December is over, and with it 2015 as well (which will be covered in more depth in the forthcoming Year in Review post). Here in the Pacific Northwest, December was a very wet and cold month, with rain nearly every day and a dash of snow to remind urbanites like me that winter is really here. How I yearn for the sunny days of summer and the slightly cool early autumn…

With the end of the month comes the final tally of dividend payouts. So how was my dividend income for December? Well, let’s do the numbers and see:

AWP $ 3.50*
BGY $ 49.00*
CHW $ 21.00*
CIK $ 22.00*
CLM $ 70.29*
DHY $ 42.00
DMF $ 13.50
DSM $ 22.83
EHI $ 35.61
EXG $121.95*
FGB $ 87.50
HHY $ 37.50
HQL $ 47.00
HTR $ 38.00
??? $ 1.05
NCV $ 45.50
OIA $ 4.10
PFN $ 36.00
PFN $ 31.50
VFL $ 18.00
TOTAL $747.83

As I had hinted at in November’s dividend income report, December proved to be a good month. But wow! I didn’t expect it to be this good. For dividend income, not only was it the best month of 2015, it was the best month I have ever had, breaking $700 for the first time ever! Yeah! The two quarterly payouts (HQL, FGB) and extra payout from PFN (7 cents per share) were the main contributors to making December such a banner month. Having this much “gravy” on top of the regular monthly dividend payouts won’t happen very often, so it’s certainly something to be savored when it does. Mmmmmmmmm…dividends!

Time for some appropriate music…

As great as December was, it would have been better if not for dividend cuts. DMF cut its monthly monthly 14% from 5.25 cents per share to 4.5 cents, HQL cut its quarterly dividend 19% from 58 cents per share to 47 cents, and VFL cut its monthly payout 7.7% from 6.5 cents to 6 cents. This is why dividend investors should diversify their portfolio, limiting the weight of stock’s dividend payouts to 5-6% of total dividend income. So when dividend cuts do happen, the impact is mitigated and a 10-20% cut in a stock’s dividend payout becomes just a minor speed bump on Passive Income Street.

December’s dividend income numbers certainly ends the year on a high note. I hope this bodes well for the coming year and my dividend income will continue to grow nicely.

Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)