Freedom Portfolio Income January 2021

January dividends are in. $2,464.24 total. Another great month!

January dividends are in and it’s another great month! Hopefully now that the election is over (no comment) and with the New Year we can all settle down, focus on our finances, and enjoy the journey to financial independence.

On to the dividends:

O (Realty Income)    $60.57

MO (Altria)   $969.99

PM (Philip Morris)  $742.58

IRM (Iron Mountain) $691.10

Total: $2,464.24

As you can see, I like the tobacco stocks. Great income and I am confident it will continue for a long time.

Iron Mountain is one of my favorites. I was a customer for a long time, so I understand their business well. That understanding is important to make such a large bet. I believe even with the recent trend towards Cloud Computing, Iron Mountain will remain viable. Too many companies will still need data centers and a lot are going to want to remain independent of the big guys.

These dividends are reinvesting so stay tuned as we watch them grow and grow until I need them at least 5 years from now.

How did you do this month?

What are your income goals and how are you building a portfolio to reach them?

What macro-economic factors are you looking at as it pertains to your holdings?

Thanks for reading!

Freedom Portfolio Income December 2020

Check out the dividend income in the Freedom Portfolio for December.

Wow what a year 2020 has been. Pandemic, economic doom, stock market drop of over 30% and I retired. Not all bad and proof that if you are financially prepared even life’s tough times can be easier.

This month is my low month for dividend income on a quarterly basis but still a fantastic month for cash incoming. All dividends are still reinvesting (except for RDS.b because of their dividend cut). My general rule is to sell any position cutting their dividend but RDS.b should bounce back nicely and it still had a good yield after the cut. Its good to have investing rules but even better to be flexible when you have put in the research.

On to the dividends:

RDS.b (Royal Dutch Shell) $333.00

EMR (Emerson Electric) $104.59

JNJ (Johnson and Johnson) $102.23

CVX (Chevron) $317.59

O (Realty Income) $60.22

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) $110.35

LMT (Lockheed Martin) $39.72

SO (Southern Company) $260.42

CHCT (Community Health Trust) $20.02

DOW (DOW Inc.) $266.93

XOM (Exxon Mobil) $232.07

Total for December $1,847.18

What a great month. I love seeing this cash come in each month especially when I am confident in all of my holdings to continue paying their dividends and raising them over the long term.

How did you do this month?

What are your income goals and how are you building a portfolio to reach them?

Thanks for reading!

Deep dive into the Freedom Portfolio

My Freedom Portfolio is an IRA made up of the rollover balances from my last two employers’ 401k plans. Since I just retired March 1st, I had a particularly good opportunity to buy in near the bottom of the Spring decline in the markets by rolling over my last 401k in early April. That has solidified my personal projections guiding my retirement income.

I purposely chose my IRA to make public because I feel most people have or will experience a similar scenario nearing and in retirement. Transactions inside this portfolio have no tax consequences so some decisions are easier.

The current market value (fluctuates daily with the market) is $547,040.36. There are 17 equity positions in well known, successful businesses. The current yield based on 2020 projected (mostly actual) dividend income is 5.1%. That 5.1% represents over $28 thousand dollars in dividend income I will receive by the end of this year.

All this income was and will continue to be re-invested for the next 5 years at a minimum. I will start tapping into it when I turn 60. By that time I anticipate the income to grow way more than double its current amount. Stick around and watch it grow in real time as I blog about it each month.

Here are current positions along with market values and projected current year dividend income:

Position                                                         Mkt Value          Annual Dividend 2020

T (AT&T Inc)                                                  $59,013.25         $3,467.38

ABBV (Abbie Inc)                                          $47,219.02         $1,536.24

MO (Altria Group Inc.)                                $45,138.41         $2,104.61

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland)                 $15,169.74         $435.03

CVX (Chevron Corp)                                    $22,125.10         $1,086.61

CHCT (Community Healthcare Trust)       $2,158.89           $78.40

DOW (Dow Inc)                                            $20,287.03         $612.14

EMR (Emerson Electric Co.)                       $15,719.78         $408.60

XOM (Exxon Mobile Corp)                         $10,653.70         $915.46

IRM (Iron Mountain Inc REIT)                   $30,660.74         $1,241.96

JNJ (Johnson & Johnson)                           $14,994.54         $398.17

LMT (Lockheed Martin Corp)                    $6,055.60           $158.87

OKE (Oneok Inc)                                          $134,056.77       $9,553.30

PM (Philip Morris Intl)                                $48,311.07         $2,109.06

O (Realty Income Corp REIT)                     $15,641.39         $703.83

RDS.B (Royal Dutch Shell)                          $34,650.00         $1,514.56

SO (Southern Co.)                                       $25,179.41         $1,013.50

Total                                                              $547,034.44       $28,109.17             

Looking at the Freedom portfolio one quickly notices that 24.5% is represented by one holding OKE (Oneok Inc). I did not intend to overweight this much in one company and may need to think about rebalancing in the future but right now I am confident in this investment. I have huge capital gains on it, I have huge dividend yields and I feel the dividend is safe, so I am letting it ride into retirement.

The other serious weighting is by industry. The freedom portfolio has $201,485.57 in Oil and Gas representing 38.5% of the total.

I spend a lot of time on this portfolio, following the businesses, listening to the community and right now I am comfortable with these decisions. This portfolio is a key to my retirement, and I like it.

Of course, all these numbers fluctuate daily as the market churns with volatility. A patient investor can look past a 30% market drop like we had earlier in the year and watch their investments rise as it recovers. Whether that takes one year or many years, as long as the dividend is paid, I’m happy. My job is to assess the business as events occur as best I can. Not rocket science but does take some diligence that pays off with multi-generational financial independence.

That is all for now. Ill do one of these deep dives once a Quarter or so. Future ones will allow some comparisons by Quarter etc. They will also give readers a good sense of managing a real portfolio and hopefully motivate you to your own dividend success.

Thanks for reading.