Ask for the total
"How much did I receive in dividends since January 1? Break it down by ticker, with the number of payments, largest first."
Dividends sit under list_investment_transactions with type cash and subtype dividend. With no dates, the tool covers the last 90 days, so the words "since January 1" matter. Here's the answer with BankBridge's fictional demo portfolio, for January 1 to November 6, 2026:
| Demo ticker | Received | Payments |
|---|---|---|
| MSFT | $60.00 | 4 |
| AAPL | $50.00 | 4 |
| SPY | $46.40 | 4 |
| JPM | $46.00 | 4 |
| VTI | $40.80 | 4 |
| BND | $17.60 | 4 |
Demo total: $260.80 from 24 payments. The demo's NVDA and GOOGL positions show no dividends, so they don't appear.
Useful follow-ups:
- "Compare each ticker with the same months last year. Which paid more, and which paid less?"
- "Which of my positions paid nothing this year?"
- "What's the dividend total for each account?"
A run rate that holds up
Dividing the year-to-date total by months elapsed and multiplying by 12 is quick, and it misleads when payments are quarterly. In the demo, all four quarterly payments arrived by mid-October, so that math on November 6 gives a bit over $300 for a year that ends at $260.80 if nothing else arrives.
"Add up my dividends for the last 12 full months, by ticker. Note any ticker I bought or sold in that time, since its total won't reflect a full year at my current position."
A trailing 12-month total covers each payer's full cycle. It looks backward, and companies can change or stop a dividend, so read it as what you received and leave forecasts out of it.
Reinvested dividends and other labels
Brokerages label activity differently, and reinvested payouts may not sit under the same type and subtype as cash dividends. Before you trust a total, ask to see what's there:
"List every type and subtype in my investment transactions this year, with a count and total for each. Which ones look like dividends, interest or reinvestment?"
Then name the ones you want in the total. Interest from a money market position is also a separate subtype in many accounts, so decide whether it belongs in your figure.
The Claude Code command
With the BankBridge plugin installed, /bankbridge:dividends prints the year-to-date total, a simple run rate, a table by ticker and recent payments. Add a year to look back, as in /bankbridge:dividends 2025. Keep the note above in mind when you read its run rate.
To get this without asking, add the first prompt to a scheduled report. Quarterly is plenty for most portfolios.
Dividends and your tax form
Your brokerage's 1099-DIV is the figure to file with. The agent's total can differ because the data doesn't separate qualified from ordinary dividends, brokerages can reclassify payments after year-end, and dividends in retirement accounts appear in the same list even though they're handled differently. Tell the agent which accounts are taxable, and take the final numbers to your tax professional. BankBridge supplies data and doesn't give tax or investment advice.
BankBridge is read-only and costs $5 a month or $50 a year per connected login. Connect a brokerage, or try the prompts on the demo data.