December 2022 Dividend Income

 

2022 has officially wrapped.  From a macro standpoint, it was kind of a dumpster fire.  However, on the micro front, things went surprisingly smoothly.  The job consolidation ended up being a big boon and it enabled me to make fairly steady progress on both fiscal and physical fronts.  There may not have been any DBZ style leaps, but there was definite progression.  The MVP title has to go to Capital One.  Them doing away with their IRA savings accounts allowed me to move the needle in ways that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. While I liked the security of the savings accounts, I do think this is better.  More growth and it isn't like the investments in those accounts are particularly risky so I don't need to sweat it.  

Enough of that, though, this is the dividend post, so it stands to reason that we get to them.  December is always a showstopper for investors be they veterans or neophytes.  Last year's record breaker was a testament to that.  Will this month's live up to the hype?  Let's find out, shall we?

Kroger (KR): $1.78

SJW (SJW): $3.57 ($0.69 taxable/$2.88 IRA)

Intel (INTC): $0.41

JM Smucker (SJM): $0.20

Sherwin Williams: $1.20 (IRA)

Pfizer (PFE): $1.26

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $0.65

Microsoft (MSFT): $0.04

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $8.21 ($2.75 taxable/$5.46 IRA)

Yum! (YUM): $0.18

Emerson (EMR): $0.33

Unilever (UL): $0.20

AGNC: $1.31

JP Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $4.88 (IRA)

Scott's Miracle Gro (SMG): $7.92 (IRA)

Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): $1.53

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $5.54 ($0.62 taxable/$4.92 IRA)

Target (TGT): $0.44

IBM: $0.18

3M (MMM): $0.48

Chevron (CVX): $0.44

GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.13

Coca Cola (KO): $5.00 ($1.48 taxable/$3.52 IRA)

Realty Income (O): $3.62 ($1.39 taxable/$2.23 IRA)

Wendy's (WEN): $1.33

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.26

ConEd (ED): $0.69

NextEra Energy (NEE): $2.64 ($0.09 taxable/$2.55 IRA)

Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13

McDonald's (MCD): $0.42

Home Depot (HD): $3.80 (IRA)

Hershey's (HSY): $2.07 (IRA)

Flowers Foods (FLO): $1.48

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $4.29 ($0.35 taxable/$3.94 IRA)

VF Corp (VFC): $2.77

Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $0.59

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $6.93 ($1.08 taxable/$5.85 IRA)

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): $4.80 (IRA)

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.15

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $0.68

Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): $0.08

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3.82 ($0.48 taxable/$3.34 IRA)

Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $5.29 ($0.64/$4.65 IRA)

Vanguard US REIT Fund (VNQ): $1.22

Wisdom Tree (DON): $0.11

T. Rowe Price (TROW): $4.80 (IRA)

Kraft-Heinz (KHC): $1.77

SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.08

Lockheed Martin (LMT): $0.45

Domino's (DPZ): $0.10

DFA US Small Cap: $25.12 (401K)

T. Rowe Price Value Fund: $114.39  (401K)

American EuroPacific Growth: $7.48 (401K)

Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $3.52 (401K)

So, when all is said and done, I received a moderate $32.44 in taxable accounts.  Retirement contributions on the other hand, threw in $219.32.  Grand total comes to a whopping $251.76.  That is how you end a year.  It didn't quite hit the 2X mark compared to last year, but it was pretty darn close.  That T. Rowe Price fund in the 401K is mind blowing.  The growth isn't quite what it was last year, but that's still a pretty sizable leap.  Of course, now one can't help but wonder what next year's number will look like.  But we have a way to go before that point and quite a lot to do in the meantime.

Interest clocked in at $2.20

Aside from DRIP and 401K contributions, there were no buys this month.  Crazy, right?  I was expecting a sizable expense in regard to the car, but thankfully, that turned out to be fairly minor.  I also thought it best to build up a cash supply to give myself a buffer for the year, both for the looming macro threats as well as the endeavors that I laid out for myself.

