It’s dividend income update time. One of my favorite times of the month as I get to review my previous month of passive income received from my dividend income portfolios.

Without rehashing the wild ride we experienced in January too much, I could find comfort in one thing, my dividends. As we all know, the market may move up and down irrationally and seemingly on a whim while our dividends remain much more stable, reliable and predictable. Sure, dividends may not increase every year and a cut or elimination is even possible but the odds are greatly reduced when you diversify among different companies and sectors and focus on dividend quality (free cash flow, EPS and payout ratios). Forget chasing the high yield unicorns and focus on the boring lower yielding but sustainable dividends. In the long run you’ll be better off. With that being said, let’s take a look at my January dividend totals and see how 2016 started.

Dividend income from my taxable account totalled $217.84 up from $199.91 an increase of 9.0% from January of last year.

Dividend income from my ROTH account totalled $113.37 up from $74.38 an increase of 52.4% from this time last year.

Dividend income from my IRA account totalled $0.00 equal to $0.00 from this time last year.

Grand total for the month of January: $331.21 an increase of 20.8% from January 2015.

Brokerage Account

Year to date dividends: $217.84

ROTH Account

Year to date dividends: $113.37

I have to say I’m quite pleased with how 2016 started off. Who can complain about a 20.8% year over year increase? The proof of our dividend investing strategy rests in these real results. After all, dividends don’t lie. It’s real cash being returned to investors. With patience and consistency these results and better can be achieved.