Saturday, March 30, 2013

5 PAYDAYS THIS PAST WEEK!

Two of my monthly dividend stocks kicked in this past week with EMN, CNP and HWBK, for a total of 5 dividend "paydays"!  I'm excited to see cash coming in from recent stock purchases and continued payments from some of my longer held stocks.  The dividends were all reinvested to help build my current positions and increase monthly cash flow.  

Hit the garage sales looking for resale items this morning.  Found some great deals on items for myself, but no good items to sell.  Had a great time anyway.  My little sister went along and found Aeropostle, Abercrombie and Fitch and Nautica clothing in her size for 25 cents each!  She ended up with 3 bags of clothing from this one sale alone.  While I didn't find any items for resale, the money I saved on the items I did buy was fantastic.  Got a nice pair of jeans (which I really need, since I've lost 38 pounds on my exercise and diet so far), for $1.50.  Since I'm working on losing another 37 pounds to reach my goal weight, I could use some "in between" clothing sizes and I'm thinking garage sales is the perfect place to buy these.  My waist size has already dropped from 42 to 36, so most of my pants require a belt to keep them from falling to my feet.

Suffered a tragic personal loss this past week.  My closest friend and mentor passed away at the age of 82.  He will be truly missed, but his friendship and wisdom will never be forgotten.  

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

INVESTMENT PLAN REVISED FOR 2013

Once again I've decided to revise my investment plan for 2013.  Since making previous revisions, I've opened positions in enough dividend paying stocks to earn a total of 95 dividend payments per year or about 8 payments per month on average.  My original plan called for investing in enough different stocks to collect at least 10 dividends per month, however, due to limited investment capital and a desire to reduce investment costs, I'm going to move on to phase 2 of the plan and concentrate on building more shares in stocks I already own. 

To accomplish this, I'll be reinvesting all dividends in both investment accounts, to take advantage of no commissions on reinvested dividends and my monthly cash contributions will remain in my interest bearing account until I've accumulated enough to buy larger initial stakes in the remaining stocks I'm adding to my portfolio.  Since the commission I'm charged per trade is the same regardless of how much I invest, I'll save money up front on investment costs.  While cash contributions will be invested quarterly, I'll still be growing positions and cash flow on a monthly basis through reinvested dividends.  The savings from investing quarterly instead of monthly will help grow my portfolio more quickly than originally planned.

  

Sunday, March 17, 2013

WEEK IN REVIEW

The stock market did well this past week, although I think that's more on the strength of corporate balance sheets rather than have anything to do with the overall economy or economic policies.  Nice to see some price gains once in a while though. 

I moved ahead with my plan for creating monthly cash flow with the purchase of PHK this past week.  The order for the purchase of my stake in PSEC goes through on Tuesday this week, which completes my stock purchases for March.  I've already put in an order for my taxable account to purchase a shares of CRF on April 12th, which will add another 12 dividend payments per year to my taxable account.  I'll follow that with an order to purchase shares of AGC for my IRA account.  In the month of May, I'll purchase shares of one more monthly dividend paying stock for my taxable account and will complete my new stock purchases for 2013 by adding positions in 3 blue chip stocks before the end of September.  For the remainder of the year, my plan calls for adding to my positions to build additional monthly dividend revenues.  It's a simple plan, but that's the beauty of it, its' simplicity.  I don't anticipate adding many new stocks after this year, unless I have to replace an under performing issue. 

Monday, March 11, 2013

TWO EXTRA PAYDAYS LAST WEEK!

Collected dividend payments from Lilly (LLY) and Centerpoint Energy (CNP) last week for a total of 2 extra "paydays".  These two stocks are both long term holdings in my IRA (LLY) and my taxable account (CNP).  While I've been busy adding positions in high yield/high risk issues paying monthly dividends, I want to keep things balanced out by maintaining and building positions in dividend growth stocks.  Stocks that grow their dividends over time can be much better investments in the long run than high yield stocks, with much less volatility. In my case, I'm willing to accept more risk right now in order to jump start monthly cash flow.  

In the long term, dividends earned from the higher risk issues will be re-invested in more stable blue chip stocks with good dividend growth histories.  Most likely my investments in individual stocks will lean more towards stocks that make the Dividend Aristocrats list.  I'm limiting the number of stocks in which I'll purchase positions to around 20 issues.  It makes it easier to keep track of, while providing adequate diversification in both accounts.  

I have decided to add two more monthly dividend payers in the month of April to bring my total number of dividend payments per year to 119.  I'll add one more in May to bring my total to 131 or an average of about 11 dividends per month.  This will greatly increase compounding in my accounts and will help speed up the rebuilding process.  All dividends paid to my IRA are automatically reinvested, while dividends to my taxable account are paid to my interest bearing account so I can build up my cash position.  Having cash in my taxable account will allow me to take advantage of opportunities that I might not be able to invest in from my regular work income. 

Friday, March 8, 2013

UPDATE: REBUILDING MY INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

It has been 10 months since my last heart attack and 6 months since I went back to work.  The medical bills from my last hospitalization and follow up treatments just about wiped out my investment accounts.  Since going back to work, I have been working on rebuilding my investment portfolio.

When I went back to work, I was collecting 16 dividend payments per year.  With this month's stock purchases, I'll be collecting 95 dividend payments per year.  During the same 6 month period, I have doubled the total value of my portfolio through re-invested dividends, regular cash deposits and stock appreciation.  I expect to at least triple the starting value of my accounts within the next 6 months and possibly double the current value by the end of the year.  So even though I've gone through some catastrophic setbacks, I'm well on my way to building a new and improved portfolio.

With spring just around the corner, I'm planning to ramp up the resale business.  I'll be selling online through Craig's list and Ebay and I'll be working the flea market booth at least a couple of weekends per month.  The extra income will go a long way toward paying off the few medical bills I have left and it will provide an extra boost toward rebuilding my dividend portfolio.  

Thursday, March 7, 2013

EIGHT PAYDAYS A MONTH!

With the purchase of positions in PSEC and PHK in the month of March, I'll be up to 95 dividend payments per year, or about 8 per month on average!  This was the biggest goal of my investment plan for 2013 and I've reached it way before I thought I would.  So for the rest of the year, I'll concentrate on building positions and adding shares of blue chip stocks on my wish list.  

The dividend calendar spreadsheet I made up has made it much easier to keep track of what payments I can expect, when they are paid and to which account.  It makes is much easier to build monthly payments more evenly.  Wish I'd have thought of it sooner.  

Still haven't figured out the health insurance issue, but I'll be working on that in the coming months.  I want to get myself insured just in case I have any more problems with my heart.  Right now I'm doing pretty good, but from the last 3 heart attacks, I know that could change.  Wish me luck.

Friday, March 1, 2013

THREE PAYDAYS LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY!



The last week of February was a good week for me, with 3 "paydays" in the form of dividends from CLM, RRD and NYCB.  The dividend yield on CLM is a whopping 17.88% currently and they pay monthly dividends!  RRD and NYCB have yields of 10% and 7.47% respectively and pay quarterly dividends.  While higher yields also mean higher risk, I'm not too concerned about my investments in these three stocks.  I originally bought in to these stocks to increase monthly cash flow which has worked out quite nicely.  While there is always hope of some capital gains over the long run, I'm looking forward to "paydays" from each of these stocks for years to come.