Dividend Income – Jan 2019 Update

Itโ€™s my favourite time of the month โ€“ dividend income update! The reason why I publish these monthly updates is to keep us motivated and at the same time demonstrate that it is possible to build a sizable dividend income over time.

In January we were out of town for 2 weeks. We visited Taiwan and Japan and had a great time. It was amazing to know that our money was working hard for us even though we were vacationing.

Since we were travelling with a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old, we had to tailor our travel plans to them. This meant we took a very slow pace and visited only one or two tourist attractions each day. The days of running through tourist attractions and see as many attractions as possible in a short period of time are long gone for Mrs. T and I! We ended up spending quite a bit of time on different playgrounds and parks to make sure both kids could burn off their excess energy.

Here are some pictures from the trip that I posted on Instagram. I might write a trip report later.

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When in Osakaโ€ฆ

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Ice cream eye scream!

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When we were in Taipei, I had the chance to meet up with Matt from Financial Imagineer. We ended up talking about personal finance, investing, travelling, geoarbitrage for over 2 hours. We probably could have kept talking for hours but we had to end the meetup short because Matt had a business lunch to go to.

Jan Dividend Income

In January we received dividends from the following companies:

  • BCE (BCE.TO)
  • Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO)
  • CIBC (CM.TO)
  • Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO)
  • Dream Office REIT (D.UN)
  • Dream Global REIT (DRG.UN)
  • Dream Industrial REIT (DIR.UN)
  • H&R REIT (HR.UN)
  • Inter Pipeline (IPL.TO)
  • KEG Income Trust (KEG.UN)
  • MCAN Mortgage Corp (MKP.TO)
  • Nutrien Ltd (NTR.TO)
  • Prairiesky Royalty (PSK.TO)
  • Rogers (RCI.B)
  • RioCan (REI.UN)
  • SmartCentres REIT (SRU.UN)
  • Telus (T.TO)
  • TD (TD.TO)
  • TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO)
  • Domtar Corp (UFS.TO)
  • Vanguard Canada All Cap (VCN.TO)
  • Ventas (VTR)
  • Vanguard All-World Ex Canada (VXC.TO)
  • Wal-Mart (WMT)

In total we received pay cheques from 24 companies that added up to $1,609.41. I donโ€™t know about you, but I think thatโ€™s a pretty good way to start the new year.

Out of the $1,609.41 received, only $83.01 was in USD and the rest was in CAD. This was one of those months that we received very little dividends in USD. Please note, we use a 1 to 1 currency rate approach. We do not convert dividends received in USD to CAD. We are ignoring the exchange rate to keep the math simple. This is our way to avoid fluctuations in dividend income over time due to changes in the exchange rate.

The top 5 dividend payouts in January 2019 came from BCE, Bank of Nova Scotia, Telus, CIBC, and TD (not in order). Dividend payout from these 5 companies accounted for $931.9 or 57.9% of our Jan dividend income total.

Although the top 5 dividend payouts contributed over 50% of our January dividend income, I am not worried at all. Stocks like Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, and TD have been paying dividends since the late 1800s. BCE and Telus both also have a long dividend history. It is unlikely for these companies to all of a sudden suspend their dividend payments.

Dividend Breakdown

A quick reminder to new readers, we hold our dividend stocks in taxable accounts, RRSPs, and TFSAs. Every year, we maximize tax-advantaged accounts first before investing in taxable accounts.

For 2019, we have already maximized our TFSAโ€™s ($12,000) and purchased dividend paying stocks with the money. We are also forecasting a slight over-contribution to our RRSP for the 2018 tax year. Remember, you are allowed to over-contribute your RRSP up to $2,000 without a penalty.

For the Jan 2019 dividend income, hereโ€™s the breakdown of the different accounts:

  • Taxable: $482.85 or 30%
  • RRSPs: $333.69 or 20.7%
  • TFSAs: $792.87 or 49.3%

Dividend Growth

Compared to January 2018, we saw a respectable YOY growth of 20.03%. Itโ€™s a good way to start off the year and I was happy to see a YoY growth percentage that was higher than 20% (well barely).

Dividend Increases

In January, the following stocks in our dividend portfolio announced dividend payout increase:

  • Canadian Utilities raised its dividend by 7.5% to $0.4227 per share.
  • Rogers raised its dividend by 4.2% to $0.50 per share.
  • Canadian National Railway raised its dividend by 18% to $0.5375 per share.
  • Metro raised its dividend by 11.1% to $0.20 per share.
  • Exco Technologies raised its dividend by 6% to $0.09 per share.
  • Chevron raised its dividend by 6.3% to $1.19 per share.

All these raises increased our annual dividend by $77.24. At 4% dividend yield, this meant we received a free raise in our dividend income without having to invest $1,931.

Dividend Stock Transactions

We maxed out our TFSAโ€™s at the beginning of the month and purchased a number of stocks. Unfortunately we didnโ€™t see a big market drop like we saw on Christmas Eve, so the purchase prices were slightly above the stocksโ€™ 52-week low.

  • 35 shares of TD (TD.TO)
  • 289 shares of Inter Pipeline (IPL.TO)
  • 44 shares of Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO)

These 3 transactions increased our forward annual dividend by $755.32.

Summary

With one month down, we have received $1,609.41 in dividend income so far this year. Looking back, itโ€™s amazing to note that in 2018, we did not receive over $1,600 in dividend until June, or halfway through 2018. Considering that we plan to continue to add fresh capital into our dividend portfolio and purchase more dividend-paying stocks and ETFs, I am optimistic that we will break the $2,000 monthly dividend milestone sometime in 2019.

In case youโ€™re wondering, at $1,602.09, the amount covered 66% of our core expenses in January.

How was your January dividend income?

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30 thoughts on “Dividend Income – Jan 2019 Update”

  1. Hi Bob, long time follower. I was wondering about your rationale for the large IPL purchase. I’ve been looking at it for awhile myself but it is not concerning that the $1.71 dividend is well above the ~$1.54 earnings? Plus it seems to be lagging behind the rest of the energy sector. Obviously the yield is attractive but I’m still on the fence. Thank you for all of your insight (and excellent photography)!

    Reply
    • If you look at from the pure dividend to earning point of view, yes IPL is concerning. But if you look deeper and look at their reports, their cash flow can sustain the dividend payments IMO. Pipeline companies like IPL and ENB require a bit of digging than just looking at the payout ratio as their earnings can go up and down due to future pipeline investments.

      Reply
  2. Awesome job Bob, I remember coming across your website when I first started with dividend investing so it’s been awesome to se how you do it and how you’re crushing it!

    Reply
  3. Great stuff Bob! And amazing to see that Jan 2019 brought in more dividends than all of 2011 by roughly 2.4x and was almost 60% of your 2012 total. That’s the power of committing to an investment strategy and letting the business, time and compounding work for you.

    Regarding vacations/trips my wife and I are both other the constant hustle/bustle to see tourist attractions. Even when it’s just the 2 of us on a trip away we make a plan to see 1-2 things a day and the play the rest by ear. And I have to say that we enjoy the trips a lot more.

    Reply
    • Thank you JC. It’s amazing to see that we’ve come a long way. ๐Ÿ™‚

      We used to be like you and your wife before having kids. Nowadays we actually prefer the slower pace.

      Reply
  4. Dear Bob,

    First and foremost, congrats to your ever increasing automated self-made paychecks! I particularly like the chart you’ve made comparing your monthly cash-flows over the past couple of years. Looks like the USD 2k per month can and will be reached soon!

    Second: It was great to get to know you and your family and chatting about all things financial in Taipei last month. And yes, I’m positive we could have continued for hours! Let’s aim to do so at Fincon or another time where our paths shall cross.

    Cheers and greetings from Singapore,
    Matt

    Reply
  5. Hi Bob,

    Very nice view of Taipei! This region of the world I never had the chance to visit. I hope to fill this gap in the near future. Between Taipei and Osaka, which one do you consider more densely populated?

    Concerning the dividends, congrats on the achievement. It is always nice see our dividends growing 2 digits YoY.

    All the best.

    Cheers!

    Reply
  6. Well done Bob. 20% Dividend growth is really impressive. Looking at the charts and the distributions at various dates you might just (fingers crossed) break $ 2000 in a month at some stage. All the best and keep it up!

    Reply
  7. Tawcan –

    Not sure what to be more pumped up about – your growth & dividend income or the MASSIVE purchases you made in the top Canadian banks! That’s seriously some massive dividend income being added on a go-forward basis. Inspiring, thank you!

    -Lanny

    Reply
  8. Thatโ€™s a great way to start the year, and continuation of the success from last year. Looks like youโ€™re poised for a big year.

    Did you visit Osaka Castle? I had a great time there on one of my trips.

    Reply
  9. Years ago I looked at Canadian National Railway and thought long and hard about investing. I ended up taking a pass on it because it was too expensive. I still regret that mistake today. It’s done very well for investors over the years. Top notch railroad.

    Anyway, congrats on the 20% growth, you killed it in January!

    Reply
    • Yea glad I purchased CNR back in the days. It was a bit expensive at the time but I liked its long term profit. I guess some stocks you need to purchase at a slight premium.

      Thanks, we were surprised with the 20% growth too.

      Reply
  10. I recently watched a BNN interview that had a capital investment company from the US stating they plan to start flipping and short selling CND bank stocks as they see a bubble up here. I don’t really see it happening myself.

    Well done on starting the year of with a nice YOY jump start. Also, that photo of Taipei shows a lot of concrete, not sure I could survive without my need for green.

    Reply
    • Hmm that’s an interesting statement… but the CND banks are quite well protected as there’s insurance when buyers have very low downpayments. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the CND banks.

      Reply
  11. wow nice month bob!

    Awesome that you maxed those tfsas right away! Added a tonne to your forward income. We shared a bunch of those raises. Got to love em.

    great year over year growth. Overall a solid month Bob.

    keep it up
    cheers

    Reply

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