Tuesday, February 19, 2013

ADDED 12 DIVIDEND PAYMENTS PER YEAR TO IRA!

With today's purchase of a stake in NCZ, which pays monthly dividends, I added an additional 12 dividends payments per year to my IRA account.  This will increase monthly cash flow to my retirement account and contribute greatly to compounding of payments.  The more payments you receive, the faster your money compounds, because each month you're earning additional cash on the previous months earnings.  

For the month, I've added 24 payments per year over both investment accounts.  I plan to repeat this in March by adding an additional monthly dividend payer to each account, effectively doubling the number of dividend payments I receive each year.  My investment schedule for 2013 is pretty ambitious, given I don't really have as much to invest as I used to, but so far it's right on schedule.  So with the revisions to my investment plan, I should start 2014 with around 98 dividend payments per year, between the two accounts.  Once I've purchased a stake in all the stocks I've added to my list, I'll concentrate on building positions to pump up dividend payments.  It's all about increasing cash flow every month.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

EXTREME COUPONING

Just finished up my weekly shopping with a visit to Walgreens this morning.  On my first purchase, I matched coupons with sale items and got 45% off.  I used the register rewards from the my first transaction to get 85% off my second transaction, stocking up on laundry detergent and body wash.  Friday I made a trip to Schnucks and saved 33% on food purchases for the week.  While I don't do as well as the couponers on my favorite TLC show, Exteme Couponing, I figure I'm saving an average of over 50% on all my shopping.  The money I save by using coupons is helping me build a brighter future by freeing up cash for investing in dividend stocks.  

I've been able to use a lot of the printed coupons from SendEarnings over the past couple of months and they pay 10 cents to my shopper's reward account for every coupon I print and redeem.  So not only are the coupons saving me money on everything I buy, they're also helping me earn another check from SendEarnings.  As part of my investment plan for 2013 I'm investing all checks from shopper's rewards programs in dividend stocks, boosting cash flow from monthly dividends.  What could be better than that?  

STATE OF THE UNION--500th POST!



I thought a little fireworks were in order, to celebrate my 500th post on the Missouri Blue Collar Investor!  Hoping to be around for another 500 or so :0).  

Recently we were entertained by another imaginative State of the Union address by President Obama.  I say imaginative because I can't imagine how he expects the already strapped taxpayers to foot the bill for his current line of proposals.  Which reminds me of a hilarious cartoon in this Sunday's paper.  It's titled "broken record" and features Nancy Pelosi with a crazed look, repeating over and over "What spending problem", "What spending problem."  The cartoonist got that right, Pelosi and Obama have had no "problem" spending.  Just once, I'd like to see a president come out for the State of the Union address and say, "We're in a hell of a mess."  At least then you'd know they have a grasp of what's really going on in the country.  Well you just have to hope something good will come of the whole mess.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

INCREASING MONTHLY CASH FLOW WITH NCV

Added shares of NCV to my taxable account this week to increase monthly cash flow from dividends.  NCV pays monthly dividends and currently has an 11.73% yield!  

I've been making adjustments to my investment plan for this year and added scheduled purchases of 4 monthly dividend payers to boost overall monthly cash flows to both of my investment accounts.  Currently I'm back up to 59 dividend payments per year or almost 5 dividend "paydays" per month.  This time around, I've decided to focus more on quality instead of quantity, meaning I'm not planning on spreading my investments over so many different stocks/funds.  Once I've purchased positions in the investments I've picked out for my accounts, I'll concentrate on increasing monthly dividend income by building on my positions and adding more shares.    

Friday, February 15, 2013

WHEN TO SELL A STOCK

When your stocks are showing a nice increase in price per share, it's sometimes difficult to decide when to sell and take a profit.  In my opinion, the best time to sell is when you can pull all your original money out and still maintain a position in the stock.  Effectively you're playing with "the house's money" at this point.  Since you've taken out all the money you initially invested in the stock, whatever it does from then on is just icing on the cake.  Especially in the case of dividend paying stocks.  I've used this strategy many times in the past and plan on using it again to help rebuild my investment portfolio.  

I was talking to a co-worker this past week about having to decimate my investments to cover medical costs related to the heart attacks I've had in the past few years.  While it would be easy for me to just give up on investing, I continue to be optimistic and confident about investing because I know what I'm doing now.  Through the years I've discovered that once you know how to build a substantial investment portfolio, if for whatever reason you have to start over, it's easier to do each time.  In the case of investing, experience can make a huge difference.