What a month. The COVID-19 virus and the impact it’s making upon the world made March a notable month. We saw the sharpest one month decline in the market’s history as the US economy ground to a halt in response to the virus. Businesses are closing or severely curtailing their hours, unemployment has spiked as millions of workers are being suddenly let go, and the number of virus fatalities is growing at an exponential rate. And this is just the beginning.

The drop in the stock market certainly impacted my dividend investing portfolio, as the value of my portfolio is down over $27K at the end of March. That’s certainly stomach-wrenching, but because I invest for income and not capital gains, I’m more concerned about dividend cuts. So without further delay, let’s do the numbers and see how my dividend income fared for March:

AWP $ 44.00
BGY $ 33.80*
CHW $ 21.00*
CIK $ 22.50*
CLM $ 46.33
DHY $ 28.88
EAD $ 9.50
EDF $ 42.50*
EHI $ 26.40
EXG $ 92.40*
HQL $175.50*
NCV $ 36.75
PFN $ 36.00
RA $ 23.88
ZTR $ 33.90
USA $ 46.75
TOTAL $720.09

* Includes Return of Capital

Not exactly spectacular, but not too bad either for the 3rd month of the quarter (which, for my portfolio, is usually the quarter’s lowest earning month). The month didn’t see any dividend cuts, so that’s a small consolation.

With 2020’s first quarter now complete, let’s see how I did compared to Q1 2019. My dividend income total for this quarter was $2517.72, which is down 5.8% from Q1 2019’s $2674.06. My slow but steady selling of assets is taking its toll on my dividend income and it certainly shows in this year-to-year comparison.

Other than the market’s turmoil affecting my portfolio’s value, March was a solid month for dividend income. I’m sure dividend cuts will be coming soon, so Q1 will probably be my best earning quarter of the year.

Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)