As another month is over, I get to write about my favourite topic: dividend investing. I have, recently, had a rebalance of my portfolio so my dividend income will change slightly going forward. Hopefully in a positive way! One of the main reasons was that I had a holding in Whitbread and on Friday just gone, they were up 17% so I decided to sell most of my holding for a great profit and reinvest it into a different fund. Happy with my decision 🙂 I have also sold another three holdings to be reinvested into the same fund. Less complicated that way.
I love logging into my account and checking out if I’ve received any dividends. I keep meaning to write down when I’m due dividends, but never seem to get round to it! So, I log in fairly regularly to see if I’ve received any income. I do have written down which holdings should pay out during each month, but not the actual amount. In terms of my holdings, it’s been a bit of a ride in terms of numbers going up and down as valuations are somewhat rocky at the moment. My stocks and shares ISA is with Hargreaves Lansdown, which is very easy to use and I’d definitely recommend them. You can get information about that here or even open an ISA in about 5 minutes.
The aim eventually is to use the dividend income to pay some household bills. Things like council tax, or water rates. That’s when passive income really takes over. To pay fixed expenses each month from passive income would be amazing. To be able to pay for things that we have no control over, such as our council tax or the water rates, by using dividend income would take the pressure off other areas of money. One day, this will be our reality. I can’t wait until this point 
 when the numbers start to tip in that balance, our financial freedom point will be ever closer. At the moment I choose to keep my dividend income within my account and reinvest so as the keep the ball rolling.
The dividend income received in August is a combination of dividends from shares and funds. There are always going to be swings in terms of how much income is produced by dividends, just because different holdings pay out at different times. In August 2017 I received £87.76 which was fantastic. This year, it’s even more!
Dividends received in August:
Brown Group – £34.24
CF Woodford Equity Income – £1.99
Halfords – £12.03
Next – £21.00
Premier Monthly Income – £0.72
Vodafone – £45.47
Total: £115.45
Look at that! Just slightly more than last month and another three figure month. The dividend snowball effect is definitely happening. Just by us living a more frugal lifestyle and investing our hard earned pennies is now beginning to pay off, literally. Over £100 received for nothing. Passive income at it’s finest 🙂 I hope this is inspiring someone else to begin their frugal journey. If we can do it, anyone can! We are not depriving ourselves of anything, just making purposeful choices and it’s beginning to pay off. Literally!
My dividend income aim for 2018 is £800 received. At the end of August and eight months through the year (!) I’m up to £509.06 so I’m definitely waaay behind where I should be by now, with only four more months to go. It does seem a long way off at the moment though, not going to lie. Keeping my fingers crossed I’ll manage it in the end.
Have you received any dividends this month? Thanks for reading!Â
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Which new funds have you invested in? How much do you buy usually per month and do you buy just one share per month or a number of different shares? What’s your total to date? Really interested as we have just started investing in a SSISA and trying to look at all ways of doing things. We are going to try to save to become an isa millionaire if we can (high hopes) Great blog thanks 😀
Hi Mrs FC,
With your stocks and shares ISA, do you have to actively manage where the money is invested to get the best return?
Also, if read somewhere that maxing out a cash isa before getting s&s was a better strategy as it’s a guaranteed tax-free return. Is this something you’ve thought about?
Just curious to know your thoughts 🙂
I do actively manage in the sense that I do keep an eye on stock movements and such like. If you keep your savings just in cash then your capital is eaten away by inflation – investing is better in the long term 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I’m following these posts and find them very interesting. I’m just starting out on my investing journey- a bit late but better than not at all. In the last month I have taken the plunge and opened a S&S ISA and a tracker. I have picked two more trackers with a goal to start investing in each by the end of the year. I would like to also diversify and invest in particular companies also. Do you have a plan or just research a company you like or shop in?
That’s great! I do both – I have invested in companies I like and use and hen I do research and reading around others.
Four more months of your current dividend earnings and you smash through your target! I’m excited to see what September brings you 🙂
That’s true! And thank you 🙂
Hi, your dividend income for August looks good to me. Have you written a blog page on how to get started with investments? I’m only 4 days into my new frugal lifestyle and enjoying reading your blog entries. I’m interested in investments but have no idea how to begin so I shall have a look at Hargreaves Landsdown. I’ve had a huge review of our expenditure and feel that we can take control of spending and outgoings. I wish that I’d done this years ago it’s extremely liberating 😀
Hi, and welcome! It’s great that you’re loving your new lifestyle; better late than never 🙂 I keep meaning to write about how to get started, so thanks for the reminder.
I’ve look at your link to Hargreaves Landsdown, you are right when you say that their site is easy to understand and navigate. I already have an ISA so I was looking at other options. I need to sit down and read things carefully. Maybe in a couple of weeks. I might just aim at investing more into my ISA at the moment. Our new frugal lifestyle is taking priority. I am recording daily outgoings in my new frugal notebook, I do like the sense of achievement that putting pen to paper gives me. I love your simple planner sheets and may do something like that myself but a note book will do for the time being.
It sounds like your new frugal lifestyle is going well 🙂
Hi there, thinking of starting a S&S ISA, do you have them decide for you or do you buy your own choices
That’s great that you’re thinking of starting one! I choose my own but you can buy ready made portfolios too, those these tend to have higher fees.
Thanks, I can see you have around 21.5k invested, I am concerned that getting anywhere near that is going to take ages and ages. Have I in fact left it too late to go down this route.😿
You really haven’t! You could get started with £25 and build it up from there 🙂
Do you just pile all your savings into the ISA wherever possible, you seem to be on track for a big pot, this all sound so scary, I am frightened I might lose so much
I tend to do one transfer a month into my ISA – on payday 🙂 funds are less risky than individual shares.
Great income for the month !!
But what capital value is this based on, and what is the annualised average dividend return you’re seeing?
I guess at some stage you will stop reinvesting the dividends and take the income to live off – so how is the underlying capital value doing year on year, is it rising to allow you to draw the income long term without being eaten away by inflation (and indeed hopefully protect your income from inflation too)?
Thanks! I currently have about £21.5k invested and am track to get about £800 in dividend income this year 🙂
And yes, eventually will take the income to live off but not for a while yet! Capital rising at a slow rate but we’re on track so far 🙂
Hi F.C.
Great website and that is fab dividend for Aug. One question, does it cost you about £10 every time you purchase shares and therefore do you find these fees are eating into your returns? I’m wondering the fact you have spread your investment over different holdings you are maybe paying a lot of £10 fees? Any advice greatly appreciated