My Financial Independence Journey » Dividends
Dividends
Here is where I am tracking all of my dividends received over the course of the year. This sheet will up updated as the dividends roll in. Each month is a column, each stock is a row. The grand total of dividends received can be seen in the bottom right hand corner.
Here’s to topping $3,000 of dividend income in 2013!
7 Responses to "Dividends"
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I have PSEC on my watch list and I was a bit afraid investing in it. In the past I invested into some high yield stocks and ETFs and lost money. The company cut the dividend and I was selling with a loss. How are you evaluating stocks which have no dividend history or not growing dividend history? PSEC is paying since 2004 only and have only 1 year of dividend increase and its actual dividend growth is negative (-3.5%).
Martin,
PSEC has been good to me for the couple years that I’ve owned it. For a company like PSEC, I use the lowest dividend ever paid out as my worst case scenario. The other thing that I do is to keep my investment in risky companies low. PSEC is one of three companies currently in my “high yield” portfolio. These are risky stocks in general. There were two other companies in that portfolio – TEF and NRGY. Both turned out to be losers and I sold them. Chasing high yield companies is still a strategy that I’m not entirely comfortable with. But I’ll keep working to see if I can refine it to separate out the wheat from the chafe.
Do you have any recommended reading for learning how to properly analyze a stock before deciding if it would be a good investment at the time to add to a Dividend Growth Portfolio? I really enjoy reading up on topics such as this and am just starting in my own journey towards FI and am constantly trying to learn more, read more, and really nail down a good “process” for studying stocks before deciding where to spread my capital.
I’ve just started reading/following your blog this weekend, but have loved the posts I’ve read. Thanks and keep it up!
Alex,
Thanks for stopping by.
Learning to properly analyze a stock will take some time. I’m still learning more even a couple of years into the game.
When you’re starting out, it’s best to read what other people have written and take notes. What do different investors say about a given stock? Or a given metric (like PE, Beta, dividend growth rate, payout ratio, etc)? When they buy a stock, why did they say that they bought it? The universe of dividend growth stocks is pretty small and you’ll notice that the same stocks get reviewed by multiple people.
As you’re reading, you’re going to come across things that you don’t understand. Try to look them up. Depending on your background, some concepts will come easier than others. Don’t worry about that, just go at your own pace.
The single most important thing to focus on is upping your savings rate. It’s very hard to go wrong with most blue chip dividend growth stocks. You might overpay, but in the long run, you’re going to be doing fine. These are great companies to start with (my first five were: KO, BP, MO, GPC, and T) before you wade into the waters of REITs, MLPs, and other lesser known companies.
Also, you’re going to screw up and lose some money along the way. I’m not being hard on you. We all make mistakes. I wrote a whole post about my screw ups.
This probably sounds simplistic, but try to spend a few minutes every day doing something related to your finances. Whether it’s reading about investments, analyzing your spending, running some stock screens, or working with your budget.
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I am wondering…are these numbers the total you received in dividends or the price of the stock? Because I thought dividends mostly only pay out quarterly…
The numbers on the chart reflect all dividends received. Most companies pay out quarterly, but I hold a few that pay out semiannually or monthly.