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Step 1
Determine the amount of dividends received on your investments in a given period. The amount of dividends received is generally specified on the first page of the account summary that you receive from your broker each month.
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Step 2
Pull the amount of money you invested in your portfolio in the same period. This information is also included on the first page of your account summary and is usually labeled "Capital Contributions" or "New Capital Invested."
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Step 3
Subtract additional money that you added to your account from the amount of new money invested, which you determined in Step 2. The resulting number will be the amount of dividends invested in your account over the given period. For example, suppose your account summary tells you that you invested a total of $250 in your account, and you know that you contributed $150 in outside funds to your account. The amount of dividends invested would equal $250 - $150 = $100.
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Step 4
Divide the amount of dividends invested by the total amount of dividends received, which you determined in Step 1. The resulting number is your dividend reinvestment rate. Suppose you received a total of $500 in dividends in a given period. In this example, your dividend reinvestment rate would equal $100/$500 = 20 percent.
