The total dividends that I have collected in the year 2022 is S$14,468.78. This is an increase of 16.67% or S$2,067.27 as compared to the amount of S$12,401.51 that I have collected in the year 2021.
Nothing has changed since I started investing in stocks. I am a dividend stock investor which means I buy stocks that pays dividends. In 2022, I took the opportunity when U.S. Technology stock crashes to build a small growth stock portfolio.
In my opinion, buying stocks that simply pays dividends is not good enough. You need to do more homework such as evaluating multiple criteria to ascertain the company you are buying is a good dividend stock.
Below are my criteria that I watch out for when screening for dividend paying stocks.
a) Pay out dividends at least 5.0% or more.
b) Able to grow its dividend payout year on year (y-o-y).
c) Increase its share price over time.
d) Consistent payout in dividends in the past 5 years.
e) Pay special dividends time to time.
How To Track Your Dividends
I rely heavily on Stocks Café to keep track of my dividends as it automatically tracks dividend payouts. There is no need for me to perform manual entry.
Stocks Café had definitely saved me a lot of time in terms of tracking yearly dividend payout.
Projected Dividends Collected In 2023
As I keep on adding dividend stocks to my portfolio, I often wonder how much more dividend I will collect in the future. Thankfully, Stocks Café has this excellent feature that helps me project the future dividends based on the following assumptions:
a) You will hold the same stocks and amounts until the end of the year, and
b) all stocks will give the same amount of dividends, on the same ExDate, as the previous year
Based on Stocks Café projection, I will receive S$16,818.63 dividends in the year of 2023.
Dividend Investment Strategy in 2023
The rising interest rates environment has definitely cause stock prices of REITs to fall because every percentage point increase will cause a decline in Distribution Per Unit.
It is also because of this reason, investors have flocked to invest in safer assets such as fixed deposits, Singapore Savings Bonds or Treasury Bills.
In 2023, I will continue to allocate a larger amount aside for Singapore Savings Bonds should its effective interest remain above 3.0% per annum. For monies parked aside for my retirement, I may renew the fixed deposit if interest rates remain attractive when the tenure matures in June 2023.
Having said that, I am not neglecting investment in stocks and REITs totally. If the current dividend yield rises because share prices fall due to Fed hiking rates, I will opportunistically nibble on certain REITs to build on my stock portfolio.