This Is How Much I Made in REIT Dividend Income Last Year
I still remember receiving my first dividend payment almost 20 years ago. I was still in grad school and just starting on my investing journey. I had followed the advice of famed investor Peter Lynch in his book One Up On Wall Street by investing in companies I knew. That led me to buy shares of consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, which happened to pay a dividend. While that first dividend payment wasn't much more than a dollar, I loved the idea of receiving income I didn't have to earn by working.
Because of that, I've packed my portfolio with dividend-paying stocks over the years. That has helped me steadily grow my passive income. Last year I reached a milestone by crossing the $10,000 level of dividend income. One of the biggest contributors to my passive income was real estate investment trusts (REITs), at slightly less than a third of my dividend income. Here's a look at some of the REITs that stood out as big-time income-producers for me last year.
The REIT leading the charge in supplying me with the most passive income was Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW), at more than $500. The healthcare REIT focuses on owning hospitals that it leases to healthcare systems. That strategy has paid big dividends for investors over the years, enabling Medical Properties Trust to grow its payout for nine straight years.
Source Fool.com