Ahh, dividends.
Even just hearing that word conjures up all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings for me.
I remember playing the board game Monopoly as a kid. My favorite Chance card was the one where Mr. Monopoly (or Rich Uncle Pennybags) collected his bank dividend of $50.
I thought that was so neat. Collecting money for nothing. Growing up as poor as I did, it seemed like a pipe dream as a child.
Well, it’s no pipe dream.
But it is a dream; it’s a dream of a lifestyle that almost anyone can live, as I’ve proven out over the years.
Mr. Monopoly sits on my shelf at home, reminding me every day of just how far I’ve come…
How far?
I went from below broke in early 2010 to financially independent in early 2016.
And I did so with no particular advantage(s) over anyone else. I grew up in a crack house in Detroit. My parents abandoned me. I have no college degree. I worked at a car dealership making ~$50,000 per year – until I didn’t.
Those six years of my life I set aside to aggressively save and intelligently invest my capital resulted in financial freedom at 33 years old – which is how I became Mr. Free At 33.
That financial freedom is underpinned by the five-figure and growing passive dividend income my FIRE Fund generates on my behalf.
I aptly named my portfolio the FIRE Fund because it allows me FI/RE (financial independence/retired early).
The Fund is a portfolio built on the tenets of dividend growth investing, whereby I allocate my capital almost exclusively toward high-quality stocks that have lengthy track records of paying rising dividends year after year.
These are world-class businesses. Because of that, they tend to rake in more profit year in and year out. And because shareholders are ultimately the collective owners of any publicly-traded company, growing dividends are our rightful share of that growing profit.
Well, the growing dividends that are sent my way by the businesses I own a slice of are enough to cover my basic personal expenses in life, meaning I don’t need to ever have a job again. Haven’t had one since turning 32 years old. And I have no plans to ever have one again.
If you’re interested in using dividend growth investing to achieve FIRE for yourself, check out my two best-selling books on this: The Dividend Mantra Way and 5 Steps To Retire In 5 Years (also available in paperback).
What you’ll soon see is the tangible manifestation of all of these concepts I write about.
The table below lists every dividend I received (as well as each respective company that paid it) from the preceding month.
This is real cash money, folks. Every time a dividend comes in, that’s real-life money I can use to do whatever I want with. Now we all know why Mr. Monopoly loved to kick back with a cigar, like a boss.
When you’re collecting a dividend a day, you are a boss!
Without further ado…
| Aflac Incorporated (AFL) | $46.80 |
| Enbridge Inc. (ENB) | $43.95 |
| JM Smucker Co. (SJM) | $11.70 |
| Pfizer Inc. (PFE) | $20.40 |
| Phillips 66 (PSX) | $21.60 |
| WEC Energy Group Inc. (WEC) | $13.81 |
| Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) | $9.75 |
| Visa Inc. (V) | $4.20 |
| Southern Co. (SO) | $51.00 |
| Unilever PLC (ADR) (UL) | $47.89 |
| United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) | $22.75 |
| Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) | $15.08 |
| Discover Financial Services (DFS) | $3.50 |
| Southside Bancshares, Inc. (SBSI) | $24.00 |
| TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) | $1.95 |
| Amgen, Inc. (AMGN) | $13.20 |
| Chevron Corporation (CVX) | $22.40 |
| Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) | $41.23 |
| Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) | $16.40 |
| International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) | $31.40 |
| Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) | $39.60 |
| United Technologies Corporation (UTX) | $28.00 |
| Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) | $90.00 |
| 3M Co. (MMM) | $13.60 |
| CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP) | $24.98 |
| Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) | $10.50 |
| Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (CFR) | $13.40 |
| EPR Properties (EPR) | $14.40 |
| Harris Corporation (HRS) | $22.80 |
| Hershey Co. (HSY) | $13.12 |
| Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN) | $55.80 |
| Polaris Industries Inc. (PII) | $12.00 |
| Praxair, Inc. (PX) | $8.25 |
| Realty Income Corp. (O) | $20.85 |
| Stag Industrial Inc. (STAG) | $13.02 |
| Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) | $26.70 |
| McDonald's Corporation (MCD) | $55.55 |
| Royal Dutch Shell PLC (ADR) (RDS.B) | $47.00 |
| VF Corp. (VFC) | $25.30 |
| Dominion Resources, Inc. (D) | $20.88 |
| Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) | $37.20 |
| Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO) | $48.60 |
| BP PLC (ADR) (BP) | $66.00 |
| Brinker International, Inc. (EAT) | $28.50 |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) | $11.40 |
| Public Storage (PSA) | $10.00 |
| Chatham Lodging Trust (CLDT) | $15.95 |
| C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW) | $11.50 |
| Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI) | $15.75 |
| Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) | $45.45 |
| NorthWestern Corp. (NWE) | $13.75 |
| PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) | $71.42 |
| Service Corporation International (SCI) | $3.40 |
| Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV) | $7.70 |
| Union Pacific Corporation (UNP) | $43.80 |
| Total: | $1,449.18 |
Just for reference, a great resource for tracking your portfolio and everything related to it is Personal Capital.
