October 2017 Summary

Another month is in the books and it is time to report how it went for me. Let’s jump straight into it.

Dividend Income

The first month of the quarter is usually the worst one for me but my recent purchase of Cisco should improve the situation. So let’s see what I received during October (as always, the amount is after taxes):

It’s not much but I am happy for the fact that I am receiving income from at least 2 companies each month now. In fact, this is the biggest amount I have ever received in October so far! I will do my best to increase the numbers going forward.

What I like to do is to think what I could buy for this amount which would be related to the company that paid the dividends. Cisco is supplier of networking equipment and systems, so its products are mainly used by companies. But since I am an IT engineer, maybe I could invest to a book for Cisco certification and improve my knowledge in networks! E.g. there is this book called “CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-105 Official Cert Guide” which costs $31.99 (those cert guides are quite expensive, apparently). $6,29 that I received from CSCO would only cover 1/5 of that, so I would need to wait 4 more quarters to gather the full amount 😀 Of course, I am not going to do that and I will rather accumulate money in my investment account for another purchase.

Realty Income is the dark horse of my portfolio which keeps delivering a small amount of dividends each month. This company earns money from real estate so it would make sense to see what percentage of my monthly rent its dividend would cover. With EUR 2,02 ($2,37) this would only cover 0,37% of my monthly rent of EUR 540… Ouch! This isn’t very encouraging… But slow and steady wins the race, right?

Year on Year comparison

I can’t wait to compare October’s income with last year. This is how it looks like:

Wow, I really like the numbers here! It’s great how adding a single company changes the situation for a small portfolio. Unfortunately, the nominal increase is not amazing but I am still going to the right direction so I will take that. I hope I will have more months where I will see such spikes in comparison to last year.

Dividend Increases

This month none of my companies raised their dividends so nothing to report here.

Other Passive Income

I received EUR 4,41 in interest from P2P lending this month. I think this was the first month when I didn’t add a single cent to this platform. I only re-invested what I received this month. So the income only increased slightly from last month (was EUR 4,37 in September). My current active loans balance stands at EUR 320,21 and it is distributed among 18 individual loans. Again, I am not planning to add anything additional to this platform this month as it is already almost 10% of my stocks portfolio. I would rather invest into stocks if I gather enough capital.

Summary

In total (after converting to EUR) I received EUR 11,86 during October. This brings the total amount for 2017 to EUR 81,17. With two months to go, I shouldn’t have any problems to reach the round number of EUR 100 in total for 2017 which was my goal this year. I am already thinking what goal I should set for next year. I think I will at least double it to really try to get the snowball rolling!

 

How was your October? Did you reach any targets/milestones? Do you have CSCO or O in your portfolios? Let me know in comments below and thanks for reading!

17 thoughts on “October 2017 Summary

  1. Congrats on a great month and a new record for the month. That is huge growth numbers. That is the best part of smaller portfolios is the growth is so big. Keeps you hungry for more. I share both of those positions with you. Solid choices. CSCO certs are really big right now for sure. If you were to get that cert, hopefully you could bump up your salary to be able to buy more shares! Keep making quality buys. Looking forward to seeing your numbers grow.

    1. Thanks DD! Indeed the growth shows if I purchase a stock. Of course, it’s only while my portfolio is so small.. I would rather choose to have a big portfolio but we all need to start somewhere 🙂
      Regarding certs, you are right, CSCO certs are quite good. However, I am not that much into networks. BUT coincidentally just today I passed my final exam and became an MCSA for Windows 10 (Microsoft Certified Professional) which was one of my goals this year 🙂 Super happy about that!
      -BI

  2. Hi, BI. Nice to see fellow dividend investor. Small steps forward that the way. And im finding lots of similarities in us 🙂

    CSCO is a great pick for investment it is on my watch list. Growth + strong balance exatly what I like. I invested in T lately as their price droped and yield climbed to imoresive >5%. But if CSCO price will not shoot upward this is one of my most likely next purchase. Altough im not that impresed by O. They pay more dividends than they generate cash flow by issuing new shares. This is not sustainable. Yes they grow with such bussiness model and might just outgrow but its risky so persobaly I would pich less risky REIT. Maybe OHI with much greater yield.

    1. Thanks for a detailed comment! Yeah, it could be that there are more attractive REITs now. I purchased O a couple of years ago and it was looking as one of the better options then. And I really like the fact that they are paying monthly. I am not planning to invest into any REIT in the nearest future, though. I would choose another sectors for investment at the moment.
      -BI

  3. BI,

    Congrats on huge year-to-year growth from last year. Both CSCO and O paid me dividends in October. What’s great is that as you keep adding to your portfolio, these numbers are going to keep rising, and increasing, and continue to go up and up and up!!!

    1. Hi DP,
      That’s exactly what I love about dividend growth investing – it keeps going up all the time! 😉
      -BI

  4. BI,

    I love it. Sure it isn’t much, but you have to start somewhere. O and CSCO are two GREAT companies to own and I;m jealous that I haven’t had the right opportunity to initiate a position there. Slowly, but surely, your income totals will increase and the power of compounding is going to kick in. Stay hungry and keep the grind going.

    Take care,

    Bert

    1. Thanks Bert!
      I love both of the companies and am happy to have them in my portfolio. As you say, this is just the beginning and I need to stay hungry for more!
      -BI

  5. Good job you can the growth in O wich we share next year you will see the growth in Cisco. Keep adding quality companies. Keep it up.

  6. Hi SD,
    Thanks and let’s keep building our portfolios with quality companies! It’s definitely satisfying to watch the growth 🙂

  7. Hi BI, love your positive attitude. The dividend amounts will only continue to grow with your continued investments, and dividend re-investments. I’ve been watching CSCO, but haven’t purchased. However, I do own O…. gotta like the monthly dividends! Congrats on that stellar YoY increase.

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