Dividend Income Report – October 2020

Welcome to November 2020. We have two more months to go before 2020 is officially over. And, we have two more days before election! If you haven’t already voted, go vote – regardless of which candidate you support. Also, another month has gone by and the dividend snowball is slowly moving down the hill. Every month, I contribute to my dividend portfolio like clockwork. Every month, the dividend snowball keeps getting bigger and bigger.

However, the race is on. I have a goal of having my portfolio reach $10,000 before the end of the year. Unfortunately, I am behind. At present, the portfolio sits at $6,697.21. So, I have far to go and the recent decline in the stock market didn’t help. Though I’m invested for the long haul, there’s nothing like a goal to motivate me to add more funds to the dividend portfolio. So, stay tuned to see if I am able to reach my goal by year’s end. In the mean time, let’s take a look at how much dividend income I earned in October 2020.

Dividend Income

In October 2020, I earned $11.46 in dividends broken down as follows:

NO.	STOCK	NAME	DIVIDENDS
1	KMB	Kimberly Clark	$1.85
2	KO	Coca-Cola	$2.26
3	MO	Altria Group	$6.26
4	O	Realty Income	$1.09
			$11.46

Not too bad. The first month of the quarter is usually my slow month. Although $11.46 is small, I note that in the previous quarter, the dividends I earned was $6.67, and so I’ve crossed into double-digit territory! In addition, that is $11.46 that I didn’t have before and that is working hard for me even while I sleep. Dividend Growth Investing is a slow but worthwhile strategy, and one that will pay dividends (pun intended) for years to come.

Annual Income

Here is a graphical representations of the dividends earned in October in relation to the dividends earned in previous years:

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	$2.23	-98.44%
June	$16.89	$98.51	$160.47	$10.29	-93.59%
July	$5.99	$42.32	$59.68	$6.67	-88.82%
August	$21.95	$108.44	$147.73	$9.72	-93.42%
September	$28.72	$111.15	$151.66	$30.19	-80.09%
October	$23.21	$48.09	$3.00	$11.46	282.00%
November	$62.11	$124.92	$7.18
December	$76.51	$140.24	$116.51

So, after posting this graph, I had to go back and double check. I have a near 300% increase from 2019! It turns out that I sold most of my stocks in October 2019. It’s been so long that I completely forgot that’s when I sold my stocks. So, I sold my stocks in anticipation of closing on my condo and here I am, a year later, and I still haven’t closed! I’m anticipating closing in December, but I’m not going to hold my breath for that. But, the point being is that I’ve now crossed into positive territory in terms of my annual comparisons. It still may take a few months to be completely positive, but I’m happy.

Although I’ve earned more in dividends than I did in October 2019, I’m still down from my 2018 levels. But, the dividend snowball is moving in the right direction.

Forward Annual Dividends

At the time of this writing, my forward annual dividends is $286.75. A month ago, my forward annual dividends was $254.73. This represents a 13% increase from the previous month. I’ll take it.

Finally, the dividend tracker has been updated accordingly.

What Expenses Would Dividends Cover?

Here, I visualize what expenses my annual dividend income could pay for. This is one of my favorite parts of pursuing dividend growth investing.

$286.75 per year is $23.90 dividends per month, on average. At present, I pay $1 per month to use Acorns. Also, my Hulu Plus bill is $6.41 per month. I earn enough in dividends to cover Acorns, Hulu Plus and for the first time, Amazon Prime. This is the first time I am able to cover all three bills with dividends! The next bill I am targeting is Netflix. That amount is $15.99 per month. The total amount needed until I can pay the next bill is $15.21 in dividends. 

This is the first time I am able to cover all three bills with dividends!

Although the $286.75 was an increase from the previously reported forward annual income, I don’t yet earn enough in dividends to cover Netflix. But, the dividend snowball will keep growing and so at some point, I’ll get there. The following is a list of expenses I am currently targeting:

Adopt A Stock Project

For the month of November, XOM has been identified as the most undervalued stock of the month, again. Therefore, I will attempt to buy at least one additional share of Exxon Mobile during the month of November.

I was supposed to buy at least two extra shares of Exxon Mobile in October but I forgot. So, now I’ll buy an extra three shares (at least) to make up for the difference. Since I forgot last month, I decided to put the order in prior to publishing this post, so my XOM shares will soon be reflected accordingly.

Finally, there is a decent chance that I will end the Adopt A Stock project by the end of the year. We will see, but I am working on other projects and a way to ensure I have a robust financial plan for 2021.

Conclusion

Wow, who would have guessed that earning $11.46 in dividends could have such a significant impact on the portfolio. That small $11.46 caused the portfolio to report a nearly 300% increase from the previous year, allowed the dividends to cover one more expense, and propelled the first month of the quarter into double-digit territory. In doing so, it provided additional motivation to finish 2020 strong. Every dividend counts!

As always, stay safe everyone. I hope October was good for you. And remember, GO VOTE!

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