My portfolio continued to grow, powered by new contributions. Every $1,000 invested produced about $25 in dividends per year. If my hourly wage amounts to about $50/hour, then every $2,000 invested will replace one hour of my time per year. I’m totally hooked. Here’s what I came out with in July 2017.

I am writing this looking back from September 2017.

1 share of HRL (Hormel Foods Corp) @ $33.96/share ($33.96)

The dividends seem to be rolling in a little faster and I keep picking up my trio of HRL/PFE/CSCO depending on if any of them are going through a dip in price.

2 shares of CINF (Cincinnati Financial Corporation) @ $72.05/share ($144.1)

Another opportunity to average down a bit in my initial investment, I picked up two more shares of CINF. I don’t mind when I see long-time dividend payers/increases drop a bit in my portfolio as it gives me an opportunity to pick up those future dividend payments at a discount.

2 shares of BA (Boeing Co) @ $205.83/share ($411.66)

Boeing just chugs along and I watch my initial two investments grow in value. I only regret not buying more shares earlier on! Only one way to fix that – buy more shares now in this great company.

2 shares of EMN (Eastman Chemical Company) @ $85.58/share ($171.16)

I like EMN and I’m not sure why. I won’t pretend to know their business inside and out, but I do like what I see of them and their dividend. Sometimes to get exposure to different industries, you have to delve into some that you don’t fully understand, right?

9 shares of VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) at $124.59 ($1,121.35)

I’m playing catch-up big time in my goal to equalize my VTI holding value with my total dividend growth investment value. As long as I have my emergency fund fully funded, I might as well park my money in VTI long-term.

8 shares of VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) at $124.56 ($996.48)

Operation VTI Catch-Up continues. It does feel good that my largest taxable holding is actually made up of hundreds of holdings.

8 shares of VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) at $126.29 ($1,010.32)

Operation VTI Catch-Up continues, again. I can scarcely contain my excitement if you can’t tell. I can’t lie, VTI is boring, but I feel great about it. Can’t wait until it’s the same size as the rest of my taxable investments.

1 share of ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Company) @ $41.13/share ($41.13)

My VTI sits in my Vanguard account, but meanwhile my Robinhood account continues to spit out dividends. I like my PFE/HRL/CSCO low share cost options, but I’d like to slowly build ADM as well if I have enough available.

5 shares of MGA (Magna International Inc. (USA)) @ $48.06/share ($240.3)

MGA turned out to be a great buy back when I pulled the trigger on this holding. 5 more shares will make this a slightly more substantial holding and I plan to increase that over the future.

1 share of HRL (Hormel Foods Corp) @ $33.16/share ($33.16)

The dividend payments continue to fall into my account’s cash balance. I’ll just keep loading up on HRL/PFE/CSCO.

2 shares of NDSN (Nordson Corporation) @ $125.90/share ($251.80)

The more I look into Nordson, the more I like it. They are like a smaller 3M. I’ll bolster this position a bit with two more shares.

4 shares of BTI (British American Tobacco PLC (ADR)) @ $69.25/share ($277)

I previously held RAI, which was bought by BTI. In the course of this aquisition, RAI holders recieved shares of BTI as payment. I loved RAI, but I have a large holding in MO and am not trying to increase my exposure to this industry. I will sit on these shares but probably not add to them.