Man, another fantastic month!
This exceeds a full-time income for many Americans. Indeed, it exceeds the amount of money a large chunk of the global population earns in any given month for working many hours.
To be able to sit back and relax while having that kind of passive income streaming in is a feeling that is almost indescribable.
And then to be in that position in my 30s…
I’ve worked really hard to get (and stay) here. But I was so lucky, too.
Life is now about pursuing passions rather than chasing cash. And that’s great, because chasing the buck is a futile exercise: you’ll never catch it.
I’ve allowed it to come to me, and now I can allocate my time toward bettering myself as a human being.
The crazy thing is, it’s possible for just about anyone to get to this position in life. Plus, you don’t even have to wait that long.
Sitting here from the top of Mt. Freedom has given me an awesome perspective. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t do what I can to inspire others to catch a glimpse of this view. That’s why I continue to write, coach, share, and motivate.
Mt. Freedom isn’t like Mt. Everest. Mt. Freedom actually gets easier as you near the summit. That’s quite a bit different than a real mountain.
So don’t let anything hold you back from climbing this thing.
This is only the second time I’ve earned $1,400 or more in dividends in a single month. $1,500 is coming up. Very excited about that.
This month’s dividend income is 7.8% higher than the $1,343.74 I collected in June 2017. The total amount of dividend income I’ve collected in 2018 is now up to $6,248.15. That’s 12.9% YOY growth compared to the $5,536.46 in dividend income I earned through June 2017.
Very solid growth here. I’m nothing but pleased. Moving abroad has essentially solved inflation worries for me, so dividend growth isn’t even the priority it once was (when I was still living in the US).
Still, this kind of YOY dividend growth for a FIRE stock portfolio that’s more or less in “maintenance mode” is fantastic.
I say maintenance mode because I’m no longer aggressively investing thousands of dollars per month in fresh capital to achieve FIRE, because I’ve already hit my financial goals in life. Still, I invest a little bit of capital here and there. And the snowball I’ve already started rolling will only continue to gain speed and size over time. Look out below!
Almost 60 different companies sent me a dividend this past month. That’s close to averaging two dividends per day over the course of June. That’s what I’m talking about!
The air might be pretty tough to breathe at the top of Mt. Everest. But I can tell you the air is fresh as a daisy from the top of Mt. Freedom.
Come join me.
I hope you all had a fantastic month of June, too!
Full disclosure: I’m long all aforementioned stocks.
How was your month? How much dividend income did you collect? Is your dividend income (and the growth of it) living up to expectations?
Thanks for reading.
Image courtesy of: bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
P.S. If you’d also like to collect five-figure dividend income and reach FIRE, check out some phenomenal resources that personally helped me become financially independent in my early 30s!
Congrats jason,Looks like JNJ is your biggest payer,Looks like this covers your expenses and some savings.
desi,
Thanks so much!
Johnson & Johnson is a heavy hitter. I do enjoy seeing those dividends and raises come in from such a wonderful business. 🙂
Hope you had a great month, too.
Cheers!
Yes,had one of my best month since i started the Journey.
Jason –
Wow… 55 different companies, I believe, is what I counted?! That’s incredible growth, when you are in the “maintain” type of mode and is mainly due to dividend increases, with a little bit of capital that you’ve deployed here and there. This is impressive and your consistency is incredible, in that – you still had a bulk of your income come from other months, outside of the quarter ends. Thank you for sharing and looking forward to when another 7-10% growth yo our income occurs!
-Lanny
Lanny,
Appreciate it, man. It was a hell of a month. Almost makes my fingers tired typing all of that up in the spreadsheet!
Steady as she goes. I’m super proud of this fine collection of businesses I’ve built over the years. And it just continues to get better as these companies become more profitable, my dividend income increases, and I add small pieces to the puzzle.
Let’s keep our snowballs rolling. 🙂
Best regards.
June was a good dividend month for me, too.
$1883.20 = YOY growth of 91%.
This is the first full month after I made some big changes to my portfolio. I was very heavy in a single position, so I sold some off and spread it around.
sfmitch,
Wow. That’s an awesome month over there. Congrats. Keep it up!!
