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. Each month when I receive dividend payments, I will do a post about the dividends received from which company. I’m hoping to chronicle my journey and hopefully inspire others to join me.
I am quite excited about the fact that I am again writing about dividend income! Just for owning a tiny part of a company and investing in them, believing in their ideals and just being patient pays dividends, and hopefully for many years to come! The dividend income received in May is a combination of dividends from shares and dividend payments or interest from funds. This is only my second month of receiving income, so this is my highest month to date! 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!
Dividends received in May:
CF Woodford Equity Income – £1.53
ITV Plc – £14.10
Lloyds Bank – £3.00
Premier Monthly Income – £2.04
Vanguard Lifestrategy 60% – £10.11
Total: £30.78
Look at that! The second month of receiving payments and I’m already getting £30. That would almost cover a weekly shop for us, which is very exciting to type! And this should continue every year from now on, unless for some reason they decide to cut their dividend payments. In fact, as I continue to invest in companies and funds, the numbers should increase every year anyway, unless the rules change.
As I wrote about the effect of the magic snowball, this is the beginning of mine. Although, I suppose it’s more like a snowflake than a snowball at this stage! However, 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!
I am aiming to receive £100 in dividend payments over the year, which is a big aim considering I’ve only just started investing in dividend paying stocks. 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. With February’s payout and then May’s, I am up to £40.58 received in dividends, so just over 40% of the way to my yearly goal! 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. But, the only way is up!
Have you received any dividends this month? Thanks for reading!
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Yesterday was the first time i thought ‘what is all this for’ I have been living relatively frugally for about 8 years and i am finding the slog isn’t getting any easier.
I think i may be doing a couple of things incorrectly though which i am going to address today.
1. I don’t track each month (this and last year) how much i have been saving.
2. I look at the negatives, i have had alot of bills so haven’t saved in the last 3 months and constantly find myself playing catch up which depresses me abit.
3. Look at long term realistic picture and why i am doing this.
It would be useful to read how to get over that negative feelings quickly to refocus again. When you have bad months of not saving… how to get over it.
Thanks
I’ll have a think about how I respond to negative feelings, and do a post on it. Thanks for the idea 🙂
Ciao Nicola,
Just found your blog, I really like the recipe section (will try some soon!!), as I am also fond of cooking (but in my blog I only speak about finance and dividends)… Anyhow, going back to finance, good effort in May, I see that you are in the buildup phase of the portfolio, am I correct?
Ciao ciao and keep up the good work!
Stal
Thanks for stopping by! I am definitely in the build up phase, quite near the beginning at the moment 🙂
Great job Nicola! I love you how mentioned that your dividend income almost covered your shopping expenses. What percentage is that? That is a really cool way to frame your income. IF you want to reach financial freedom, you need you income streams to at least cover this. Great job this month! And for the record, you published your article after we had ours ready to go. Sorry about the timing difference 🙂
Bert
Oh, I haven’t worked out the percentage – I’ll have a look!
I love seeing these kinds of updates. It is nice to see people being open about how these sources of income are working for them and how their successes change and grow with time.
It was the fact that I was reading other updates about dividend income that made me look at it in the first place 🙂
Good way to look at it. Small sums will add up in the end. It is important to invest for retirement early even if it doesn’t seem like much now. It will in the end. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I know it’s small now, but hopefully in twenty years time it’ll be quite substantial 🙂
Oh that’s something, Nicola. Congrats on your dividend income!
Thank you!
Dividends are like magic money. I love it when the checks appear.
They certainly are! 🙂
I love dividend income. It’s my favorite way to make money. Keep pushing and your monthly income will just keep going up. Nice job.