Category: Dividend Income

Here is the dividend income report for July, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $58.79. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $4309.94.

The income for July, 2018 was $736.90, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of July was $2921.94.

I maxed out my 401(k) with my employer, so I have more money coming in every paycheck. I transferred the extra money to my broker to keep it separate from my checking account until I put it in my Roth IRA next year, and to hopefully earn a small bit of interest. And so far, it is very small. $0.72 to be precise. For some reason the money was put in a new account at my broker, so now I have two cash accounts. I thought it would go into the money market account. I just hit the “Submit” button thinking it would go into the same account. Hopefully this will not be a big deal. I hope the shares of RWR I bought bring in enough to make up for the $100 or so I am not getting anymore.

I am still thinking about putting money into REITs. Realty Income will announce their quarterly results tomorrow. I might decide to take the plunge with them. I mentioned a few other REITs a few months ago. I looked at their financial statements, and a lot of them have wide fluctuations in net income from year to year, sometimes from quarter to quarter. I want income, not drama. Realty Income has been increasing their income for 26 years. Granted, sometimes you have to go to the fourth decimal place to see the increase; in 2013 they increased from $0.1812292 in May to $0.1815417 in June. On the other hand, they pay monthly and have more than one increase in a year.

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

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-07	$4309.94	$58.79	$818.06	$696.65
2018-07	$2921.94	$736.90	$548.35	$584.94
2017-07	$3439.61	$331.08	$541.56	$541.54
2016-07	$3017.64	$273.36	$464.99	$484.27
2015-07	$2678.45	$263.13	$412.44	$415.35
2014-07	$2132.33	$198.43	$333.77	$322.07
2013-07	$1673.29	$180.57	$258.23	$288.65
2012-07	$1794.53	$219.72	$261.24	$277.53
2011-07	$1556.17	$204.83	$235.96	$211.69

 

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

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $40.59
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $11.43
• Brokerage Money Market: $6.05
• Brokerage Treasury Account: $0.72

Big Jim prefers dividend increases of at least $0.01. Is that too much to ask?

“The Purification of the Temple” by El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614), at the El Greco Foundation site, assumed allowed under Fair Use.

Here is the dividend income report for June, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $2244.44. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $4251.15.

The income for June, 2018 was $863.49, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of June was $2185.04.

This is the first month with income from the State Street ETFs. So far, it was a pretty bug haul. WDIV paid over $1000. I usually do not get to $4000 in income until September. This ETF has bigger payouts in June and December, and smaller ones in March and September, so I do not expect to have such a nice haul every single time.

Dividend growth ETFs in general do not always have increasing payouts every quarter. That is one disadvantage relative to investing in the individual stocks. I think this is because people are buying and selling the fund all the time, and not buying and holding. I do not know if it is hedge funds doing the trading, or if people are continually seduced by the deceptive siren song of capital gains.

I also used some of my money market fund at one of my brokerage accounts to by additional shares of RWR. I did not buy the shares in time to get the dividend. I guess I bought on the ex-record date, or something. Still, waiting three months for the first payout is not the end of the world.

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

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-06	$4251.15	$2244.44	$959.55	$753.16
2018-06	$2185.04	$863.49	$319.68	$551.12
2017-06	$3108.53	$761.91	$539.42	$536.73
2016-06	$2744.28	$684.76	$464.00	$483.42
2015-06	$2415.32	$612.21	$411.83	$409.95
2014-06	$1933.90	$522.86	$333.10	$320.58
2013-06	$1492.72	$351.48	$257.79	$291.91
2012-06	$1574.81	$305.84	$260.85	$276.29
2011-06	$1351.34	$236.50	$235.38	$203.23

 

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

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $40.29
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $11.37
• RLI Corp: $23.19
• SPDR S&P Dividend ETF: $626.86
• Vanguard Utilities ETF: $204.89
• SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF: $260.03
• SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF: $1006.00
• Money Market: $71.81

Big Jim likes the big payouts, and he likes them better when they are more predictable.

