Tallying My 2005 Passive Income

So where am I at with my passive income? After all this is just as important as measuring my net worth, if I can't generate enough income to pay for my living expenses, that I won't be financially free no matter what my net worth is.

2005 was a great year for me to increase my annual passive income. I continued to make some strong long term investments in pharmaceuticals with high dividend yields (mainly Pfizer and Merck), I converted my primary residence into a cash flow positive rental property, and I also took advantage of several 0% APR credit cards to generate free loans that earned interest in higher yield online savings account like EmigrantDirect. I also benefited from dividend hikes with several of my stock investments.

Dividend Income
Here is a list of the stock investment I have with dividend income in 2004 and 2005:

	Annual Dividends
Investment	2004	2005
IBM	$ 156.40	$ 251.37
ExxonMobil	$ 49.81	$ 54.68
Pfizer	$ 132.44	$ 300.02
Bellsouth	$ 154.19	$ 166.38
Edison Int.	$ 8.82	$ 11.88
Medtronic	$ 19.02	$ 22.80
Pepco Energy	$ 17.97	$ 18.85
Duke Energy	$ 77.08	$ 88.66
Merck	$ 52.22	$ 108.56
General Electric	$ 65.57	$ 73.91
Lowes	$ 1.89	$ 2.70
Proctor & Gamble	$ 27.39	$ 31.09
Chevron	$ 18.34	$ 21.62
Anheuser Busch	NA	$ 54.00
Total	$ 781.14	$ 1,206.52

Note: This is dividend income from individual securities I own in taxable accounts. This does not include assets in 401k, Roth IRA, or securities in mutual funds.

My dividend payments in these taxable accounts are up over 54% from last year. I expect these to continue to increase each year as I make new investments in these and other companies.

Interest Income

	2004	2005
Interest	$39.76	$783.99

The amount of interest I earned in 2005 increased dramatically as a result of several 0% Balance Transfers offers and increasing interest rates. I currently have most of my savings in EmigrantDirect which is paying 4.0%APY.

Rental Property Income
Since I converted my primary residence to a rental property in 2005, all of my costs involved in improving, cleaning, and renting the property negate any positive cash flow for the year. However if the tenants renew their lease in 2006 then I have the potential to make up to ~$2,000 in cash profit from the rental property activities(depending on the maintenance expenses occurred) for 2006.


Overall not a bad year. I received $1990.51 in interest in dividends for 2005. I expect 2006 to be an even bigger year with additional income being kicked in from my rental property and additional investments.