December 2017 Dividend Income – Biggest Month Yet, By Far

Posted on by Dividend Dozer

I received $169.22 in taxable December 2017 dividend income. This crushed my previous high of $130.98 in September 2017 – mostly due to additional contributions to VTI. I will also go over my tax-sheltered dividend income this month ($2,249.22). December is a great month for ETFs and mutual funds, hence the very high income for me. This makes me happy, but I have to keep it in perspective and average it out over the whole year. I still have a long way to go before I can replace my income!

December 2017 Dividend Growth

SBUX: 20.0% dividend increase, boosting my income $1.00.
VVC: 7.1% dividend increase, boosting my income $2.16.
V: 18.2% dividend increase, boosting my income $1.44.
EMR: 1.0% dividend increase, boosting my income $0.18.
MSFT: 7.7% dividend increase, boosting my income $2.40.
PFG: 4.3% dividend increase, boosting my income $0.72.
LMT: 9.9% dividend increase, boosting my income $5.07.

Total additional income: $12.97. That is the equivalent of an additional $432 invested at a 3% yield that I didn’t have to invest!

LMT sits in my Roth IRA. SBUX and V are two of my fastest dividend growers. Let’s hope they can keep up this growth rate!

 

December 2017 Taxable Income

 

December 2017 Tax-Sheltered Income – $2,249.22 – Wow!

This was a huge month for my tax-sheltered accounts too. It’s a lot more boring, but I’m starting to see the payoff. I caught up and made maximum 401(k) contributions for 2017 after not contributing anything until April. Most of my holdings in these accounts are mutual funds or ETFs, and December is typically where the largest dividend payouts come for these funds.

My strategy is to prioritize and take full advantage of tax-sheltered accounts available to me. In 2018, I will add my HSA account to the blog as well. At a 15% tax tax rate, I would owe $337 just for this month. Instead, I get to reinvest 100% of this income which will just create even more dividend income.

 

Head on over to my portfolio page if you’d like to see what companies pay me in other months!

24 thoughts on “December 2017 Dividend Income – Biggest Month Yet, By Far”

  1. You have had a heck of a good year. Nice work! From only collecting or tracking passive income for 2 months last year it seems, to hitting every month this year and 3 in the triple digits! Congrats and can’t wait to see what next year brings you!

  2. Thanks Dividend Daze! The light bulb went off last year when I stumbled across a dividend blog. Every $1,000 invested at 3% yield is $30 every year that I’ll never have to work for. I’ve been hooked.

  3. Love the high tax-sheltered income. Income base strategies definitely work best if you don’t have to pay taxes on the earnings every year!

    Congrats on the record and looking forward to see what 2018 has to bring.

    1. Thanks Time – catching up on my 401(k) in the second half of this year gave me an accelerated view of tax-sheltered account growth. Good stuff!

  4. Look at you go! Congrats on the record setting December. Lots of my Dividend Friends set records this month and it’s fantastic to see. I’m enjoying your blog so far, Dividend Dozer!

    1. Thanks Dividend Geek! I have to remember the tax-advantaged income in December includes a lot of funds that pay once annually. On one hand, it’s an exciting number, and on the other hand, I have to wait until next December for another month like this! Fun to track though.

      Annual payers in my portfolio that paid in December:
      VGENX (Vanguard’s energy mutual fund)
      VFORX (Vanguard’s 2040 target date fund)
      SMTIX (401k 2040 target date fund)
      RERGX (401k Europacific growth fund)
      NAESX (401k small cap fund)
      FMDCX (401k mid cap fund)
      VFIAX (401k 500 index fund)

  6. Hi Dozer,

    your chart of the taxable dividend income looks amazing, especially when considering that it is your first full year of dividend investing. You’ll crush it!
    I would love to have Microsoft, Johnson&Johnson and Starbucks in my Portfolio – i’ll have to work on that;-).

    By the way: i added you to my blogroll…

    All the best for 2018!

