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 May 2024 dividend income results! Were records set? Love the end of the year Dividend Tally, as the retirement account is PUMPED UP. Almost to financial freedom? One day and one month at a time!Dividend IncomeDividend 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, which you can see through my Dividend Portfolio.How do I research & screen for dividend stocks prior to making a purchase? I use our Dividend Diplomat Stock Screener and trade on Ally’s investment platform (one of our Financial Freedom Products) and on SoFi.Related: Dividend Diplomat Stock ScreenerRelated: Financial Freedom ProductsRelated: 3 Financial Freedom ProductsI 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!Related: Tax Strategy – Part 3 to Reduce Taxes & Increase Investment.Related: The Power of Dividend ReinvestingRelated: Why I Don’t Time or Predict The MarketGrowing 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 – May 2024Now, on to the numbers… In May, we (my wife and I) received a dividend income total of $1,664.04. Not quite $2,000, but in time we will get there.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%. 5 months down in 2024 and the S&P 500 is up now at 11%+. Consumers are still strong but earnings have been mixed, to say the least. Further, the price wars on fast food and grocery stores are real, with McDonald’s and Wendy’s duking it out, as well as Walmart and Target.The fed has now paused for 8 months, as they let data and the interest rate hikes they’ve done over the last 2 years really sink in. Rates will still be higher for longer. We might see a rate cut in September. Expectations will be further rate cuts next year. Who knows, I turn off the noise and keep investing.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:Obviously, this is the big month for telecommunications with AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). When you combine my wife’s IRA that holds AT&T (T), we are talking $220.51 in dividends came from the telecom stocks. All reinvested of course.United Parcel Services (UPS) really is starting to take off, with a massive $165 dividend. Remember, I was finally able to cross 100 shares of this beast!Then, I’ve been stacking more Starbucks (SBUX) shares this year, as their most recent earnings had their stock drop to the low-to-mid $70 share range. Therefore, those dividends are coming in heavy across the board. You can tell my wife loves Starbucks, she holds them in her taxable, Roth IRA and Traditional IRA.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 $431.26 or 26% of the dividend income total. Therefore, almost all of the dividend income came from my taxable account. LET’S GO!!Related: Maximizing your Roth for 10 Years… Then Set It & Forget It! Dividend Income Year over Year Comparison2023: 2024: Our dividend income is up… $335.37, a 25% increase from last year. Pumped! I’ll take it for sure.What changed?UPS paid this month. Armanino (AMNF) paid in May last year, but not this month. Further, for my wife’s account, the Gap (GPS) paid a dividend this month as well.In addition to dividends coming in this May of 2024 vs not having them in 2023, dividend growth and dividend reinvestment obviously are playing a major role here. AbbVie (ABBV), Caterpillar (CAT), John Deere (DE) and many others are all from dividend reinvestment (DRIP) and a dividend increase.Going forward, I am expecting to cross $2,000. Bring on May of 2025 baby!Dividend IncreasesI received 6 more dividend increases in May 2024, consistent with last month! Which one was the best of the month?I truly have to go with LyondellBasell (LYB) here. I did not expect a 7% dividend increase and was really anticipating the 3%-5% this year. Therefore, this was quite the surprise.Another unexpected dividend increase came from NetApp (NTAP). Good thing I never sold the stock, yet.Related: The Impact of The Dividend Growth Rate!In total, dividend increases created $65.66 in additional passive dividend income. I would need to invest $1,876 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 & SummaryThe 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!