Monthly report: March 2024

March is over! Already the 3rd month of a new year.

All in all a decent month with rising stock markets. Biggest winners are Deere (+12%), XOM (+10%) and HASI/CMI/Shell (both +9%). Biggest losers are UNP and Intel (-3 to 4%).

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?!

A total of allmost €400 after tax. 14 companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by about 2% compared to last year including the FX-effect. This rather small increase had a few reasons:

• Dividend cut from Intel.
• Dividend cut from BHP

Without these events my "regular" dividend income grew nicely. This is mainly the result of additional purchases in UNP (here and more recently here), O (here and here), JNJ (here and here) Throw in some nice dividend increases from Shell and some smaller raises from other companies and this is the result.

So all in all a decent month!

In the graph above I've showed my monthly dividend income. You can see the rather small increase from March 2023 but the underlying trend is still up.

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income. The cumulative dividend income is about the same as last year at this point in time. I expect to see a little growth in the coming months, but nothing too serious. 

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 10.650. This is a slight increase compared to last month because of the purchase of BEPC, and a few DRIPS (Shell, Unilever).

How was your March? What is your watchlist for the next month?

Recent buy: Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEPC)

On March 5th I purchased 70 shares in Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEPC) for about $24 per share. Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded platforms for renewable power and decarbonization solutions. Their portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed energy and sustainable solutions across five continents.

I've owned BEP a few years ago. As a result of U.S. Internal Revenue Regulations taking effect 1 January 2023, new withholding charges are applied to sales proceeds from certain Publicly Traded Partnerships ("PTPs”) held by investors who are not U.S. taxpayers. The amount of withholding is 10% of sale or distribution proceeds.  This means 10% of the amount of funds that would settle resulting from any transaction or distribution, not just 10% on any calculated profit. Therefore I sold my BEP position prior to this new regulation coming into effect. 

BEPC is not a PTP since it is a regular Canadian corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

This purchase will add about $100 to my annual dividend income.

Recent sell: Baxter (BAX)

On March 4th I sold my 22 shares in Baxter. I opened this position back in 2013 so it's been in my portfolio for over 10 years. The total return is just over 4% per year. Dividend growth was non-existant in the last two years or so. It was one of my smallest positions, so therefore I decided to sell all of my shares. This will reduce my forward dividend income by just over $20.

I've used the proceeds to open a new position in my portfolio. I will post about that in a few days.

Monthly report: February 2024

February is over! Already the 2nd month of a new year. 

Unlike last month, MPW was the biggest gainer with +28%. Still a big loser considering the price I paid but I'll hold for now. The other big winner is CMI (+11%). Biggest loser is BHP due to their earnings report/dividend cut but a loss of just 8% is not really something I am too worried about. Deere also lost over 7% which is more annoying, since it is one of my biggest positions.

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?!

A total of more than €180 after tax. Eight companies paid me dividends. The dividend income increased by just over 11% compared to last year. This increase is mainly the result of my increased position in Realty Income (here and here). Deere's dividend increase also helps a lot!

In the graph below I've showed my cumulative dividend income for 2023 (which obviously is just the first two months of the year). The cumulative dividend income is about the same as last year at this point in time. I expect to see a little growth in the coming months, but nothing too serious. 

Currently my annual dividend income is around € 10.500. This is slight less than last month because of the BHP dividend reduction.

How was your February? What is your watchlist?