Dividend Report August 2016

This month is lower than the May earnings. In May we had TAL paying out, and the newly merged company TRTN pays out in September, so we should see the boost there. We're still up, from August last year.

RY pays out in Canadian dollars, so there's always a slight currency fluctuation; I'm not deducting the foreign tax withholding, as I'll get that back in my taxes. RY also announce a dividend increase, which is why we love them.

• Income: $ 754.25
• Trailing 12 months: $ 5,447.45
• Forward 12 months: $ 5,651.60

2016 goal is to have $5900 in projected dividend income. So I'm roughly $250 short of that goal, and we have four months left to invest.  I plan to sell ARLP this year, which brings a lot of cash, which I won't be able to replace. So hitting the goal is going to be tough.  On the other hand, I do have one car payment ending later this year, which will help catch up investments early next year. It's around $1000 and I plan to put half towards a new car fund (cash until I've built up a comfortable level), and the other half will go into the dividend portfolio.

My cash position is slowly growing from div income the past couple of months. I'm not a point where I want to jump in yet -- plus various div stocks are overvalued at the moment. I plan to dump ARLP, and use the proceeds plus all cash to get into a new position, or possibly add to an existing one.

In September I expect to earn $ 482.65, including the first payout from TRTN as mentioned above, and my first income from TGT.

Triton Announces New Dividend

Triton International (TRTN) started last year when TAL merged. I wrote about this last Fall. My TAL shares converted to TRTN shares. It was a bit of a gamble holding on to the stock, as no one knows if they keep their promises.

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.