And thus ends May 2016. Overall, it was a good month. My 48-hour Las Vegas trip with Mrs. Dividend Quest cost less than I had estimated (the $64 I won playing the slot machines helped a little), celebrated three birthdays (my wife and her 2 kin), and the weather was good at the beginning and end of the month (but the middle was rather sucky). I don’t know how, but despite having high expenses (paid off the credit card balance for the Vegas vacation and 6-months of auto insurance), I was able to afford the parts I needed for my upcoming PC build, cover my dividend income matching money (meeting or exceeding the previous month’s dividend income), and still have enough left over to put a little into savings.
So let’s get down to business, and do the numbers for May’s dividend payouts:
AWP $ 3.50*
BGY $ 49.00*
CHW $ 21.00*
CIK $ 22.00*
CLM $ 54.19*
DHY $ 42.00
DMF $ 13.50
DSM $ 22.83
EDF $ 13.50*
EHI $ 38.50
EXG $121.95*
FGB $105.00
HHY $ 37.50
HTR $ 38.00
NCV $ 45.50
OIA $ 4.10
PFN $ 36.00
VFL $ 18.00
TOTAL $686.07
* Includes Return of Capital.
Not bad. Almost the same as February’s $683.18 (had I not bought 30 shares of EHI in April, it would have been exactly the same as February).
The only big surprise I had in May was that all shareholders of CTCM (CTC Media, a Russian media company) were paid $2.05 per share as part of a merger and delisting of the company, so I was paid $205 for the 100 shares I held. When they ceased paying dividend early last year and the stock began to drop sharply, I sold all but 100 shares. I had hoped the Russian economy would recover and the remaining shares would rise in value to offset the loss I took from the shares I had sold earlier. With this payoff of shareholders, that was not to be. On the bright side, I got $205 I wasn’t expecting, so that cash will go towards my next stock buy. Other than that, there weren’t any unpleasant surprises such as a dividend cut or additional volatility in the market.
Overall, May was a good month. My two stock buys of CODI and EDF boosted my projected average monthly dividend by over $20 per month, which moves me a few steps closer to my 2016 goal of having a projected average monthly dividend $750 or more. Summer 2016 is off to a good start. 🙂
Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)
DQ
Great dividend income you have there in May.
Keep the snowball rolling.
Sharon
Thanks for the words of encouragement Sharon. Dividend investing is a long slow climb, but it’s definitely worth it. It’s a great feeling seeing the dividend income snowball steadily grow and grow. When I first started my quest for dividend income 8 years ago, making over $600 per month seemed like a fantasy or dream, but now it’s reality.
That’s a very impressive total for the month of May. I wish I was more versed in that long list of dividend payers. Your portfolio definitely is the most varying when compared to the other dividend bloggers, myself included, out there. Thanks for sharing your recent totals!
Thanks for visiting DivHut. Yep, it was a pretty solid month and I’m glad about that! My portfolio is quite different than the portfolios of most dividend growth investors, as mine is very heavy on ETFs. It’s a risky strategy, but one I hope that will prove to be successful or at least as good as a traditional dividend growth investing portfolio.
Congrats on a fantastic dividend income month and on making it out of Vegas with money 🙂
Thanks for visiting! While what I won in Vegas was far from covering the total cost of the trip, it did help a little bit. It is soooooo tempting to take one’s winnings (“free money!”) and gamble with that for a while longer. But Mrs. Dividend Quest smartly told me to quit and be happy with what we won. My $64 win is nothing to get excited over, but it can buy a few shares of a dividend paying ETF or company and continue to grow.