My future Payout Machine

[jdiv]

I started my dividend portfolio in the summer of 2017. Since then I've received around $50 in dividends, It's not much but I got to start somewhere, right? 

Long term goal: 
- Getting an increasing amount of passive income $$$ each month
- Have the possibility for early retirement

My plan going forward: 
- Adding funds for expanding my portfolio once a month. Looking to invest $300-500 each month both buying new stocks to further diversify my portfolio, and increase in my existing positions
- Reinvest all dividend payouts
- Get the snowball rolling

I've started by taking a small position in the following monthly paying stocks, to keep myself motivated by getting a (for now) small amount of money each month: 
(% = percentage of total portfolio value)
AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC): ~8% 
Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (BPF.UN.CA): ~10% 
Enbridge Income Fund (ENF.CA): ~6%
Gladstone Commercial Corporation (GOOD): ~5%
LTC Properties Inc. (LTC): ~5%
Main Street Capital Corporation (MAIN): ~8%
Northwest Healthcare Prop Reit (NWH.UN.CA): ~7%
Realty Income Corporation (O): ~7%
Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL.CA): 7%

I've also got the following quarterly paying stocks:
American Shipping Company (AMSC): ~6%
Chimera Investment Corporation (CIM): ~4%
Marine Harvest Group (MHG): ~7%
Microsoft (MSFT): ~16%
Ocean Yield (OCY): ~10%

As long as my current stocks don't cut their dividends, I'm looking at an estimated of $175/year, $14.50/month, enough to cover my Netflix-subscription and a bottle of Coca Cola each month, not a bad start 

Since I plan to add funds to my portfolio each month, my goal for 2018 is $250 in total dividends payed out in 2018, and increase my yearly estimated dividends to $350. 

Appreciate any comments/suggestions/recommendations!

[ChadR]

Great start to your future payout machine. You've already got Netflix covered. Before you know it, you'll have your housing costs covered. I own a couple of the same ones that you do. One word of advice. Keep your trading expenses low. Unless your trading commissions are free or $2, I wouldn't be buying stocks with just $300. Wait till you build up some cash and buy every third month or so. I know that can be hard when starting out on your journey.

[jdiv]

Thanks! Yeah, that's good advice regarding the commissions. I learned that "the hard way" though, making too many small buys and sells in the beginning. Part of the learning experience playing around I guess. My trading commissions are at the moment $2-$6 depending on which stock exchange I buy from. I've decided to limit myself to 1 or 2 buys each month, that way it's kind of covered by the monthly dividends, although my profits will be less, but that's acceptable while I'm still learning. Will probably buy less frequently after a while, when the stock market is less "new and exiting"

[jdiv]

December buys / my last stock purchase this year:

New: Uniti Group Inc. (UNIT)
Added to existing: Chimera Investment Corporation (CIM)

Combined they'll increase my yearly dividends by ~$41

[Kerim]

Hey Jdiv -- looks like you're off to a great start. I'm unfamiliar with some of those names. Can you give some insight about the criteria you've been using for purchases? How are you picking what you're picking?

[jdiv]

Some of them are listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) so they are probably not well known in the US.

As for the other ones, I wish I could tell you I had a solid and well thought trough strategy but I didn't. Most of the buys were made from reading blogs/forums etc, choosing a set of the "popular" monthly paying stocks with an okay yield, to get me started.

My last buy (UNIT) might be a bit risky, but I like the REITs and Uniti is a bit different than the ones I already own since they operate with networking/communications infrastructure instead of "regular real-estate". The stock price has taken a dip recently, but I believe they'll bounce back and I will enjoy a 13.5% dividend yield along the way.

For January I have Pfizer Inc (PFE) on my watchlist, as a probable first investment of 2018.

[jdiv]

End of year review 2017: (Since start of portfolio in the summer)

Number of dividends received: 42
Total amount of dividends received: $62
Estimated monthly dividend income: $15.5

Looking forward to increasing those numbers next year!

[DividendGarden]

(12-14-2017, 04:13 PM)jdiv Wrote: Thanks! 

Just wanted to say that I love the Scrooge McDuck avatar.

[jdiv]

Today, I bought a few shares of "Gladstone Land Corporation" (ticker LAND):

http://gladstonefarms.com/farmland-portfolio/

Monthly payer, a bit different sort of REIT to diversify my portfolio a bit.

Should increase my yearly dividends by a whopping $6, but I plan to add some more shares throughout the year

[MarcN]

Hey Jdiv, that's a good start!

I would recommend a few things. When I started, I was doing something similar, buying according to whatever articles I was reading. But then I realized it would be more effective to have a systematic, well thought-out approach that would be as scientific as possible.

1) First, I wrote down my goals and what was important for me. These were my guidelines for future investments. For me, a safe, ever increasing stream of dividends is my priority. these dividends need to be paid and need to increase independent of the market conditions if I want to use them during retirement.
2) I realized I needed to invest in quality stocks and that I needed to invest a good chunk of my portfolio in more defensive stocks. (typically, defensive sectors are consumers staples, utilities and healthcare)
3) I use Dave Fish's list of dividend growing stocks
4) I look for those that have increased their dividends even during last recession
5) Of those, I look for those that have investment grade ratings. I like a minimum of BBB+ or A-
6) Of the remaining stocks, I look for those with an acceptable current yield and respectable expected dividend growth rate.
7) Now you should be down to ~100 stocks. You should check the story of each one to determine if they are good long term holdings (long term would be >20 years). For the more qualitative aspect, I use Zacks, Morningstar and Valueline reports.

I get the credit rating for free from s&p site.

Alternatively, one could invest in an ETF that does this job for you. SCHD looks very good in that perspective. You could look at the holdings of this ETF for some ideas too.

Hope this helps a bit.

[jdiv]

Thanks for some great tips & recommendations MarcN!

I definitely plan to add some more defensive stocks to my portfolio, just eager to get started so I have prioritized some high-yield, preferably monthly payers to get the snowball rolling

[jdiv]

Bought a few (literally) shares of PFE today. 5 @ $36.68