March Review / April Preview 2017

Warm Weather Gremlin here to talk about this past month and the next month.  At this point in the year snow is gone, the sun is shining, and shorts are (almost) becoming the norm for weekend wear.  It also means allergies, but lets not think about that.  March was a successful month, though a busy one.  My side job continues to provide a lot of extra revenue.  Our cash reserve has hit an all time high, thanks to tax refunds, which is great as we attempt to pursue a house at some point soon.  All in all, March has been a window unto the future.  Sadly I have not visited any new breweries or done a lot of fun things, but I think I can knock that in April along with some larger buys.

March:

This past month I put $285 dollars to work on Loyal3, and as if that was not enough I added an extra share of Target for the month (for a total $335 invested).  I aim to keep this pace up for a long time.

Last month I brought in a total of $281.48 in dividends ($98.48 taxable, $61.04 Roth, and $121.96 IRA).  This is an increase from last year ($111.86 total) by 151%.  The IRA being added into the equation really blows this month out of the water

In terms of dividend increases, I realized six this month from Dunkin Donuts (DNKN), Eaton Corp. (ETN), Waste Management (WM), Prudential (PRU), Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM), and 3M (MMM).  Raises were between 2% to more than 9%.  Thus far for 2017, I have realized 15 dividend increases!

Next month I will realize six raises, from Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), Coca Cola (KO), Realty Income (O), and Walmart (WMT).  The increases range from around 0.2% to more than 9%.

Thus far, I have achieved $645.38 in total dividends, which is more than I had in 2011 through 2013, and almost matches my total of 2014.  Being now a little over three years into this, I am starting to see how investing over time really can be supercharged by targeting companies that grow their dividend consistently.

April:

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... But we will see, April is already slated to be busy.

Next month should produce around $71 in dividends, which is a 15% YOY decrease, which is attributable to KHC switching its month of payment.  Things are otherwise coming together nicely.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great April (stay dry)!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned