Dividend Income Update December 2018

The start of every month is exciting for all dividend income investors as we look back at the previous month and see how much passive dividend income our portfolios generated. December was exciting as ever as my year over year numbers continue to highlight the trifecta magic of dividend investing which includes, adding fresh capital, dividend raises and basic compounding to create an ever increasing passive income stream. Even if I stopped adding fresh capital today and every dividend stock I owned kept all distributions flat, without a single raise, my passive income stream would continue to grow.

With that being said, let’s take a look back at my December 2018 dividend income.

Dividend income from my taxable account totaled $768.19 up from $746.07 an increase of 3.0% from December of last year.

Dividend income from my ROTH account totaled $181.30 up from $167.17 an increase of 8.5% from this time last year.

Dividend income from my IRA account totaled $5.72 up from $1.97 from this time last year, an increase of 190.4%.

Grand total for the month of December: $955.21 an increase of 4.4% from December 2017.

Grand total for 2018 dividends: $9,086.69 an increase of 21.0% from 2017. You just have to love the very real results of dividend growth investing.

Brokerage Account

Year to date dividends: $5,925.29

DateDescriptionSymbolAmount $
12/28/18PRICE T ROWE GROUP INC CASH DIV ON 5 SHSTROW3.50
12/28/18GILEAD SCIENCES INC CASH DIV ON 5 SHSGILD2.85
12/20/18VF CORPORATION CASH DIV ON 56 SHSVFC28.56
12/20/18DOMINION ENERGY INC COMMON STOCKD78.49
12/18/18YUM CHINA HOLDINGS INC COMYUMC6.96
12/17/18MCDONALDS CORP CASH DIV ON 28 SHSMCD32.48
12/17/18DOVER CORPORATION CASH DIV ON 46 SHSDOV22.08
12/17/18CONSOLIDATED EDISON INC CASH DIV ON 75 SHSED53.63
12/14/18KRAFT HEINZ COMPANY (THE) COMMON STOCKKHC36.25
12/14/18COCA COLA COMPANY (THE)KO49.14
12/14/18ARCHER-DANIELS-MIDLAND CO CASH DIV ON 183 SHSADM61.31
12/12/183M COMPANY CASH DIV ON 24 SHSMMM32.64
12/11/18JOHNSON & JOHNSON CASH DIV ON 44 SHSJNJ39.60
12/10/18EMERSON ELECTRIC CO CASH DIV ON 81 SHSEMR39.69
12/07/18YUM BRANDS INC CASH DIV ON 59 SHSYUM21.24
12/07/18AMGEN INC CASH DIV ON 2 SHSAMGN2.64
12/06/18SOUTHERN CO CASH DIV ON 150 SHSSO90.00
12/05/18UNILEVERUL8.87
12/03/18WELLS FARGO & CO CASH DIV ON 42 SHSWFC18.06
12/03/18PFIZER INC CASH DIV ON 49 SHSPFE16.66
12/03/18W W GRAINGER INC CASH DIV ON 14 SHSGWW19.04
12/03/18BEMIS CO INC CASH DIV ON 36 SHSBMS11.16
12/03/18AFLAC INC CASH DIV ON 359 SHSAFL93.34
Total: $768.19

ROTH Account

Year to date dividends: $2,224.32

DateDescriptionSymbolAmount $
12/20/18VF CORPORATION CASH DIV ON 41 SHSVFC20.91
12/20/18DOMINION ENERGY INC COMMON STOCKD8.35
12/18/18YUM CHINA HOLDINGS INC COMYUMC2.04
12/17/18MCDONALDS CORP CASH DIV ON 11 SHSMCD12.76
12/14/18KRAFT HEINZ COMPANY (THE) COMMON STOCKKHC22.50
12/14/18COCA COLA COMPANY (THE)KO12.09
12/12/183M COMPANY CASH DIV ON 9 SHSMMM12.24
12/11/18JOHNSON & JOHNSON CASH DIV ON 8 SHSJNJ7.20
12/10/18EMERSON ELECTRIC CO CASH DIV ON 56 SHSEMR27.44
12/07/18YUM BRANDS INC CASH DIV ON 17 SHSYUM6.12
12/05/18UNILEVERUL46.59
12/03/18PFIZER INC CASH DIV ON 9 SHSPFE3.06
Total: $181.30

IRA Account

Year to date dividends: $937.08

DateDescriptionSymbolAmount $
12/31/18  LTC PROPERTIES INC CASH DIV ON 30.12516 SHS REC 12/21/18 PAY...LTC5.72
Total: $5.72

I have to stress that dividend compounding can work over time and can create an ever increasing passive income stream despite holding dividend cutters and eliminators. While 2018 saw my portfolio receive many dividend raises, stocks like GE, ADNT, APY and TEVA either reduced or eliminated their payments. We all know that diversification is the key to mitigate these circumstances that every long term dividend investor will inevitably face.

I hope everyone had a great 2018 with a renewed sense of what can be accomplished with patience, not panicking, common sense and general investing consistency and discipline. These traits enable consistent dividend income results you see above as well as the knowledge that with high, moderate or even low income levels passive income growth can be achieved. Are any of these dividend stocks in your portfolio too? How was your December dividend income? Please let me know below.

Disclosure: Long all above

37 thoughts on “Dividend Income Update December 2018”

    • Hi BHL,

      Thank you for your continued support. 2018 was a solid year to say the least and if I can maintain an annual double digit year over year gain I’ll be very happy.

      Reply
    • Hi Passivecanadianincome,

      I’m really looking forward to hitting five digits in 2019. Last year really set me up for a nice start to the year and with fresh capital being added each month it should occur despite some ugly dividend cuts. See, DGI can work even when a stock or two or three lowers your passive income stream.

      Reply
    • Hi DG,

      The snowball should carry me towards five digits in 2019 all on its own. Of course, I’ll help it along the way with fresh capital being added each month.

      Reply
  1. We share three companies from this month (KO, JNJ, UL). Your numbers are really impressive, DH! A perect proof how well consistency and power of compounding work.
    I’m totatally with you on diversification. A company cutting or reducing the dividend won’t hurt much if you have build a well-diversified portfolio of great businesses.
    Keep up the good work in 2019.
    Cheers
    Alex
    Snugfortune recently posted…Watchlist – January 2019My Profile

    Reply
    • Hi Snugfortune,

      If you are in the DGI game you will inevitably experience a dividend cut. That’s just the nature of the game. The only way to mitigate a cut and loss of income is making sure you hold a basket of stocks that can grow and compound despite the cut all the while making sure that no single stock(s) represents the majority of your income.

      Reply
    • Hi p2035,

      You know it. Five digits is well within sight for 2019. That would be a nice milestone to hit. I remember years ago I was aiming for a $1K a month average income and it looks like that that’s within reach too.

      Reply
  2. Over 20% YOY increase, that’s amazing! Keep up the good work. The market volatility lately has created some buying opportunities in some great dividend growth stocks.

    Cheers

    Reply
    • Hi AAI,

      A lot of buying opportunities! There are so many traditionally strong dividend stocks that are at historically high yields it’s tough to choose or have enough cash to invest in all. Reading other blogs it seems we are all continuing to make buys even though the market looks quite scary these days which is nice to see. Ignore the noise.

      Reply
    • Hi MDD,

      Always appreciate the encouragement. 2019 should bring in five digits. Of course, I don’t like to count my eggs before they hatch which is why I never mention my forward passive income as things always change for the better or sometimes worse. Let’s keep it strong in ’19!

      Reply
    • Hi PIV,

      Thank you for your comment and continued support. I have to admit it’s fun watching dividends rise year in and year out. Makes you wonder why everyone doesn’t jump aboard the dividend train.

      Reply
    • Hi DD,

      If everything remains flat, no fresh capital, no dividend raises nor cuts, I should be able to hit five digits in 2019 simply by reinvesting and compounding. I’m excited to see what my results will look like this year. In the meantime, it will be more of the same for me.

      Reply
  3. Great results Keith, and congrats on pushing past that $9k milestone. The 5-digit club is calling your name and it will be great to see you crush that one too!

    Interestingly we only share four holdings from this month, and that goes to show that there are a lot of different ways to build these passive income machines. Look forward to what the coming year holds for you and your portfolio!
    DivvyDad recently posted…Dividend Income Report :: December 2018My Profile

    Reply
    • Hi DD,

      Passive income can come in many forms and sources. I’m sure over time our portfolios will share more names. That’s the nature of the DGI game. As always, I appreciate your comment and continued support.

      Reply
    • Hi DP,

      Always glad to hear from you. No complaints about 2018 from me. Seeing a double digit annual gain is something I’m quite happy with. Of course, for 2019 I have more of the same planned. Consistent buying each month, reinvest my dividends and ignoring all the financial noise that’s out there.

      Reply
  4. Congratulation Keith for your big achievements! Over $9k in dividends and more importantly the 21% year-over-year increase is fantastic!
    One would assume with higher dividends the growth rate would flatten as the capital contributions will weigh less going forward. But that’s the power of dividend growth investing. High quality companies with high dividend growth rates are the key!

    Thanks for being an inspiration and reminding us for this most important rule!
    DivRider recently posted…Annual Review 2018My Profile

    Reply
    • Hi DR,

      Thank you for those kind words. All I’m doing is posting my real world results and hope to demonstrate that with consistent investments, diversifying, staying cool and ignoring almost all the financial headlines and noise one can achieve these results. DGI is a marathon investing strategy and many do not have the patience or will to see it through.

      Reply
  5. Looks like a great month Keith! Over $900 and 21% growth for 2018 vs 2017. I’m a bit surprised to see that the December YoY change was only 4.4%. Is that due to some dividend cuts? I had to work my way through GE’s cut and GIS’s freeze, that one didn’t really hurt though, but ended up with nearly 11% growth primarily from organic dividend growth and reinvestment. Can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!
    JC recently posted…Dividend Update – December 2018My Profile

    Reply
    • Hi JC,

      My end of quarter months are the largest haul in terms of dollars so they don’t always show a high year over year growth rate. In all, 2018 was a solid jump from 2017 and if I can manage double digit year over year gains on an annual basis I am doing something right even with some dogs like GE and others.

      Reply
    • Hi DI,

      I’m still waiting for that four digit mark to start coming in each month but as long as my annual results keeps showing progress I’m a happy camper.

      Reply
    • Hi MR,

      That’s the beauty of all our collective blogs… it’s real world results created by real world portfolios. No theories, back testing, finance models, etc. The proof of our work can be seen in each of our results.

      Reply
    • Hi Meredith,

      That’s the plan. Keep investing, diversifying, enjoying those dividend raises when the come and letting that snowball carry me towards five digits in 2019!

      Reply
  6. Looks like your utilities brought home some nice cash for you in December (SO, D, ED).
    Love the dividend total for the year and the YoY growth, DivHut. I will be shooting for $10K in dividend income in 2019 as well, although mine may be more of a stretch. Here’s hoping 2019 is the year for both of us.
    Engineering Dividends recently posted…2019 Portfolio GoalsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Hi ED,

      The utilities are the stability any long term dividend growth portfolio needs. I added to my D a while back when prices were well below $70. Wouldn’t mind doing it again should prices fall. Look forward to following your 2019 progress. Five digits for both of us!

      Reply

Leave a Comment

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.