Q1 2023 Review / Q2 2023 Preview

Allergies Come Early Gremlin here to welcome you all to another quarterly review. I hope its just me, but probably not - the pollen in the air this year feels like its at an all time high, even with the new air filters I keep putting in our HVAC system. Spring is here, the world is turning faster in some parts and slower than others. My oldest kid will start kindergarten this year, I am a coach of little kids soccer, which is everything you think it is. Anyways, I could blabber on about how excited the little things like sleeping in past 7:30AM make me feel, but lets just cut to the dividend chase. The market is wild, there are great buys everywhere, and for once I have some change to unleash.

Q1 2023:

Over the last quarter I added shares of my employer, Avnet (AVT), Scotia Bank (BNS), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Gerdau (GGB) via stock dividend, Interpublic Group (IPG), Leggett and Platt (LEG), Medtronic (MDT), National Retail Properties, Realty Income (O), Bank OZK (OZK), Verizon (VZ), and ZIM Integrated Shipping (ZIM) in my taxable account. Unfortunately, I closed my VF Corp position after it announced a dividend cut, and I had my South Jersey Industries (SJI) position bought away and taken private.

I also added to IPG, Kinder Morgan (KMI), LEG, AT&T (T), and Ames National Corp Com (ATLO) in my retirement accounts. In addition, moved my VZ shares in my IRA to my Roth.

Last quarter I brought in a total of $1,439.75 in dividends ($749.01 taxable, $459.52 Roth, and $231.22 in my IRA).  In total my accounts beat their respective 2021 months by 10% for January, 12% for February, and 12% for March. 

In terms of dividend increases, I realized 23 raises from Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Amgen (AMGN), My Employer (B**), CIBC (CM), Canadian National (CNI), EMN, Eaton Corp (ETN), IPG, 3M (MMM), Norwood Financial (NWFL), O [2x], Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), Waste Management (WM), Union Pacific (UNP), Abbott Labs (ABT), Yum Brand (YUM), CVS, Deere (DE), Corning Inc (GLW), Prudential (PRU), and T Rowe Financial (TROW). The increases range from just about .02% to more than 10%. This brings my total raises to 23 on the year.

Next quarter I will realize at least 8 dividend increases from American Express (AXP), Cisco (CSCO), General Dynamics (GD), Pepsi (PEP), WalMart (WMT), O, DE, and Kimberly Clark (KMB).  The increases range from 0.2% to around 8%.

In addition, I added about $50 in profits from options.

NOTE: I only count increases when realized, because until that money is delivered any statements or declarations are simply conjecture.

Q2 2023:

The mortgage continues and I am putting extra cash towards the principal monthly - not a huge number, but every little bit counts. Our debts currently outstrip our assets, since I do not count my home as an asset until I own it outright.

The buys shall continue until financial independence improves - with monthly rolling buys of course.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

I sincerely hope everyone's 2023 has started in the best way possible, despite all of the crazy.

- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned