Monthly Report: September 2016

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of September 30, 2016:

Taxable Dividend Income (Total: $586.41)

• Bank of America Corporation (BAC) - $9.65 (Increased 51.97% YOY)
• Chevron Corporation (CVX) - $11.88 (Increased 4.95% YOY)
• Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED) - $110.90 (Increased 7.06% YOY)
• Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) - $25.28 (Increased 5.03% YOY)
• Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) - $19.78 (Increased 6.57% YOY)
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - $8.36 (Increased 9.86% YOY)
• Kellogg Company (K) - $0.48 (Increased 4.35% YOY)
• Mattel, Inc. (MAT) - $0.60 (Increased 39.53% YOY)
• McDonald's Corp. (MCD) - $100.74 (Increased 7.95% YOY)
• Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) - $211.52 (Increased 19.35% YOY)
• Pepsi, Inc. (PEP) - $0.63 (Increased 43.18% YOY)
• Pfizer Inc. (PFE) - $16.75 (Increased 11.07% YOY)
• Realty Income Corporation (O) - $5.72 (Increased 10.42% YOY)
• Southern Company (SO) - $14.86 (Increased 8.23% YOY)
• Target Corp. (TGT) - $29.49 (Increased 12.09% YOY)
• Time Inc. (TIME) - $0.20 (Increased 5.26% YOY)
• Time Warner Inc. (TWX) - $4.56 (Increased 17.53% YOY)
• Unilever plc (UL) - $0.26 (Increased 271.43% YOY)
• V.F. Corporation (VFC) - $0.07
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) - $14.68 (Increased 9.72% YOY)
• Total taxable dividend income of $586.41 increased 12.50% YOY.

New positions I added fresh capital to this year is VFC.  Existing positions I added fresh capital to this year is TGT.  All other dividend increases are from dividends reinvested and dividend raises from the companies.  I'm very happy with the total year over year dividend increase.

You can see a schedule of all the taxable dividends I have received here.

Non-Taxable Dividend Income (Total: $310.04)

• Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) - $10.96
• Chevron Corporation (CVX) - $13.28
• Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) - $10.75
• Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) - $9.24
• Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund (VBLTX) - $94.87 (Decreased 0.62% YOY)
• Vanguard REIT Index Fund Admiral Shares (VGSLX) - $170.94 (Decreased 16.90% YOY)
• Total non-taxable dividend income of $310.04 increased 2.95% YOY.

One of the good things of posting these monthly reports is that it allows me to see how each investment is performing year over year.  I have been noticing that with my two mutual funds, the dividend income fluctuates.  Some months I see an increase year over year; other months I see a decrease year over year.  The dividends generated from these mutual funds are not reliable in terms of determining cash flow.  I think when it comes time to determine whether I am able to retire or be financially independent, I will not factor these dividends into consideration.  Or if I do, I will take a very conservative approach.  I have also been debating whether or not to sell my positions in these mutual funds and just invest them in individual dividend stocks.  In the meantime, I will continue to hold onto them since the dividend yield is decent and it's also another investment vehicle to hedge my bets in case my stock picking skills don't pan out.

You can see a schedule of all the non-taxable dividend income I have received here.

Market Values (Total: $352,326.10)

• Brokerage Accounts - $88,134.68 (Increased 1.34% from prior month)
• Roth IRA - $69,988.89 (Increased 7.39% from prior month)
• 401(k) - $194,202.53 (Increased 0.98% from prior month)
• Total market value increased by 2.29% from prior month.

I'm not too concerned with the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts since the investment strategy with that is solely to generate a growing stream of dividend income.  As long as the dividends keep coming and are increasing, I'm not too worried.  Nevertheless, it's still interesting to see how it is performing.

You can see a schedule of the market values for my brokerage accounts, Roth IRA account, and 401(k) account as of the end of every month here.

Savings Rate

• 60.93%

Savings rate was excellent for this month!  50% or more in savings rate is definitely a big achievement for me.

You can see a schedule of my savings rate by month here.

How did you do this month?