October 2015 Dividend/Passive Income

I’m posting this late — sorry about that.  Mad at myself for letting it get away from me because I really do want to be able to look back and see the progress my portfolio has made.

NCT             $1.80

SPY              $2.07

MDY            $.90

BBEP            $.21

NAUH          $.36

Online Lending:  $14.68

October 2015 Total:   $20.02

Portfolio

Thought it would be helpful to have a page that lists out my portfolio because I just realized I’m bad at updating my “buys”.  Some of these are held in my ROTH, some in an IRA, some in my brokerage acct, and P&G is a DRIP.  I’m not including MDY & SPY because those are mutual funds.  And I sold FONE this morning so that’s not in there.

SYMBOL         COMPANY                                  SHARES       VALUE 10/2/15      2/5/16

AFL                Aflac                                                        3                                               $173.79

AWR             American States Water Co                 9                 $372.06               $396.09

BBEP            Breitburn Energy                                   5                 $10.80                  $3.10(yikes)

CAPL            CrossAmerica Partners LP                 4                 $97.12                 $81.12

COST            Costco                                                       2                 $289.60             $290.26

CSX               CSX Corp                                                  1 2               $27.16                $45.76

CVS               CVS Health Corp                                   11                 $1071.84            $1035.54

EMR             Emerson Electric Co                           16 27             $699.60             $1255.77

EPD              Enterprise Prod Part                             2                   $55.19                $47.70

HCP               HCP                                                         21 55             $782.46             $1953.05

JNJ                Johnson & Johnson                          21 25              $1952.37            $2511.00

KMI                Kinder Morgan                                      2                   $58.45                $30.82

KO                  Coca Cola                                                9                                                $383.76

NAUH          Nat’l Amer Univ Hold                            8                  $19.28                   $16.32

NCT             Newcastle Invest Corp REIT               15                  $64.05                   $51.15

PAA              Plains All Amer Pipeline LP               1                    $33.78                  $20.84

PEP              Pepsico                                                      3                                                  $291.54

PG                 Proctor & Gamble                                 31 36              $2293.69              $2916.16

T                     AT&T                                                      42 53              $1363.38              $1950.93

WFC             Wells Fargo & Co                                    4                    $202.48                $192.84

                                                                                 TOTAL:              $9,393.31            $13,647.54

September 2015 Dividend/Passive Income

September wasn’t that big of a passive income month — it is frustrating to watch all these little numbers come in, but I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s adding to a total and NEXT September will be larger than this September and so on.  I’m trying!  I am also adding to my stock list.  I bought more EMR, initiated positions in WFC & CSX, added to T…..little by little.  I did hit my first mini milestone though — I am officially over the $100 mark for passive income for the year.  Gotta start somewhere!  We have also been much more conscious of cutting costs to free up money to put into the brokerage acct which in itself is a win for us and we also sent over $2,000 this month to the Roth’s.  We are on track to fully fund our Roth’s for 2015 which is a goal of mine.  All in all a pretty good month for us.  It’s a learning process and my learning curve has been steep but I’m not giving up.  I think this building dividend/passive income is a good thing for our future and as the Dividend Mantra says, I’m adding snowflakes to the snowball.  Thus far it has been an interesting journey and I’m really glad I started on it — and chronicling it.

JNJ:     $12.00

FONE:    $.27

CAPL:     $2.25

BBEP:     $.21

AWR:     $2.02

P2P Lending Payment:      $14.39

September 2015 Passive Income Total:     $31.14

August 2015 Dividend Income

Here it is already time to report my passive income totals for August 2015.  Where the heck did that month go?  This for me was a month when most of my holdings paid dividends so that was exciting for me.  We also started a P2P account so we got our first payment from that also.

P2P Lending Payment:  $2.87

HCP:  $10.17

T:  $14.10

CVS:  $3.85

EPD:  $.76

PAA:  $.70

KMI:  $.98

BBEP:  $.21

COST:  .80

PG:  $19.56

Total August 2015 Passive Income:  $54.00

As always I wish I had more money to invest but we are on track to fully fund our Roth’s this year and we now have 4 months saved in our emergency fund.  We are in such a better place than a year ago and I am so thankful!  Keeping it going!!

