of Realty Income, the Inverse Cramer ETF (SJIM), the Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF (KRUZ), the Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF (NANC).
It's pretty well established that politicians have a knack for the stock market, so when I saw that these two ETF's existed, I had to try them out. I was also intrigued by the "inverse cramer" ETF. There's a running joke that whenever TV host Jim Cramer recommends a stock, the price soon plummets and vice-versa. As such, a general quasi-facetious "rule of thumb" is to do the opposite of whatever he says if you want to be successful in the stock market. This ETF takes that concept and runs with it. Will it pan out? Not sure. These are dividend payers, but they only pay in December, so I'm not too incentivized to keep building them, but they will be interesting to watch, no doubt.
I also added 7 shares of Bank of America (BAC) and 5 shares of Cheesecake Factory (CAKE). These were done in my non-Robinhood IRA's. There's no DRIP option there and with them charging per-trade fees, it seemed best to let the dividend cash build up and make this an annual event. My original plan was to do it in December to accompany the big dividends, but January is always such a letdown, so I decided to hold off and use it as a way to not only keep the momentum going, but to give the new year a little boost. I think it achieved the desired result and this was just year one, wait until we're five or ten years down the line. That's gonna be fun.
Until then, though, we press on. It wasn't a mind-blowing start as far as dividends go, but moves were made. I said on Twitter that this was going to be more of a "setup 2025" year and I think that this did a decent job of getting started on that overall goal.
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Emerson (EMR): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $7 (Roth)
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Everything is a dumpster fire. There are problems aplenty. Governments have boxed themselves into a corner. One can't help but wonder how it is all supposed to be dealt with.
It's not all doom and gloom, there are tools at our disposal. Greatergood is up and running. You can click up to 12 times a day now and they have added a few spin-offs that can provide further funding. The Charity Miles app is still a great option. Alas, Amazon Smile is no more, but Samsung has a "Global Goals" app that you can use to raise money for those causes. Renowned Youtuber MrBeast has a Youtube channel specifically created to fund altruistic endeavors.
These things are all fantastic. They help a lot of people, and I would encourage others to use them. However, even with all of that used in tandem, it might not feel like you're moving the needle as much as one would hope.
One way to up your game would be to set up a "foundation". Now, I'm putting that in quotes, because it isn't a foundation in the tax-deductible institution sense. It is really just a savings account where you put money aside to build up and donate to the cause or causes of your choice.
You might think that I got the idea from MrBeast with his aforementioned charity. It planted the seed, yes; having a well of money that you can use to help people and steer humanity in the right direction sounds awesome, right?
It was actually another Youtuber, though, who really brought the concept to fruition when she opened a savings account and called it her "grant" or "scholarship fund". That is to say, that after building up to a certain point, she gave the money to somebody else to help them on their financial journey. I thought that was really cool and it inspired me. There are actually a few perks to this approach (besides the obvious giving aspect.)
Prosperity Grant surpassed?
I was a fan of Andrew Yang's "Prosperity Grant". It was a plank in his Presidential platform where everyone would get a $100 voucher each year to put towards the non-profit of their choice. I even included it in my Presidential wish list when Biden was first elected.
Sadly, it doesn't seem like it's going to be a thing; but with this approach, you can create your own. Depending on which bank you use (an online high yield savings account would be ideal, the brick and mortar bank savings accounts are pretty much useless on this front) it will only be a matter of time before you're pulling in that much in interest. Even better, you could end up generating even more than $100. You're not limited in the same way that you were with the aforementioned policy.
Forever Donor Lives?
I've mentioned this site before. It's defunct now, but the idea was that you would open up an investment account through the site and a portion of the passive income would go towards the charity/charities of your choice. This enabled the charities to get ever increasing amounts of money thanks to the other portion being reinvested. It was an awesome idea that was struck down way too soon.
With this, you can use a similar strategy, take a portion of the interest and pump it to your cause of choice and use the other portion to grow the cash flow so that you will be able to do more and more over time. It's still sad that the site didn't gain a solid footing, but you can replicate the effect on your own.
Taxes Taxes Taxes
One of the big criticisms of foundations is that they are "tax havens". With this, you don't have that problem. Not only is it a great criticism deflection, but it saves you a lot of paperwork and hassle. Now, interest is taxed at a lower rate than regular income, which might vex some people. But for those who want to see the government better funded, they can throw their gains at the debt to clear the country's balance sheet and put the government in a better position to operate. Just imagine, there could be no more debt ceiling shut downs. Furthermore, the "how are we going to pay for it?" line will become a far less frequent utterance.
Now, they probably won't do this. That crowd's track record the past decade and a half has been...abysmal, but it is an option, and it is a thing that could theoretically be done. If they did do it, it would be fantastic, but I've learned not to hold my breath when it comes to this sort of thing.
Have I set up my own account? Yes, as a matter of fact, just did so today. Don't get too excited, the balance is a whopping $3, but you know what they say about the journey of a thousand miles. People always tell you to have a personal emergency fund, this takes that sentiment up to the next level. This would be your macro-emergency fund. The personal fund is your defense against various socio-political woes, this is your offense. Take the fight to it and turn the tide.
Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Emerson (EMR): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Target (TGT): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $7 (Roth)
A new position added to the retirement account. You may recognize the name, as it is the rather infamous investment company that "owns everything". Well, in a power play worthy of Victor Newman himself; I have established a foothold into the company and will now begin the process of "owning the owner". Checkmate.
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Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Domino's (DPZ): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Emerson (EMR): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Paychex (PAYX): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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NextEra Energy (NEE): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Coca-Cola (KO): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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January: Taxable: $26.25 Retirement: $20.82 Total: $47.07
February: Taxable: $47.52 Retirement: $35.64 Total: $83.16
March: Taxable: $32.69 Retirement: $66.87 Total: $99.56
April: Taxable: $34.39 Retirement: $21.23 Total: $55.62
May: Taxable: $74.11 Retirement: $47.08 Total: $121.19
June: Taxable: $31.78 Retirement: $69.77 Total: $101.55
July: Taxable: $38.88 Retirement: $20.86 Total: $59.74
August: Taxable: $75.26 Retirement: $49.04 Total: $124.30
September: Taxable: $40.55 Retirement: $67.55 Total: $108.10
October: Taxable: $38.37 Retirement: $26.66 Total: $65.03
November: Taxable: $76.64 Retirement: $47.58 Total: $124.22
December: Taxable: $45.37 Retirement: $176.64 Total: $222.01
Taxable Sub-total: $561.81
Retirement Sub-total: $649.74
Grand total: $1,211.55
That's a nice jump compared to last year. Cleared the 1K mark with room to spare. Considering how stagnant things felt during the year itself, that number comes as a pleasant surprise. It looks like the snowball is really starting to gain momentum. I daresay this is where things are going to get interesting.
What better way to kick off the new year than to talk about dividends, am I right? Dividends are awesome, December dividends especially so. There's a lot to cover, so let's dive right in.
Intel (INTC): $0.14
Kroger (KR): $2.05
J.M. Smucker (SJM): $0.22
Pfizer (PFE): $1.34
Unilever (UL): $0.32
SJW Group (SJW): $3.85 ($0.81 taxable/$3.04 IRA)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $0.71
AGNC: $1.52
Yum! (YUM): $0.20
Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): $1.64
IBM: $0.19
Kellanova (K): $1.49 (IRA)
Target (TGT): $0.51
Sherwin Williams (SHW): $1.21 (IRA)
Chevron (CVX): $0.50
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3.00 ($0.19 taxable/$2.81 IRA)
Emerson (EMR): $0.41
Flowers Foods (FLO): $1.60
3M (MMM): $0.54
Kraft Foods (KHC): $2.05
Microsoft (MSFT): $0.04
Coca Cola (KO): $5.31 ($1.63 taxable/$3.68 IRA)
GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.25
Home Depot (HD): $4.18 (IRA)
Domino's (DPZ): $0.12
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $9.16 ($3.09 taxable/$6.07 IRA)
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $0.49 (IRA)
Hershey's (HSY): $2.38 (IRA)
ConEd (ED): $0.85
Wendy's (WEN): $3.02
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.87
Stanley, Black & Decker (SWK): $4.86 (IRA)
WK Kellogg Co (KLG): $0.12 (IRA)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $4.21 ($0.61 taxable/$3.60 IRA)
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13
Vanguard US REIT Fund (VNQ): $1.17
iShares Core Growth ETF (DGRO): $4.84 ($0.40 taxable/$4.44 IRA)
McDonald's (MCD): $0.55
SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.14
VF Corp (VFC): $0.78
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $6.54 ($0.80 taxable/$5.74 IRA)
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.18
T. Rowe Price Group (TROW): $4.88 (IRA)
Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $0.69
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $8.32 ($1.26 taxable/$7.06 IRA)
Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): $0.12
Realty Income (O): $9.15 ($6.85 taxable/$2.30 IRA)
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $0.93
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $9.32 ($4.31 taxable/$5.01 IRA)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $0.13
DFA US Small Cap: $16.02 (401K)
Lockheed Martin (LMT): $0.51
American EuroPacific Growth: $30.55 (401K)
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $7.27 (401K)
T Rowe Price Value Fund: $59.44 (401K)
The taxable sub-total comes to a respectable $45.37. Retirement accounts, however, pulled in $176.64. That brings the grand total to $222.01. A solid number, no doubt, but it's actually down quite a bit from last year. The T Rowe Price value fund dipped quite a bit this year. It's a bit sad, especially after a year of further contributions, but it is what it is. Like I said, it's hard to complain about the current number. It just means that I need to bolster the other positions to make up the difference.
Interest clocked in at $7.13
Not a bad month on the buying front. There were two rounds on Robinhood, but over on E-Trade, I made single share buys of Realty Income (O), Main Street Capital (MAIN), Gold Share Hedged Bond ETF (GLDB), and WisdomTree (DON). These are all monthly payers. Some of these I already had in my Robinhood account, but the gold ETF is a new one. I'm still continuing building up my IAU position, but this pays, so it seemed to be worth an add. Hopefully, bolstering these will help pick up the slack after a largely dormant 2023.
What will 2024 bring? Who's to say?
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