I’m looking forward to a milestone in that range – $15,000 per year in dividend income (not counting book royalties). That would imply a few months per year around $1,800 or so. Very exciting stuff. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by!
Cheers.
Man. A 13% raise after a year of not working (other than being MrFree for us, of course). Absolutely killing it, Jason. Thanks for the inspiration!
Charles,
Thanks a lot. It’s awesome to be in this position. I had only ever aimed to be FIRE. To be able to still invest a little here and there and pursue my dreams like I’m doing exceeded my original vision. Couldn’t be happier or more blessed. 🙂
Hope you also had a fantastic June!
Best wishes.
That is another beautiful month in the books there Jason, congrats!
My June was also a personal record, coming in at $494. A year before, June 2017, it was $292.
This year I should definitely seem my first ‘$500’ month, and then next year the first ‘$600’. And then the year after.. ah well, you get, since you wrote the book about it haha.
Thanks for a great post
Tall Investing
TI,
Haha! Now that you mention it, I do recall writing a little something about compounding and the snowball effect. 🙂
Congrats on the personal record. The fun thing about setting personal records in dividend growth investing is, you get to break records and set new ones constantly. Those records are meant to be broken. Keep it up!
Best regards.
Great progress, Jason. Our June dividend income also rocked at $8714 or about 24% over last year. The records really come in fast and furious. It’s almost really hard to fathom where we will all be in a few decades from now. I’d also expect that monster growth rate to slow down once I stop adding capital to the portfolio and moving into a slower lane.
Certainly a lot of this future monster cash flow will be going to charity- that’s getting pretty obvious to see.
-Mike
Mike,
Wow. That’s an awesome month over there. Huge numbers. Great stuff. Congrats!!
That’s the kind of money I couldn’t even imagine spending. As it sits, I earn a significant amount of active income from my writing efforts that obviously doesn’t get spent. I’d be looking to increase my philanthropic efforts to a great degree if my passive income were six or seven times higher, but that would be an amazing problem to have. I’m excited to be in that position one day. 🙂
Thanks for stopping in!
Cheers.
Hi Jason. I’ve been following your blog (great stuff!) for awhile but I think this might be my first comment. We share many stocks, and I also enjoyed those June dividends.
Now that you are in the withdrawal phase, how frequently do you make portfolio changes? I’ve read quite a bit about FI folks who keep “fiddling” with their portfolios and end up with lower returns or reduced capital. Is that something you worry about?
Keep up the great work! I’m looking forward to your next update.
DF,
Thanks so much. Appreciate you following along. 🙂
I spent years updating the portfolio over at DM. And you can go back and see numerous updates over the months here at MF33. So I guess you can make your own call in regard to “fiddling”, but I rarely sell stocks. And I obviously don’t buy terribly much any longer, as noted. I’m just enjoying life, maintaining the portfolio, and occasionally adding some fine pieces to the collection. I honestly have better things to do than micromanage a stock portfolio, but to each their own on that.
Cheers!
You are doing great! You need to be proud of yourself. I was always interested in investing but never had the guidance. I admire what you have done and hold you up as an example to others. As for myself, my 2 paid in full rental homes (paid through frugal living and doing without) net me $10,755 per year. I had cash scattered around here and there not doing anything but I didn’t want another rental home. Inspired by you since I started reading your blog in 2015, I pulled most of that cash together but mostly bought growth stocks and did some trading. While I made money, I found it was so very time consuming. Then in February, when the market started declining, I sold all but 8 stocks. February through June was a great time to buy dividend paying stocks. Since February I have rebuilt my stock portfolio to 62 dividend paying stocks netting me projected total of $8,354 per year in dividends ($696 per month average) with a 5.32% forward yield on cost of $156,997.96. My current yearly investment income (rental homes and dividend income combined) after expenses and taxes is about $19,109 per year ($1,592 per month). By investing in dividend paying stocks I have nearly doubled my investment income. All of my investment income is selectively reinvested in dividend paying stocks so that my personal investment income snowball keeps rolling. At age 57 with my Army retirement and other government retirement that more than cover my expenses (and a few toys on the side), I should never need to touch any of this. But it is comforting to have this investment income if needed. Also inspired by you and recent events in my life, I am considering starting donating some of my current income to charities on a monthly basis and also contemplating leaving the 2 rental homes and the entire stock portfolio to several worthwhile charities. My top 12 holdings are T, BTI. PM, DUK, PPL, WMT, PEP, VGR, SO, KO, MO, D. Let the dividends roll.
Steven,
That’s a fantastic position to be in. I imagine you won’t even need any of those assets or the passive income they generate (due to your pensions), but it’s awfully nice having access to that at any time.
