January Review / February Preview, 2017

Snowboarding Climbing Gremlin here to talk about this past month and the future.  My ankle is still not 100%, but I am getting back to doing things, including getting in a round of snowboarding this past month.  Though January is never normal, doing stuff like that gets me closer back to normal.  January in my family has a huge rash of birthdays, plus there are holidays and crazy events like inaugurations that we have to deal with in my town.  Other than those January is also a surprisingly slow month.  It is slower at work, in dividends, and everything else.  Regardless, let see how things went.

January:

I bought only 2 shares in VFC this month, spending a little more than $100 in my Loyal3 account.  I am gearing up for a strong rest of the year for saving and investing, so I am not concerned with a slow start.

Last month I brought in a total of $67.05 in dividends ($67.05 taxable, $0 Roth, and $0 IRA).  This is an decrease from last year ($75.76 total) by 11.5%.  This decrease is due to Kraft Heinz (KHC) paying out its dividend a month early, so nothing to worry about there.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized three this month from Realty Income (O), General Electric (GE), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM).  Raises were between less than 1% and 4.5%. 

Next month I will realize six raises, from O, Abbott Labs (ABT), AT&T (T), Omega Health Care (OHI), and Welltower, Inc. (HCN).  The increases range from less than 1.1% to just under 4% . Thus far for 2017, I have realized 3 dividend increases!  These following increases are small, but several are from companies that deliver consistent increases.

February:

Our only remaining debt is extremely low interest auto loans.  Looking ahead, I will be to saving a solid amount of cash.  This is related to the fact that my wife and I will look to get a house sometime in the next (few) year(s).  I want to go in with a decent down payment to make sure we get what we want.

I hope to post more than one time next month...

Next month should produce around $207 in dividends, which is a 207% YOY increase, most of which is attributable to my new IRA.  So far I already out earned my annual total in 2011, things are starting to click.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great February!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned