January dividend update – first dividend update of 2017
I can’t believe that it is February already. It’s crazy that I’m already writing the first dividend update of 2017.
Ferris sure was right when he said that life moves pretty fast. We’re already 1/12th of the way through 2017.
For those among us that are big fans of winter, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. That means we’re due for some more cold weather ahead. That’s not too great for me.
However, it’s February already and we’re getting closer to Spring. Spring is one of my favorite seasons so I’m excited for the quick passage of time. The days are getting longer and it’s no longer pitch black when I leave work. That’s also a great bonus of putting January behind us.
December was an amazing month for dividends but we’re back to reality for January. I no longer own any individual dividend payers this month. The only cash coming in is my monthly payment from my bond mutual fund.
The cold weather means Steve, my trusty dividend employee who earned me a respectable $7000 last year had trouble finding work this month.
February will be similar story. We’re both certainly looking forward to March. That has historically been a good month for me as a lot of my ETFs, individual holdings and mutual funds pay quarterly.
The market has continued to do well although pockets of value have begun to emerge as we wade into the depths of earning season.
I’m keeping a close eye on earnings. There have been some big moves in certain industries.
Apparel companies were the talk of the last few weeks and have tanked recently after a bevy of mixed results. Companies like UnderArmour or HanesBrands dropped 15-25% after earnings announcements. There were others as well that were hit by the negative sentiment in that industry.
Massive drops like that are quite interesting because they show how quickly this market punishes bad performance. It’s certainly a stressful time to be an individual stock owner. Companies can get a massive haircut by announcing poor earnings or guiding down for 2017.
I always feel like huge drops on solid companies are a good time to do some research. I’ve added a few companies to my list in the past few weeks to take a closer look. In the apparel sector specifically which has taken quite a pounding, I am looking forward to see how VFC does in the next few weeks. That’s one that’s getting closer to a really attractive valuation.
I’m eager to get started on the second full year of dividend tracking here. That all starts with January so let’s take a look at how my portfolio employee Steve did for me this month.
January comes in at a rather anemic $55.56. This is driven by my ETF/mutual fund heavy strategy. That tends to skew towards quarterly payments as seen above.
This is actually a decrease from last year’s $110.30 in the same month. I held Disney stock last year but have sold it since then.
The only payer this month was my total bond mutual fund. That pays monthly and will be a constant payer on any non quarterly months.
Steve, my dividend employee had a hard timing finding work this month and his hourly wage came in at .33/hr, 1/3rd of a dollar! This is a slow start to the year but the hourly wage and dividends received will increase with each additional month especially once we hit the first quarterly payment in March.
This is the first update of the year so the monthly and yearly totals are equal.
Even though the number is small, any little bit helps and the $55 reinvested at my portfolio average yield means I’m adding $1.22 to my yearly forward dividend income.
Starting this month, I’ve added another graph to the dividend update, one that shows my historical data all the way back to November 2015 when I first started tracking it.
Hopefully this graph will be a constant reminder of where I started on this journey and where I’ve gotten once we get a couple years worth of data.
I do notice that due to the nature of my investing, these graphs are very weighted towards certain months making it hard to see the tiny months like January. I plan to do a quarterly round up like I did in my year in review every 3 months after the big dividend months to show a clear comparison of my growth year over year.
I’m also assuming that additional purchases will sometimes add stocks that pay outside the quarterly months and help drive those months a bit higher. I’m certainly not aiming for stocks that pay in January or February just to make those months look higher but I’m sure some values will arise that fit that criteria.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and hope you had a good start to the year in both your financial and personal lives. I’ve still got my 2017 goals to write up and will be back next week with another portfolio update.
7 Comments
The Financial Tech
It's maybe not your best January dividends but it's better than nothing and if you take advantage of the snowball effect that dividends can bring, it will keep growing year after year.
Also, you are better me, I have 0$ in div this January but I'm looking to get back to div investing. I just need the money :P.
Dividend Driven
In fact every little bit does help and long term it won't be so little. Thanks for sharing.
The Millennial Budget
Very interesting you mention VFC as I too am looking at them. Very attractive right now and I may pull the trigger in the coming weeks if it drops. I suspect the market is going to trade sideways or hopefully even decline a little until we get some solid data from the Trump administration. January was a weak month for me at $15 but it will only grow as I am aggressively pumping money into the markets. February will be less than January as I do not have many div payers that month but I am expecting over $70 in March which will more than double my highest month in 2016.
Amber tree
Interesting graph of options income that you have.
What really matters is the monthly average. I have the same with my options income… Volatile stream.
Financial Monkey
Wow, that's some dividend seasonality right there. I'm making a conscious effort to build up positions in individual companies, OEICs and ITs that pay in months other than Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec, since for the time being at least, they are my best months by far. Going to take a while, but I'll get there, particularly if Philip Morris experiences a pull back!
Best,
Dividendsandhobbies
You need to fire that employee and hire someone that brings you good dividends in Jan lol. Yup you knock those 3rd months out of the park.
Buy, Hold Long
Thanks for sharing. Interesting to see your quarterly payments are the highest, are you planning on changing this?