One Raise At a Time - Four Decades In The Making

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

On Thursday the Board of Directors at Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) gave shareholders a pay raise.  The dividend was increased from $0.40 up to $0.44 per share per quarter.  That's a solid 10.0% increase.  Walgreens has grown their payout to shareholders for 42 consecutive years which gives them the title of Dividend Champion.  Shares currently yield 2.95% based on the new annualized payout.

The new dividend will be paid out on September 12, 2018 to shareholders of record as of August 20th.  

Since I own 46.069 shares of Walgreens in my FI Portfolio this raise increased my forward 12-month dividends by $7.37.  This is the 6th dividend increase I've received from Walgreens since initiating a position in late 2012.  Over that time the dividend payout has increased by a total of 60%.  According to US Inflation Calculator, the total inflation over that same period has come in at just 9.6%

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ONE RAISE AT A TIME | MEDTRONIC KEEPS IT GOING

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

Last Friday the Board of Directors at Medtronic plc (MDT) raised up their dividend payment to shareholders.  The dividend was increased from $0.46 up to $0.50 per share per quarter.  That's a solid 8.7% increase.  Medtronic has grown their payout to shareholders for 40 consecutive years which gives them the title of Dividend Champion.  Shares currently yield 2.33% based on the new annualized payout.

The new dividend will be paid out on July 25, 2018 to shareholders of record as of July 6th.  

Since I own 92.126 shares of Medtronic in my FI Portfolio this raise increased my forward 12-month dividends by $14.74.  This is the 6th dividend increase I've received from Medtronic since initiating a position in late 2012.  Over that time Medtronic has grown the dividend payout by 92%.  According to US Inflation Calculator, the total inflation over that same period has come in at just 9.6%

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A Personal Best| Dividend Update - March 2018

Dividend Update - March 2018

It's the end of one month and the beginning of another so it's time for my favorite update: my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits. I hope they can help inspire you to take control of your own finances and invest to build a passive income stream. What you use that stream for is up to you, whether it's to fund early retirement, just provide some FI/FU money, or even to provide for an annual vacation; the key is that it can provide options and open up all sorts of possibilities. You can check mydividend income or progress pages to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.

The 3rd month of each quarter is always my biggest month for dividends and March didn't disappoint.  My FI Portfolio produced $921.17 in dividends during the month, which was a personal best, while my Folio First portfolio chipped in another $8.30.  My Roth IRA added another $45.02 during the month.  The 3 portfolios combined to generate $974.49 of dividends. 

FI Portfolio

As I mentioned above my FI Portfolio produced $921.17 in dividends last month which was a personal best for any month.  It's pretty exciting to see that number keep climbing month after month and quarter after quarter.  Even better is that later this year we should finally get back to a regular monthly investment schedule which will push the dividends even higher.

Compared to December 2017 that's a solid 1.5% increase whereas the year over year comparison came in very strong at 10.7%.  

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RECENT BUY: UP IN SMOKE

Talk about a spending spree, well, relatively speaking.  I hadn't made any open market purchases, other than my 401k, since July 2015 and now in the span of a month I've made 2.  The pause wasn't for lack of trying or opportunities, rather it was due to the fact that since 2014 our lives have been one huge whirlwind.  

One of the great things about dividend growth investing is that, well, the companies pay you cold, hard cash.  For the most part I take all of my dividends in cash so this purchase wasn't made with fresh capital from savings rather from dividends, and some option trading profits, that have built up over time.  No matter where the cash comes from it still feels good to finally starting building up our dividend stream once again.


On March 1st I purchased 18 shares of Altria (MO) for $62.50 per share.  The total cost basis including commissions came to $1,129.95 or $62.78 per share. 

Altria is a Dividend Champion with 48 consecutive years of dividend increases.  Altria's quarterly dividend at the time of my purchase, more on that later, was $0.66 per share.  That puts the YOC for my position at 4.21% and I can expect to receive $47.52 in dividends over the next year barring any reinvestment or dividend increases.

Due to this purchase my FI Portfolio's forward 12-month dividends are $6,099.71.

