July Passive Income Report

In my neck of the woods, it’s been a foggy, cool summer. I almost typed ‘winter’ in place of ‘summer’ there because it is a bit winterish. It has been a summer more conducive to work than play, I suppose—though I will admit to longer mornings spent resisting waking up and later nights checking out Netflix. This July I am really excited about my passive income report—particularly in the dividend department. Let’s see how we made out.

American Express

American Express never disappoints. This month I earned $47.39 in cashback rewards and I’ve made a decision about my accounts. I’ve decided to Marie Kondo the whole experiment and use my AMEX for all of my spending. At this point of the year, I’ve almost spent $6000.00 on groceries (I’m not quite there yet, but it’s getting close!) and that means that I will not be getting the 6% cashback on groceries. After the $6000.00 limit is reached AMEX pays 1% which is still nice. Other expenditures remain at 1% unless it’s fuel or streaming services—those are 3% cashback. There’s more…

TAB Bank

I’ve been waffling about TAB bank for over a year. I was very gung-ho in the beginning with this account because they offered over 3% interest. The caveat, however, is that you had to deposit money into the account monthly and make 15 purchases of $5.00 or more. TAB has had a number of shifts in the interest rate-lowering the rate to slightly above 1%. So, I’ve been torn. Should I find another bank with a higher interest rate? Or should I simply continue with TAB and take the interest—which is not horrible, just a little less than I expected.

Okay, let’s get to it. In June I made $13.73 in interest.

I am happy with the interest—however, I’d be lying if I didn’t question my behavior in relation to the nature of this account. Initially, I kept the account to save money for property taxes and bills that are due yearly such as insurance. I still think that separating your money in order to pay future bills is a great idea. But, I’m also noticing the spending element of this card—15 transactions monthly. Unfortunately, I’m feeling like there are times I’m in a rush and I purchase more just to make sure that I am getting the 15 transactions in—also, I notice I’m more willing to get snack foods for the kids in an effort to use that card. Looking at my July statement I notice an awful lot of Taco Bell and Subway. One charge was $23 for Subway! And, while I’m not opposed to having a treat now and then, it seems this card encourages me to spend a bit more each month than I ordinarily would. It’s also encouraging ”little shops” to get that $5 transaction and inevitably those are lower quality foods that we really don’t need. So, I’ll be dialing back my use of this card. I still intend on keeping money separate for future big bills, but I’m going to forego the interest and stop using this card for the small stuff. Honestly, I think I’ll end up saving more money than I will make in interest. So, those are my thoughts there.

What I’d really like to do—-instead of focusing on this card as a tool—is increase my commitment to my dividend accounts….

Dividends

I’m really excited this month because my dividend income was just over $300 in July alone. I really cannot believe it. All my scrimping and saving—and researching the market— feels like it’s paying off. Below is the breakdown for both my regular stock account and my Roth IRA account.

Regular Account:

Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (APTS) 100 shares $17.50

B & G Foods, Inc. (BGS) 100 shares $47.50

Global X Superdividend ETF (DIV) 3 shares $.25

LTC Properties, Inc. (LTC) 10 shares $1.90

New Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ) 400 shares $80.00

O Realty (O) 60 shares $14.13

Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD) 50 shares $5.71

AT&T (T) 60 shares $31.20

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) $10.66

Verizon (VZ) $9.41

Total for this account: $218.26

Roth IRA

Global X Superdividend ETF (DIV) 3 shares $.25

O Realty (O) 60 shares $7.07

STAG Industrial (STAG) 12 Shares $1.21

Invesco Mortgage Capital (IVR) 250 Shares $22.50

LTC Properties, Inc. (LTC) 10 shares $1.90

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 137 Shares $27.50

New Residential Investment (NRZ) 100 Shares $20.00

Total for this account: $80.43

July Total Passive Income: $359.81

Wow! I am really amazed at this number as it gets higher each month. The snowball effect is in place and I can attest to the fact that the more you see growth, the more interested you are in saving. I sometimes joke with a friend that investing is so beautiful because it feels like shopping, but it is actually saving. I also notice that the more I analyze my earnings, the more I am noticing details about stocks and dividends that help me improve my investments in the future.

Have a great week!