Dividend Report July 2016

It feels great to go on vacation and come back to a nice stash of cash in my dividend account. It's why we love dividend investing -- steady income. Plus, we're not anxious about missing any big ups or downs in the market. Vacation is all about unplugging, and financial peace of mind is a big part of that.

• Income: $ 176.66
• Trailing 12 months: $ 5,337.34

This was a 'catch-up' report as we were on vacation, more in August.

Buy: TGT

Finally, a drop in the market, and I picked up 90 shares of TGT, adding $216 to my dividend income. My total forward income is now $5,745.89. My goal for 2016 is $5900 forward div income, and I want to say this is 'yellow'. I'm only funding this with div income, no fresh capital, so I think I can find another $155 in div income to meet that goal. However, it's not all about that one goal. I have ARLP and TAL on my sell list. Both of these have cut their div, but are still generating quite a nice sum. I'll sell sometime this year, but I'm not sure that I will be able to cover the $550 drop in div with other stocks. I'm willing to take the short term hit though, if it means a more stable growth portfolio in the long run.

Sell: COP

As I have mentioned before, COP cut their dividend and landed on my watch to sell list. I waited a bit and COP nicely recovered from their bottom, and I was able unload all my shares at a minimal capital loss. Including dividends I came out well ahead. I'm still in CVX, and will remain so unless their also cut their dividend. They haven't raised, but with oil prices recovering who knows where the future will take us.

I haven't sold stocks in a long time, and I'm happy with COP's ride overall. It helped me with my div strategy and gained me solid divs. It feels good to sell a stock that cut their div.

Meanwhile the proceeds from COP will add to my growing pile of cash, and I'm looking to buy soon. But I haven't made a purchase yet this year.

Dividend Report May 2016

May was a good month. Pretty mellow overall. No trades. 

Stats:

• Income: $ 753.19
• Trailing 12 months: $ 5,144.63
• Forward 12 months: $5,599.89

Markets have gone up quite a bit, making it attractive to dump COP, TAL and ARLP. I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

ARLP Div Cut

Not unexpectedly, ARLP cut their dividends. The coal industry has been under pressure from low natural gas prices in the short term, but also by an aggressive move away from coal as energy source. Several countries have set goals to increase energy from renewable sources. I believe energy demand will keep growing, and I'm not yet convinced that renewables can keep up. Having said that, the better investment would be in an NEE (that I also own), or SolarCity etc.

Still I think ARLP isn't completely dead. I do believe gas prices will go up, which will increase coal demand, bringing coal prices up as well.

Having said all that, their dividends were unsustainable with the lower revenues and earnings per share. So they had no choice but to cut div. And that puts them on my sell list. Like with COP, I won't sell on the news. I was already going to sell ARLP this year for tax and other reasons. I'll see what the stock does for the next few months and exit at a proper time for me. 

Dividend Report April 2016

April saw dividend cuts. In particular ARLP was a big hit, reducing my dividend income by roughly $130 annually. Offsetting this loss were increases by IBM (7.7%), and JNJ (6.7%). TAL, CVX, and HCP all maintained their previous payout, as expected. No transactions for my portfolio.

Stats:

• Income: $ 176.66
• Trailing 12 months: $ 4,961.31
• Forward 12 months: $5,494 -- a huge drop due to ARLP

In May I expect a record month of $822 in div income. I have money sitting idle, and I can't wait to add it to my portfolio. I'm debating if I should put in my div earnings first, or sell from my sell list (COP - cut, ARLP - cut, TAL - cut) and then invest the whole lot into another stock. 

Dividend Report March 2016

March didn't offer any good buy opportunities. Looks like when stocks were on sale earlier in the year, I didn't have enough cash to invest, and now that I have several months worth of dividends earnings, stocks are overbought.  So no transactions this month. COP came back up along with oil prices. I'll be looking to sell in the next few weeks.

My portfolio value has gone up nicely with the rest of the market. No smarts or luck here, just not selling when things tanked in Jan and Feb, but riding the wave down and up again.

March stats:

• Dividend income: $ 436.10. No surprises.
• Trailing 12 months: $ 4889.93.
• Forward 12 months: $ 5622.72. Slightly higher than last month, due to dividend increases. Not growing fast, as I haven't put money back into the portfolio.

Expected in April: $ 176.66.