The Retiree's Dividend Portfolio - John's January Update: Markets Aren't Immune To The Coronavirus
Published Mar 3, 2020 on Seeking Alpha

John's retirement accounts generated a total of $2,211.06 in dividend income for January 2020 vs. $2,396.87 of dividends in January 2019.
A total of two companies paid an increased dividend or delivered a special dividend during the month of January.
Dividend income is down year over year but the drop is largely explained by the change in dividend payment dates and a reduction of certain positions.
The VIX index confirms that the markets are rattled but we will start to make some small purchases as discounts begin to add up.
The uncertainty associated with the coronavirus is finally beginning to rattle the markets as the countries of Italy, Iran, and South Korea all reported a surge in reported cases. To get a better idea of investor sentiment, typically look at the CBOE Volatility Index (also referred to as the VIX index) because it serves as a "fear gauge" that shows when uncertainty rises the market as a whole falls.
Data by YCharts
Here are a couple of basic concepts that should help anyone who is unfamiliar with the VIX index understand how to interpret the data. The list below includes helpful information from Investopedia combined with my own personal thoughts about the VIX index.
The VIX index rarely drops below a bottom score of 10 (over the last 52-weeks the score was rarely below 12). When the VIX is this low we expect to see the S&P 500 increase in value because it represents a period of relative stability. VIX values higher than 30 represent a snapshot in time of where volatility is above-average and is typically the result of uncertainty/investor fear which is likely to be accompanied by larger-than-normal drops in the S&P 500. As of the market close on 2/24/2020, the VIX jumped by nearly 50% and pushed the score into a 52-week-high score of 25.03 As the week continued the VIX pushed above 40 which was last seen during election time in late 2015 (as shown on the graph above). According to Investopedia, the VIX index... Read more