July 2015 Dividend Income

Updating my tracking for July 2015 — another small month but better than nothing!  I have added to my shares in JNJ and HCP and am about to buy EMR.  Looking forward to August’s numbers since a lot of companies seem to be on the 2/5/8/11 dividend payment schedule.  I do like the fact that I got money from 5 extra places not including my J-O-B.  Just gotta keep plugging and adding shares so the payouts get bigger.  Sent $500 to a P2P lending site so I’m waiting to see a return from that.  Don’t know how I feel about it yet.

NCT:  $1.80

BBEP:  $.21

NAUH:  $.09

MDY:   $.92

SPY:   $2.06

July 2015 Total:  $5.08

Dividend Totals — Will Keep Updating

This is just the totals page — a quick snapshot view.  I will keep updating these figures.

May 2015 Dividend Income:     $21.17

June 2015 Dividend Income:    $4.65

July 2015 Dividend Income:  $5.08

August 2015 Dividend Income:  $54.00

September 2015 Dividend/Passive Income:  $31.14

October 2015 Dividend/Passive Income:  $20.02

November 2015 Dividend/Passive Income:  $76.63

December 2015 Dividend/Passive Income:  $33.86

2015 Total:  $246.55

January 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $10.14

February 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $90.33

March 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $49.28

April 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $13.85

May 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $113.40

June 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $71.38

July 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $14.37

August 2016 Dividend/Passive Income:  $124.24

2016 Total:  $486.99

Total Dividends Received (Since Tracking):   $733.54

June 2015 Dividend Income

Can’t believe another month has gone by.  We’re into July  — my favorite time of the year — SUMMER!!! Cookouts, beach days, red, white & blue, picnics, hammocks, waves, sunblock, going barefoot, lobsters & steamers, corn on the cob, strawberries, concerts, screen doors slapping shut, lawnmowers out in force……I wish summer was all year ’round.

For my own tracking and amusement, (and for anyone that stops by here), I am tracking my dividend income because I would like to see the progression of how it grows.  I was able to buy 11 shares of JNJ in June because the price dipped which means it’s on sale(!), and also buy 7 shares of HCP.  These are both in my Roth but at least I have them.  I’m chomping to add more to my taxable acct but different things have come up so I’m gonna have to put that off for a second.  Can’t wait to add JNJ and HCP to the dividend income list.

Here’s the June 2015 dividend income breakdown:

FONE (Smartphone Index):  $.33

CAPL (Crossamerica Partners LP:  $2.19

BBEP (Breitburn Energy):  $.21

AWR (American States Water Co):  $1.92

Total June 2015 Dividend Income:  $4.65

          This is definitely not much, I agree, but it’s free money essentially and I’ll take that.  And it’s something to build on, so again, I’ll take that.  Right now I have my dividends going into my FRIP and it’s set to purchase shares in NAUH (National American University Holdings, Inc) when it gets up to enough.  NAUH is a company that I found on the Champion’s List that isn’t much money per share (right now it’s trading about $3.10) so each month my FRIP is basically buying me a share for free.  In the middle of July it will buy me my third share.  NAUH also gives a dividend so around and around we go.

          Have a great summer!

Recent Buy

One of my goals for 2015 is to max out my ROTH acct.  I also have a taxable account that I’ll be adding to, but for now the ROTH is my priority.  My boss sold the company and the new owners have not implemented a retirement plan for us as of yet.  ANNOYING.  So because I’m not able to put any pre-tax money away right now, my ROTH is priority one for me at this point.  I’m trying to ignore the tick tick tick of the clock for all the time I’m not able to put money away pre-tax.  Makes me nauseous.

So in my ROTH I bought 7 shares of JNJ at just under $98/share on Wednesday, June 10th. This will add about $20 to my annual dividend income. I have it set up to re-invest the dividend back into JNJ.

