And, just like that, the first quarter of the year has ended. Spring has begun! And, perhaps more importantly, Winter Is Coming! Who else here is a Game of Thrones fan? Anyone? I’m just so excited for the final season. But I know, you’re not here because you’re concerned about White Walkers taking over the world. You’re here to see how the portfolio performed in the last month of the first quarter. Well, without further adieu, let’s dive in to this dividend income report!

Dividend Income

In March, I received a total of $136.45 in dividends broken down as follows:

NO. STOCK NAME DIVIDENDS 1 EMR Emerson $ 14.26 2 GWW W.W. Granger $8.31 3 JNJ Johnson & Johnson $25.86 4 MCD McDonalds $12.11 5 MMM 3M Company $12.84 6 O Realty Income $8.35 7 PFE Pfizer $14.18 8 XOM Exxon Mobile $40.54 $136.45

A respectable amount. Once again, I have 8 companies paying me dividends, and I’m well on my way to making $150 in dividends for the month.

Annual Comparison

Below is graphical representation of my dividends so far:

Here is the raw data:

MONTH 2017 2018 2019 Rate January $0.00 $14.93 $37.54 151.44% February $0.00 $77.66 $141.16 81.77% March $0.00 $72.93 $136.45 87.10% April $0.41 $31.47 May $2.85 $79.33 June $16.89 $98.51 July $5.99 $42.32 August $21.95 $108.44 September $28.72 $111.15 October $23.21 $48.09 November $62.11 $124.92 December $76.51 $140.24

A very respectable 87.10% increase from last year. Again, not quite triple-digit increase, but I’ll take it. As always, the portfolio is moving in the right direction.

Last year I had only 7 stocks that paid me dividends. Since that time, I’ve added McDonalds to the portfolio. I’m looking forward to the continued growth of the portfolio.

Adopt-A-Stock Project

Recently, I wrote about a new project I started entitled the Adopt A Stock project. This month, I’ve chosen to adopt Apple. It’s going to be very hard as Apple is currently trading around $190 a share. My budget is tight. Part of the rules of the Adopt-A-Stock project requires me to purchase at least one share of the stock that I adopt for the month. So, I might have to live on beans and rice for the month to be able to accommodate this adoption.

I have gotten suggestions on how to choose which stock I adopt. I’m still working on understanding the metrics behind such a selection. Right now, I’m going in alphabetical order as the stocks appear in my dividend portfolio. But, as I learn more about stock valuations, I might adjust mid-way how I choose which stock to adopt.







For me, the simplest approach (albeit not the financially best or efficient approach) is to go in alphabetical order. That will inevitably mean that I’m not optimizing how my funds get invested. For now, I’m ok with that, as the adopt-a-stock project was designed to force me to waste less money. If I didn’t adopt a stock, I would have used the money to eat out, buy clothes, or engage in such frivolous spending.

Finally, I’m going to have to report on how much I actually invested in Apple mid-month. We will see how it goes.

Forward Annual Dividends

At the time of this writing, my forward annual dividend is $1380.11. A month ago, my forward annual dividend was $1333.85. This represents an increase of $46.26 or 3.00% in my forward annual dividend income. I’m getting closer to that $1500 mark, which will happen in 2019. Now that I’ve once again increased the minimum contribution to my dividend portfolio, I hopefully will cross that threshold sooner rather than later. In any case, the dividends are slowly but surely working for me behind the scenes.

Conclusion

I expect great things from my portfolio this year. I do have plans to buy a house and so the growth of my portfolio is tempered by that lofty goal. However, I suspect that once I achieve my desire of an additional house purchase, the rate at which I contribute to my portfolio may be substantially increased.

Until then I will continue to add to my portfolio and cut wastefuly spending when I can. I’m not perfect, and I know that there will be times when I spend more money than I earn in a month. But, as long as I maintain the minimum contribution levels to my portfolio, maintain my long-term contributions to my Roth 401K and Roth IRA accounts, I’ll be in good shape.

I’m no where near where I want to be, but I’m farther along than where I would be had I not been focused on retirement and the important concept of financial freedom.

As always, thanks for reading this blog post. And remember, Winter Is Coming! You’ve been warned.

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