Dividend Income Summary: Lanny’s August 2025 Summary

This is what dividend investing is all about! Investing in dividend stocks allows YOU to earn dividend income, the best passive income stream! Bias, you better believe it.

Time to dive into Lanny’s August 2025 dividend income results! Were records set? Almost to financial freedom? One day and one month at a time!

Dividend Income

Dividend Income is the fruit from the labor of investing your money in the stock market. Further, Dividend Income is my primary vehicle on the road to Financial Freedom.

How do I research & screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase? I use our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on SoFi’s investment platform.

Related: See our Dividend Portfolios!

I also automatically invest and max out, pre-tax, my 401k through work and my Health Savings Account. This allows me to save a TON of money on taxes (aka thousands), which allows me to invest even more. In addition, all dividends I receive are automatically being reinvested back into the company that paid the dividend, aka Dividend Reinvestment Plan or DRIP for short. This takes the emotion out of timing the market and BUILDS onto my passive income stream!

Growing your dividend income takes time and consistency. Investing as often, and early, as you can allows compound interest (aka dividends) to work it’s magic. I have gone from making $2.70 in a single month in dividend income to well over … $10,000+ in a single month. My dividend income record was set in December of 2021. Was it broken this month?! The power of compounding and dividend reinvestment is a wonderful component to the portfolio. Each and every month, whether big or small, I continue to report the passive income that dividend investing provides me. Why?

*Not pictured is my wife’s dividend income above*

I want to show YOU that dividend investing makes it possible to achieve financial freedom and/or financial independence. We all start somewhere, but consistently investing, compounding (reinvesting) dividends and keeping it simple, allows you to be in a significantly better position than most. Further, if I can grow this portfolio and income stream, YOU can too.

dividend income – August 2025

Now, on to the numbers… In August, we (my wife and I) received a dividend income total of $1,448.29. Not bad, I’ll take over $1,000 in passive income any day.

The amount and number of stocks listed below show you what it means to buy and hold for the long term. Most of the positions I have owned for YEARS, letting dividend growth and reinvestment do it’s thing. This is what dividend investing for financial freedom is all about. The passive income stream is growing at a RAPID pace.

2023 was up 24%. Guess what? 2024 was up 23%! 2 years of back to back 20% returns. The S&P 500 is up almost 12% through mid-October, Bitcoin is way up this year, setting new all time highs every few months and everyone is still bracing on Donald Trump’s Tariff conversations with countries across the world. I keep buying, though, P E R I O D!

Here is the breakdown of dividend income for the month, between taxable and retirement (far right column, under “Retirement”) accounts. In addition, “W” means my wife’s account:

Telecommunications are heavy in August. As you can see Verizon (VZ) paid $104.58, reinvested at a high yield, and AT&T (T) also paid $94.46. Almost $200 from two big telecoms. I can feel a dividend increase coming from AT&T (T) soon.

In addition, I continue to see my Main Street Capital (MAIN) dividend grow, month after month. Why? Dividend growth. Dividend reinvestment. The ocassional special dividend, as well. What a great company to own.

I also split out my retirement accounts in the far right column and the taxable account dividends are in the left two columns. The retirement accounts are composed of H.S.A. investments, ROTH and Traditional IRAs, as well as our work 401(k) accounts. In total, the retirement accounts brought in a total dividend income amount of $405.61 or 28% of the dividend income total. Stacking income, no matter what. LET’S GO!!

Dividend Income Year over Year Comparison

2024: 2025:

Our dividend income went UP about $33 from last year. Phew, sweating out some growth here.

First, you don’t see Reynold’s (REYN) and Hormel (HRL) dividends any more. I sold out of those two positions. No dividend growth on Reynold’s and I was concerned about the future of Hormel (HRL).

Second, for one of the first times, you don’t see any new names on this list. Which is a great feeling. Why? Well, it’s because I’ve been slimming down stock positions, not creating new ones.

Lastly, taking those dividends out of the equation, was about $45. Therefore, our income did grow even more, despite the positions we exited.

August is always a quiet month, but will be nice to cross $1,500 next year.

Dividend Increases

We had two great dividend increases. I’ll take quality over quantity. We had more stocks increase last, but the increases this month provided much more growth to the forward passive income stream.

Illinois Tool Works (ITW) at 7.33% is incredible, so consistent.

Cummins (CMI), also very consistent, surprised me with a 10% dividend increase. WOW.

In total, dividend increases created $38.66 in additional passive dividend income. I would need to invest $1,105 at a 3.50% dividend yield in order to add that income. Thank you for the increases, as I didn’t have to come up with the capital to create that form of income!

Dividend Income Conclusion & Summary

The name of the game is to apply what you learn through financial education. The next steps are to maximize every dollar for investment opportunities and live life on your own terms. Therefore, my plan is to demonstrate that dividend income can be a revenue engine. A revenue engine that allows you to take back control of your life. A revenue engine to help you reach financial freedom. Dividend investing, once you learn the right way, becomes easier and starts to immensely make sense!

Excited for the future, no doubt. Furthermore, all of the investing from last year and moves this year, shows that my aim to save 60% of my income, and making every dollar count, has provided the dividend growth.

If you are just starting out on your investment journey and you aren’t sure to start – please see the articles mentioned throughout this post. We are trying to bring you financial education and help you reach your financial goals.

Further, if you are interested in our dividend stocks to buy, dividend news, stock purchases, etc., please see our YouTube video (below), subscribe to our channel and check us out! Accordingly, we’ll help break down further investing topics not only on this blog, but by showing you through video!

As always, thank you for stopping by, leave your comments and questions below. Good luck and happy investing everyone!

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