Reaping Dividends: September 2016 report
October 10, 2016
My brokerage is TradeKing, I’ve been very happy with their low fees and service.
The third quarter of 2016 has been pretty quiet on this Western front. I have about $15,000 in cash from various CDs rolled over to wait for the next purchase but I’m not stalking anything in particular at this point.
- Dividends income this past quarter: $203.50. If nothing changes, we’ll see about $600 in dividend income this year.
- I’m considering whether this particular course of investing continues to make sense for us. I like seeing replacement income come in with an eye towards a before age-65 retirement, but I need to do a better future income projection to see if there’s a better way to expand our portfolio.
- I’m also considering folding this report into my monthly net worth report. It won’t show such dramatic (hah) increases monthly instead of quarterly but perhaps it makes more sense there. Thoughts?
Year to Date Dividends: $434.50, Fees: $9.90, Net: $424.60
Income Replacement
For perspective, I like to think of the dividends investing project in terms of how much of our income it can replace, or how much of our fixed expenses it can cover.
At a whopping $424.60, this year’s dividends can pay 40% of one mortgage payment. Over the past 6 years, I’ve made a total of $1,146.50.
I’m a little annoyed– I had 30K extra when we got back from paradise, so I stuck it in the stock market in a taxable account (instead of waiting like I normally do until Fall—usually “sell in May then go away” works out well with the fact I don’t get paid until October). We’ve dripped the dividends. So, now the total investment is worth less than the 30K (even with the reinvestments) that I put in *and* I have to pay taxes on $124 for the quarter. So basically I’m being charged taxes to lose money. (I know I know, for the long-term I’ll still come out ahead, and hindsight is 20/20 etc., but still, annoying. I’m used to only investing in tax-advantaged accounts!)
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…In which we do not have to buy a new car (yet)
Some of my comments went missing, so here it is again: That’s really annoying! That’s what happened when we added money to the 529, and when I bought a few stocks last year, though we didn’t have to pay taxes on the 529 at least.
I think dividend investing makes a lot more sense when you’re partly retired. Your earned income will be lower and you won’t pay much tax on the dividend income.
I do my dividend income report every quarter. That’s better than once a month. I fold that into my monthly cash flow posts. 🙂
We are waiting to buy too. Stocks look expensive to me at this point.
Joe recently posted…Dividend Income Update – Q3 2016
I’m sure you’re right. It’s just annoying because we have to build the portfolio while we have full incomes, otherwise where does that money come from?