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24-08-10 If I Only Could I'd Make A Deal With God
Βethan / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

As a way of tracking my progress towards financial freedom I total up the dividends paid to me each month. The end goal is to have my dividends cover my expenses. This is a long term goal, so I have a lot of years to go, but I find it encouraging to see my dividend income steadily grow over time. This reminds me that I’m on the right track and to stick with it.

I’m back in Canada! Over the past 10 months my fiance and I have been in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines. I definitely loved traveling, but I think I was feeling a little burnt out from all the moving around, so it feels good to be home. While we are back in Canada, my fiance and I will still be traveling around western Canada for the next month, so we aren’t quite back to “regular” life yet. One of the nice things about southeast Asia was how cheap everything was. It made my monthly dividend income updates seem more significant. Now that I’m back in Canada, my dividend income for the month is enough to cover a monthly bus pass and not much more.

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My dividend income for July 2013:

Canadian Dividend Income

  • Bank of Nova Scotia – $80.38
  • Telus – $42.94
  • TransCanada – $39.67

Total Canadian Dividend Income – $162.99

US Dividend Income

  • Sysco – $22.40
  • Medtronic – $11.48

Total US Dividend Income – $33.88

July was a decent month for me as I saw increased quarterly dividends from two companies paying me dividends in the month. Medtronic (Click for a FREE trend analysis of MDT) increased there quarterly dividend from $0.26 to $0.28, a 7.7% increase. This is right around the 8% I target so I’m happy. The other increase came from TELUS, which increased their quarterly dividend 6.3% from $0.32 to $0.34. TELUS (Click for a FREE trend analysis of TSE:T) has stated that they are planning on two increases each year for the next three years with an annual dividend growth target of 10%. So while the 6.3% is below the 8% I like, I expect another increase in another two quarters or so which will bump the annual rate up to around 10%. All-in-all good news.

July was a pretty quiet month for me as far as portfolio changes as I didn’t sell or buy anything. With the news that Verizon Communications is considering a push into the Canadian telecommunication market I was hoping to buy some shares of Rogers Communications on the recent price drops. Unfortunately Rogers Communications didn’t drop below my $38 target price, so I stayed on the sidelines.

To see a full list of the companies currently in my portfolio check out my portfolio page. To see dividend income earned from previous months see my dividend income page.

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3 Comments

    1. I don’t have any specific dividend income goals right now, as I’m in the process of combining my finances with my fiance and determining joint goals with our money. While I don’t have kids I’m trying to save 50% of our income after taxes. That’s my main goal right now, while I figure out the rest in this tranistion period. My end goal is to retire with dividends covering expenses.

      I’m always playing around with excel spreadsheets, so my “quasi-realistic” target for my fiance and I is to retire at 53 with a little over $80,000 in dividend income. When inflation of 2.5% is factored in, that works out to about $43,000 in today’s dollars. I’d like to be able to retire in my 40’s so we’ll see what the future has in store. Maybe retire is the wrong word, I’d like to be financailly free. I like the idea of having the option to quit if I want, but hopefully I’ll be doing something I love and won’t want to.

      I’m 27 right now, so I imagine this plan will change a few times between then and now. Check back in 6 months and I should have a more concrete answer for you. We are still figuring out the budget, and getting back to regular life from our year in Australia.

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