Dividend Income Report – April 2020

It’s hard to tell what day it is anymore. With COVID-19 and my State’s quarantine, the days just run together. But, despite the fact that there is a global pandemic going on, to achieve financial freedom, I know that my dividends are hard at work in the background. As you know, I’m in the process of rebuilding my dividend portfolio. It really bothered me that I had to sell so early, but it was a good process to go through. Now, I am making sure that any money invested will be money I don’t touch for at least another 13 years when I hopefully will retire. That amount of time won’t make me rich, but I hope to be in a position where my dividend income is truly supporting my ability to achieve financial freedom. Now, with that said, let’s see how much dividends I earned in April 2020.

Dividend Income

In April, I received a total of $0.33 in dividends broken down as follows:

NO.	STOCK	NAME	DIVIDENDS
1	CSCO	Cisco Systems Inc.	$0.23
2	KO	Coca Cola	$0.04
3	O	Realty Income	$0.06
			$0.33

Wow. I think that’s the lowest dividends I’ve ever earned since I started tracking my dividends. But, that’s what starting over from scratch means. The good news is that it will only get better.

In April, I reached my unannounced goal of having a minimum of $1000 balance in my account. I’m shooting for $2000 by the end of May. I may not achieve $3000 in June because that is when I plan on closing on the condo – assuming the deal doesn’t somehow falls through. I’ve already lost a bank that had previously approved a loan, but because of the coronavirus, they backed out. So, I am still in the process of trying to get approval. I’ll keep you updated.

But, I am very excited about the prospects of rebuilding my dividend portfolio. Financial freedom is worth it, and as the saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Well, I’ve taken my first step in rebuilding my portfolio.

Annual Income

Here is a graphical representation of the dividends earned in April in relation to the dividends earned in previous years. I’m sure it’s there, but it’s just not visible to the human eye.

Here is the raw data:

MONTH	2017	2018	2019	2020	Rate
January	$0.00	$14.93	$37.54	$2.22	-94.09%
February	$0.00	$77.66	$141.16	$7.49	-94.69%
March	$0.00	$72.93	$136.45	$78.68	-42.34%
April	$0.41	$31.47	$55.39	$0.33	-99.40%
May	$2.85	$79.33	$142.69
June	$16.89	$98.51	$160.47
July	$5.99	$42.32	$59.68
August	$21.95	$108.44	$147.73
September	$28.72	$111.15	$151.66
October	$23.21	$48.09	$3.00
November	$62.11	$124.92	$7.18
December	$76.51	$140.24	$116.51

As you can see, the end of the quarter is usually my slowest month receiving dividends. In any case, I earned a whopping NEGATIVE 99.4 percent less dividends this April as compared to last year. The good news is that as I rebuild my portfolio to achieve financial freedom, the percentage increase on an annual basis is going to be EPIC.

Finally, the Dividend Tracker has been updated accordingly.

Forward Annual Dividends

At the time of this writing, my forward annual dividends is $47.63. In my last dividend income report, I indicated that my forward annual dividend income was a whopping $19.66. So, this is a 142% INCREASE from the previous month’s report of my forward annual dividends. Financial freedom – here I come.

Conclusion

April was indeed a slow month for dividends. I’m not even sure what I could buy with $0.33. But, over time, it will get better.

I’ve committed to contributing a minimum of $500 to my portfolio every month. However, in May, I’m hoping to bring my portfolio balance from $1000 to $2000. It’s already sitting at $1200.

Financial freedom is a worthy goal. There are many paths to get there, and this blog has chosen the path of dividend growth investing. Wish me luck, but hopefully with enough time, discipline and consistent investing, I won’t need it.

What did you think of this post? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below.