2024 has just ended, and I thought, what better time to break down my dividend income for the year? For dividend investors like myself, tracking your dividend income is not just a nice habit—it’s essential to understanding how your money works for you throughout the year. It offers a clear picture of which stocks contribute to your monthly passive income flow. Furthermore, some months saw my dividends barely cover the cost of a coffee, while in others they were sufficient to pay my entire grocery bill and even fund some cool hobbies. Witnessing this progress kept me engaged and excited to continue my dividend investment journey.
Here’s the key takeaway: tracking your dividends is not just about the numbers—it’s incredibly motivating. Watching your dividend income grow, even in small amounts, helps maintain your focus on your financial goals. Besides that, there’s something oddly satisfying about it, or maybe it’s just me… 👀.
In a nutshell, if you’re not tracking your dividend income yet, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful motivators in investing.
In this post, I’ll break down exactly how much I earned in 2024 and the biggest investing lesson I learned—one that might change how you approach dividends forever.
How I kept track of my dividend income
I’ll be honest—I didn’t reinvent the wheel here. I simply downloaded my dividend report from my broker, did some quick number-crunching in Google Sheets, and turned the mess into a clean table and chart. Nothing too fancy, just good old spreadsheet magic.
The biggest challenge? Currency conversion. Since my dividends come in different currencies, I had to wrestle with exchange rates. But with a few Google Sheets formulas (and maybe a mild existential crisis), I managed to convert everything into euros.
(By the way, if you’re curious about my stock portfolio, you can check it out here.)
I have about 15 stocks across two brokers, so keeping track of everything manually wasn’t too bad. Plus, I had to do it anyway—for the tax administration. Because, let’s be honest, ignoring taxes isn’t exactly a winning strategy. 😉
An Easier Way to Track Dividends
If the idea of manually tracking dividends sounds about as fun as doing your own taxes, don’t worry—there’s an easier way, (🚨 beware, beginning of the ad 🚨) Sharesight!
Keeping track of your portfolio across multiple brokers can be a pain in the a**. Most brokers conveniently forget to show your real returns—they skip dividends, fees, and currency fluctuations, making your performance look better than it actually is. (How nice of them, right? )
That’s where Sharesight comes in! It automates dividend tracking, calculates performance correctly, and even helps with tax reporting. I’ve tested it, and honestly, it makes life so much easier.(end of the ad, you’re safe now )
One interesting thing about my portfolio is that all my French stocks (Sanofi, L’Oréal, Rubis, Nexity, and Air Liquide) are held in a tax-incentive account (called “Plan d’Epargne en actions”). This means zero dividend taxes on these stocks—yep, completely tax-free. Which, in the investing world, is about as rare as a stock market crash that nobody panics over. I’ll take it.
My 2024 Dividend Earnings: The Full Breakdown
I’m going to start by showing you how much each stock paid me in dividends in 2024:
As you can see, my biggest dividend earner was a French company called Rubis, while the smallest payout came from Genuine Parts Company. (I sold this stock at the beginning of 2024, which explains the low dividend.)
Now, let’s break it down month by month:
Here’s my monthly dividend income in a chart format—much more visual and easier to read:
My best month was June, with €550 in dividends, and my worst month was (choose: February or August 😊), where I earned… absolutely nothing.
In total, I earned €1,906 in 2024, not too bad, right?
What’s Next for My Dividend Portfolio in 2025
My goal for this year is to generate an average of €350 per month, totaling €4,200 annually, through my stock investments and my sukuk/bond fund.
I also plan to sell all my French stocks and reinvest the cash into a European ETF—specifically, the HSBC MSCI Europe Islamic ESG UCITS ETF EUR Acc. This move is part of my strategy to simplify my portfolio. Ultimately, my goal is to maintain exposure to the U.S. market through my dividend stock-picking strategy while covering Europe with a basic MSCI Europe ETF.
When it comes to stock selection, I’ll continue following the 30-step process I’ve developed to identify the best dividend stocks. I’m committed to sticking to this framework to ensure consistency and quality in my investment decisions.
Conclusion
Tracking my dividends in 2024 completely changed the way I think about investing. Before, I was focused on just buying stocks and hoping they would grow over time. But when I started tracking my dividend income, I saw something even more powerful—steady, passive income compounding over time.
Month after month, I watched even the smallest payouts add up. Reinvesting them turned what seemed insignificant at first into something real. That’s when it hit me: dividend investing isn’t just about picking stocks—it’s about creating a growing cash flow that works for you, year after year.
And here’s the thing: if you’re not tracking your dividends, you’re missing one of the best ways to truly see your progress. It’s not just numbers on a page—it’s motivation. It makes you patient. It shifts your focus from short-term market noise to long-term wealth building.
If you haven’t started tracking your dividends yet, I can’t recommend it enough. You don’t need complicated spreadsheets—just start simple. And if you want to make it effortless, a tool like Sharesight, does all the tracking for you, helping you see your real returns, dividends, and even tax details without the manual work.
👉 Give it a try and see the difference for yourself! Also, I’d love to hear about your dividend journey. Share your experiences in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this post, join my newsletter for more tips and insights about dividend/stock investing.
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