First Ever July Dividend

It does not matter to me in which month dividends get paid out. I don't rely on the income to pay any bills, I'm just building up my income generating portfolio. My portfolio has happened to never pay out a dividend in July until this month. XEL paid 105.28. I missed out on a payout from CINF because I purchased three days after the ex-div date. We'll catch them next quarter.

With my recent focus on dividend income and growth, I am now within 100 dollars from my full year div income last year. I will continue to put $500 fresh capital in each month, and will reinvest dividend cash. Altogether I expect to invest around $4,000 more into the portfolio this year, barring unforeseen events.

July Div Income:

• XEL: 105.28

Year to date total: 2,258.76

Trailing 12 months: 3,669.99

Projected next 12 months: 4,916.94

 

ARLP increases dividend

Dividend investors don't get nervous about the market. Low prices mean buying opportunities. Having said that, if a stock you own is in free fall, you do watch it closely. If there are underlying business issues, then the stock could meet your sell criteria and you need to get out. That's not bad, that's just life. If we only picked winners then we'd all be millionaires, right ?   Knowing when to get out is critical. Your next move would be to redeploy that cash in a next buy opportunity. 

Don't Believe the Analysts!

Many people have an opinion about a stock. From your neighbor, to finance bloggers, to entertainers like Jim Cramer, to professional analysts working for large financial firms. "Official" earning expectations are quoted in earning as "Wall Street consensus" and allows companies to 'beat expectations.' I never understood the big deal about missing or beating expectations. Missing your own goals as a company is bad, but who cares what all the analysts say ? As a dividend investor I look for the best signal about a business -- not if they had more earnings per share than the bean counters expected, but if the company pays and raises their dividend when I expect it (based on their track record).

How to sleep better when the bears rule

In the 2008 market drop many people lost a lot of money. Especially those that panicked and got out of the market. They bought high and sold low. I was worried, but held on to my stocks. Everything bounced back, and then some.

Today, I could really care less about what the market does. I'm invested in solid companies, that have weathered bear markets before. Throughout these markets these companies have continued to pay their shareholders dividends, and even increase the payouts.

July Addition

I added 13 shares of RY today at $58.50. This adds $31.49 to my annual dividend income. RY won out over other contenders because it satisfies my entry criteria. It also allows me to average down on my June purchase. I should be just in time for the August dividend payout, as the ex-div date is tomorrow.

14 Dividend Paying Stocks with a Solid Track Record

Unlike stocks only purchased for capital gains, dividend stocks have many extra data points to examine before purchasing. What is the yield ? Has this company been paying out consistently, even through recessions ? Have they been raising dividend per share ?  What is the payout ratio ?  When did they last cut the dividend or miss a payment ?  The Active Passive Screener looks at all these data points, and assigns a score to each stock on the list. We take the top scorers for further investigation. The group of top scorers can vary from month to month or week to week depending on the stock price fluctuation and how that affects the yield. And the company's actions around dividend will heavily influence the score -- cut dividend and scores drop.

Today's top scorers are listed below. These are not buy recommendations. This are merely stocks to investigate further and see if they meet entry criteria.

Living and Saving

I had an uncle who lived a good and frugal live. Didn't do crazy stuff, saved up for a nice early retirement. Even did some consulting at the start of his retirement. Ready to really settle down, enjoy the golden years, play with the grand kids. Three months later he died from pancreatic cancer.

What I take from this is to never forget to enjoy life. I'm frugal by nature, and very disciplined when it comes to investing. But at the same time, I make sure my family and I do the things we enjoy, even if they are costly. Sometimes these things make my financial heart cringe. But the emotional return on investment are memories that my kids will carry for the rest of their lives. So we do the 500+ dollar per day ski trips. We do the swim with the dolphin adventures. We don't go crazy -- there are limits. We will take the cheaper flight at the odd time with the lay-over. We'll take the hotel or room that's a bit farther from things or not as big. So we balance the finances out with the experiences.

Watch List July

On July 20, I expect about $105 from XEL, and that will wrap up my July dividend income. With my $500 fresh capital, the first $65 from CINF this week, and some payouts late June, I expect to have about 840 dollars to invest. I don't try to time the market, and I plan to invest this next week.
I am probably going to add to an existing position, as some dropped significantly and I will use it to average down.
I will avoid three of my stocks that are on the warning list -- ARLP because of its price dive, CVX and TAL because they paid the same dividend five times in a row and thus didn't raise yet. I have a few others that are meeting entry criteria, so I will look at those. I will still review new positions as well, where I have my eye on CAT.

When to sell dividend stocks

ARLP's stock price has been in decline for several months now. I have a decent position and even 'averaged down' a while back. I anxiously awaited the company's latest dividend announcement. If there were any troubles with the business, I figured they would not pay or cut their dividends. But they paid right on schedule. So I am holding on to the stock for now.  I will not add to the position until it meets my entry criteria.

Dividend Goals

One of the many benefits of a dividend growth portfolio is that it is relatively predictable. Looking at the dividend schedule, and other money I expect to invest, I came up with dividend income goals for the next 15 years.  The danger of a goal is to become blindsided and just chase yields. But with the screener and discipline in place, I only invest in good quality businesses.

Let's look at the goals and how I plan to get there.