    Greets
    DividendSolutions

    1. Thanks for the blogroll add 🙂 I’ll have to make my own blogroll soon! I read a comment somewhere that MSFT is similar to a utility stock now because of how standard Microsoft Office is. Their new leadership seems to be doing an amazing job. They’re in my top two holdings but I could easily add more.

  7. Great month to finish off the year! Congrats Dividend Dozer! You have a great list of names there as well. We share IBM, PFE, and SO. Keep up the great work! 🙂

    1. IBM – 22 straight straight quarters of declining revenue. I have to think they can turn it around eventually. Thanks for stopping in!

  8. The numbers keep on climbing! Be careful, that dividend snowball might get so big even the Dozer can’t push it!

    Good Luck in 2018!
    -MH

    1. Thanks for stopping by and for the encouragement Money Hungry!

    2. I just read a little on your site – you have a great site going! EPR was an interesting choice. Having Top Golf as a tenant must be good right now – the times I have been into the one near me have been nuts! Waiting list and I bet every person spends $60-$80 on an average trip there.

      I couldn’t comment – your site blocked me as a suspected bot. The Loose Diamonds commenter might have triggered that. Just FYI

  9. Individual stocks, funds… everyone likes publishing December results 🙂 Looks like we have about ten names in common paying us last month. Always nice to see some correlation between portfolios. Keep up the good work in 2018 and I have a feeling in one year I’ll be reading another post about you ‘crushing it.’

    1. Going from December payouts to January payouts is the same feeling I had as a kid after opening all my Christmas presents at once and having a whole year until the next round! It’s been a great year – my mindset has really evolved and I see no reason to stop now. Thanks for stopping by DivHut.

    1. Glad you stopped by! I just started a few months ago, but went ahead and back-posted articles as if I’d been writing from the time I started my taxable account. Thanks for the comment!

  11. Dozer,

    Amazing stuff. Congrats on the record! It is nice to see you taking such great advantage of your tax sheltered accounts. Look how quickly the rewards are starting to pay off for you. And guess what, 2018 is going to be EVEN BETTER. Thanks for the motivation today and keep up the good fight. Cheers!

    Bert

    1. That’s my favorite part about dividend growth investing – with quality, historic dividend payers, my dividend stream should beat inflation each and every year, even with no further contributions, and even if we have a down year in the market. Thanks Bert!

  12. Hi Dozer,
    Those two months offering YoY comparisons are awesome. Carrying that into 2018, you look set up for a great year of growth. Removing VTI, all companies paid less than $10 in December. Any plans to add to these existing positions in 2018, or are you looking at more new positions? Keep doing what you are doing, the results look good.

    1. Hey ED, I think the answer to your question is “yes” to both! I do have a couple goals for 2018:

      1. Get 5+ of my holdings into the $2,000+ range.
      When I first started, I wouldn’t buy more than $500 of any stock. This was great for diversification, but eventually I became nicely spread out. I now have 20 holdings over $1,000 in market value, so I’m ready to bolster those. I have added to some of my favorite stocks multiple times (BA, MSFT, MGA, RTN, LOW, SBUX, MMM, DIS, and quite a few more). Since Robinhood doesn’t DRIP, I pick up extra shares to compensate.

      2. Add 5 new positions.
      Going along with a long-term, buy and hold strategy, I hardly think about selling. This frees me up to passively track more holdings, so I would like to add more names. HON, MCD, and ITW are three that I’m sure I will add in 2018. Also on my watchlist are AMGN, MDT, HII, MTN, ADP, GPC, AVY, AFL, GD, DNKN, and AMZN. I’ve also cleaned up my portfolio and eliminated 7 or 8 early holdings that no longer fit my strategy, so I have some empty slots!

  13. Great dividend income there. Keep it up. I don’t think we have a lot of stocks in common but we do have about half a dozen that’s common. Great to see you doing great work there.

    Keep up the good work and good luck with this new year, lets rich new heights.
    TDK.

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