Greetings my upwardly mobile friends!
In May 2018, the Passive Income experiment delivered the first dividends. Now, in May 2019, we can finally start looking at hard numbers!
May 2018 versus May 2019
| Month | May 2018 | May 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Total Value Of Portfolio | $4,572.31 | $54,389.82 |
| PGX Dividend | $1.34 | $48.24 |
| PFF Dividend | $8.48 | $27.05 |
| SCHD Dividend | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| SPYD Dividend | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| VYM Dividend | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Money Market Interest | $0.00 | $25.12 |
| Total Passive Income | $9.82 | $100.41 |
The elephant in the room is that there is almost $50,000 more in the portfolio in 2019. It’s also an off month so very few ETFs paid dividends that are reflected here. Also, there was no money market interest in 2018, because there was no cash reserve back then.
As the portfolio is 10x larger, the dividends reflected are 10x larger. That was expected and the increase has a distinctly encouraging feel to me as the investor.
Despite being an off month in 2019, the portfolio generated more than $100. It’s the most it’s ever generated in an off month. It’s also enough to pay a real chunk of our monthly expenses if I needed it to. That said, the portfolio is set to reinvest all dividends at least until retirement.
PGX is currently buying me 3.3 new shares of itself each month. PFF is buying me 3/4ths of a share each month. Back in 2018, the tiny dividends didn’t feel like real progress.
By adding so much to the portfolio over a year, it feels like it’s growing on its own now. It has momentum and the compounding effect is visible.
The June 2019 report is likely to be very interesting as it’s the first big month for which we will be able to make 2018 to 2019 comparisons.
What’s the takeaway?
There is a distinctly encouraging feel in dividend ETF investments. The compounding encourages you to save more so that you can invest more so that the dividends grow faster. I think it’s the feeling that creates a positive feedback loop of passive income investment goodness.
Nice increase year over year! Feels good to get those dividends going to buy more shares!
Thanks. It’s a huge encouragement to see the numbers. The June numbers are going to be much more exciting though as everything in my portfolio pays a June dividend.