Here is the dividend income report for December, 2019.
The monthly dividend income came out to $3,611.13. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $10,515.13. I finally broke the 10K barrier.
The income for December, 2018 was $2,313.99, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of December was $6,971.76.
One of the reasons I got more income is that I increased my stake in BND in my IRA. I also got shares of RWR in a taxable account.
I might get a premium account at ETFGuide.com. It is a site run by Ron DeLegge, the guy who runs the Index Investing Show. They do a monthly income trade using covered calls on some ETFs. He always gives the amounts based on investing $100,000. I will be investing less than that. I will email and see if it is worth it if I invest less money. I would no longer be a purely dividend investor, but it might be an extra $3,000 a year.
Maybe I will get a membership and see how the trades pan out. I can track the ETF prices without buying options. I still need to hold on to RWR for a while to avoid captial gains tax.
I am going to need more money soon. My rent will be going up by about $50/month (which is more than 20%). I am almost 50, and I will be eligible for catch-up contributions in my Roth IRA and Roth 401K. Right now I could put all the extra into my Roth 401K, but then I would have nothing left for my IRA. I will need about $7K a year.
There is an option to put my Roth 401K in a brokerage account, but the trading costs are pretty high. I can only rollover to an IRA when I leave the company. A lot of places do not offer 401Ks, so for now I am staying. I wish I could leave for a day, roll my money over and then come back.
I need a better job in general. I am not too thrilled with the technology at the job I am at, but not too many people use the technology I am interested in.
I started qigong recently. A few people have said it has changed their lives, and a few said they got better jobs. We shall see.
One thing I also did recently is I converted a small part of my traditional IRA to a Roth. I want to see how much I will pay in tax. Ron DeLegge says that now is the time to convert since tax rates will go up in a few years. The problem is I do not want to use up all my savings paying for the taxes on a conversion. He says to keep a margin of safety. Maybe he would disagree with this, but I consider my emergency savings to be my margin of safety.
I also plan on taking Ron DeLegge’s advice and come up with a written investment plan.
I still sometimes wonder if what I am doing will be enough. On one hand, if I was investing my Roth 401K from work the same way I invest the rest of my money, my totals would be higher. But I have been doing this for a while, and I am still not seeing the wild compounding I was expecting. I started going all-in on dividend growth investing in 2010. (I do not include 2010 numbers in my monthly posts because I started partway through the year.) In the nine years I have been doing this, I have made $52,389.49. I still think going for capital gains is just the Greater Fool Theory, and I have no interest in that. We will see what happens.
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 2019:
| Month | YTD | Amount | 3MMA | 12MMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-12 | $10515.13 | $3611.13 | $1343.15 | $876.26 |
| 2018-12 | $6971.76 | $2313.99 | $1165.08 | $580.98 |
| 2017-12 | $7536.98 | $1837.78 | $913.40 | $628.08 |
| 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 securities and the income amounts for December, 2019:
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $173.12
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $10.51
- Vanguard Utilities ETF: $216.67
- RLI Corp: $101.33
- RLI Corp: $23.31
- SPDR S&P Dividend ETF: $802.33
- SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (second account): $572.57
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $180.53
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $284.98
- SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF: $349.50
- SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF: $884.40
- Brokerage Money Market: $4.33
- Brokerage Treasury Account: $7.55
Big Jim wonders if the first thing Olivia de Havilland thinks when she wakes up is: “Suck it, Kirk Douglas.”
Image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Painting of the Transfiguration by Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1260 – c. 1318–1319), aka “The Duce”.
