I started this yearā¦at 44
Yes in hindsight Iād of liked to have started soonerā¦but I can top up my retirement very nicely if I stick to my planā¦you can do a lot in 10-15 years.
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Very true. Onwards and upwards.
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Exactly. Iām sick of all these āget rich quick schemesā too.
What I really need is a scheme to get rich. And quick.
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Yes. There is a good thread Dividend Irrelevance on this. The title is provocative and that probably doesnāt help to get people to think about the topic in a considered way.
The good thing that some people talk about on this particular Megathread is regular and consistent investing - far far more important than pursuit of and/or glorification of dividends. But yes, looking at a companies dividend strategy often tells you a lot about the business - I have always paid attention to when a business cuts its dividend (it can suggest a lot of things about the market and sector beyond the company itself). Some businesses increase their dividends as time goes by - but this is not necessarily telling us anything positive about the business ( look at other parameters not just dividends).
On a personal note, all that I will say is that I did not invest in any dividend stocks for the first 15 or so years of investing - in fact I switched out of companies that decided to pay dividends. But I fully understand the psychological sure footing that some get out of dividends - and I suspect many who do opt for focusing on dividends possibly do OK even if not stellar.
The bottom line is that regular investing is good. Total return is critical.
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The title is just the name of the concept, which to be clear is firmly neutral - itās not saying dividends predict poor performance.
I agree I donāt think it attracted a considered response, but I donāt think itās a provocative title or that picking a less accurate title would help much, itās just an emotional subject for many.
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When interest rates go down you then move your money into dividend paying investments.
Of course getting your timing right is useful!
Infrastructure particularly renewables and REITs are particularly cheap at the moment.
Some will probably remain cheap. I wouldnāt want to have been in shopping centres COVID and post covid. Retail parks are doing far better.
Social housing has taken a severe kicking from the fallout from home REIT.
Hence I have SOHO housing for the disabled on 9%+ dividend. I think I can wait for it to rerate.
TENT in the renewables (a little different from the norm) 8.5% dividend again I can wait for a rerating.
I think a lot of these will rise prior to an actual fall in interest rates.
Fill your boots!!!
Not advise.
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Cover for the dividend is well worth noting. LGEN cover is increasing.
Good to remember that a lot of companies and in particular insurance companies, oil companies, commodities in general took advantage of COVID to ārebaseā their dividends lower.
Therefore increasing there cover.
Even LGEN did this eventhough they paid their full dividend while others cancelled, they reset their dividend for the following 5 year plan.
Instead of increasing dividends by 7% a year (previous 5 year plan) they held first year and will raise it by 5 % year for the following 5 years.
Dividends look a lot safer nowadays.
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Personally im not waiting for rates to pivot. Gotta keep that snowball rolling.
Besides, I have a cash position in easy access 5% but the interest is also taxed at 40% so its more like 3%.
So more than a Ā£1,000 worth of interest?
I have a multiple savings accounts.
Just opened a 7% regular saver with Yorkshire building society.
Santander just started a 5.2% instant access.
For higher rate tax band its Ā£500 then anything over 40% goes down the tubes
I recently moved to Santanders 5.2% account.
ISA divis for September:
[Context - Portfolio size around Ā£66k, been investing since 2015]
Most dividends this month were invested in the same stock that paid out.
Progression over the years:
Have now received the same amount of divi income I got for the whole of 2021. Three more months left to try to breach Ā£4k, it might be a close one!
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really hope we might see some dividend reinvestment option at some point in Freetrade
Your progress is great. you have some interesting choices in dividend stocks as well
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Great progress over time Weenie. A good example to everyone. Thanks for sharing 
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How are people keeping track of dividends over multiple years in their sheets?
Ive been looking at what the best option is and it seems like a simple single transaction ledger might be best. then split that out in a separate sheet into usable data.
Probably not the most elegant but I became lazy over the years and now my dividends just get manually logged on one tab of my āinvestmentā spreadsheet - I think Iām on column CX and come 2024, Iāll just add another 12 monthly columns plus a yearly total column. The info in the latter gets pulled into the graph Iāve posted above. At some point, I might use the data I have to do a monthly divi graph but havenāt had the time to play around.
Each row is a different stock but also separated by platform, eg I hold LGEN in AJBell and also Freetrade so LGEN has two rows so I can log the divi per platform holding. There are around 50 rows but probably only around 40 different stocks.
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I have mine all on a spreadsheet as this goes for monthly out goings etc, it tells me exactly what I have to spend each month. That then gets divided into 13 bank accounts aka fuel, food etc so I donāt touch anything I shouldnāt.
I have every survay. Gift cards, vantage account interest, any dividents and or interest in general from anything from anywhere on that sheet.
Fuel costs mpg, data logging my energy usage so I know my exact monthly usage before sse try tell me diff etcā¦ Gives me something to do for 10 mins each night 
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Do you log your visits to the toilet? 
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Obviously I am jokingā¦itās an impressive understanding and control of your finances.
Fair play to you sir 
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Not yet but maybe I should, healthās first as they say
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The only thing I log is my monthly out goings etc I just put my wage in and it tells me exactly how much I have left over. It allows me to make easy changes as prices change all the time or its easy to add an extra monthly outgoing.
The fuel helps to see if the scooter and sportbike is running well and just to see in general how much its costing to actully travel, I used this more when my job was at diff locations helped me decide if I should take a job etc when doing agency work.
I log the fish tank any cleaning water changes and feeding it helps me understand the ego system and if anything dies etc I can try to understand why like the space between each changes or any new additions to the tank.
And again all the life time earnings like monthly income, interest, dividents.
Monthly pay, shift pay, overtime thats separate so I can see what Iām earning each year etc.
I actully started checking my energy on paper in my temp accommodation due to them scamming me one night and I kept that going and moved it onto paper, I didnāt have much money then so this really helped to see if I was going to make the energy cut at the end if the month.
I just like calculating things to be honest and looking at data,
Its just another new way I do my life since 2018 when I took an interest in finance as such.
It saves me a lot of hassle thats for sure, it might sound a lot but as you know once set up it takes seconds for adjustments. Saves me having to remember everything.
sorry for the life story there.
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