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One Raise at a Time | The Duck Quacks Again

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.
On Tuesday of last week the Board of Directors at Aflac (AFL) announced an increase to their quarterly payout.  Previously the company had been paying $0.43 per share and now they'll be paying $0.45.  That's a solid 4.7% pay raise.  Aflac is a Dividend Champion with 34 consecutive years of dividend growth.  Shares currently yield 2.14% based on the new annualized payout.

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One Raise at a Time | Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Visa

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.
Earlier this week the Board of Directors at Visa, Inc. (V) announced yet another hefty increase to their dividend payment.  The quarterly payout was increased to $0.195 from $0.165.  That's a whopping 18.2% pay raise!  Visa is a Dividend Challenger with 9 consecutive years of dividend growth.  Shares currently yield 0.73% based on the new annualized payout.

Since I own 38.263 shares of Visa in my FI Portfolio this raise increased my forward 12-month dividends by $4.59.  This is the 5th dividend increase I've received from Visa since initiating a position in 2012.  Through organic dividend growth alone Visa has increased my annual dividend payments by 136% cumulatively.  According to US Inflation Calculator the cumulative rate of inflation over that same time is just 7.5%.  Talk about outpacing inflation.

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Dividend Update - March 2017

It's the end of one month and the beginning of another so it's time for my favorite update: my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits. I hope they can help inspire you to take control of your own finances and invest to build a passive income stream. What you use that stream for is up to you, whether it's to fund early retirement, just provide some FI/FU money, or even to provide for an annual vacation; the key is that it can provide options and open up all sorts of possibilities. You can check my dividend income or progress pages to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.

The end of each quarter is always a great time for dividend growth investors.  Many companies make payments during that time and my March haul proved to be no different.  I received a total of $832.41 in dividends in my FI Portfolio and another $8.18 in my Loyal3 Portfolio.  Both of those portfolios are regular taxable brokerage accounts.  My Roth IRA also provided $36.04 with all dividends being reinvested.  Across my taxable accounts my dividends totaled $840.59.  Adding in my Roth IRA dividends brings March's total to $876.63.  

Also, be sure to check out the infographic I made and let me know what you think.

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Help Me Out: Traditional or Roth IRA

We've just about wrapped up our 2016 taxes.  Finally.  The past few years we've been fortunate enough to be above the MAGI threshold to contribute to a Roth IRA.  Good problem to have, right?

Well, with 2016's taxes just about completed I was expecting us to be able to contribute to Traditional IRAs in order to lower our taxable income.  Apparently, that's not the case.  My understanding of the tax law is that we can only contribute a paltry amount, about $800 per IRA, because I had access to a 401k last year.  Nevermind the fact that I was laid off in April so I only had access to it for about 1/3 of the year.

Since we are also somehow above the income limit for contributing to a Traditional IRA, since I had access to the 401k, that limits the amount of tax deductible contributions we can make to IRAs.  

I was hoping to source the wisdom of the community to see what y'all think we should do.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Getting In On The Ground Floor

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

On Tuesday of this week the Board of Directors at Versum Materials (VSM) announced their first ever dividend.  As a dividend growth investor I primarily invest in companies with dividend growth streaks that span decades, but sometimes you get the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of what can hopefully turn into a lengthy streak.  

If Air Products, Versum's parent company before being spun off, is any guide with their 35 year dividend growth streak then Versum could prove to be at the beginning of a long and profitable streak of their own. approved yet another increase in their storied dividend history.  Shares currently yield 0.67% based on the newly initiated dividend. 

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Banking On Higher Dividends

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.Yesterday the Board of Directors at JP Morgan Chase (JPM) approved another increase to their quarterly dividend.  The dividend was increased from $0.48 to $0.50.  That's a 4.2% increase to their dividend payment.  Assuming the dividend is maintained at this level fro the remainder of 2017, this year will be 7 consecutive years of dividend growth for JP Morgan giving them the title of Dividend Challenger.  Shares currently yield 2.29% based on the new dividend payout. 

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - A Hidden Increase

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

On Wednesday, Pepsico, Inc. (PEP) reported 4Q and full year 2016 results.  The earnings report looked pretty solid, but what really got me excited was the dividend increase.  Pepsico is a bit of an odd fellow when it comes to their dividend raises where they've announced the raise in February to start with the June payment. 

You can check out my recent analysis on Pepsico over at Seeking Alpha. 

