Here is the dividend income report for December, 2016.
The monthly dividend income came out to $1027.76. The yearly income total for 2016 through the end of the month was $6076.53.
The income for December, 2015 was $954.52, and the yearly income for 2015 through the end of December was $5472.07.
RLI paid a special dividend in December, as they have done (in varying amounts) since 2010. 2010 is also when I first bought RLI. It’s almost like they knew I showed up. It is only because of the special dividend that I cracked $1000/month in December. Unless I buy a LOT of new stocks or increase shares in stocks I already have by a significant amount, I will probably not crack $1000/month again until next December. It will probably be a while until making more than $1000/month becomes a regular occurance.
Without the special RLI dividend, the yearly total would have been $5820.38, and the Decemer total would have been $771.61. For 2015, the yearly total without the special RLI dividend would have been $5227.18, and the December total would have been 709.63.
So 10% year growth is not too bad, but not too great considering what I might need. As I stated before, I guess in the back of my mind I thought this double compounding would be really snowballing by now. Shows you what I know.
I beat my total from 2015. But I still did not beat my best year, so 2016 is only my second-best year. My best year for dividend income was 2007, when I made $6575.54 in mutual funds in my 401k.
I will probably start investing in my taxable account again soon. I think this time I will stick with ETFs to avoid complexity. I will do dividend growth ETFs, real estate ETFs, and bond index ETFs. If the fund does not pay, stay away.
With regard to stocks, I will still be split between getting new stocks and increasing the number of shares in the stocks that I own. My goal is to either have 100 shares of each stock, or (ideally) enough shares such that each quarterly payout is enough to buy an entire share. Right now, only 7 get 0.9 shares or more a quarter. (With some stocks, sometimes there is more than enough to get a whole share, while other stocks are right at the cusp, and small price movements can push them above or below the 1 share threshold.) Right now I have 42 stocks, and not counting spin-offs I have sold 13. So to stay diversified I should probably buy a few more.
I will keep looking into food and water stocks.
Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each December from 2011 through 2016:
| Month | YTD | Amount | 3MMA | 12MMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-12 | $6076.53 | $1027.76 | $605.28 | $506.38 |
| 2015-12 | $5472.07 | $954.52 | $575.86 | $456.01 |
| 2014-12 | $4438.02 | $909.86 | $481.67 | $369.80 |
| 2013-12 | $3406.20 | $594.59 | $344.05 | $283.85 |
| 2012-12 | $3585.01 | $686.10 | $386.41 | $298.75 |
| 2011-12 | $3091.99 | $514.94 | $323.40 | $253.92 |
Here are the stocks and the income amounts for December, 2016:
- AFLAC Inc: $47.16
- American States Water Co: $27.82
- Black Hills Corp: $15.73
- Bemis Co Inc: $30.75
- Vectren Corp: $25.69
- Johnson & Johnson: $83.00
- Archer-Daniels-Midland Co: $36.04
- Emerson Electric Co: $52.01
- Honeywell International: $67.56
- Sonoco Products Co: $49.56
- Exxon Mobil Corp: $88.56
- Chevron: $26.96
- 3M Co: $15.47
- Walgreen Co: $22.13
- Dover Corp: $10.49
- Consolidated Edison Inc: $21.71
- Kellogg Company: $55.87
- Coca-Cola Co: $47.31
- Valspar Corp: $22.17
- RLI Corp: $25.62
- RLI Corp: $256.15
Image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Painting by Pierre Mignard (1612-1695).
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