Review of 2024 Goals

As I'm writing this blog post, 2024 has recently concluded. The weather here in Central Wisconsin isn't bad for this time of the year, either. The high is expected to reach a balmy 26 degrees Fahrenheit today, January 1st.

Now that we have entered a new calendar year, it would be a good time to look at how I fared in achieving my goals in 2024. Without further ado, let's dig into it!

Financial Goals for 2024

1. Generate at least 20% growth in net dividends collected - Pass

In 2024, I received $4,781.80 in net dividends across my accounts. That equates to a 22% growth rate versus the amount collected in 2023. Thus, I narrowly surpassed this goal. Dividend raises and my allocation of nearly $24,000 in fresh capital contributed to this uptick in my net dividend income.

2. Grow net annual forward dividends by 20% by the end of the year - Pass

Heading into 2025, my net annual forward dividends are right around $5,455. That's good enough for a 26.5% growth rate versus the $4,315 in net annual forward dividends heading into 2024. As a result, I exceeded this goal.

Why the disconnect between net dividends collected and net annual forward dividends? I didn't put capital to work in the last few months of 2023 and the first few months of 2024. This limited the growth in my net dividends received to start 2024.

Personal Goals for 2024

1. Jog at Least 10 Miles a Week - Mostly Pass

Throughout 2024, I met my goal of jogging 10 miles a week all but a handful of weeks. For the most part, my failure to fully meet this goal was because my family recently purchased a stationary bike. I've been getting more into that lately, so I haven't been using the treadmill quite as much. That's why I would say I mostly met this goal.

2. Lift Weights at Least Four Times a Week - Mostly Pass

Minus a couple of occasions in 2024, I lifted weights four times each week. I finished the year doing three sets of 12 reps of various movements with 10 lb dumb bells. That was less than my initial goal of 15 lb dumb bells. However, the route that I have been taking is paying off. I've been happy with my incremental gains in muscle and want to continue that in a sustainable way (e.g., avoiding injury and a setback). That's why I give myself a mostly pass on this goal.

3. Publish a Blog Post Each Week - Pass

I published 52 blog posts in 2024, so I managed to post one blog each week. That has been the case since the start of this blog and I hope to continue this tradition into 2025 and beyond.

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, 2024 was a solid year for me. I met or exceeded three out of my five goals for the year. The other two that I didn't technically meet still represented solid progress for me. This blog post won't be published until January 7th, but I wanted to close by wishing everyone a great start to the New Year!

Discussion:

How was your 2024?

Did you achieve your goals?

I appreciate your readership and look forward to your comments below!

December 2024 Stock Purchases

As I'm writing this blog post on Friday, December 27th, the temperature here in Central Wisconsin is going to reach a high of 41 degrees Fahrenheit. For this time of year, I'll take it.

Now that the month (and year) is just about complete, I'll take a look at my stock purchases for December 2024. Without further ado, let's dig into it!

Stock Purchase #1: Amazon (AMZN)

The first stock that I purchased for the month was an additional five shares of Amazon at an average price of $210.82 a share. Curious readers can check out my November Seeking Alpha article or December 2024 Stock Watch List blog post for my investment thesis.

Stock Purchase #2: Ares Capital (ARCC)

The next stock that I added in December 2024 was another 40 shares of Ares Capital at a cost per share of $22.15. I intended to buy units of MPLX LP. However, the partnership surged about 10% between when I highlighted it last month and when I deployed capital for this month. In my view, ARCC was a suitable substitute. That boosted my net annual forward dividends by $76.80, which works out to an 8.67% net dividend yield.

Stock Purchase #3: Meta Platforms (META)

The third stock that I purchased was another share of Meta Platforms at $591.96. Readers can find my investment thesis in my December 2024 Stock Watch List blog post linked above. This transaction lifted my net annual forward dividends by $2, which equates to a 0.34% dividend yield.

Dividend Stock Sale: Broadcom (AVGO) and Crown Castle (CCI) and Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR) and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM)

I sold 10 shares of Broadcom for a total of $236.76 each. This had nothing to do with the overall fundamentals and more to do with the valuation. AVGO is priced at a forward 12-month P/E ratio of nearly 37, which is getting a bit rich in my opinion. Thus, I decided to sell 25% of my position and recover 170% of my overall cost basis. That took my weighting in AVGO from a somewhat lofty 6%+ back down to about 5%. So, I'll now be holding from here for the time being. This move reduced my net annual forward dividends by $23.60.

I also sold out of my eight share position in Crown Castle (CCI) at $90.26 each and my six share position in Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR) at $76.54 each. The driving factor in both of these sales was the lack of future growth potential. These moves reduced my net annual forward dividends by $50.08 and $45.60, respectively.

I also sold off about 40% or 21 shares of my Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), with the closing of the position in my IRA at $54.51 apiece. This wasn't done because of poor fundamentals, but the big runup in the share price in recent months. Long term, I'm still a believer in the company. However, I wanted to take money off the table and redeploy proceeds into more of a value pick. This reduced my net annual forward dividends by $31.92.

