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…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxgFKSCtIeo
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)
Hey there, just come across your blog tonight doing some research. Aside from being neighbors, I’m across the river in Vancouver, your investing style is much different that I am used to. I am pretty much a blue chipper DGI, mostly coming from the CCC list.
I looked at your portfolio and I am not familiar with anything there so I have been looking into a few. One thing, are you purposely omitting your performance from your portfolio? Have you considered adding your cost basis and the current market value for each holding? That would sure give folks like me a better way to judge your methods and performance over time. Clearly you have been investing longer than blogging so its hard to get the real picture.
I went back to a few of your earliest BUY posts and on one your are down 20%, probably more because that was not your first buy on that holding and its been heading downward for a few years. The other holding I looked at you had doubled in value, plus some so good job there.
Anyway, just thought I would ask if you would consider adding your performance. I will say, like you, income is my primary priority because I started late also, but I do think it is important with a high yield strategy to know capital appreciate/loss as well. I will keep poking in and continue to review your holdings to see if any makes sense for me.
Thanks for visiting Mike, and Happy New Year! It’s nice to hear from somebody in the Portland/’Couve metro area.
Yes, my ETF/CEF heavy portfolio is quite different than the more common DGI approach. I don’t have much horizontal space to work with on my Portfolio table, so squeezing in each position’s cost basis and current (at the time of the Portfolio’s posting) market price is a challenge. And accurately tracking cost basis, especially for stocks with a Return of Capital (ROC) as the cost basis changes with each month’s payout, is more work than I’m willing to put in. So the Portfolio table is kept somewhat simplified due to limited space and my limited time/energy to maintain it.
I will consider squeezing a Cost Basis column into the Portfolio table, but the cost basis for my ROC dividend stocks (BGY, CFP/CLM, EXG, CIK, HHY) and merged stocks (CFP/CLM) won’t be accounted for accurately.
I agree that minimizing capital loss and maximizing capital gain is important, but I find dividend cuts are much more concerning. Stocks rise and fall according to the whims of the market, and ideally dividends should stay steady or steadily rise. One of the things I enjoy about dividend investing is that I don’t fret much about the ever shifting price of the stock, as I’m not investing for capital gains. I’ve only sold stock when the dividend was severely cut or eliminated entirely, so I couldn’t justify continuing to own the stock.
If you do hang on to a dividend paying stock long enough, the stock will eventually pay for itself and then you’re free of worrying about capital loss. For example, I bought 1000 shares of CIK in 2008 for $2968. Since then it has earned $2251 in dividends. Assuming the monthly dividend of $22.00 continues, in 33 months CIK will be free money after that point.
DQ
Great dividend income for december, and congrats. on your new all time high dividend. hope that next year numbers will be much higher and you will new all time high dividend income.
Happy New Year
Sharon – Divorcedff
Thanks for visiting Sharon. I hope 2016’s numbers will be higher too. As long as I consistently buy stocks with yields of 8-10% and continue my matching program, I think 2016 will see new highs for dividend income (assuming no significant dividend cuts happen or the stock market crashes).