Painting of the Flight To Egypt by Guido of Siena (13th Century), assumed allowed under Fair Use.

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.

Here is the dividend income report for April, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $483.26. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $1855.76.

The income for April, 2018 was $50.88, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of April was $1276.89.

I have looked at the indexes used by some of the funds I invest in, and I am selling some of my funds. I am moving my domestic funds to the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF, SDY, which follows the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index I might put the money that was in international ETFs into SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF, WDIV, which follows the S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index It has some of its assets in US firms, but most of it is in other countries.

These funds have their assets in fewer firms than the ETFs that I am selling, but they still have money in more companies than I owned when I had my money in individual stocks.

I am also thinking about moving my money market fund into Realty Income, the Monthly Dividend Company Getting monthly dividends sounds nice. They are part of the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index (1.45% of SDY). I know Wolf Street has been blogging about the retail apocalypse (remember kids, it’s not just because of Amazon; private equity is also a big factor), but Realty Income has their quarterly calls available on their site. If I keep track of it, things might work out okay; as Andrew Carnegie said, the way to get rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket carefully. They still increased payouts during the Great Recession, so I am sure they will do fine during the next downturn.

Besides, a lot of people who predict disaster all the time never see any good news anywhere, and never seem to reflect that they might be wrong when they see their predictions not coming true.

I find it a bit odd that index providers will license their indexes to different firms. It is pretty frustrating that many of the providers do not provide a list of constituents on their index pages. Some of them give the top ten, but not the whole list.

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

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-04	$1855.76	$483.26	$588.35	$629.22
2018-04	$1276.89	$50.88	$405.77	$583.24
2017-04	$1814.94	$324.66	$532.02	$522.40
2016-04	$1622.67	$270.38	$461.86	$471.14
2015-04	$1441.12	$261.30	$409.21	$395.68
2014-04	$1130.58	$196.43	$323.64	$303.18
2013-04	$898.59	$179.23	$262.82	$289.40
2012-04	$1010.82	$218.56	$274.05	$271.21
2011-04	$848.29	$203.10	$216.30	$179.46

 

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

• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF: $208.52
• Vanguard REIT ETF: $130.79
• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $41.37
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $11.08
• Money Market: $91.50

Big Jim prepares for the future, but not at the expense of awareness.

Painting of the Annunciation by Guido of Siena (13th Century), assumed allowed under Fair Use.

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:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-03	$1372.50	$1143.33	$457.50	$593.19
2018-03	$1226.01	$1099.99	$408.67	$606.06
2017-03	$1490.28	$805.35	$496.76	$517.88
2016-03	$1352.29	$732.13	$450.76	$470.38
2015-03	$1179.82	$612.48	$393.27	$390.27
2014-03	$934.15	$437.87	$311.38	$301.75
2013-03	$719.36	$360.85	$239.79	$292.68
2012-03	$792.26	$294.68	$264.09	$269.92
2011-03	$645.19	$229.43	$200.06	$163.15

 

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.

Here is the dividend income report for February, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $138.45. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $229.17.

The income for February, 2018 was $66.43, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of February was $126.02.

There is not really a whole lot to say this month. I plan on writing about the indexes tracked by the ETFs I have invested in, as well as a few others. It is good to know what you are buying.

There are some indexes that are made by small shops and their licensed ETFs can have high expense ratios.

Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each February from 2012 through 2019:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-02	$229.17	$138.45	$847.72	$589.58
2018-02	$126.02	$66.43	$654.60	$581.51
2017-02	$684.93	$466.05	$570.90	$511.78
2016-02	$620.16	$383.08	$524.89	$460.41
2015-02	$567.34	$353.85	$492.40	$375.72
2014-02	$496.28	$336.61	$363.62	$295.33
2013-02	$358.51	$248.39	$348.20	$287.16
2012-02	$497.58	$308.90	$337.51	$264.48

 

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

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $40.91
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $11.25
• Money Market Fund: $86.29

Big Jim had another good month.

Painting by artist known as Master of the Last Judgment, fresco fragment with Saints James and Philip, Catalonia, circa 1125, image from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use.

Here is the dividend income report for January, 2019.

The monthly dividend income came out to $90.72. The yearly income total for 2019 through the end of the month was $90.72.

The income for January, 2018 was $59.59, and the yearly income for 2018 through the end of January was $59.59.

For this month, I started counting a money market fund I have at one of my brokerage accounts. I was thinking of using the money to buy bond funds. I did some calculations, and I think that I will make just as much leaving it as it is. Plus, they count the income as “dividends” and not “interest”. So this means that I have been undercounting my dividend income for a while.

One event that happened in January is the death of John Bogle. He was and is one of the most important men in finance. Some people say he was one of the greatest men they had ever met. He has certainly helped millions of people save billions of dollars in fees.

For myself, I went from indexing, to individual stocks, back to indexing, although I now invest in indexes for dividend growth stocks, and not the overall market.

He seemed to get into indexing by accident. He was forced out of his company after a bad merger. He started Vanguard, and started indexing because he could not be an active stock picker. But over time he became an investor advocate and moral authority.

Bogle is like Warren Buffett: an advocate for investors. When Berkshire’s 13-F comes out, and a stock is mentioned in it, you know that it is a good investment. Buffett is a stamp of approval. When Buffett passes, who will be a guide for the common man? Perhaps indexing is enough a part of the culture that we do not need an advocate anymore.

Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each January from 2012 through 2019:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2019-01	$90.72	$90.72	$818.52	$583.57
2018-01	$59.59	$59.59	$819.32	$614.81
2017-01	$218.88	$218.88	$584.54	$504.86
2016-01	$237.08	$237.08	$550.81	$457.97
2015-01	$213.49	$213.49	$471.54	$374.28
2014-01	$159.67	$159.67	$335.67	$287.98
2013-01	$110.12	$110.12	$348.07	$292.20
2012-01	$188.68	$188.68	$316.66	$256.77

 

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

• Money Market Fund: $90.72

Big Jim thinks this year is off to a good start.

“Behold The Bridegroom” by Γύζης Νικόλαος (Nikolaos Gyzis) (1842 -1901), on exhibit at the National Gallery in Athens, assumed allowed under Fair Use.

Here is the dividend income report for December, 2018.

The monthly dividend income came out to $2313.99. The yearly income total for 2018 through the end of the month was $6971.76.

The income for December, 2017 was $1837.78, and the yearly income for 2017 through the end of December was $7536.98.

I had my money in individual stocks from 2010 until late 2017. In 2017, I sold almost all of my stocks except RLI, and I put the money into ETFS: domestic and international bonds, domestic and international real estate, domestic and international dividend stocks, and a utilities fund. I bought the ETFs in December of 2017, and got payouts from those funds in late December. So any comparison of the ETF approach with the individual stock approach needs to take into account that I was double-dipping in the markets in December.

I also got some dividends from individual stocks in 2018 even though I had sold in 2017. I guess this is an example of all that ex-date and record date stuff that I do not think long-term investors need to worry about. You can read about that stuff here. I held a lot of the stocks that I bought for five to seven years. I doubt that missing one quarter’s payment will condemn me to eating cat food when I am old.

In December of 2017, I got $816.26 from dividend ETFs. If we subtract that from the 2017 total of $7536.98, we get $6720.72. In 2018, I got $80.74 from individual stocks othe than RLI. Subtracting that from our 2018 total of $6971.76 gives us $6891.02. So 2017 was still my best year up until that point, and I made more with the ETF strategy in 2018 than I made with individual stocks in 2017. It may seem pedantic to these calculations, but I think it is an accurate way of looking at and comparing the two strategies. I don’t change strategies too often.

Or maybe I am changing tactics because I am still investing mostly in dividend growth companies, but just doing it in a different, more indirect way.

I did not re-invest all the money I got from selling the individual stocks, so I could have done better in 2018 than I did. I might put that money into a commodities fund, a yieldco fund, or an insurance company ETF.

One of the reasons I kept RLI is I think the insurance industry will do well going forward. Insurance against damage caused by climate change will be in high demand going forward. I will have to look into this more. RLI did lose money due to hurricane claims. But my shares are worth a lot more than I paid for them, both due to capital gains and reinvesting dividends.

One thing I like about this approach is that it is a lot less work. I track my money in GnuCash, and I also have a spreadsheet for my investments; there are some things that I do not know how to do in GnuCash, like moving averages, and I have formulas to compare the value of the shares against what is spent, and a few others. I used to keep track of when companies have press releases announcing their dividends, and what the record and payout dates were. I used to have to enter in a LOT of information for all the stocks I was in. Now there is a lot less.

On the other hand, I wonder if this will help me stay afloat when I am older. This has been a concern for a while. My income is increasing by about $500 to $1000 a year. This includes new money into my IRA and from more shares from re-invested dividends. I guess I thought there would be some acceleration at some point, but it does not seem to be happening.

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 2018:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
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, 2018:

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $39.41
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $10.59
• Vanguard REIT ETF: $199.20
• Vanguard Utilities ETF: $209.32
• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF: $234.77
• RLI Corp: $30.75
• RLI Corp: $139.79
• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $40.80
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $223.82
• Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF: $47.82
• Vanguard Global ex-US Real Estate ETF: $279.54
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, Rollover IRA: $302.29
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, Roth IRA: $451.20
• Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF: $104.69

RLI paid a regular dividend of $0.22, and a special dividend of $1.00. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF and Vanguard Total International Bond ETF each had two payouts in December. For some reason bond funds have two payouts in December and none in January. I hold shares of Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF in two separate accounts.

Big Jim had a pretty good year.

Image  from Wikimedia, assumed allowed under Fair Use. Painting “Aparición de la Virgen a San Isidro sobre el cielo de Bolonia” by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, or just Goya (1746-1828). Goya does have a website, although this painting is not on it.

Here is the dividend income report for November, 2018.

The monthly dividend income came out to $50.86. The yearly income total for 2018 through the end of the month was $4657.77.

The income for November, 2017 was $560.60, and the yearly income for 2017 through the end of November was $5699.20.

Over the past year, I have moved most of my money into dividend growth ETFs. I have not paid as much attention to individual stocks. I have not downloaded the U.S. Dividend Champions spreadsheet every month since I switched from stocks to ETFs.  I found out that the original maintainer, David Fish, died recently. See articles on Seeking Alpha here by Mike Nadel  and here by Abby Carmel. It is now updated by Justin Law. The writer at Dividend Growth Investor also puts out their own version of the Dividend Champions spreadsheet. In fact, it was at Dividend Growth Investor that I first heard about the death of David Fish.

One of the tributes on Seeking Alpha said that David Fish did not like the idea of telling people what to buy. A few times people have asked me about investing, and I told them about DGI and the Champion spreadsheet. That alone could guide someone’s investment plan.

The Dividend Champion list divides companies into three categories depending on how long they have been raising their dividends: Champions (25 or more years), Contenders (10 to 24 years), and Challengers (5 to 9 years). Even if you using just ETFs (as I am), it is still a good idea to look at this list once in a while because it will tell you how many companies are raising dividends, and in my opinion give you a tool to gauge the health of the economy. Here is a table for the breakdown of CCC companies for every December from 2010 to 2018.

Year	Total	Champions	Contenders	Challengers
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	20

 

Look at that. Mostly increasing numbers. While Obama was president. I guess our not-so-liberal media is wrong when they tell us that things go better with the GOP in charge.

One issue with dividend investing is how it will do in a downturn. It did well in the past two downturns, so I think there is a good chance it will do well in the next. Mike Nadel mentions this in his remembrance of David Fish. He mentions an article in the New York Times saying DGI is not a great strategy since companies could cut dividends when the economy contracts. He wrote a rebuttal, inspired by something David Fish wrote to him: Actually, more than 70% of companies that were Dividend Champions back in 2007 continued to raise dividends through the recession, and another 9% merely froze their dividends. So approximately 80% did NOT cut their dividends.

