Two HUGE Dividend Income Milestones
Imagine that you just started lifting weights.
You’re not going to walk into the gym on day one and immediately start repping out 225 lbs on the bench press. That’d be impressive if you could, and we all wish it would be that way, but that’s not how it works.
Instead, you’ll start out with a much lighter load—possibly just the bar—and you’ll incrementally add more weight over time as you develop more strength. This is what’s known as Progressive Overload, and it's a key principle in weightlifting.
But that same idea can actually be applied to dividend investing as well. When you first start out, you're not going to rake in thousands of dollars in dividends right off the bat. You might make a dollar in your first month, maybe even less, but that dollar will soon be ten, then a hundred, then a thousand.
It’s going to take some time to get there, but with consistency, you will become financially stronger over time. It won’t always be easy, but along the way, you'll be met with plenty of small victories that will keep you on track and help you stay motivated.
In fact, I was met with a couple of these last month.
First, I received my highest dividend payment ever: A delicious $51.93 from EPD, which was a notch above my previous record of $50.15 from MO back in October, and about $15 higher than my EPD payment from this time last year.
Source: getquin | My dividend payment history
With the help of that record payment, February also marked my highest month of dividend income ever, with a total of $241.32 coming in from 11 different dividend payments, all of which I’m telling you about here.
Source: getquin | My monthly dividend income
Although I won’t be able to “retire” off of $241/month, I know I'm on the right track, and that's what truly matters. Comparing where I am today to a year ago, or even two years ago, shows significant progress. Here's what that’s looked like over the past four years:
February 2020: $0
February 2021: $15.96
February 2022: $160.89
February 2023: $192.52
Overall, if you can just stay consistent, continue to take steps forward, and do that for a long period of time, you’ll be in pretty good shape. It’s a pretty simple concept, but that’s really all it takes.
With that said, I want to hear from you: What’s been your highest dividend payment so far, and which stock did it come from? Write to me here and let me know.
And a big thank you to all of the readers who responded to last week's newsletter! You can read some of the responses down below in the "Hot Takes" section. 👇
Dividend Investing Democratized
Join thousands of savvy investors in the pursuit of early retirement. Get Retire With Ryne delivered straight to your inbox every week as you build your perpetually growing, cash-flowing dividend stock portfolio.
getquin gives you more features than any other platform I've seen, and I have a feeling it’s going to revolutionize the way I track my portfolio.
From tracking past and future dividends to in-depth diversification breakdowns based on geography, industry, and asset class (cash, real estate, crypto, etc.), everything you could want is right there — all neatly presented on what I think is the most intuitive and user-friendly interface out there.
You can even benchmark your portfolio’s performance against other indices, stocks, and ETFs (like SCHD and VOO) — all in one dynamic dashboard, and in pretty much any currency.
In my opinion, getquin is the perfect blend of sophistication and simplicity, and it reminds me of Robinhood but with more enhanced capabilities. Both the app and the desktop version of the platform have been awesome and easy to use.
One thing that makes getquin unique is the social aspect of the platform. There’s a (seriously) thriving community of over 200k investors on the platform sharing their portfolios, passing around stock research, and supporting each other on the path to financial freedom.
Overall, if you’re looking for something with more functionality than a spreadsheet, and are looking for another great place to connect with like-minded investors, getquin is definitely worth checking out and is free to join.
You can follow me on getquin (@ryne) to see all of my posts, check out my portfolio in real-time, and see all of my purchases + dividend payments as they come in.
IN MY PORTFOLIO 📈
Track your portfolio for free with getquin. You can also follow mine there (@ryne) to see all of my purchases, dividends, and other updates in real-time.
ICYMI 🎥
Inside My $64,900 Dividend Stock Portfolio | FULL UPDATE 📊
In this update for March, I'm showing you how my portfolio performed in the last month and YTD, as well as which stocks I purchased.
CAREFULLY CURATED 🔍
📺 Is Dividend Investing Dying? - With the rise of growth-focused tech titans, it'd be no stretch to say that dividend investing has fallen out of favor, leaving many to wonder if it's still an effective way to build wealth. In the few short years I've been investing, my experience leads me to believe that dividend investing is far from dead, and this video from Dividend Bull explains all the reasons why it's still a viable long-term strategy.
🎧 A Guide To Wealth and Happiness - I've been binging the Founders podcast these last few weeks, and this episode covering the Almanack of Naval Ravikant (who couldn't be more of a sage) has been one of my favorites so far.
📚 The Latest Letter From Warren Buffett - Warren Buffett recently published the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter for 2023, and it's a must-read for investors. Many of the ideas written will be familiar to you (have a long-term mindset, invest in wonderful businesses, etc.), but it doesn't hurt to have these ideas reinforced by the man himself.
SINCE YOU ASKED 💬
"What is the portfolio plan 10 years from now? Ideally, most (if not all) of your current positions will be green. Do you continue to DCA into them, raising your cost? Do you continue to look for other opportunities?"
- Andrew | Email Submission
In general, the plan for the portfolio will be to keep on keeping on. Even though I can't predict the future, I'm pretty confident that I'll still be buying stocks every week over the next decade, both new ones and ones I already own.
With that said, I know it can be tough to invest in stocks when they're much more expensive than when you first bought them. In my portfolio, ones like SNA and WSM come to mind, but there will be pullbacks along the way, which may present good buying opportunities.
Look out for those, and be sure to take advantage of them when they occur.
Have a question? Ask me here to see it featured in an upcoming newsletter.
HOT TAKES 🔥
Last week, I asked readers which stocks they had their eye on for this upcoming month. Here are some of the responses:
Bruce said: I was able to pick up 50 shares of O at $52 this past week. You got to take advantage of it when you can.
Lynne said: I have been buying a lot shares of VICI due to the type of properties they own in Las Vegas. Vegas is becoming more of a destination known for more than gambling. People also go for an experience.
John said: AVGO was down $20 for 2 days like a week or 2 weeks ago, so I bought $20 for 3 days straight and it shot up. Let's just say I increased my shares a little bit.
James said: Top list of buys for me right now are SCHD, O, EPD, WMT, and MO.
Andrew said: In terms of my portfolio, I try to add a little to my core four holdings every week, and right now those are GWW, INTU, LOW, and MA. I've also been adding to my DE and HSY positions given their recent pullbacks.
Disclaimer: This page contains some affiliate links that might just lead you to the promised land of awesomeness (or at least some cool products). We may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. It's nothing fancy, but it certainly does the job!