I'm not sure the mid-quarters can keep up with this, to be honest.  It's a little sad.  It put up a valiant fight and held the title for quite some time, but it seems like December has cemented itself as the record breaker for the years to come.  Maybe one year, I'll focus my stock buys exclusively on mid-quarter payers to bring it back into the fight, but that's something to ponder later on down the line. 

 Let's see what we can do in 2023.  There will be headwinds, to be sure.  This may be the toughest year to date, but there's still a way to win.

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2023 Opening Salvo

 With the start of a new year, it's a fitting time to lay the groundwork for forward progress.  As such, let's dive in to see the moves I plan on making going forward.

15% to 401K

It wasn't that long ago that Publix capped an employee's 401K contribution to 10% of their income.  They upped the cap to 30%, but I've been doing 1% increases each year.  This time, I'm doubling that rate.  15% seems to be the magic number as far as building retirement savings goes and it also means that Baby Step 4 is done.  Sure, I'm using those as more of a loose guideline than a hard and fast rule (I'm what the fandom calls "ish"), but hey, a finished step is a finished step.  It should hopefully make an impact come next year's tax season and it'll boost the numbers in that account a bit faster.

$15 a week to Fundrise

A 50% increase, woo!  Yeah, OK, it's not a game changer, but at this rate, I will get to the "basic" account level this year.  That'll enable me to partake in the iPO as well as their innovation fund, so that's something to look forward to.

1 share of Realty Income weekly 

I've seen quite a few investors as of late adopt this strategy of picking a position and buying it every week, regardless of price.  It's dollar cost averaging and it seems to work pretty well.  Is my portfolio too small for this?  Maybe, I mean, there's still dividend reinvestment, Publix stock, and I'll only be doing this until I hit 100 shares.  After that, I'll shift the strategy to another position.  Thus, it'll even out eventually.  I should note that total refers only to E-trade.  Robinhood and IRA holdings aren't going to be counted as I view each branch of the overall portfolio as its own thing.  With monthly dividend reinvestment and quarterly increases (that will make bigger impacts the further along we go,) it should be a pretty smooth journey.  It'll still take a little under 2 years just going by basic math, but I think it's a good way to really get the ball rolling.

Sadly, E-Trade doesn't have an automatic recurring buy option, so I'm going to have to do this manually.  It's a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, but having it happen on its own would have been nice.

$7/Day to VTI

With the market as volatile as it is, some are taking the dollar cost average strategy even further and making daily buys.  These lean towards ETF's, as opposed to single companies.  Again, seems to work pretty well, so why shouldn't I do it, right?  VTI's a solid one to use as a baseline.  It's not a huge move, but it should move the needle.

$1/Day to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dogecoin (DOGE)

And you thought the stock market was volatile.  Yes, crypto is on a downward slide, but that seems to be the nature of the beast.  It falls, then shoots back up dramatically.  This is dollar cost averaging in its most literal form.  The upcoming price drops won't devastate me, but I should still see some gains on the upswing.

$1/Day to iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

Admittedly, this isn't an income generator, but it is a bit more asset diversification.  Both are pretty solid investments and act as fairly good hedges against inflation.  I think we can agree that some of that wouldn't hurt right now.  I like this as I can make the investment without opening up another account.  I have quite enough, thank you.

$50/Month to Best Buy

Best Buy is a unique position in my portfolio.  It isn't under the E-Trade or Robinhood umbrellas, instead standing on its own.  That's because that's my first stock holding.  Barnes and Noble may have gotten this investing odyssey started in earnest, but this is the real OG as far as my investments go.  Despite this, I haven't really done too much with it.  I only recently started reinvesting the dividends, but other than that, it's just been sitting there.  Well, no longer.  Now I'm going to start watering this plant.  Like Robinhood, I can do automatic recurring buys.  Monthly is their only option, though, so that's what I'm going with.  It's OK, it's still a step up from what I was doing before.  This will also help mitigate Realty Income becoming too heavy in my holdings in the short term.

