This is what dividend investing is all about!  Investing in dividend stocks allows YOU to earn dividend income, the best passive income stream!  Bias, you better believe it.

Time to dive into Lanny’s May 2023 dividend income results!  Were records set?  Almost to financial freedom?  One day and one month at a time!

Dividend Income

Dividend Income is the fruit from the labor of investing your money in the stock market.  Further, Dividend Income is my primary vehicle on the road to Financial Freedom, which you can see through my Dividend Portfolio.

How do I research & screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase?  I use our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on Ally’s investment platform (one of our Financial Freedom Products), as well as SoFi’s investing application – commission free.

Related: Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener

Related: Financial Freedom Products

Related: 3 Financial Products to Create Wealth in 2022

I also automatically invest and max out, pre-tax, my 401k through work and my Health Savings Account.  This allows me to save a TON of money on taxes (aka thousands), which allows me to invest even more.  In addition, all dividends I receive are automatically being reinvested back into the company that paid the dividend, aka Dividend Reinvestment Plan or DRIP for short.  This takes the emotion out of timing the market and BUILDS onto my passive income stream!

Related: Tax Strategy – Part 3 to Reduce Taxes & Increase Investment.

Related: The Power of Dividend Reinvesting

Related: Why I Don’t Time or Predict The Market

Growing your dividend income takes time and consistency.  Investing as often, and early, as you can allows compound interest (aka dividends) to work it’s magic.  I have gone from making $2.70 in a single month in dividend income to well over … $10,000+ in a single month.  A NEW dividend income record was set in December of 2021.  Unfortunately, did not break it in December 2022.  However…was it broken this month?!  The power of compounding and dividend reinvestment is a wonderful component to the portfolio.  Each and every month, whether big or small, I continue to report the passive income that dividend investing provides me.  Why?

*Not pictured is my wife’s dividend income above*

I want to show YOU that dividend investing makes it possible to achieve financial freedom and/or financial independence.  We all start somewhere, but consistently investing, compounding (reinvesting) dividends and keeping it simple, allows you to be in a significantly better position than most.  Further, if I can grow this portfolio and income stream, YOU can too.

dividend income – May 2023

Now, on to the numbers… In May, we (my wife and I) received a dividend income total of $1,328.67.  We crossed $1,000 yet again and I don’t see us taking any steps back, only forward.   Would be nice to see $2,000 soon on non-quarter-end months.  Soon, right?

Always keep this in mind, the amount and number of stocks listed below show you what it means to buy and hold for the long term.  Most of the positions I have owned for YEARS, letting dividend growth and reinvestment do it’s thing.  This is what dividend investing for financial freedom is all about.  The passive income stream is growing at a RAPID pace.  Over a decade of investing is snowballing on it’s own, but we keep investing as much as we can.

Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month of May, between taxable and retirement (far right column, under “Retirement”) accounts.  In addition, “W” means my wife’s account:

So what happened in dividend income this month?

Really seeing a nice juice from the Provident Financial Services (PFS) holding that I have, a stock I was buying heavily during the banking crisis that we are still going through.  Also, Orrstown Financial (ORRF) is also on the list, as well.  Between both dividend bank stocks, that brought in over $82 combined.  Keep reinvesting and moving.

The two hand, high dividend yielding telecom stocks of AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) came in heavy.  Over $168 combined in forward dividend income was received and reinvested, back into high dividend yield rates.  Letting it DRIP right now.

Lastly, I’ve been on quite the CVS (CVS) buying spree and that dividend is set to close in on $50 per quarter.  Almost to 100 shares!

I also split out my retirement accounts in the far right column and the taxable account dividends are in the left two columns.  The retirement accounts are composed of H.S.A. investments, ROTH and Traditional IRAs, as well as our work 401(k) accounts.  In total, the retirement accounts brought in a total dividend income amount of $372.70 or 28% of the dividend income total.  We almost earned over $1,000+ in taxable dividends during May!  So close.

Related: Maximizing your Roth for 10 Years… Then Set It & Forget It!

DIvidend Income Year over Year Comparison

2022: 2023:

Our dividend income was fortunately up by $119.19 or 9.9%.  Not amazing, but not terrible, growth is growth right?

All in all, not too much changed from the prior year.  Dividend reinvestment, purchases and dividend growth. Outside of CVS, ORRF, PFS, those were the main stocks from 2022 I was investing into in 2023, which is why you see larger than normal increases from them.

Very curious, though, when AT&T (T) brings back a dividend increase.  Could we see one in 2024?  Time will have to tell, tough with what is occurring in a high inflationary and high interest rate market.

Overall, an incredible dividend month.  May 2024 goal would be sweet to have $1,750.  LET’S GO!  Keep on investing.

Dividend Increases

Dividend increases kept the train moving from April into May, with 6 dividend increases show cased below!

The largest surprise came from Leggett & Platt (LEG) honestly.  I did not anticipate a 4.55% from them, though they are a dividend king, just seems like with debt on the balance sheet and interest rates rising, was not a recipe for that large of an increase.  I’ll take it!

I will never mind receiving a dividend increase from LyondellBasell (LYB), due to the punch it packs.

Lastly, my new REIT, Broadstone Net Lease (BNL), came through with a nice 1.82% dividend increase.  I like it, because their yield is over 7%.

Related: The Impact of The Dividend Growth Rate!

In total, the dividend increases created $55.10 in additional passive dividend income.  I would need to invest $1,574 at a 3.50% dividend yield in order to add that income.  Thank you for the increases, as I didn’t have to come up with the capital to create that form of income!

Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary

The name of the game is to apply what you learn through financial education.  The next steps are to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live life on your own terms.  My plan is to demonstrate that dividend income can be a revenue engine.  A revenue engine that allows you to take back control of your life.  A revenue engine to help you reach financial freedom.  Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier and starts to immensely make sense!

Excited for the future, no doubt.  Further, all of the investing from last year and moves this year, shows that my aim to save 60% of my income, and making every dollar count, has provided the dividend growth.

If you are just starting out on your investment journey and you aren’t sure to start – please see the articles mentioned throughout this post.  We are trying to bring you financial education and help you reach your financial goals.  Further, if you are interested in our dividend stocks to buy for December, please see our YouTube channel, subscribe to our channel and check us out!  We’ll help break down further investing topics not only on this blog, but by showing you through video!

As always, thank you for stopping by, leave your comments and questions below.  Good luck and happy investing everyone!