January 17th, 2012 | 
Category: 
My first dividend income report for the year!
With dividends, slow and steady wins the race. Remember that it’s a marathon. For those of you new to my blog, I have been tracking my dividend income since I ‘officially’ initiated my strategy a couple of years back. If you have not done so recently, I recommend you review your portfolio to ensure you are satisfied with your current strategy.
Last year, my goal was to reach $5,000.00 in dividends and I fell a little short with $4,742.25. I am still quite satisfied as I was also trying to strike a balance between higher yield and dividend growth investments that follow the 10/10 rule with dividend aristocrats. As I DRIP most of my dividends (where I can), I let the power of compound growth do its work with my dividends. It’s quite boring to watch I tell you 
In 15 years, looking back at the earning growth should be quite revealing though.
I am going to be aggressive in my Dividend Income target for the year and go for $7,000!!! My yearly estimate currently land at $5,700 so I will need some savings to generate and an extra $1,300 for the year. If I assume 5% yield, I would need to add around $20K. That’s quite a bit of savings, let’s hope I have some dividend increase along the way to help me out
Dividend Income
I made some investments in the past few months with a couple in November that are starting to show in my dividend income now. I bought National Bank (NA) and Manulife (MFC) in November and they are doing well so far. My estimated earnings for January 2012 is $515.16. I don’t make large purchases often. I do my TFSA contribution once a year but I do send $200 – $500 cheques to my DRIP shares with Computershare and CIBC Mellon every now and again. When you don’t stare at it, you realize after a while that it’s growing steadily.
Dividend Paying Holdings
Broker Accounts (RRSP, TFSA, …)
- Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)
- Bank of Montreal (BMO)
- Royal Bank of Canada (RY)
- Toronto Dominion (TD)
- National Bank (NA)
- Crescent Point Energy (CGP)
- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB)
- AT&T (T)
- Rogers Communications (RCI.B)
- Cominar Real Estate (CUF.UN)
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
- Coca-Cola (KO)
- Liquor Store (LIQ)
- Power Financial (PWF)
- Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC)
- A Mututal Fund generating ~8% dividend
Computershare & CIBC Mellon Accounts
- Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)
- Bank of Montreal (BMO)
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)
- Sun Life (SLF)
- Telus (T.A)
- Bell Canada (BCE)
- RioCan (REI.UN)
- Transcanada Pipeline (TRP)
- TransAlta (TA)
- Fortis (FTS)
- Emera (EMA)
- Enbrdige (ENB)
Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The chart is a good example of the power of investing in dividend paying companies. Very nice PIE!
Moneycone recently posted..10 ETFs Cheaper Than Their Vanguard Peers
I’m currently at an average monthly income of $65.76! Trying to grow the passive income. Thanks for the inspiration!
@joncosmo
Glad to be an inspiration. I started small and I hope to show how it can be done – it’s a journey
Can you do a post on Computershare?
Is it a way to do dollar-cost averaging?
Steve @ Canadian Personal Finance recently posted..Why you should beware BMO’s 2.99% new 5-Year Fixed Rate
@Steve
I certainly can. In fact, I am just in the middle of filling forms to transfer shares to my kids so they can start early
What a great start to 2012. This year, I want to buy more energy and food (MCD,KO) sector.
I’m just starting my dividend investing journey. My old man has made a living off dividend investing – if nothing else it has shown me the power of compound interest and investing wisely.
D
@Dan
Same here, my parents are into preferred shares and REITs and 25 years retired
I just wished I started earlier.
Thanks for stopping by!
What an inspiration!
$7K dividend income is awesome and I’m sure you’ll achieve it. Prices are pretty good right now compared to same time last year.
How much is your total portfolio?
(I think I can snoop around your blog and find it- doing that right now…)
youngandthrifty recently posted..Quicken Home and Business 2012 Review
@YT
I am not done updating Quicken to give you an accurate picture
It’s worth nearly $98K now for the investments generating dividend investment. I’ll need to double check how much I invested but I think it’s around $70K so far. I did really good in 2009 
These numbers sound pretty good. Though I wish I had an extra 100k lying around to buy some dividend stocks with
Juan recently posted..A Primer On Options
Great stuff! Will include in my Weekend Reading roundup!
I hope to surpass $6,000 in dividend income by the end of 2012.
$7,000 per year would be awesome, well ahead of me
I too, am looking to buy MFC, about 100 shares. If the price stays around $12-13, I will be pulling the trigger as soon as I have the coin.
Cheers,
Mark
My Own Advisor recently posted..Part 2 of 2 – My Favourite Takeaways – MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio
[...] Passive Income Earner reported his January 2012 dividend income. I think he’s now ahead of me! Dang. I need to get investing more! Well done Passive. [...]
If you had your $4,742.25 from previous year, you will need only $16,000 this year.
How do you measure your personal risk? As there is shares which can give you 2% and the ones who get 5-6%. Do you calculate (subtract) your trading expenses from dividends?
What is your expense ratio?
Financial Independence recently posted..Is real estate (property) worth investing as rental income?
FI I dont understand you question there is no trading expenses on divdends. all though some brokers grant the discount on DRIPs and some others don’t so it’ll depend on how you have your account setup. In short no.
[...] 3. Dividend Income – January 2012 @ The Passive Income Earner. [...]
You mentioned that your parents were investing in REIT’s and preferred shares. Do you have any specifics as to what looks good in these areas as I am also interested in establishing an income portfolio. Thanks!
@Marypat
Sorry, I am not in a position to make recommendations unfortunately and I don’t research them either. I would recommend you contact a firm to discuss with their stock brokers about your plans.
Good stuff man!!
I’m hoping to surpass $2,000 in dividends this year and I’m very confident I’ll well exceed that. It’s definitely a slow and steady journey, and one that should be enjoyed for what it is along the way.
Best wishes for your $7k goal!
Dividend Mantra recently posted..My New Ride – Part II
[...] Dividend Income January 2012 The Passive Income Earner earned nearly $5k in passive dividend income for 2011. He’s aiming for $7k in 2012. [...]
I have 3 dividend paying accounts, I just started last year so I am hoping for $100 in dividend payments, of which most will be dripped. My goals are very similar to yours, so good luck with yours.
http://poorcanadianstudent.blogspot.com/
Say Passive are you planning on updating your projection on MCD and the other companies? I wrote a piece on my blog about MCD regarding its entry and exit price points.
Spent today reviewing my own (small by comparison) divident income portfolio. Dividend investing is a part of my income generating goals for 2012, and a GE dividend has set me off on the right path to achieving those goas – for this month anyway
Good luck on the $7k goal! I’m targetting about an average of $200 per month in dividend income by the end of 2012, so I’ll be following your progress with interest!
CentsableOne recently posted..Building a Location Independent Income – The Vision
Congrats on the dividend income in 2011 and good luck with 2012. I am looking mainly toward tech and energy sectors to make some decent dividend income in my retirement account this year.
cashflowmantra recently posted..What Would I Do With $50,000?
I collected in 2011 $6585 in dividends on equities plus something on MF (didn’t calculated)… last dividend payment for 2011 I’ll get on Jan 26 from BNS.
2012 started not too bad and in January I should get about $880. 3 biggest contributors (close to $100 each) from 3 biggest holdings are : RCI.B, PM, BCE . So, not every month I’ll get such amount.
Also I have moderate positions in high yielding ETFs: HEE, HEX and ZWB.
This month I initiated small positions in EGL.UN (10.5% yield), TA (5.7%) , added a little TD and reinitiated position in G
Like PIE I DRIP dividend whenever I can.
@gibor
Well done! What’s your average yield?
Oh..forgot about TD, so for Jan dividends are about $920, in Feb I expect about $500
@PIE, it’s hard to say what is my average div yield as it’s time consuming to calc, did it several month ago but now it’s not relevant.
Some ETF’s dividends are floating (ex. HEE,HEX,ZWB), also I have a junk of equities that not paying dividends (ex. XMA, DBA, URA, PALL…), but i hold then for a long term as I’m bullish on commodities.
BTW, today added shares to COP.N on dip below $70 (like this one, nice yield, excelent div growth and they spin-off in Q2), and initiated position in KMB …. wanted to add ABT, but didn’t have available $$$
gibor I am interested on why you like EGL.un its numbers don’t look very good.
Great going!
Can I ask–how long did it take you to get up to the $500 range in dividend income each month?
Amanda L Grossman recently posted..Filing Your Taxes for Free and Finding Free Tax Return Help
@Amanda
Thanks for the compliments. I have been fully into dividend investing for the past 3 years but really, the amount of dividends is a factor of your invested amount and the companies you invest in. It’s not always wise to chase the yield though. I have invested nearly $80K to reach this so far.
@Scrouge,
http://www.beatingtheindex.com/eagle-energy-trust-a-dream-come-true-for-income-investors/
Congratulations on building up that beautiful portfolio.
This dividend investing strategy seems like a great way to pay for retirement or just generating a steady flow of income from a few years of hard work.
You have definitely inspired me to start my own dividend portfolio.