I think JNJ is an outstanding company for several reasons.  I like that it is on the champions list and that they have increased their dividend for the past 53 years, which tells me it’s a solid company and will probably continue long after I’m gone. That says stability to me.  I also like that they are in several different market spaces — consumer products, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, which I think will continue to expand as our population gets older. That says growth to me.

You are welcome to read (and comment on) this blog but you should probably make your own decisions when it comes to investing.  Because I still have a long way to go to understand the financials of a company, I typically buy with my heart.  Which may or may not be a bad thing.  If I like what a company does, if I like the products they make, if their business model makes sense to me, then I will probably buy it.  The other reason you should probably not follow my investing style is because when I buy shares in a company, I plan to hold them pretty much forever.  This drives my dad insane.  He always says, “You need an exit strategy.”  And I say, “why do I need an exit strategy on a stock of a company that I want to be a part of?  I don’t want to sell it.”  The bad thing is that I’ll probably go down with the ship if one of these fantastic companies I believe in implodes.  I guess it could happen, but I’ll take my chances.

I would love to be able to live off of the income the dividends produce and be able to pass my portfolio onto my kids someday (if I have any).  Wouldn’t that be cool?  How much will JNJ stock be worth in 30-40 years?  And more importantly, how much will they be paying in dividends on the shares that I own?

May 2015 Dividend Income

May 2015 Dividend Income:

So now that I’m keeping track of dividend income — this is the first month that I have ever added it up.  Several things strike me in looking at this.  I didn’t think it would be over $20 and I didn’t think PG’s contribution would be so high.  Very pleased with that. Another thing that strikes me is how mad I am at myself that I only bought onesie twosie shares in companies.  I didn’t have the money to invest more than that at the time and instead of waiting I just bought tiny little pieces and I’m sure I have a long way to go to make up the commissions of those small trades.  Dumb.  I should have waited and pooled more money together to get more than only one or two shares to make the commission not such a huge percentage of the buy.  But that’s what this page is about — for me to live and learn from my mistakes.  The other thing that stands out to me is that I received money from 6 different companies — six mini paychecks.  Kinda cool!  Can’t wait til it is 26!  🙂  This money, if I was taking it out instead of reinvesting, would buy me a tank of gas!

Here is the breakdown of the income for May:

Proctor & Gamble (PG): $17.76

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD): $.75

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA): $.69

Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI): $.96

Costco (COST): $.80

Breitburn Energy Partners LP (BBEP): $.21

TOTAL:  $21.17 

Starting on the Journey of Building Up Passive Income

                  I have always been fascinated by passive income and now know that is my goal.  To receive enough passive income each month to pay my living expenses. I recently came across this website: www.dividendmantra.com and am addicted to his way of thinking and watching his dividend income grow.  About a year ago I had already started my own “play” investment account and without realizing the “why” behind it I had picked several companies that pay dividends.  Now when I invest that is the first question I ask — does it pay a dividend?  Case in point — I looked up Dollar Tree because I love this store and sadly found that they don’t pay a dividend, so at this point it won’t be added to my portfolio even though I can see them doing great things. I had also started a DRIP in Proctor & Gamble a couple of years ago and contributed a paltry $50/mo to it (it has recently been bumped up to $75/mo). I got the idea of DRIP investing from the Motley Fool.  In both of these instances I am reinvesting the dividend.  In the DRIP it just goes right back into PG, and in my investment account it goes into a holding fund where I can pick a stock that I want my dividends to buy (without a commission) and I have picked National American University (NAUH).

                              I am still embarrassingly new at this concept and strategy but am bumbling along and am watching my dividend income increase, albeit tiny amounts at this point. But that’s the point of my journey — to increase that.  I agree that dividend income may be THE most passive way to get income but at some point down the road I can also see myself becoming a landlord.  So although rental income is LESS passive than dividend income, it is still a dream of mine that I hope to one day realize.

                              At this point this blog is for my personal purpose — I hope to be able to look back at where I was and to see how far I have come over time. Excited to see where this goes!  Feel free to leave a comment or to say hello!