09-19-2013, 05:06 PM
So, like many dividend growth investors, I monitor my portfolio closely, happily tracking every dividend reinvestment and annual dividend raise. I also track my total annual dividend amount. I’ve watched that number grow slowly over the years, starting from a very small amount.
Relative to the income from my job, and relative to my expenses, the amount I receive in annual dividends is laughably small. Small enough that I sometimes wonder if it really will ever grow into the robust income stream that we all read and dream about and discuss in dividend growth circles. But I’ve done the projections (conservatively at that), and math doesn’t lie – given enough time and no serious setbacks, it *should* work. But it is still so far out in the future that it doesn’t feel very tangible.
But recently I added some cells to my spreadsheet that made me very happy. Instead of just tracking my annual number, I added a couple of cells, just for fun, that divide the annual number by 12 and by 365 – so I can also see the average amount I receive in dividends each month and each day.
The daily number startled me; it is $21.65. My humble portfolio is throwing off (on average) $21.65 in dividends each and every day. Just for waking up in the morning, whether it is a weekday or weekend, sunny or cloudy, $21.65. I’m not sure why this excites me in a way that the annual number does not, but I’m enjoying the shift in perspective.
Relative to the income from my job, and relative to my expenses, the amount I receive in annual dividends is laughably small. Small enough that I sometimes wonder if it really will ever grow into the robust income stream that we all read and dream about and discuss in dividend growth circles. But I’ve done the projections (conservatively at that), and math doesn’t lie – given enough time and no serious setbacks, it *should* work. But it is still so far out in the future that it doesn’t feel very tangible.
But recently I added some cells to my spreadsheet that made me very happy. Instead of just tracking my annual number, I added a couple of cells, just for fun, that divide the annual number by 12 and by 365 – so I can also see the average amount I receive in dividends each month and each day.
The daily number startled me; it is $21.65. My humble portfolio is throwing off (on average) $21.65 in dividends each and every day. Just for waking up in the morning, whether it is a weekday or weekend, sunny or cloudy, $21.65. I’m not sure why this excites me in a way that the annual number does not, but I’m enjoying the shift in perspective.