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Another Classic from this Champion

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - An Early Valentine's Gift

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Realty Income Strikes Again!

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

The wonderful thing about dividend growth investing is that sometimes you get surprised with a pay raise you weren't really expecting.  That's exactly what happened yesterday.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - The Freeze Has Thawed

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

Ventas announced a solid increase to their dividend payment this past Friday and one more of my holdings snuck one in as well.  This one was a bit of a surprise for me because they had previously announced in late 2015 that they would not increase the dividend in 2016.  The company in question is General Electric (GE) and if you recall they were not going to raise their dividend in 2016 opting for higher share buybacks after the various sales of GE Capital were completed.  

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Recent Option Transactions

As part of running this blog that chronicles my journey to financial independence I like to be open and honest with all of my transactions.  Typically that revolves around buying shares of high quality companies that I deem to be at fair value or less.  And occasionally there's a sale of a company like when I closed one of my positions earlier this month.  Being open about the moves I make allows for better discussion with all of you and helps spread ideas around.  If it creates my own "investment journal" to detail why I made the move and my expectations, well that's even better.  

Talk about a busy few hours.  As many of you know I just completed my 401k Rollover, with 500 free trades in tow, and I'm ready to get some of it working for me.  Between the last hour or so of trading on Tuesday and the first 2.5 hours on Wednesday I invested a big chunk of capital.  Well, I say invested, but the majority of investing is via selling put options.  I'd classify the moves that I made as conservatively-aggressive if that makes any sense.

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Dividend Update - October 2016

It's the end of one month and the beginning of another so it's time for my favorite update: my dividend update.  These dividend updates reflect all dividends that I receive through my investing pursuits. I hope they can help inspire you to take control of your own finances and invest to build a passive income stream. What you use that stream for is up to you, whether it's to fund early retirement, just provide some FI/FU money, or even to provide for an annual vacation; the key is that it can provide options and open up all sorts of possibilities. You can check my dividend income or progress pages to see what dedication to an investment plan can give you.

The 4th quarter is officially 1/3 of the way done.  It's hard to believe that 2016 is already coming to a close.  So far 2016 has been a wonderful year with nearly $4,800 of dividends received across all of my accounts.  October was a solid start to the 4th quarter.  My FI Portfolio provided $241.00 in dividends and my Loyal3 Portfolio chipped in another $7.52.  Combined my taxable account dividends totaled $248.52.  My Roth IRA also brought in $24.94 bringing my total monthly dividends, before taxes, to $273.46 across all 3 accounts.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Starting November With a Pay Raise

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

November got off to a great start with the Board of Directors at Emerson Electric (EMR) announcing another dividend increase in their storied history.  The new quarterly payout inched forward by $0.05 from $0.475 to $0.48.  That's a pretty measly 1.1% raise.  Emerson Electric is a Dividend Champion with 60 consecutive years of dividend growth.  Shares currently yield 3.79%.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - The Streak Continues!

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

Well, well, well look who's streak continues on.  Yesterday Today the Board of Directors at Chevron Corporation (CVX) announced a much anticipated dividend increase.  The new dividend payout is $1.08 per share compared to the previous payout of $1.07.  That's a tiny 0.93% raise, but it keeps the streak alive.  Chevron is a Dividend Champion with 29 consecutive years of dividend growth.  Shares currently yield 4.27%.

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Dividend Growth Investing at Work - 4 Raises? Yes, Please!

Something I love about dividend growth investing is that each month I get to hear about companies I own deciding to pay me more money in dividends.  Just for owning a small portion of said companies.  Not going and doing R&D for new products or technology.  Not selling any products.  Not managing any employees or inventory.  Not making sales calls.  All I had to do was have the foresight to invest some of my savings in excellent companies.  That's dividend growth investing at work!  I mean who doesn't like getting a raise for doing nothing?  Dividend growth investing is far from a get rich quick investment strategy, rather you need to remain focused on the long term goal to be successful.

There's not much better combinations out there than health care and real estate.  Yesterday, the Board of Directors at Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) announced a dividend increase.  The dividend was raised from $0.60 to $0.61 or 1.7%.  Omega Healthcare Investors is a Dividend Contender with 14 consecutive years of dividend growth.  Shares currently yield 7.35%.

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