Wow. 2022 is just flying by. The stock market continues to provide us with crazy twists and turns on a daily basis. Whether it is due to inflation, rising interest rates, crypto crashing or geopolitical issues, each day presents a new round of volatility that sends shockwaves through the S&P 500 and Dow. Still, even with the noise, there is one thing that continues to remain consistent…dividend investing. The dividend checks continue to roll in!  In this article, I will review my April dividend income summary and share how much passive income my wife and I received last month!

Why I Invest in Dividend Stocks

I invest in dividend stocks to grow a my passive income. One day, my dividend income will be large enough to cover my monthly expenses. That is why we are relentlessly searching for undervalued dividend stocks to buy. To put our hard earned cash to work.

We save a high percentage of our income each month, to help fuel our dividend stock portfolio. Having a high savings rate is a key pillar of our strategy and helps fuel the fire and push the snowball further down hill. While we are waiting to invest our money in the market, it is earning a high interest rate in accounts such as Yotta (1% – 2% APY, on average) or SoFi (1.25% APY on all checking and  savings accounts). If you are looking to earn more on your cash, it is definitely worth checking those products out!

We use  our dividend stock screener with every stock purchase. Our stock screener continues to help us find undervalued dividend stocks to buy. This simple, 3 step stock screener is designed to identify undervalued stocks with a strong payout ratio that have a history of increasing their dividend. Fundamental dividend growth investing at its finest.

Watch: Dividend Diplomats’ Dividend Stock Screener

Building a large dividend income stream takes time, consistency, hard work, saving, and most importantly, investing. I have been investing in dividend growth stocks since 2012. Saving a high percentage of my dividend income allows me to invest as much as possible, so we can retire as soon as possible.

Slowly, but steadily, my income has grown. Brick by brick. DRIP by DRIP. It is really exciting to see the growth and larger dividend checks trickle into my brokerage account.

Each month, we share our dividend income summaries to highlight our growth and progress. It is  a fun and helpful excercise that holds us accountable. Further, it helps you, our followers, see the stocks we are purchasing.

Bert’s April Dividend Income

We received $627.93 in April dividend income! This was  a 7.95% year over year increase.  Sure, its not $4k+ like we received last month; however, we are pretty pumped up with the results. The following chart summarizes each individual dividend payment we received during the month. 

I always like to include a few observations in the remainder of the section about our dividend income, growth, and any trends worth highlighting!

Observation #1: Shocklingly, I Only Received Dividends From Companies I Previously Owned

Over the last year, Lanny and I continue to buy dividend stocks and grow our passive income. We cover our purchases all the time on our YouTube Channel. With so many new purchases over the last twelve months, it is kind of shocking that I did not receive one new dividend from a company I purchased. The only new dividend was from ONL, which was a spin-off from Realty Income, so that doesn’t count.

Watch: Dividend Stock Purchases | The Stocks We Buy Playlist

It isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, to be honest.  I own a lot of individual positions. It is time to build my current positions first before expanding into new stocks. The goal will be to earn more with my current positions. The ones I’ve purchased before and have pre-vetted. If i’m going to buy a new stock, I’m going to make it count. Its going to be a high quality, dividend growth stock, such as Cummins or Stanley Black and Decker (two of my recent new purchases).

Observation #2: Small Amounts Make a Big Difference Over Time

Many of my stock purchases have been small dollar amounts. 2 shares of Leggett & Platt (LEG) here. 2 more shares of Starbucks (SBUX) over there.  Each small purchase may seem insignificant individually; however, in totality, the amounts add up and have a serious impact on your income over time.

Add the impact of small purchases to the impact of reinvested dividends and dividend increases, and you get a large year over year increase. Look at the chart above. Nothing special really stands out, right? There isn’t one, big increase that moved the needle and caused our income to grow $46 compared to last year. Each small amount added up and just like that, made an 8% impact.

The Impact of Dividend Increases

We love dividend increases.  We can’t say it enough (want proof, we talk about them ALL THE TIME on our Twitter feed). Who doesn’t love the feeling of seeing your dividend income grow without lifting a finger? That’s part of the reason why we think dividend investing is the best, and easiest, form of dividend income. That’s why we are always writing about dividend increases and recording videos about the recent dividend increases announced!

Watch: YouTube Playlist – Recent Dividend News

Each month, in our dividend income summaries, we demonstrate the impact each dividend increase has on our forward dividend income.  March was a fantastic month for dividend increases. There were a TON of big companies that announced increases. The following table shows the impact dividend increases had on my forward dividend income:

Obviously, as everyone knows, my wife and I have been adding one share of Johnson & Johnson every week since March 2021. We have amassed over 70 shares each of the Dividend King. Therefore, you bet we were excited to receive a solid, 6.6% increase from the company.  How could we not, the increase grew our annual dividend income by $40…without lifting a finger.

Of the other 3 dividend increases we received, Procter & Gamble was the only other notable increase. The percent wasn’t large (5%). The impact was, as it grew our forward income by $14.  Sadly, IBM deliver another awful and frustrating dividend increase.

Summary

Another month in the book. The dividend snowball continues to roll and get larger, one reinvested dividend at a time.  My wife and I are all smiles, especially considering that we received over $600 in an “off month.”  We continue to push ourselves to invest every dollar possible and continue pushing towards financial freedom. Months like these continue to serve as motivation. Now, LETS GO EVERYONE!

Did you have a strong month of April? Did you set a record for dividend income received? How many dividend increases did you receive and what was the impact?

Bert