Welcome to the June dividend update. It’s the big one and all my friends are here. That includes VIIIX, VMCPX, VSCPX, UNH and others too! Even RERGX makes an appearance. That’s quite a cast of characters!

If you’re new to this series and think those names are weird then you’re not alone! Those weird random letters are just ticker symbols designed to make identifying funds easier and faster. VIIIX, for example, is an Vanguard S&P 500 index fund with a very low expense ratio. It’s a big part of my portfolio and is one of the reasons months like June are big for dividends.

You see, most mutual funds and many stocks pay out quarterly. That means big payments in March, June, September and especially December. That makes these months especially exciting for investors as those big dividends starting rolling in every other day.

That means June is going to be the biggest month I’ve seen since March.

The off months have been growing this year too which has been nice to see. I’ve added more bonds and money market yields have increased which has led to solid growth in the previous months.  April was up 59% and May was up an impressive 91.5%. Those growth rates are awesome but they’re from much smaller starting dollar totals.

June won’t be nearly as growth heavy but I’m still expecting a decent bump off of last year. That’s due to all the money that I have added to the market since then. On top of that, many companies within many of my mutual funds have raised their dividends. That will help drive growth this month as well.

That’s not to say that huge growth is guaranteed. Mutual funds don’t always have guaranteed consistent growth like an individual dividend growth stocks might.

Most index funds like VIIIX will be relatively predictable in their payouts since their composition doesn’t change often. The stocks in an S&P 500 fund will be close to the same this year as they were last year.

However, there may be changes in holdings for active funds that may change the yield y/y or change the timing of the payments. With international funds, changes in exchange rates may also affect payments. RERGX, one of my holdings, is both an international fund and active fund so predicting a dividend there is tougher.

For example, RERGX paid out once in December every year until 2017 where it issued a June dividend and thus a lower December. That spiked June growth while lowering December.

In the end it doesn’t matter since I got all the money eventually but it may make these individual months more or less impressive depending on timing. The important number is the year end growth but it’s still good to see growth in every individual month as well. Hopefully that’s the case for June.

Last year’s June came in at $1701.73 so let’s see where I landed this June!

June Dividends

June’s dividend total comes in at $1934.01!

That’s a 13.64% bump over last year. It’s not a huge increase like we saw the last few months but 13.6% when we’re talking about a high starting point is great!

That growth continues to show the power of putting more money in the market. The 13.6% growth is even more impressive given that RERGX paid out 1/3rd of what it paid out last year and that’s a decent sized holding for me.

Compounding is a huge part of dividend growth. This month’s payout will increase share counts of all payers and give me an extra $44.48 annually going forward or $3.71 per month. That means more share of VIIIX, VMCPX and all the other funds that make up my superhero fund squad!

Beyond dividends, my mutual funds also had $2125.18 in long term capital gains that were re-invested into more shares. I don’t track those as dividends but they will increase my share count on some dividend paying mutual funds which should bump up their dividend totals in future years.

My dividend employee Steve went all out this month. His hourly wage jumped up to $11.60/hr. That takes his annual wage up to $4.04/hr! Great job Steve.

Related : My dividend employee Steve

Overall, I’m feeling good about this year. This month’s total brings the yearly total over $4,000. That’s 24.3% higher than the $3246 I was at this time last year.

That bodes well for my yearly goals especially since the two biggest months historically are still ahead.

You can see by the graph below the progression since I stared and what’s ahead for me this year.

It’s clear by the graph that March, June, September and December are where my bread is buttered when it comes to dividends. There’s a few small months ahead before we hit September which has potential to be the first $2,000+ month outside of December.

At this point, I’m well ahead of where I was last year and on pace to at least hit my bronze dividend goal. It’s possible that I can even break the $10,000 mark for the year if September and December are solid. I will talk about that more in a mid year goal review I plan to do soon.

Related : My 2018 Annual Goals – the financial goal Olympics

It’s nice to see the growth continue every month. July and August are historically very small but I’m hopeful I can bump those up above $100 and continue my streak of $100+ months. I think that’ll be possible due to my recent bond purchases.

I’ll continue buying stocks and bonds according to my asset allocation and can’t wait to see where this year ends up. I’m certainly off to a great start! Seeing results like this gets me excited and eager to improve my savings rate and get this dividend snowball growing.

Thanks for reading and let me know how your June went this year.

June Total : $1934.01
2018 Total : $4036.81
Portfolio monthly hourly wage : $11.60/hr
Portfolio annual hourly wage : $4.04/hr