The market has started to settle down a little after a few months of madness but all it takes to change that is another idiotic tweet. It really does feel like the lunatics have taken control of the asylum.
There was a time when the lunatics were still in control but they at least tried to pretend that they were mentally stable and knew what they were doing. Now they just let the madness all hang out. They know that you know that they’re nuts so there’s no more pretending. What can you do about it? Vote for the other clown in charge? What a joke.
But lets forget politics and focus on what we can control and that is dividends and freedom. I’ve been buying as much as I can during this downturn in the market. Recently I have bought things like Microsoft, Lowes, Google and Visa in the USA and companies like REA Group, Aristocrat Leisure, and Nick Scali furniture in Australia. I would have bought more of everything but I ran out of cash.
ETF Dividend Payments in April
April was the monthly payers and all of the quarterly payers except for SCHD. So I was expecting it to be above $100 in dividends but didn’t expect to break the $200 mark just yet.
JPEQ paid out $44.85, FEPI continued to slide with $31.73, QQQI gave me $16.22, IVV delivered $10.41, VGS coughed up $29.41 and VHY surprised me with an impressive $126.61, which is a total of $259.23 for the month of April. This beats the previous record of $185.42 in January.
I keep referring to the Vanguard dividend ETF as VHS instead of VHY. It kind of dates me as I grew up with VHS video cassettes.
This time last year the portfolio made $78.37 in dividends for the month of April which is a 230% increase YoY (year on year). If I was to repeat this percentage increase next April I would make about $855 for the month. Yes please!
The rolling 6 month, monthly dividend payment was $111.25 last month. It has grown by $22.05 per month to $133.30. I would love to keep that average increasing by a similar amount for a year or two. That would compound nicely very quickly.
The ETF Dividend Portfolio for April
This month the ETF dividend portfolio has increased to $23,598 up from $23,410 in March which is an increase of about $188. New contributions were $637 which means that the value of the portfolio would have been more like $22,961 if I hadn’t added new money.
I don’t like carrying the portfolio with new contributions while Mr. Market just wants to go backwards! Help me out here please Mr. Market!!!
I added my usual 5 JPEQ shares, some VHY (Australian dividend focus), a little NDQ (Nasdaq 100), and some ATEC (Australian tech companies).
Just as a note, the ticker symbols ending in .AX are Australian listed ETFs and those without them are US listed ETFs. The US listed prices and average cost per share are in US dollars but everything else like market value and total dividend income are in Australian dollars.
Here’s what the ETF portfolio looked like at the end of March 2025…
See the ETF Dividend Portfolio from March.
What to Expect in May
I’ll add the usual five shares of JPEQ or I may even stretch myself and buy ten as I would then have 100 shares. I like nice round numbers.
Anything else I buy in the ETF portfolio will either pay a 10% dividend yield or be SCHD. I need to increase my income and I want to own 100 SCHD shares in 2025 (I only have 21 at the moment).
I hope your freedom making machine is navigating these bumpy waters with ease and grace. What’s your 6 month rolling monthly dividend average for your ETFs? (total dividends paid over the last 6 months, divided by 6 equals your average).
Total ETF + REIT + Managed Funds Portfolio for April
Total Index Funds portfolio value (VHY, VGS, GEAR, JPEQ, FEPI, QQQI, SCHD, NDQ, ATEC and IVV): $23,598 up from $23,410
Most recent dividend payment (April): $259.23 up from $98.94 in March (Monthly and quarterly dividends from JPEQ, FEPI, VHY, VGS, IVV, and QQQI)
Dividends paid in April 2024: $78.37 which is a 230% Increase YoY (Year on Year)
6 Month Dividends Monthly Average: $133.30 up from $111.25 last month
Dividends paid in 2025 so far: $630.82 (this time last year it was $159.14)
Dividends paid in 2024: $725.85
All dividends paid in 2023: $102.68
All ETF dividend payments since starting the ETF portfolio: $1,491.24
ETF Dividends Goal 1: $2,000+ per year.
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