It’s great to hear you’re planing on leaving that wealth behind to philanthropic organizations. That’s my same plan. I couldn’t imagine being a better hero than making a difference in that way. There’s nothing admirable, to me, about someone who lives ostentatious and wastes their money. I mean, everyone has a right to spent their money however they wish. It’s just not something I could ever admire or agree with. Meanwhile, it doesn’t take much to be a real superhero in this life and push society forward. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Best wishes.
What an amazing month! I can’t fathom what it must feel like to receive that many dividend payments in one month 🙂
Nicola,
It’s a great feeling. I definitely enjoy it. It’s just that total autonomy and freedom to go about life as you please. It sets everything else up so nicely.
I’m sure you’ll get there, too. It’s one step at a time. It’s not easy. Wasn’t easy for me. But it’s sure worth the effort. You’ll see soon enough. 🙂
Best regards.
Great to see you had a awesome month Jason. I too had a great June, $1502.81 and last June was $1229.30 in dividends. I continue to work on building my dividend income. I have to save to 2 me and my wife. Reading your updates help keep me focused and inspired. Again congrats on a great month you had Jason.
Cheers
Anonymous,
Awesome stuff over there. That’s a huge chunk of change. It’s actually quite a bit of money no matter how you slice it, but it being passive values it so much higher (at least to me). I’ve always valued passive dollars at least 3x higher than active dollars. So making, say, $1,500 in passive income would be, to me, akin to making $4,500 at a job.
Keep it up!
Cheers.
Amazing how large the snowball can grow in just a bit of time. Congrats on a $1,400 plus month! 🙂 You have so many great companies as well. Keep up the amazing work! 😀
MDD,
It’s awesome having a snowball roll away from you a little bit. I can let off the accelerator and just let this thing get bigger all on its own. That allows you to go about your life and work on stuff that you’re passionate about. I’m super fortunate. 🙂
Hope you had a great month, too!
Cheers.
All I can say is…. WOW.
What a month for you. A total of $1400+ in dividends and even an increase on last year. Absolutely killing it.
Keep up the great work Jason.
BHL,
Thanks so much. I’ve come a long way. Most of us have. And it’ll be fun to see where many of us are in 10 or so years. 🙂
Best regards!
Congrats on a great month and a new record! Looking at your list of stocks I see quite a few that I own as well but missed the dividend this go around to having just built my DGI portfolio at the end of May. Very encouraging!
DD,
Hey, I was there not long ago. But it’s a lot of fun when the dividends start to finally roll in and you see that money working for you. It’s a magical process. 🙂
Best wishes!
Nice month you had Jason, over $1,400 in dividend in pretty awesome. That is a lot of money when you live in Thailand. 🙂
We had a fantastic June where we broke a new all-time monthly record (5th time in 6 months in 2018). We almost hit $1,700! We were short by less than $10. I’m sure we’ll break the $1,700 milestone later this year.
Tawcan,
Yeah, it’s a lot of money over here. My purchasing power has effectively been tripled, so this would be like receiving $4,500 in dividend income in the US. And this is all by/for one person, which kind of separates me from a lot of other people out there (although I choose to spend on two). I’m actually investing more per month than what a lot of people spend per month over here. It’s like being on a different plane of existence. But I do my best to use that gift of an opportunity wisely. 🙂
Congrats on your milestone over there, too. $1,700 is a big figure that only sets you guys up to get much bigger in the near future.
Cheers!
Great job, Jason!
I share 15 of the same companies from your list, some of which I’ve held for over two decades. The snowball starts really showing its magic as the years go by!
Keep on your good work, my friend!
Alex
Alex,
Wow. Two decades. That’s awesome stuff! 🙂
I’m excited for my first ten years in. Not too far off now.
Best regards.
Hi Jason congrats on a great month 🙂 Its great to see all the folks here working toward a fantastic financial future.
I have been busy the past few months with my new fund ( my first “real” brokerage acct ) I have added 14 great companies to my new fund ( My orig accts are 9 companies through direct stock plans ) It really is good to be back having fun investing and start collecting divs for the future. Im not sure what the new fund will be for or what future plans I have for it but Im glad Im back in.
Thanks for all the great work here and I want to thank all the folks that visit here and post their own progress 🙂
Bob,
Thanks so much!
Yeah, it’s great to see how many people out there are chasing after their dreams. So much to look forward to for so many of us. 🙂
Best regards!
Just a note on my new fund and I will give a few examples for people who have asked about fees for “small” amounts. I decided to start with $500 ea then build up from there.
