2015 Year-End Performance
Statistics
Beginning 2015 Account Value: $123,001.82
Ending 2015 Account Value: $153,615.72
Dividend income in 2015: $4,303.67
Forward 12-month dividends: $4,947.65
Options income in 2015: $855.70
Total lifetime dividend income: $9,297.86
Post-tax salary: $45,140
Pre-tax moonlighting income: $11,950
Effect of Dividend Increases
| Company | Effect of Dividend Increase |
|---|---|
| Apple | $47.94 |
| Aflac | $4.93 |
| Amgen | $28.56 |
| Avista | $7.75 |
| Bemis | $2.08 |
| Caterpillar | $19.88 |
| Cisco | $8.68 |
| Disney | $2.91 |
| Emerson Electric | $0.90 |
| General Electric | $8.13 |
| Harris | $6.10 |
| IBM | $9.89 |
| Johnson & Johnson | $12.29 |
| Coca Cola | $6.94 |
| Reality Income | $4.73 |
| Target | $8.12 |
| Visa | $10.29 |
| Wells Fargo | $8.55 |
Dividend increases added $202.84 to my future dividends. This is 4.1% of my forward 12-month expected dividends. I’d have to add $6,760 at a 3% yield to get that same increase.
Unfortunately, as a company can increase its dividend, they can also take them away. I would have been getting an additional $47.92 in annual dividends from Kinder-Morgan alone following its increases throughout the year. Instead, KMI cut its dividend by 75%(!), dropping the annual dividend from $363.16 to $89.01.
Another dividend decrease was KKR. They’ve elected to decrease the dividends, increase stock buybacks, and have more available capital to buy other companies. We’ll see how that works out! It still pays a 4.11% dividend, so it isn’t all bad. This cut dropped its annual dividend from $329.55 to $150.65.
Altogether, these cuts cost me $404 a year in dividends, taking me down from $5351.55 to $4947.65. Ouch! That alone explains the importance of diversification!
Total 2015 Dividends
- $4,303.67 or $483.47/month
- Dividend Growth Year-Over-Year: 83%
- Year End Weighted-Dividend Average: 3.27%
- Year End Yield-on-Cost: 3.94%
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The progress bar of the dividends looks great. The little extra that you get from the options is also nice.
I have a similar gameplay for 2016
Best luck for 2016
Thanks! Best of luck to you as well in 2016. I’m hoping to get back into selling puts as well.
Take care,
Scott
It was a fantastic year for you, especially considering how volatile 2015 markets were. Nice work.
Thanks, Investment Hunting! With the volatility in 2015, I really wish I had more cash available to use at those opportunities. In fact, that’s one of my goals in 2016…keep cash (aka ‘dry powder’) available to use when companies I like drop in price.
Scott
Looks like you had a fantastic year, especially considering how tough 2015 market was. Good job!
Tawcan recently posted…Dividend Income – December 2015 update
Thanks, Tawcan! Adding capital can kind of mask underperformance elsewhere. 🙂 Here’s to a fruitful 2016!
Wow! That is a big improvement in total account value. The dividends are always nice, but the account value improvements have a way of lighting up my eyes. Very nice job. I see you mentioned selling puts above. I am definitely going to work that angle this year along with covered calls.
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
AKA — Seeking Dividends
Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
AKA — Seeking Dividends
Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer
dividenddreamer recently posted…How to Trade Your IRA and Grow Your Retirement Nest Egg
Thanks, Robert! The account value so far this year hasn’t been improving yet! I can thank the drop in the market for that.
Hoping to pick up some discounts pretty soon!