Stock Purchases: Nvidia (NVDA) and Rexford Industrial Realty (REXR) and British American Tobacco (BTI) and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) and Enbridge (ENB)

I added another nine shares of Nvidia at a cost of $127.82 a share. Curious readers can check out my January 2025 Stock Watch List blog post for the gist of my investment thesis. This transaction added $0.36 to my net annual forward dividends.

I also opened a 30 share starter position in Rexford Industrial Realty at an average price per share of $40.56. This lifted my net annual forward dividends by $50.10. My rationale is largely unchanged from my October Seeking Alpha article.

I added another 13 shares of British American Tobacco at a cost of $36.26 apiece. This is because the stock's 8.1% yield appears to be reasonably safe. The company's plans to transition to a smoke-free sales mix remain on track. Shares also look to be undervalued, with the forward P/E ratio coming in below eight. This transaction boosted my net annual forward dividends by $38.35.

I also purchased an additional 24 units of Enterprise Products Partners at a price per unit of $30.78. Interested readers can check out my November Seeking Alpha article or my October 2024 Stock Watch List for my investment rationale. This decision lifted my net annual forward distributions by $50.40.

Lastly, I added 29 shares of Enbridge (ENB) at a cost of $41.50 a share. For curious readers, my buying rationale is the same as it was in my September 2024 Dividend Stock Watch List. This decision added $77.72 to my net annual forward dividends.

Retirement Account Reinvestment: Capital Income Builder (CAIBX)

I reinvested the $499.76 in net dividends and capital gains distributions that I received from Capital Income Builder in my retirement account from my former employer. That upped my share count by 7.335 to 202.235. This lifted my net annual forward dividends by $16.94, which equates to a 3.39% net dividend yield.

Concluding Thoughts:

In December, I allocated $3,031.81 in fresh capital. Given the $95.74 in net annual forward dividends that these purchases added to my portfolio, that is equivalent to a 3.16% weighted average dividend yield. Capital redeployment added $65.73 to my net annual forward dividends.

My net annual forward dividends were also boosted by $19.978 from December 2024 Dividend Increases. A $16.55 upward adjustment in my CAIBX net annual forward dividends also factored into my net annual forward dividends rising from approximately $5,255 heading into the month to roughly $5,455 heading into January 2025.

Discussion:

How was your capital deployment in December 2024?

Did you add any new stocks during the month as I did with REXR?

Thanks for reading and I welcome your comments below!

December 2024 Dividend Income

As I'm writing this blog post, it is currently Saturday, December 21st. The high temperature here in Central Wisconsin is expected to reach 17 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, today is the first day of winter and it feels like it!

Being the last few days of the month, I now know the amount of both ordinary and special dividends received from my Capital Income Builder (CAIBX) mutual fund. Without further ado, I can now tally my net dividends collected in December 2024!

Total Net Dividends Topped $650 in December

In December 2024, I received $655.90 in net dividends (including ADR fees for BP, withholdings on BAM dividends in my taxable account, and CAIBX's annual fee). Compared to the $543.81 in net dividends I collected in September 2024, this is an 20.6% quarterly growth rate.

Against the $529.78 in net dividends that I received in December 2023, that equates to a 23.8% year-over-year growth rate.

I collected $378.16 in net dividends from 47 stocks in my Charles Schwab portfolio. This was barely above my September total because of the timing of PepsiCo's dividend payment (due in January) and my sale of Simon Property Group (SPG) in November.

I also received $176.84 in net dividends from my aforementioned CAIBX mutual fund. That can be further broken down into $99.26 in special dividends and $87.58 in ordinary dividends, less the $10 annual fee. This higher income was due to a higher share count and the special dividend paid in the last month of the year.

I also collected another $82.52 in net dividends from 12 companies in my Fidelity IRA. My September 2024 Dividend Stock Purchases were largely responsible for an uptick in net dividends from this source.

Lastly, I received an additional $18.38 in net dividends from six companies within my Webull account. Recent dividend raises from the likes of Lockheed Martin, Visa, and Broadcom played into greater income from this account.

Concluding Thoughts:

As a side note, this blog post is set to be published on December 24th, the six-year anniversary of my first article published on Seeking Alpha. This ultimately proved to be my foray into the equity research industry. Each day, I'm so grateful to God that I get to carry out the work I believe I was born to do.

In closing, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and joyous holiday season in the coming days to close out the calendar year 2024!

Discussion:

How was your net dividend income for December 2024?

Did you receive any first-time dividends in the month?

Thanks for your readership and please feel free to comment below!

Expected Dividend Increases for January 2025

As I'm writing this blog post, it's currently Friday, December 13th. The temperature here in Central Wisconsin is expected to reach a high of just 16 degrees Fahrenheit. So, it's safe to say that even though winter is about a week away, it's already here for all intents and purposes.

Today, I'll be going over the dividend boosts that I have received thus far in December. As pending dividend increases are announced, I will also update this blog post. I'll also look ahead to the payout hikes that I'm expecting for January 2025.

Actual Dividend Increases for December 2024

Dividend Increase #1: Aflac (AFL)

Aflac announced a 16% hike in its quarterly dividend per share to $0.58. That was above my expectations of a 6% increase to $0.53.

