As many of my readers may know, I love dividend stocks and believe dividends provide a great source of passive income. I provide quarterly updates regarding my dividend income. Utilizing ‘The Dividend Report’ section of my blog, I will share my progress towards my dividend goals. I will also share dividend growth stock ideas and thoughts. Additionally, I will share the rational behind any future purchases or sales. Dividends are truly a wonderful thing.
The Goal
The current goal is to average $1,500/month in dividend checks. I would like dividends to provide between 25-33% of my monthly retirement income. However, this goal may be revised upwards over time.
Q1-2017 Dividends
My Q1-2017 dividend income was $334.60, which left me scratching my head. Last quarter (Q4-2016), my dividend income was $1507.92; I fully expected this quarter to be lower since many of my funds have larger distributions in December. I even anticipated this in Q4-2016 Dividends – The Dividend Report. BUT, this was just crazy.
My Q1-2016 Dividend income was $344.93 which means year over year my quarterly dividend income DROPED $10.33. This still made no sense as I had five figures more invested in the market compared to last year. So I had to do some digging to find the answer.
I switched jobs late last year. The funds in my new company’s 401k plan are a bit different when it comes to dividend distributions. I still receive 4 distributions a year. However, the distributions are in April, July, October and December.
Ahhhh! So there is the answer to my problem. My new 401k plan will not provide any dividend income in Q1, however, I will have two rounds of dividends in Q4. This is odd but explains a lot.
To summarize – my last year’s first quarter dividend income was $344.93. This equates to a $10.33 or 2.99% decrease from the same quarter last year.
I would have increased my dividend income over 50% year over year if my 401k funds paid a dividend this quarter. I fully expect Q2-2017 to bounce back and be well above the Q2-2016.
The graph below outlines my quarterly dividend income dating back to Q1-2013:
The table below outlines my quarterly dividend income dating back to Q1-2013:
New Purchases
No individual stock purchases in Q1-2017.