Here is the dividend income report for December, 2021.
The monthly dividend income came out to $3408.55. The yearly income total for 2021 through the end of the month was $10951.48.
The income for December 2020 was $3490.60, and the yearly income for 2020 through the end of December was $10541.51.
I had a big jump in my yearly income in 2019 over 2018 after I switched from individual stocks to ETFs. It was about 30%. I know that jumps that big will not happen too often, but since then it seems like my income is stagnant. Granted, a lot of companies were hit by COVID in 2020, but still it seems like things have stalled out. Perhaps as the world gets used to COVID the increases will continue. I hope there are some bigger increases soon. I only have about 10 years to set myself up for the next 10 years after that (or 20 or 30).
I am realizing you need a lot of assets to have a decent cash flow. I read a blog post using Warren Buffett’s stake in Coca-Cola to show how great DGI is. The kicker is that he has 400 million shares. I can’t afford 400 million shares of anything decent. Maybe I need to get an account on a DGI forum and connect with other people at my level. My 100 shares of RLI giving me $8/month will not keep my out of the poorhouse.
I am thinking of putting some more money into individual stocks again. I know I stopped because it was a lot of work keeping track of all of those stocks (I use both GnuCash and a spreadsheet to track all of this), but I really really really like some securities with income that only increases (barring dividend cuts). Again, maybe this is obvious to everyone like me, but I am not clear why some dividend ETFs do not have consistently rising income. I can see why for WDIV, since foreign companies do not pay consistent amounts from quarter to quarter. But since American companies do pay more consistent amounts, I do not understand why SDY is so variable. I get that some companies get dropped from the index, but I think that happens once a year. Perhaps it is because people can buy and sell ETFs anytime. But still, while individual stocks are more work, I would like a some more predictability in my income, especially since the point of all of this is to have income in the future when I am no longer working.
I would also like to buy some that pay in the “A” or “B” months, since the “C” month is already the biggest month. A lot of companies and just about all ETFs pay in “C” months. That being said, I have the fact that sometimes Vanguard ETFs miss the “C” month and pay in the next “A” month.
I am considering getting an account with Morningstar or Yahoo Finance to look at individual stocks. Or figure out how to calculate payout ratios myself. I know there are a lot of DGI bloggers who start paid newsletters analyzing stocks. I find that a depressing trend. Isn’t DGI enough? There are about 4700 stocks traded on the NYSE and the NASDAQ. There are about 700 in the Dividend Champions spreadsheet. You have already eliminated 85% of the stocks on the market with DGI. How many newsletters do you need to do DGI? How much guidance does a DGI investor need? Perhaps joining one of the free forums is all you need to do.
One thing I have wondered is if there is a term for companies that have increased their dividend for less than 5 years. If we are going to stick with words that start with “C”, perhaps “Dividend Children”. Granted, companies that have 50+ years are “Kings”, so perhaps “Trainees” is a good word. Or if we want to stick with the “K” sound, “Qualifiers”.
I plan on buying some shares in REITs that pay monthly: O, STAG, or both. Then I will look at other 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 2021:
| Month | YTD | Amount | 3MMA | 12MMA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-12 | $10951.48 | $3408.55 | $1346.62 | $912.62 |
| 2020-12 | $10541.51 | $3490.60 | $1294.16 | $878.46 |
| 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 2020 and 2021 amounts for the securities that I own, with the difference. There might be a couple of arithmetic errors, but I think it is pretty accurate. It shows that the big culprits for the lackluster growth are the bond funds and WDIV:
| Security | 2020 Income | 2021 Income | YOY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| BND | 2049.06 | 1796.86 | -252.20 |
| BNDX | 140.71 | 453.20 | 312.49 |
| LAND | 0 | 204.55 | 204.55 |
| RLI | 201.61 | 315.22 | 113.61 |
| SDY | 3125.98 | 3616.80 | 490.82 |
| VPU | 940.53 | 943.49 | 2.96 |
| WDIV | 3556.01 | 3080.13 | -475.88 |
| XYLD | 0 | 473.24 | 473.24 |
| Sold | 527.61 | 67.99 | -459.62 |
| Total | 10541.51 | 10951.48 | 409.97 |
Here is a table of the number of Dividend Champions, Contenders, Challengers, and a total of all three for each January from 2011 to 2022. I think there are a few errors in the 2022 table; I will contact the people who made it (they list DTE which cut its dividend, and removed ETN, which did not; the 2021-12 table was correct for those companies, and there might be a few other issues with their first 2022 table). This table is also on this site on the main dividends page.
| Year | Total | Champions | Contenders | Challengers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 708 | 127 | 302 | 280 |
| 2021 | 729 | 139 | 308 | 282 |
| 2020 | 866 | 138 | 265 | 463 |
| 2019 | 864 | 131 | 205 | 528 |
| 2018 | 822 | 115 | 220 | 487 |
| 2017 | 768 | 108 | 227 | 433 |
| 2016 | 753 | 107 | 250 | 396 |
| 2015 | 611 | 106 | 246 | 259 |
| 2014 | 476 | 105 | 210 | 161 |
| 2013 | 458 | 105 | 183 | 170 |
| 2012 | 448 | 102 | 146 | 200 |
| 2011 | 447 | 99 | 141 | 207 |
Here are the securities and the income amounts for December, 2021 (in December, some securities have multiple payouts):
- Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF: $39.74
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $135.69
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $7.45
- RLI Corp: $211.09
- RLI Corp: $26.39
- Vanguard Utilities ETF: $240.27
- SPDR S&P Dividend ETF: $1044.31
- SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF: $1051.93
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $141.88
- Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $130.95
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $275.29
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $1.30
- Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $79.31
- Gladstone Land: $22.95
Big Jim knows that the commandment that your second derivative must always go up will be the death of us all.
Painting by Alberto Sotio, 12th-century Italian painter; image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under public domain.
