02-25-2018, 12:39 PM
Generally I agree with Eric.
My biggest reaction is just that, while I completely understand the desire for more consistent monthly income, using that as a structuring principle for the portfolio could diminish your returns. My instinct would be to focus on the best companies that meet your general criteria and that present the best opportunities at the time of purchase, without regard to when they pay the dividend.
Instead, you can route all of the dividends to a single account, and then calculate the monthly distribution you can pay yourself out of that. You can use a simple spreadsheet to determine the current average monthly dividend payments. So your holding account will fluctuate in value (growing most in the high-dividend months like December and March, and growing least in low-dividend months like February), but you'll withdraw the same amount each month. And with luck, that monthly amount will grow incrementally as dividends grow and you add to the portfolio.
My biggest reaction is just that, while I completely understand the desire for more consistent monthly income, using that as a structuring principle for the portfolio could diminish your returns. My instinct would be to focus on the best companies that meet your general criteria and that present the best opportunities at the time of purchase, without regard to when they pay the dividend.
Instead, you can route all of the dividends to a single account, and then calculate the monthly distribution you can pay yourself out of that. You can use a simple spreadsheet to determine the current average monthly dividend payments. So your holding account will fluctuate in value (growing most in the high-dividend months like December and March, and growing least in low-dividend months like February), but you'll withdraw the same amount each month. And with luck, that monthly amount will grow incrementally as dividends grow and you add to the portfolio.