Here is my February 2015 dividend income report. February has been a very good month and we are on our way toward meeting our annual goals of increasing our net worth to $725,000, paying down our mortgage and achieving $7,500 in dividend income .
Dividend Increases
I’ve received a few dividend raises this month that will increase my quarterly dividend income. BCE increased its dividend by over 5%, TransCanada increased by 8%. Emera increased 3.2% and with the increase last fall that makes an annual increase of 10.2%…how’s that for a boring utility stock! And to top it all off, I had CIBC raise 3% and TD Bank 8%. On top of the dividend increases, I received a small bonus from my work and got a 2% raise! 2015 is looking pretty good from an income standpoint.
Net Worth Surprise
I was really surprised with my net worth statement this month. In case you missed it, we’re at the 695k mark. We had a 20k increase last month alone and that puts us about 30k away from meeting our annual goal of 725k. A few things contributed to that increase. First and foremost was the strong performance of global and Canadian stock markets. After a rough finish to 2014 and tough beginning to 2015 they have really bounced back. With oil prices still in the gutter, I was surprised at how well the TSX performed in particular.
Investing Activity
I made some small investment purchases this month. I saw that CPD (the iShares preferred share ETF) was down so I bought another 100 shares to re-balance my RRSP. I also continued with my plan to make regular monthly and quarterly share purchases in my dividend reinvestment accounts (DRIPs). I bought more shares in Emera, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal. In these accounts there is no point in trying to time the market – I contribute small amounts on a regular basis, regardless of what is happening in the market and I let compounding and dollar-cost averaging do their work. All of this automatic saving and investing is the primary reason that my dividend income is constantly increasing.
I was happy to see that BMO finally instituted an automatic bank debit plan to purchase additional shares through its transfer agent Computershare. This saves me the pain in the butt of having to mail off a bunch of post-dated checks.
Monthly Passive Dividend Income
February, May, August and November are generally my weaker dividend income months as I only own a handful of companies that pay out in those months. With some dividend increases and the purchase of additional shares in ETFs that pay a monthly distribution I’m happy to see my monthly income start to rise. More and more I’m finding how great it is to be a dividend investor. Beyond this, I did not initiate any new positions – I just made the same, regular investments into the same collection of stocks, ETFs and index funds.
February has been a decent month with regard to dividend income. Here are the numbers:
Emera (EMA) – $12.56
Bank of Montreal (BMO) – $37.84
Procter & Gamble (PG) – $80.12
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI) – $3.94
iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Preferred Share Index ETF (CPD) – $45.06
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index ETF (XRE) – $37.26
Canadian Short-Term Corporate Bond Index ETF (VSC) – $20.12
Canadian Short-Term Bond Index ETF (VSB) – $15.48
TOTAL = $252.38
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