Dividend Income Summary: Lanny’s October 2022 Summary

This is what dividend investing is all about. Investing in dividend stocks allows you to earn dividend income, the best passive income stream. Bias, you better believe it.

Time to dive into Lanny’s October 2022 dividend income results. Were records set? Almost to financial freedom? One day and one month at a time.

Dividend Income

Dividend income is the fruit of the labor of investing your money in the stock market. Further, Dividend income is my primary vehicle on the road to Financial Freedom, which you can see through my Dividend Portfolio.

How do I research and screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase? I use our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on Ally’s investment platform (one of our Financial Freedom Products), as well as SoFi’s investing application – commission-free.

I also automatically invest and max out, pre-tax, my 401(k) through work and my Health Savings Account. This allows me to save a ton of money on taxes (aka thousands), which allows me to invest even more. In addition, all dividends I receive are automatically reinvested back into the company that paid the dividend, aka Dividend Reinvestment Plan or DRIP for short. This takes the emotion out of timing the market and builds onto my passive income stream.

Growing your dividend income takes time and consistency. Investing as often, and early, as you can allow compound interest (aka dividends) to work its magic. I have gone from making $2.70 in a single month in dividend income to well over $10,000+ in a single month. A new dividend income record was set in December 2021. Was it broken this month? The power of compounding and dividend reinvestment is a wonderful component of the portfolio. Each and every month, whether big or small, I continue to report the passive income that dividend investing provides me. Why?

*Not pictured is my wife’s dividend income above*

I want to show you that dividend investing makes it possible to achieve financial freedom and/or financial independence. We all start somewhere, but consistently investing, compounding (reinvesting) dividends, and keeping it simple, allows you to be in a significantly better position than most. Further, if I can grow this portfolio and income stream, you can too.

Dividend Income – October 2022

Now, on to the numbers. In October, we (my wife and I) received a dividend income total of $1,712.50. Staying far above $1,000 now, in total. Very nice to be over this “Mendoza” line, love the baseball reference. If we keep this churning, we may be hitting the glorious $2k per month in passive income very soon.

The amount and number of stocks listed below show you what it means to buy and hold for the long term. Most of the positions I have owned for years, let dividend growth and reinvestment do their thing. This is what dividend investing for financial freedom is all about. The passive income stream is growing at a rapid pace. I have owned Canadian Imperial (CM) and Philip Morris (PM) for almost a decade.

2022 is off to a volatile start, the stock market has roared up and also roared down. Lately, though the stock market had attempted to make a resurgence. However, another 75 basis point interest rate increase by the Fed, sent the stock tumbling back down. The S&P is now down, yet again, over 20% this year, ringing the bear market bells. The stock market has been fairly flat for a month.

In addition, the Fed has raised rates by 375 points so far this year, which is wild. Do we see another 50 or 75 basis point increase in the future? Time will tell. Student loan forgiveness is in full swing, allowing borrowers to remove $10,000 and up to $20,000 of their debt. Crypto is seeing a little bit of an uptick, with Bitcoin and Ethereum showing gains. The housing market is definitely cooling, inflation is still high and recession still looms.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month of October, between taxable and retirement (far right column, under “Retirement”) accounts. In addition, “W” means my wife’s account:

So what happened in dividend income this month? My daily purchases of Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) paid out in early October vs. September and a few triple-baggers came in heavy, too.

Philip Morris and Canadian Imperial sent over $320 in dividends our way. In addition, the dividend reinvestment on that is propelling my dividend income forward.

My 401(k) is now invested into FXAIX, as they transitioned from Vanguard funds to Fidelity Funds. Don’t worry, it’s the lowest-cost S&P 500 mutual fund baby. Keep it simple there. Huge dividend, though.

Realty Income (O) continues to pay a strong, monthly dividend. It’ll eclipse the $40 mark soon. Cannot wait to see that cross $50 per month next year, through dividend increases and reinvestment. Talk about being a landlord without being a landlord.

I also split out my retirement accounts in the far right column and the taxable account dividends are in the left two columns. The retirement accounts are composed of HSA investments, ROTH and Traditional IRAs, as well as our work 401(k) accounts. In total, the retirement accounts brought in a total dividend income amount of $727.83, or 43% of the dividend income total. Need to get the taxable to $1,000+, as we were ever so slightly below that threshold. Come on!

Dividend Income Year-over-Year Comparison

2021:

2022:

Our dividend income was up $745.53 or 77%. Let’s Go! Two items here that really pushed this higher.

First, my 401(k) dividend from VFIAX was last year in September. This year, they transitioned to Fidelity funds and that fund paid out in October. Therefore, my income shot up because of that – $441.05 worth.

VOO paid in October versus September as well, that was a $40+ increase, too.

My Medical Properties, in the Roth IRA, shot up quite a bit. That was due to selling out of PEAK properties and moving that into MPW and VYM.

Overall, a solid dividend month. The push to $2,000 is on! Keep on investing.

Dividend Increases

In October, we rocked in six huge dividend increases, that really added a punch to the dividend stock portfolio. In fact, we showcase nine expected dividend increases in November.

Visa (V) continued to bring tears to my eye. Another double-digit dividend increase, a 20% jump baby.

Then, WestRock (WRK) also came in the clutch, with a 10% jump, as they claw back to their pre-pandemic levels.

The best surprise was from McDonald’s (MCD). They kept us waiting, but I am glad they fulfilled their suspense. A 10% increase from this consumer giant was huge for the dividend portfolio, period. One of the top 5 foundation stocks, no doubt.

In total, the dividend increases created $87.44 in additional passive dividend income. I would need to invest $2,500 at a 3.50% dividend yield in order to add that income. Thank you for the increases, as I didn’t have to come up with the capital to create that form of income.

Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary

The name of the game is to apply what you learn through financial education. The next steps are to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live life on your own terms. My plan is to demonstrate that dividend income can be a revenue engine. A revenue engine that allows you to take back control of your life. A revenue engine to help you reach financial freedom. Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier and starts to immensely make sense.

Excited for the future, no doubt. Further, all of the investments from last year and moves this year show that my aim to save 60% of my income and make every dollar count, has provided dividend growth.

As always, thank you for stopping by, leave your comments and questions below. Good luck and happy investing everyone!

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Editor’s Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.