Sunday, October 23, 2011

UPDATING MY PORTFOLIO

Recently I made some changes in my IRA account.  I sold my stake in Astrazeneca (AZN) and used the proceeds to purchase shares of Deere & Company (DE), Westar Energy (WR) and added more shares of Great Plains Energy (GXP).  AZN's prospects for increasing earnings per share looked kind of bleak, so the prospects of continued dividend growth seemed kind of slim.  So I sold the shares while I was showing an overall profit and reinvested the money with the above named companies who's earnings and dividends are more likely to increase over the next 5 years.  These companies are dividend plays with some potential for growth and are all part of my long-term holdings in my retirement account.

As for my taxable investment account, I plan to purchase shares of Duke Energy (DUK), Northeast Utilities (NU) and Wisconsin Energy (WEC) as funds become available.  Right now I'm a little short on cash due to ongoing medical bills related to my heart attacks last year.  So my cash contributions to this account have been quite small, although I do contribute additional funds on a monthly basis.  The money available for new stock purchases is coming mostly from dividend payments, so there's been less activity in this account than in my IRA.  After Friday's run up in the stock market they're both doing quite well.  If the economy picks up after the first of next year, as I expect, then I should see some nice gains on shares purchased during the downturn in both accounts.

I recently received an investment newsletter in which the author was promoting an investment strategy quite similar to my own.  In the article she pointed out how her portfolio of dividend stocks was paying out a monthly payment from $1,100 to $1,500 per month after only 5 years.  Of course she had a total of around $200,000 invested.  Way more than I have now, but the principle is the same.  My dividend payments go up every month from the dividends I reinvest from the previous months and from additional cash contributions on my part.  It's really only a matter of time before my own portfolio of dividend stocks are paying as much or more than I will receive in Social Security each month upon retirement.  It's a simple matter of having a plan and sticking with it.

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