And so goes August into the past. The stock market was quite bullish for most of the month, being pushed higher by the tech sector and a somewhat more optimistic view of the near future. As for the ongoing pandemic, the number of US COVID-19 cases is growing, but the fatality rate has been fairly flat, which may indicate that treatment is improving for those hospitalized by the virus. Civil unrest continues, with little end in sight. With the election just 8 weeks away, things will probably get even more nuts with each week in October. I also think that the civil unrest won’t suddenly abate after the election. No, things will probably get worse before they get better.
On a more somewhat cheery note, let’s do the numbers and see how my dividends added up for August.
AWP $ 44.00
BGY $ 33.80
CHW $ 21.00*
CIK $ 22.50*
CLM $ 46.33*
DHY $ 28.88
EAD $ 9.20
EDF $ 20.00*
EHI $ 26.80
EXG $ 92.40*
FGB $ 70.13
NCV $ 29.75
OHI $150.75
PFN $ 36.00
ZTR $ 24.00
TOTAL $655.53
* Includes Return of Capital
Well, $655.53 isn’t great, but it’s not too bad.
There were only two dividend cuts this month. EAD trimmed its monthly dividend slightly from 5.81 cents per share to 5.75 cents per share. That’s so tiny a cut that it’s scarcely perceptible. FGB slashed its quarterly dividend from 13.50 cents per share to 8.25 cents per share (a -38.9% cut, or -$44.62 per quarter for me). That hurt and will certainly be felt in future quarters.
Also, I didn’t need to sell off any stocks in August, as I didn’t need the money fortunately.
Overall, August was a decent month that could have been a bit better if not for FGB’s dividend cut.
Image Credit: jarmoluk (pixabay.com)
$655 is still a very respectable number for an amount brought in entirely passively. Think about how many hours of work it would take to generate that amount. Keep on stacking those dividends. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the kind words DH! I agree, $655 is nothing to sneeze at, as it certain exceeds the non-trivial mark ($500) for passive income. But when I think about past August dividend earnings, you can understand why it doesn’t exactly excite me. August 2019’s dividends were $865.78, August 2018’s dividends were $937.07, and August 2017’s dividends were $915.52. So I have done better in the past, but dividend cuts and selling assets have certainly had a negative impact on my dividend income over the past year.