Here is the dividend income report for May, 2019.
The monthly dividend income came out to $150.95. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $2006.71.
The income for May, 2018 was $44.66, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of May was $1321.55.
I have sold some of my Vanguard ETFs and replaced them with State Street ETFs. I sold six and bought three. I hope they will all pay in C months and make my income more predictable.
As I was looking, I took a look at some of the iShares ETFs. I thought their expenses were rather high, considering how big they are. Then again, some of the State Street ETFs have high expense ratios as well. Higher than the unpredictable Vanguard. I wonder how expense ratios are calculated. Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund has an expense ratio of 0.13%, 33 holdings, $2.927 billion in assets, and 80.3 M shares. State Street’s other US real estate fund, SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF has an expense ratio of 0.25%, 96 holdings, $2.373.3 billion in assets, and 24.1 M shares. (RWR has a higher dividend, so I think the higher expense ratio is worth it.) So their assets are not that far off, the more expensive one has more holdings, but the cheaper one has more than three times as many shares. Does a high share count lower the expense ratio?
I am looking at putting some REITs into my brokerage account. A couple that I am looking at pay monthly dividends. STAG Industrial has a lot of warehouses, which are becoming more important with online delivery. Blackstone just bought a logistics and warehouse company. LTC Properties, Inc. has a lot of seniors housing and health care properties, but their dividend has not increased since October 2016. Welltower is also into senior housing and health care, but they pay quarterly and they have also frozen their dividend. Ventas is also into senior housing and health care, they pay quarterly, and they have been increasing their dividend for nine years.
Another REIT that I am looking at is Easterly Government Properties, Inc. They buy buildings that are leased to federal agencies. They seem to like law enforcement. Rethuglicans always talk about cutting spending, but they never do it.
I am also looking at Gladstone Land Corporation. I am a bit on the fence about this one; I will have to look more into it. They buy farmland across the US, and they say they are still in acquisition mode. I hope so, because frankly it looks like they are doing it wrong. Their site says, “All our farms have abundant water sources”, yet they have a lot of farms in California, and two in Arizona, which are very dry, and a lot in Florida, which is Hurricane Central. They have only two in Michigan, and no others in the Midwest. For all the years I lived in Illinois, there were not that many tornadoes, and it has a lot of water. Right now I cannot access their investor relations page, so I cannot look at filings or listen to conference calls. I will try again later.
But seriously, farming in Arizona? Are you crazy?
Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each May from 2011 through 2019:
| Month | YTD | Amount | 3MMA | 12MMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-05 | $2006.71 | $150.95 | $592.51 | $638.08 |
| 2018-05 | $1321.55 | $44.66 | $398.51 | $542.66 |
| 2017-05 | $2346.62 | $531.68 | $553.90 | $530.30 |
| 2016-05 | $2059.52 | $436.85 | $479.79 | $477.37 |
| 2015-05 | $1803.11 | $361.99 | $411.92 | $402.51 |
| 2014-05 | $1411.19 | $280.01 | $304.77 | $306.30 |
| 2013-05 | $1141.24 | $242.65 | $260.91 | $288.11 |
| 2012-05 | $1268.97 | $258.15 | $257.13 | $270.51 |
| 2011-05 | $1114.84 | $266.55 | $233.03 | $194.61 |
Here are the securities and the income amounts for May, 2019:
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $40.47
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $10.71
- Money Market: $99.77
Big Jim likes predictable income.
“Adoration of the Magi” by El Greco (1541 – 1614), file on Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use.
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