2019-03 Dividend Income Report

Here is the dividend income report for March, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $1143.33. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $1372.50.

The income for March, 2018 was $1099.99, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of March was $1226.01.

I am thinking about selling some or all of my shares of RLI. I have made enough and gotten enough shares through re-investment that I could sell enough shares to cover my original investment and just play with the house’s money. I am also considering replacing it with a different insurance stock. RLI pays special dividends, which unlike their regular dividends do not grow every year. I would like to have an individual stock around to see the compounding compounding of DGI at work.

I am also thinking about selling some or all of my Vanguard ETFs and replacing them with different ETFs. Other funds have slightly higher costs and slightly lower dividends, so it might take longer to become independently wealthy, but I have a couple of issues with some Vanguard ETFs.

One is that several of them (at least the ones that I have) do not always pay their dividends in the “C” months (March, June, September and December). Some of them spill over into the following “A” month (January, April, July, October) [1]. It is usually different funds that have a late payment in different quarters. But no fund was late with the December payment (I am guessing taxes has something to do with this). Most people spend December running around very busy, taking time off, or both. If they can make a payment on time in the busiest month of the year, why is it so hard to make timely payments in the other three months?

From what I can tell, iShares and State Street ETFs have no problem paying in “C” months.

This might sound like a “first world problem”, but I am putting money into these funds for my retirement, for the time of my life during which I will not be able to work. I will need my income to be predictable. Unlike now, my income will be more spread out. None of my current ETFs pay in January, and most only pay out every three months. I will need more consistency than Vanguard seems able to provide. I know some people get paid in irregular intervals, but I should not have that circumstance forced on me. Plus, the stocks that these funds invest in generally pay their dividends consistently. The ETFs should be able to do the same.

One of my funds, the Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF (VNQI), is not making a payment at all this past quarter. The iShares and State Street international real estate funds are able to make payouts this past quarter, so why can’t Vanguard? What is the point of lower cost if there is no income?

Another issue is that I have looked at a few of the index criteria for the indices these funds are based on (as well as a few for indices for funds I am looking at), and I do not like some of the criteria or the structure for the indices used by some of the Vanguard funds. I plan on writing more about this later.

Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each March from 2011 through 2019:

Here are the securities and the income amounts for March, 2019:

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $37.98
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $9.65
• RLI Corp: $31.32
• Vanguard Utilities ETF: $196.01
• Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF: $10.78
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF: $401.84
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (other account): $269.22
• Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF: $91.65
• Money Market Fund: $94.88

Note [1]: I think it was the late David Fish who categorized the three months of each quarter as “A”, “B” or “C”.

Big Jim likes consistency as well as efficiency in his investments.

Pope Dionysius of Alexandria, aka “Pope Dynomite”, who has been dead for about 1800 years, so I think we can assume Fair Use.