Across my 11 shares of AFL, my net annual forward dividends rose by $3.52 from this dividend announcement.

Dividend Increase #2: Abbott Laboratories (ABT)

As predicted, ABT upped its quarterly dividend per share by 7.3% to $0.59. As a result, my net annual forward dividends increased by $0.96.

Dividend Increase #3: Amgen (AMGN)

AMGN announced a 5.8% increase in its quarterly dividend per share to $2.38. This was just below my prediction of a 6.2% increase to $2.39. Across my six shares, my net annual forward dividends rose by $3.12 from this announcement.

Dividend Increase #4: Broadcom (AVGO)

As expected, AVGO hiked its quarterly dividend per share by 11.3% to $0.59. This lifted my net annual forward dividends by $7.20 across my 30 shares of AVGO.

Dividend Increase #5: Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY)

BMY announced a 3.3% increase in its quarterly dividend per share to $0.62. That came up short of the 5% increase to $0.63 that I expected. Across my 22 shares of BMY, my net annual forward dividends grew by $1.76 from this announcement.

Dividend Increase #6: Realty Income (O)

As I anticipated, O announced a 0.2% increase in its monthly dividend per share to $0.2640. Across my 63 shares, my net annual forward dividends rose by $0.378 from this announcement.

Dividend Increase #7: Pfizer (PFE)

As I predicted, PFE declared a 2.4% raise in its quarterly dividend per share to $0.43. My net annual forward dividends increased by $1.04 across my 26 shares.

Dividend Increase #8: Mastercard (MA)

Mastercard hiked its quarterly dividend per share by 15.2% to $0.76. This beat my expectations of a 13.6% boost to $0.75.

Across my five shares of MA, my net annual forward dividends rose by $2.

Expected Dividend Increases for January 2025

Expected Dividend Increase #1: BlackRock (BLK)

The first raise that I'm expecting for next month will come from BlackRock. My belief is that BLK will up its quarterly dividend per share by 5.9% to $5.40.

Across my two shares of BLK, my net annual forward dividends would rise by $2.40 from such an announcement.

Expected Dividend Increase #2: Alliant Energy (LNT)

The next raise that I'm predicting for January will be from Alliant Energy. I suspect that LNT will declare a 6.3% hike in its quarterly dividend per share to $0.51.

My net annual forward dividends would increase by $1.56 across my 13 shares of LNT due to such a declaration.

Expected Dividend Increase #3: ONEOK (OKE)

The third raise that I'm projecting for next month will come from ONEOK. I believe OKE will announce a 5.1% increase in its quarterly dividend per share to $1.04.

Across my 34 shares of OKE, my net annual forward dividends would rise by $6.80 from such an announcement.

Expected Dividend Increase #4: Air Products & Chemicals (APD)

The next raise that I'm expecting for January will be from Air Products & Chemicals. My belief is that APD will declare a 4.5% increase in its quarterly dividend per share to $1.85.

My net annual forward dividends would increase by $1.60 across my five shares of APD due to such a declaration.

Expected Dividend Increase #5: Comcast (CMCSA)

The fifth raise that I'm predicting for next month will come from Comcast. I suspect that CMCSA will raise its quarterly dividend per share by 6.5% to $0.33.

Across my 39 shares of CMCSA, my net annual forward dividends would grow by $3.12 from such an announcement.

Expected Distribution Increase #6: Energy Transfer (ET)

The next raise that I'm projecting for January will be from Energy Transfer. I believe that ET will declare a 0.8% increase in its quarterly distribution per unit to $0.325.

My net annual forward distributions would rise by $1.83 across my 183 units of ET due to such a declaration.

Expected Distribution Increase #7: Enterprise Products Partners (EPD)

The seventh raise that I'm expecting for next month will come from Enterprise Products Partners. My belief is that EPD will increase its quarterly distribution per unit by 2.9% to $0.54.

Across my 109 units of EPD, my net annual forward distributions would soar by $6.54 from such an announcement.

Expected Dividend Increase #8: T. Rowe Price Group (TROW)

The next raise that I'm predicting for January will be from T. Rowe Price Group. I suspect that TROW will declare a 1.6% increase in its quarterly dividend per share to $1.26.

My net annual forward dividends would edge $0.48 higher across my six shares of TROW due to such a declaration.

Expected Dividend Increase #9: WEC Energy Group (WEC)

The ninth raise that I'm projecting for next month will come from WEC Energy Group. The company has already announced its intent to hike its quarterly dividend per share by 6.9% to $0.8925.

Across my 25 shares of WEC, my net annual forward dividends would grow by $5.75 once the raise is made official.

Concluding Thoughts:

My net annual forward dividends rose by $19.978 from eight increases. That would be equivalent to investing $665.93 at a 3% net dividend yield.

If the nine dividend increases that I'm expecting for January materialize, my net annual forward dividends would rise by $30.08. This would be like investing $1,002.67 at a 3% dividend yield.

Discussion:

How was your January 2025 for dividend hikes?

Did you receive any first-time payout increases for the month?

Thanks for your readership and please feel free to comment below!