I received $1,098.95 in taxable dividend income for December 2022. This month was an incredible way to wrap up the year for me. Each time the third month of the year comes around, I’m a little surprised at the month’s total. This month is no different – it’s my first month bringing in over $1k in dividends, and by quite a bit of cushion.

ticker	total_payout_2022	total_payout_2021
VTI	$814.00	$502.75
BLK	$39.04	$22.36
MCD	$27.36	$22.08
UNH	$23.10	$17.40
NEE	$20.40	$18.48
MSFT	$17.68	$16.12
AVY	$15.00	$13.60
TRV	$14.89	$14.09
V	$13.95	$17.63
KO	$13.64	$13.02
HD	$13.32	$8.27
AWR	$11.93	$10.87
RTX	$11.55	$10.71
MMM	$10.43	$10.36
MGA	$9.90	$9.46
SO	$7.48	$7.26
NOC	$6.92	$6.28
IBM	$6.60	$6.56
JNJ	$5.65	$5.30
PFE	$5.20	$5.07
ADM	$5.20	$4.81
EMR	$4.68	$4.63
NVDA	$1.04	$0.32
	$1,098.95	$747.44

I’ve simplified my buying strategy to just VTI for the most part, and it is easily my highest payer. VTI’s dividend increased by 8.30% versus December of last year. Along with my new contributions, I received over $300 more from VTI than this time last year.

Getting over the $1k mark in passive income is making me a reflective on my investing journey. My monthly average is still well below $1k, but now I can count on a hefty reinvestment every three months. My original motivation for beginning to invest was to generate passive income during a time when layoffs were a daily concern in my work life.

$1,000 won’t cover my expenses, but if I was to lose my job, it would be a huge relief to have available. In the meantime, it’s a substantial reinvestment for my portfolio with no extra work or cost to me.

My goal when I originally started was to make it to $1,000/month in income. When my average dividends exceed that, I’ll probably get a little misty-eyed.

Dividend Growth

	percent_increase	annual_increase_dollars
EMR	0.97%	$0.18
MCD	10.14%	$10.08
MSFT	9.68%	$6.24
V	20.00%	$9.30
VTI	0.50%	$12.13
Total		$37.93

EMR has been one of my biggest disappointments since I bought it. This year, another tiny increase. Luckily the stock as appreciated somewhat well. I only put ~$500 in a few years ago, my holding has grown about 65%. Otherwise I might think about dropping this to simplify my portfolio.

MCD, MSFT, and V came through with incredible increases this month! I’m glad these are some of my largest individual holdings.

The three-year VTI rolling average dividend increased by 0.5% this quarter.

I would have to invest $2,313 at my current portfolio yield to generate what I received via dividend hikes.

Forward Dividend Income

Year: 2019	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
dividend_increases	$7.00	$3.10	$36.71	$4.55	$5.99	$22.83	$3.01	$5.04	$13.20	$6.44	$2.61	$29.35	$139.83
dividend_reinvestments	$2.47	$-12.99	$3.47	$2.02	$2.05	$4.22	$1.80	$1.60	$6.79	$1.78	$1.78	$9.57	$24.56
new_contributions	$-0.30	$6.03	$0.02	$1.06	$0.03	$-0.51	$188.35	$276.00	$147.06	$93.04	$146.50	$32.79	$890.06
Total	$9.17	$-3.86	$40.20	$7.63	$8.07	$26.54	$193.16	$282.64	$167.05	$101.26	$150.89	$71.71	$1,054.46

Year: 2020	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
dividend_increases	$1.44	$8.76	$18.54	$-52.15	$-22.73	$31.08	$3.81	$0.00	$19.47	$4.96	$20.70	$26.81	$60.69
dividend_reinvestments	$1.88	$1.55	$10.38	$9.07	$1.78	$7.85	$-3.23	$2.50	$8.02	$1.57	$2.07	$9.03	$52.47
new_contributions	$2.24	$17.81	$37.11	$-1.16	$9.41	$6.34	$-30.23	$11.93	$-0.25	$0.19	$19.35	$51.72	$124.48
Total	$5.56	$28.12	$66.03	$-44.24	$-11.54	$45.27	$-29.65	$14.43	$27.24	$6.72	$42.12	$87.56	$237.62

Year: 2021	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
dividend_increases	$1.08	$9.35	$28.05	$5.84	$8.97	$33.05	$5.49	$15.20	$8.72	$10.96	$23.99	$43.12	$193.82
dividend_reinvestments	$1.61	$1.62	$8.89	$1.64	$1.95	$7.12	$1.21	$1.83	$8.37	$0.92	$1.30	$7.12	$43.58
new_contributions	$68.26	$59.71	$67.00	$61.99	$56.84	$101.67	$42.09	$75.06	$54.36	$31.38	$30.54	$39.28	$688.17
Total	$70.95	$70.68	$103.94	$69.47	$67.76	$141.84	$48.79	$92.09	$71.45	$43.26	$55.83	$89.52	$925.58

Year: 2022	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
dividend_increases	$2.52	$9.18	$20.61	$7.04	$2.74	$66.28	$6.69	$30.00	$36.09	$10.96	$25.58	$37.93	$255.62
dividend_reinvestments	$1.67	$2.33	$7.58	$1.61	$2.58	$11.99	$1.95	$2.65	$14.33	$2.17	$2.91	$17.88	$69.65
new_contributions	$15.38	$12.51	$29.37	$303.87	$41.92	$32.74	$46.53	$187.15	$88.91	$37.26	$72.47	$23.57	$891.70
Total	$19.57	$24.02	$57.56	$312.52	$47.24	$111.01	$55.17	$219.80	$139.33	$50.39	$100.96	$79.38	$1,216.95

I’d hoped to contribute a bit more to round out 2022, but the holidays came with some good expenses this year. I had to scale back a bit, but thanks to the help of reinvestments, I managed to pick up almost $80 in additional forward income. That put my total for the year at $1,217 in additional forward income. I’m really happy with these results for the year and want to make 2023 even better.

Purchases – VTI

13.32 shares of Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTI) @ $191.25/share. Cost Basis: $2,547.66. Forward Income: $41.45/year

My last purchases of the year were mostly just made on auto-pilot. Another 13 shares closer to 1,000 shares of VTI!