Dividend Income July 2016

I get such a feeling of excitement whenever I check my stocks and shares ISA and see that I have received another dividend payment. And, as I have received more throughout July, it means I again have the opportunity here to talk about it! Just for owning a tiny part of a company and investing in them, believing in their ideals and just being patient means we get paid dividends, and hopefully for many years to come! There are many personal finance bloggers that post about dividend investing and how it is a part of their varying income streams, and I am definitely in that gang when it comes to believing in dividend investing.

 

The dividend income received in July is a combination of dividends from shares and dividend payments or interest from funds. As you’ll soon see, July’s dividend income is higher than June was, which is good. 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. 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 today if you feel ready!

 

As part of our long term plans for early retirement, we need enough money in savings and/or income to make sure we can live on a budget long term. I am now hoping that a small income stream will come from dividend payments as part of our investment portfolio. The sooner we can get different income streams up and running, the sooner we’ll hit our aims!

 

Dividends received in July:

HL Multi-Managed High Income – £0.38

Marks and Spencer – £2.64

Premier Monthly Income – £0.59

Standard Life Inv UK Real Estate – £0.44

Whitbread – £24.74

Total: £28.79

 

Look at that, my second biggest month to date, after May’s bumper payout. And, best of all, it’s money I have received for doing absolutely nothing apart from holding a tiny part of a big company. A tiny pay check that I have received; truly passive income. And, as I continue to invest in different stocks and funds, the amount received over time should increase and increase. Finally, as I’m reinvesting all dividends received, this will buy me some more as well, so my payments will (hopefully) grow and grow. If I look at this in relation to our spending, this amount would cover my mobile phone bill, with some spare. Great!

 

As I wrote about the effect of the magic snowball, this is the beginning of mine. It all starts somewhere and I believe that continuing to live a frugal lifestyle and save as we go along will see us right in the end. 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.

 

I am aiming to receive £100 in dividend payments over the year as this is my first year of receiving dividends, and I thought that this would be quite a target to each! I think having a combination of stocks with tend to pay out twice a year, plus funds which seem to pay out monthly or quarterly, will eventually create a good second income stream. In 2016 so far I am up to £76.76 received in dividends, so just over 76% of the way to my yearly goal! At this stage, I think I can be fairly certain that I am going to hit the £100 amount before the end of the year; how exciting is that? Should I increase it? Or leave it as is for now and see what happens? I won’t get dividend payments every month, as I haven’t invested in enough companies as of yet, plus lots of them seem to pay in either Jan/July/Aug/Sept so perhaps trying to get dividend income every month will also be a challenge. I haven’t found any that pay out in March or April that I like the look of yet, do you have recommendations? Still, I think I have made an excellent start which I’m excited about!

 

Have you received any dividends this month? Thanks for reading! 

 

Follow me on:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest