At the end of every month I update my dividends. As they frequently change with funds, I often dread looking at the new numbers. Some months they go up and some they go down. It’s never enough to really sway my returns, but I imagine as the years go on and the portfolio grows this will have a greater and greater impact. So as I approach $100 dollars a month in dividends and move beyond it, I believe I’ll begin focusing more on steady, growing dividend companies. I’m saying this almost entirely for myself, but I think it’s important to reinforce my ideas by writing them out.
Here are my dividend payouts for the last year and a half.
There is, of course, one week left in the month, but now felt as good a time as any to look back. And I have done well. In April of last year I earned $10.50 in dividends. This year I earned $53.26. That’s a substantial increase.
And even though, at the beginning of this year, I stated that I didn’t know how I would ever get to $70 dollars a month or $15,000 invested, I see it now. I see a path. This is incredible. Now, $100 dollars a month in passive income doesn’t seem like such a lofty goal. It seemed so daunting at first. And my portfolio size is what I would consider quite large to get that return. But there is a spectrum and for some I know it is a lot. For others, not so much. I am content with where I am.
Lastly, I wanted to revisit NVDY. A YieldMax options strategy fund. I fully expected the price to decline and to lose money. I just so happened to pick a company that is skyrocketing with the AI boom. Oops. If we look at other popular funds like TSLY, then we can see the share price dropping dramatically. Eventually, this will happen with NVDY. So, I accidentally made money and I’m not upset about that, but it is still a good lesson that the market is unpredictable and it’s best to invest in the total market or solid companies with a history of steady growth rather than gamble.
I bought NVDY at $22.24, let the dividends reinvest and now the share price is up to $28.55. So my position is worth $43.65 for an increase of 22.17%. Would I have made a decent amount of money if I had bought a lot more? Sure. Am I upset that I didn’t? Not at all. I’d rather have the stability and liquidity every month.