Monthly report: December 2019

It's the last time of the year for my monthly dividend report! Let's see how many companies sent me a dividend check for my ownership. These checks are the results of decisions I made earlier in life, sometimes years ago, where I decided to purchase shares in these companies. Nowaydays I still collect these checks but I have to do absolutely nothing to receive them. They just get deposited in my brokerage account, no questions asked. Isn't that great?!

Twelve companies paid me during the last month of the year. Even though it is not a record breaking month, it's still almost 24% better than last years December. The growth is fueled by additional and/or new purchases of UNA, BEP, JNJ and two solid dividend raises from UNP. I actually received my first Johnson & Johnson dividend!!

The two graphs below provide an overview of the whole year and compares it to earlier years. Compared to 2018 I received about 28% more dividends in 2019. Let's see if I can keep this up during the next year!

So finally, let's take a look at the best and worst performers in the last year. Please note that while writing this report, there are two trading days left so things can change slighty.

Top performers were KMI, BBL, JNJ and T with prices increases between 5-10%. The worst performers are UNA, O and AFL. These companies lost about 4 to 5% of their share price in the last month. I am currently contemplating adding to my Uniliver position in the new year. They have recently warned that the targets of 2019 might be missed. This resulted in a drop of the stock price. But I am not too worried about it since I am in it for the long haul.

Thanks for reading!

How was your last month of the year? What is on your watchlist for the new year?

How I Saved € 500 in a few clicks!

Today I will elaborate a little bit about how I was able to save roughly € 500 with a few clicks. It's only applicable for my Dutch readers, but the general principle is interesting nonetheless.

I am the happy owner of a student loan which I collected during my college period. I am obligated to pay it back in 15 years after a grace period of 2 years. Currently I am about halfway. The interesting thing though is that the interest part of this debt is linked to our government bonds and fixed for a period of 5 years. I just started a new period of 5 years for which my interest rate is.... 0,0%!! That's free money in my eyes :-)

The 2nd interesting thing is that we have the option to receive another grace period of 5 years (or multiple grace periods, for a total duration of 5 years). This gives me the option to stop paying back my student loan, and redirect this cash flow to my mortgage for which I have to pay about 2,5% interest. The real interest rate is a little bit lower however, because I get to deduct the interest payed with my income taxes. However, it's still a net saving and if I do this for 5 years straight, I will save about € 500.

Other advantages are that I might be able to receive a better rate when my mortgage period ends in 7 years because I have a better Loan-to-value. And if I die in the coming 5 years, my student loan will be cancelled anyway but my family still has the benefit of a slightly lower mortgage.

The only risk is that the interest rates will go up in 5 years. However, if I spend the money on extra payments for my mortgage I actually reduce the interest rate risk because my morgage has a higher interest rate  and it has to be refinanced in 7 years anyway.

Just some random thoughts about my personal finance situation. I will post later about my goals for 2020 and the results for December 2019.

Do you have student debt? Do you want to get rid of it or would you consider delaying payments in order to boost your dividend income?

Dividend raise: T (+2,0%)

My 2nd dividend raise of 2020! A few days ago AT&T (T) announced a raise in their quarterly dividend from $0,51 to $0,52. This raise adds a whopping € 1,50 to my annual dividend income! It's actually my first dividend raise from T. I expected a penny raise so this is fine.

So far this is my second dividend raise. Last year I received 21 dividend raises in 2019. These raises combined have added around € 60 to my forward annual dividend income. In 2020 my dividend income has increased by almost € 2 already. Of course I expect more raises during the rest of 2020. I'll keep you updated!

Dividend raise: Realty Income

My first dividend raise of 2020! A few days ago Realty Income (O) announced a raise in their monthly dividend from $0,227 to $0,2275. This raise adds a whopping € 0,13 to my annual dividend income. Ka-ching!

All jokes aside, Realty Income increases their dividend on more than one occasion each year. Last year they raised the dividend 5 times. This is their first raise in 2020. Hopefully there's more to come next year!

So far this is my first dividend raise. Last year I received 21 dividend raises in 2019. These raises combined have added around € 60 to my forward annual dividend income. Of course I expect more raises during the rest of 2020. I'll keep you updated!

Did you like the dividend raise of O? Do you consider selling because of the low dividend growth rate?

Dividend report: November 2019

It's time to give an update of the dividends I received last month. Five companies decided to pay me a dividend for my ownership. Total dividends (after tax) are around €92, which definitely is a big increase compared to last year. November is a solid month but quarter ending months are my big paying months.

You can see the breakdown in the table below. I received nice dividend increases from KMI and DE and my addition of T earlier this year.

As of now, my annual dividend income is roughly € 1.700 before taxes. This is more or less in line with last month.

How was your November? Are you looking forward to December as one of the big paying months?