So, there you have it.  It's quite possible that this is the extent of my market moves for the year.  With the big economic poop storm looming, I'm thinking I should shift my focus towards bolstering my defenses. Beefing up savings accounts and attacking liabilities will probably be the main focus.  We'll see how things play out though.  At least, this way, I can stay in the market without worrying too much.  No panic selling here.  

All indicators point to 2023 being a bumpy ride.  Hopefully, this makes things a bit smoother.

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November 2022 Dividend Income

 

The time has come to give thanks for the dividends that were received the past month.  The mid-quarter months are always something of a humdinger around here and this past month was no exception.  There's a lot to cover, so let's dive right in.

Armanino Foods of Distinction (AMNF): $0.60

Sprague Resources (SRLP): $8.35

Campbell's (CPB): $4.10 ($0.40 taxable/$3.70 IRA)

Publix $30.37 ($20.36 taxable/$9.71 401K)

AT&T (T): $4.01

Verizon (VZ): $7.27 ($0.74 taxable/$6.53 IRA)

Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $0.18

Lowe's (LOW): $3.15 (IRA)

AGNC: $1.30

General Dynamics (GD): $0.28  

GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.12

Apple (AAPL): $0.02

Procter & Gamble (PG): $5.00 ($.26 taxable/$2.74 IRA)

Hormel (HRL): $3.86 ($1.26 taxable/$2.60 IRA)

JP Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $4.85 (IRA)

Realty Income (O): $3.60 ($1.37 taxable/$2.23 IRA)

Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13

Kinder Morgan (KMI): $2.55

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.16

Omega Healthcare (OHI): $4.92

Tanger Factory Outlets (SKT): $1.15

Paychex (PAYX): $1.97

Westrock (WRK): $1.74

Starbucks (SBUX): $0.33

Papa Johns (PZZA): $0.15

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.15

Wisdom Tree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $0.08

Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $2.31 (401K)

With the IRA now being a factor, I've found a new way to lay things out.  I actually like it better as it streamlines things substantially.  

The sub-total for the taxable accounts came to $54.58.  Retirement accounts threw in $37.82.  Grand total comes to a whopping $92.40.  Dang.  That's crazy, coming up on the triple digits in a non-December month.  It's gonna be sweet.

Bad news, though, is that Sprague went private so that's the last time you'll be seeing that one.  It was a heavy hitter, so crossing the aforementioned threshold is going to take a little longer, but we move forward. On a similar note, Lumen eliminated their dividend, so I sold off that position.  It's fewer things to monitor and it does give me some cash to redeploy so it isn't without an upside.  As of now, the plan is to use that to help fund 2023 endeavors because I have plans.

Interest clocked in at $1.74

In addition to the buys on Robinhood (that you can read about here, here, and here,) I also made single share buys of VF Corp (VFC), Paramount Global (PARA), and Kinder Morgan (KMI).  On top of that, I bought around 3.5 shares of Publix.  It's an asset I plan on utilizing more going forward.  

The portfolio has been updated accordingly.

The mid-quarter month continues to be a force with which to be reckoned.  It is but an appetizer, this time, as next month...next month is gonna be fun.  

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Robinhood Buys: 11/16/2022

 

ConEd (ED): $2

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $2

Realty Income (O): $2

WisdomTree Midcap Dividend fund (DON): $2

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $2

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $2

SJW Group (SJW): $2

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $2 

HP (HPQ): $2

NextEra Energy (NEE): $2

Bitcoin (BTC): $1

Ethereum (ETH): $1

Dogecoin (DOGE): $1

I know, everybody is fleeing crypto, but my holdings are miniscule and I'm not pouring large sums in, so I don't see any harm in continuing.  

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Robinhood Buys: 11/10/2022

 

ConEd (ED): $2

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $2

Realty Income (O): $2

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $2

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $2

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $2

SJW Group (SJW): $2

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $2

HP (HPQ): $2

Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $2

Bitcoin (BTC): $1

Ethereum (ETH): $1

Dogecoin (DOGE): $1 

SPHD broke the full share threshold, so I'll be able to swap that out for another position on the next go around.  It's good to check another one off the list.

