Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $2
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
McDonald's (MCD): $2
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Coca-Cola (KO): $2
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Hormel (HRL): $2
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
PepsiCo (PEP): $2
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $2
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Target (TGT): $2
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Fund (DON): $2
Schwab US Dividend ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
NextEra Energy (NEE): $2
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Domino's (DPZ): $2
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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The first trimester of 2023 is complete. As we roll into May, let's take a look back at what dividends came in over the course of Apri. Quarter openers are interesting for me. They're the weakest month out of the trio, but it also has some of the bigger payers. It's not bogged down by pocket change payments like the other two. Not gonna lie, it's not too shabby. Anyway, let's dive right in.
You can check out last quarter's numbers here and last year's numbers here for comparison.
Kraft-Heinz (KHC): $1.87
PepsiCo (PEP): $5.30 ($1.85 taxable/$3.45 IRA)
SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.11
Paramount Global (PARA): $2.49
Coca Cola (KO): $5.24 ($1.56 taxable/$3.68 IRA)
Kimberly Clark (KMB): $5.98 ($1.26 taxable/$4.72 IRA)
HP (HPQ): $0.28
Iron Mountain (IRM): $3.87
J.P. Morgan Exchange Traded Fund (JEPI): $3.56 (IRA)
AGNC: $1.37
Franklin Resources (BEN): $3.09
Leggett & Platt (LEG): $1.86
Realty Income (O): $7.11 ($4.81 taxable/$2.30 IRA)
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.24
GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.25
Best Buy (BBY): $8.12
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13
McCormick (MKC): $0.05
WisdomTree Midcap ETF (DON): $0.03
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.15
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund (401K): $3.52
That brings the taxable sub-total to $34.39
Retirement sub-total is $21.23
That brings us to 55.62. Not bad, not bad at all. For the weakest month, I'm quite happy with that. It broke the $50 threshold and there was solid growth.
Interest clocked in at $3.37
Realty Income and Best Buy are doing especially well now that I'm pumping money into those on a pretty regular basis. Speaking of....
In addition to the recurring buys, I also made some buy batches on Robinhood. You can read about them here, here, here, and here. That was about it. Nothing too outlandish, just kept chugging along. Up next is the mid-quarter month and those are always fun.
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A few months back, my car situation switched from lease to ownership. As I noted when that first went down, I had to take out a loan in order to pull it off. I've been paying extra on said loan as a way to get rid of it sooner. Now, when I started, I expected the interest to act like it would on a credit card, where it is applied monthly and determined based on your remaining balance on a certain date. I figured if I came out swinging, I could save money on the back end.
Unfortunately, that's not really how loans work. The interest is basically baked into the repayment amount. If you do pay extra, it can be applied to the interest, but there isn't a "return" on that the way you would think. Basically, you're still going to pay the amount in the loan agreement one way or the other.
That being said, there are still gains to be had by paying extra on such a loan. You can still get the loan paid off early, which is a definite perk. Eliminating that expense from your budget and freeing up some cash every month is reason enough to pay extra anyway, but there actually is another benefit.
By paying extra, you can reduce, or even eliminate upcoming payments. After my most recent payment, I don't have another payment due until August due to the fact that I've been putting in more than the standard since I first took out the loan.
I'm not going to lie, it is tempting to use that breather with costs rising as they are, but that would put me back on schedule and I'd rather not do that. It would go against the whole idea of why I was putting in more in the first place. The whole idea is to go forward, not backward.
Still, it is nice to know that that buffer is there should I need it. You might not be able to include peace of mind on your balance sheet, but it is still an asset in every sense of the word.
With so many people living paycheck to paycheck and dealing with debt, this is something to consider as a way to help pull yourself out. It doesn't even have to be a huge amount to have an effect. Every little bit helps.
Now, this doesn't work with credit cards, unfortunately. Those you have to pay every month regardless. Student loans and mortgages, however, are also potential targets for this strategy.
Given the burden that the prior has become, this could be a way to give yourself some relief. It's better than twiddling your thumbs waiting for the government.
On larger fronts, I still maintain that attacking debt will help attack inflation. I seem to be the only one who holds this view, but the logic remains sound and it gives people a mechanism to address the problem rather than hope that the fed can figure it out.
Also, with the banking sector in a bit of a snag, this approach can potentially help bring some stability to that end of the economy.
Obviously, the benefits to yourself should be the priority, but if you want to make paying off your debts seem more epic, those are some angles to consider as well.
If possible, this is definitely something to consider. If you're sick of constantly being on your back foot financially, this can help give you a sturdier....footing.
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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $2
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Lockheed Martin (LMT): $2
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
General Dynamics (GD): $2
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Paychex (PAYX): $2
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Emerson (EMR): $2
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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Dividend reinvestment is one of investors' most potent weapons. It is also often said that taxes are an investment. Like stocks or crypto, the quality of these investments can vary in quality. Some work out very well, others...not so much.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if you combined the two. Now, the government doesn't pay dividends, but a lot of people do get money back come April after filing. This is money that could possibly be "reinvested". I mean, the government is scrambling for cash due to decades of bad fiscal policy. They're eliminating deductions, raising rates, I even read a while back that they unloaded a substantial amount of bitcoin. I'm not sure when or how the government got their hands on any bitcoin, but there you go. This would be another layer in that endeavor, and it would be a pretty simple one at that.
Now, you might be thinking, "nobody's going to do this". Well, there is one incentive that might draw the eye of both liberal and conservative alike: you get to decide where the money goes. This was one of the major perks of Andrew Yang's presidential platform. The only problem was that his setup only allowed you to allocate 1% of your tax contribution and you were limited to one program. This gives you more options and more capital to play with to move society forward. Congress had its chance, now it's your turn. If you want to fund NASA, schools, infrastructure, healthcare, Space Force, foreign aid, or Social Security directly, or just give the government some breathing room by throwing some cash at the debt, you would now have the capability to so. You could even be given the option to specify whether you want this to cover already existing spending (ie deficit reduction or covering unfunded liabilities) or to be put towards additional funding.
This could also allow for greater accountability, as a government organization that wastes or loses a portion of its funds isn't likely to draw people in to fund their program with reinvested dollars in the future.
Now, this wouldn't be an all or nothing deal. Some people rely on that return, so an individual could keep a portion and reinvest the rest depending on what their budget is, should they so choose. They can decide what ratio works best for them and move from there.
Will this ever happen? Doesn't seem likely. Still, the government does like (and really need) money and people do like the idea of funding stuff, so, win/win?
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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $2
General Mills (GIS): $7 (Roth)
Hormel (HRL): $2
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Chevron (CVX): $2
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $2
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
PepsiCo (PEP): $2
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
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