I bought 191 shrs of AMNF which gives me $17.19 per year ( cost $498.51, $4.95 to buy )
I bought 71 shrs of SOHO which gives me $34.08 per year ( cost $494.87, $4.95 to buy )
I bought 25 shrs of ORI which gives me 19.50 per year ( cost $511.00, $4.91 to buy )
The point I want to show here is that even small amounts add up and that the $4.95 fee to buy is a great deal even my AMNF at “just” $17.19 per year is $4.29 a quarter which almost covers my buy so all the rest is great income.
Thanks again and keep up the inspiring work 🙂
Bob,
I always tried to limit fees to no more than 0.5% of the transaction. Scottrade used to charge me $7, so I’d try to make sure transactions were $1,400 or more.
That said, being overly concerned about these fees is probably missing the forest for the trees. People don’t mind blowing money on all kinds of useless stuff, yet a few dollars from the brokerage company is all of the sudden a problem. If $5 or whatever is going to make or break you, you’re doing it all wrong. I never thought like that, but I also tried to be reasonable about it.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
congrats on this super dividend incorme month.
I´m just half into your book at the point about dividend investemnt. Very nice and easy read.
The only point which makes me wonder is the tax sitiation in the US compared to other countries.
E.g, you mention 3.5% dividend income. But it is hard to have stocks with dividends this high and even if ,usually they tax away ~ 27% away from it in Europe. Some scandinavian stocks in their jurisiction are in an evem more cazy situation, where you can loose up to nearly 50% of the dividend (Statoil) due to lack of anti double tax regulation. There are ways to get parts of it back with lots of paperwork, but then it´s not passive income anymore ::)
Same thought I had regarding the income tax levels in Florida vs other US states. Even with 4% – ha …here we speak more about 40%.getting directly subtracted from the paycheck.
To be fair, in the US you have to pay big money for health care, which is otherwise included, but still this seems to be one of the holy grails in the FiRE departemnt. Location.
Cheers
SC
SC,
Yeah, being born and raised in the US, where you have access to the world’s most robust stock market, is a great advantage. The fact that so many Americans pass that opportunity up is bewildering.
That said, many European countries are also fantastic for quality of life and access to capitalism. But it’s just a different dynamic. No matter where I would have been born, I’d always look to make moves that were most advantageous to me. I did what I did because of the set of circumstances given to me. If totally different circumstances were passed along, my decisions might have also been quite different. But many European countries have their own set of great companies that surely pay dividends. It likely behooves one to stay as local as possible in many of those situations.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
what I like about your concept is the general mindset. Tax situations may be different. so eventually in the US it is possible to retire on a given framework in x years, whereas in other countries it may take you x + n years, but it doesn´t change the basic idea.
In Europe the most attractive dividend payers are often the ones with some actual business problems. We have the typical automotive companies like BMW, Daimler, Porsche, VW etc, all giving nice and stable yields, but most of them are now affected by the Dieselgate affair. I hold a bit of them, but won´t buy more unless there is a clear picture. If they recover on the other hand, it may be a bargain right now.
Same goes for Deutsche Bank. Very speculative right now.
BP, Total and Shell are more stable in that regard. Dividends are very very good in general in the oil industry segment. How far this fossile energy concept will carry us, we´ll have to see.
Lufthansa is also an attractive dividend payer. As long as the energy prices stay low it should run well. Competition is coming mainly from Asian airlines with government support, but local competition was reduced lately with the AIr Berlin shutdown.
SAP may also be a candidate, but I will buy this global bureaucracy pusher only over my dead body 🙂
Strangely US tech companies in the past were more connected to the growth segment, but lately they have also developed a fine dividend strategy: Apple, Intel, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, etc.
Tech leaders are harder to find in Europe but ASML is one of the few super-high-end techcompanies with almost no competition ih their segment, steady growth and good dividends.
So lots of options.
Cheers
Senior Crown
SC,
Right. Exactly. That’s what I was saying above. It’s just different, but the basic framework can be applied to most other situations.
If I were to be born in some European country, for instance, FIRE might not have been as possible so quickly. But it also might not have been so necessary, for it’s a total different dynamic as it relates to work-life balance and overall quality of life. If I had a different life where my job took on a very different meaning, FIRE might not have ever even been on my radar. However, I don’t think that would have been all that bad. Of course, it’s impossible to say. But the rat race pressure is what drove me out.
Cheers!
Hey mate, had any thoughts about investing in crypto currencies?
Geoffrey,
http://dailytradealert.com/2018/02/04/undervalued-dividend-growth-stock-week-26/
Cheers.
Fair point Jase. I guess if we were talking the opportunities for short term trading it would be a different story as you can argue the low fees make this attractive. Long term, well, who knows