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October 2022 Dividend Income: Haymaker

 

The stock market can be a spooooky place.  This is especially true in volatile times such as the ones in which we find ourselves.  One tool that, if used properly, can help you navigate the dark and foggy terrain is dividends.  That little qualifier is an important one, but that is why I, as well as several other dividend bloggers track their progress.  I mean, it's fun too, but ideally it will help educate and inspire others to take their first steps in the path to financial freedom.  I've been at this for a couple of years now and while the numbers did start out comically small (they usually do) if you stick to it, you will see progress and growing momentum.  Will this month prove the point or will a jump scare knock me down a peg or two?   Let's find out, shall we?

PepsiCo (PEP): $5.23 ($1.78 taxable/$3.45 IRA)

SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.07

Domino's (DPZ): $0.09

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $4.45 ($0.34 taxable/$4.11 IRA)

Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): $0.07

Coca Cola (KO): $4.98 ($1.46 taxable/$3.52 IRA)

Paramount Global (PARA): $1.71

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3.36 ($0.40/$2.94 IRA)

Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $0.63

Iron Mountain (IRM): $3.78

Kimberly Clark (KMB): $1.22

HP (HPQ): $0.11

AGNC: $1.28

GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.12

Franklin Resources (BEN): $2.92

Leggett & Platt (LEG): $1.38

Realty Income (O): $3.57 ($1.34 taxable/$2.23 IRA)

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.14

JP Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $3.85 (IRA)

Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13

Best Buy (BBY): $6.62

McCormick (MKC): $0.05

Wisdom Tree (DON): $0.03

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.12

That brings the taxable sub-total to $26.78, barely up from last quarter. 

Over in the 401K, the Baird Aggregate Bond fund threw in $2.35.  If we add that to the IRA dividends, it comes to $22.45. Thus, the grand total comes out to $49.23.  That is a lot better.  Obviously, those IRA buys made the month.  Be that as it may, coming close to breaking the $50 threshold in the weakest quarter month is pretty nice.

Interest clocked in at $1.45.

In addition to the buys on Robinhood (which you can read about here, here, here, and here) I also made single share buys of Westrock (WRK), VF Corp (VFC), Paramount Global (PARA), and Leggett & Platt (LEG).  Nothing too crazy, but a steady and consistent round of buys for the month.

On other fronts, as expected, the balance sheet took an Ivan Drago right cross to the face, as I had to make a car purchase.  The lease was up on my Civic and while Honda did extend it for another six months, I did need to finally wrap it up and I chose to purchase it.  Of course, I needed a loan, which was a hassle, but there are actually quite a few upsides to this.

For one, there's an endgame.  The lease cycle goes on and on. At least now, I'll hit a point where the loan is paid off and I'll be able to eliminate that expense from the budget.  Not going to lie, I'm looking forward to it.  More money to invest or enjoy, not to mention the fact that it's going to result in a lot less off-season hunkering. 

Better yet, the monthly payment on the loan is less than what I was paying on the lease.  So, if I keep paying what I've been paying, I'll still have it paid off early.  This is the plan, though I'm going on top of even that by throwing another 10 bucks at it every week just for a little extra.  As much as I love the idea of having it paid off in 2023, I'm not sure how realistic a goal that is.  2024 on the other hand, that seems much more doable.  We'll see how things play out, though.

In the meantime, we still have a little under two months left to make moves and set the stage for 2023... or at least prepare for whatever random curve balls the year decides to throw at us.  Hold on to your butts...I guess.

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Robinhood Buys: 11/2/2022

Alright, partner, keep on rollin' baby; you know what time it is.

HP (HPQ): $2

ConEd (ED): $2

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $2

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $2

Realty Income (O): $2

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $2

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $2

SJW Group (SJW): $2

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $2

Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $2.08

Bitcoin (BTC): $1

Ethereum (ETH): $1

Dogecoin (DOGE): $1

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