The funny thing is that if the economy contracts, indexing will not do well either. Nor would active stock picking. It seems like it is the people who push buybacks and capital gains who speak of the benefits of their strategies in terms of absolutes, and ignore the times their strategies do not work. The DGI crowd talks about probabilities. It is a better way to approach life.

Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each November from 2011 through 2018:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2018-11	$4657.77	$50.86	$562.56	$541.30
2017-11	$5699.20	$560.60	$559.31	$560.58
2016-11	$5048.77	$506.98	$502.98	$500.27
2015-11	$4517.55	$460.83	$477.55	$452.28
2014-11	$3528.16	$291.27	$357.30	$343.53
2013-11	$2811.61	$252.75	$277.74	$291.48
2012-11	$2898.91	$247.99	$262.78	$284.49
2011-11	$2577.05	$246.37	$232.84	$240.81

 

Here are the stocks and the income amounts for November, 2018:

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $39.79
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $11.07

Big Jim wishes he could have thanked David Fish while he had the chance.

“Pegasus Departing” by Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847 – 1917) at the Smithsonian Museum,  assumed allowed under Fair Use.

Here is the dividend income report for October, 2018.

The monthly dividend income came out to $1130.39. The yearly income total for 2018 through the end of the month was $4606.91.

The income for October, 2017 was $341.83, and the yearly income for 2017 through the end of October was $5138.63.

So I am behind where I was last year, but still ahead of where I was two years ago.

Again, the payouts from some of the funds that should have been at the end of a “C” month spilled over into the following “A” month. I doubt that December’s payout will spill over into January.

I interviewed for a job this month. I decided not to go forward with it for a variety of reasons. This means my current 401(k) is still sitting in ordinary index funds, not in dividend funds. I am still learning new technology on my own time, but on the other hand I am in no rush to add stress to my life. Still, having all that money in dividend funds would be sweet.

I asked HR if I could move it, and they said I could only take it out if/when I leave the company. I wish I could leave for a week, move it, and come back.

We shall see how dividends do going forward. I know it is hip to predict disaster, but between trade wars, Brexit, general conservative stupidity and rising interest rates, it is obvious the good times will not last forever. How will dividends do during the next recession? Who knows? They generally do better than the general market (they did in the dot com crash and the Great Recession), but every downturn is different.

I might hold off on buying a commodities fund. I have no idea how commodities do during downturns. My first guess if they don’t do too badly. People still need to eat. But I also know I am not an expert on this stuff.

Here is a table with the year-to-date amounts, the monthly amounts, and the three- and twelve-month moving averages for each October from 2011 through 2018:

Month	YTD	Amount	3MMA	12MMA
2018-10	$4606.91	$1130.39	$561.66	$583.77
2017-10	$5138.63	$341.83	$566.34	$556.11
2016-10	$4541.79	$281.09	$508.05	$496.43
2015-10	$4056.72	$312.23	$459.42	$438.15
2014-10	$3236.89	$243.87	$368.19	$340.32
2013-10	$2558.86	$184.81	$295.19	$291.08
2012-10	$2650.92	$225.14	$285.46	$284.35
2011-10	$2330.68	$208.90	$258.17	$238.44

 

Here are the stocks and the income amounts for October, 2018:

• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF: $201.69
• Vanguard International Dividend Appreciation ETF: $33.05
• Vanguard Global ex-US Real Estate ETF: $50.03
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF: $272.77
• Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF: $407.14
• Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF: $117.99
• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF BND ETF: $37.46
• Vanguard Total International Bond ETF: $10.26

Big Jim is still growing.

“The Triumph of Religion” by Γύζης Νικόλαος (Nikolaos Gyzis) (1842 -1901), assumed allowed under Fair Use. Religion is not endorsed by this website; we actually advocate people abandon fairy tales. It’s just a nice change of pace from walls of text.