Whether you're rich or poor famous or unknown, everyone makes mistakes. Paula Deen is no exception. As far as I'm concerned, her past use of a racial epithet is not concrete evidence of any racial bias on her part. While it's definitely not polite or politically correct and probably not the smartest thing she's ever done, I don't think it makes her a bad person. A lot of people have said and done a lot worse and gotten away with what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
I was dissapointed to hear the Food Network is not renewing her contract. While I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear from Paula, I will miss her show. I just wanted to say that I'm a fan of Paula Deen and will continue to support her.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
PLANNING AHEAD FOR 2014 INVESTMENTS
I just finished reviewing my Dividend Income Calendar for
2013. Dividends for the month of June are more than double
those from the month of March. If this trend continues, with
dividend income doubling every three months, by the end of
2013 I’ll have the option to divert some dividend income to pay
ongoing expenses. The whole point of having a taxable account
and an IRA is to create usable cash flow now. Instead of
waiting until retirement, why not have a better life as you go.
I may choose to keep re-investing dividends and build on my
positions instead of taking monthly cash payments. After all,
re-invested dividends are a great way to cut investment
expense, since there is no commission on re-invested dividends.
Not only that, but by continuing re-invested dividends and
keeping monthly cash contributions the same, total
contributions to my account would go up over 50% by the end
of 2013.
Gives me a lot to think about when formulating investment
strategy for 2014. None of us know what the future holds,
however, it’s always good to plan ahead as long as your plans
are flexible and you’re ready to roll with the punches. Even
though I start on my investment plan nearly 7 months ahead of
the new year, I never really finalize my yearly plan until
February or March of the new year.
On an unrelated subject, I saw Claire McCaskill has
announced her support for Hilary Clinton in the next
Presidential election. REALLY!!! I’m beginning to think it’s
time for Claire to retire. Hillary supposedly dropped out of
her Secretary of State position for health reasons and she’s not
getting any younger. She’s also no Bill Clinton. While I’m not
especially a fan of Bill Clinton, he wasn’t the worst Democratic
president we’ve ever had, but I don’t think Hillary would make
as good a president as her husband was. In her defense, I
would have voted for her over Obama hands down.
2013. Dividends for the month of June are more than double
those from the month of March. If this trend continues, with
dividend income doubling every three months, by the end of
2013 I’ll have the option to divert some dividend income to pay
ongoing expenses. The whole point of having a taxable account
and an IRA is to create usable cash flow now. Instead of
waiting until retirement, why not have a better life as you go.
I may choose to keep re-investing dividends and build on my
positions instead of taking monthly cash payments. After all,
re-invested dividends are a great way to cut investment
expense, since there is no commission on re-invested dividends.
Not only that, but by continuing re-invested dividends and
keeping monthly cash contributions the same, total
contributions to my account would go up over 50% by the end
of 2013.
Gives me a lot to think about when formulating investment
strategy for 2014. None of us know what the future holds,
however, it’s always good to plan ahead as long as your plans
are flexible and you’re ready to roll with the punches. Even
though I start on my investment plan nearly 7 months ahead of
the new year, I never really finalize my yearly plan until
February or March of the new year.
On an unrelated subject, I saw Claire McCaskill has
announced her support for Hilary Clinton in the next
Presidential election. REALLY!!! I’m beginning to think it’s
time for Claire to retire. Hillary supposedly dropped out of
her Secretary of State position for health reasons and she’s not
getting any younger. She’s also no Bill Clinton. While I’m not
especially a fan of Bill Clinton, he wasn’t the worst Democratic
president we’ve ever had, but I don’t think Hillary would make
as good a president as her husband was. In her defense, I
would have voted for her over Obama hands down.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
2013 INVESTMENT PLAN ACCOMPLISHES GOALS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
When I revised my investment plan at the beginning of 2013, I had 3 main goals to accomplish for the year. I wanted to rebuild both my retirement and taxable investment accounts by purchasing stakes in 20 stocks and funds by the end of the year. I also wanted to rev up compounding by investing in monthly dividend payers and reinvesting all dividends, the more dividends you receive the faster your compound rate. My third goal was to simplify my investment strategy to reduce the amount of time and effort involved in managing my accounts.
I've simplified my plan and boosted dividends to 111 payments per year, so I've already accomplished those two goals. My final goal of reaching the 20 stocks and funds will be reached by November of this year, barring any major setbacks. I've set up an automatic investment plan with my accounts to purchase one issue per month, which means, in 5 months I'll have purchased the last stock to round out my portfolio. From then on it's a matter of building my stakes through continued monthly cash investments and reinvested dividends.
I'm already working on ideas to tweak the plan for 2014. I'm sure to include as many cost cutting measures as I can come up with and I'll be looking for ways to boost returns as much as possible while avoiding excessive risk. While the prospects for the economy overall are still no so bright, I'm getting excited about investing again. You just have to work with what with the hand you're dealt.
I've simplified my plan and boosted dividends to 111 payments per year, so I've already accomplished those two goals. My final goal of reaching the 20 stocks and funds will be reached by November of this year, barring any major setbacks. I've set up an automatic investment plan with my accounts to purchase one issue per month, which means, in 5 months I'll have purchased the last stock to round out my portfolio. From then on it's a matter of building my stakes through continued monthly cash investments and reinvested dividends.
I'm already working on ideas to tweak the plan for 2014. I'm sure to include as many cost cutting measures as I can come up with and I'll be looking for ways to boost returns as much as possible while avoiding excessive risk. While the prospects for the economy overall are still no so bright, I'm getting excited about investing again. You just have to work with what with the hand you're dealt.
111 DIVIDEND PAYMENTS PER YEAR
With the purchase of a stake in CRF, which pays
monthly dividends, I’ll now be collecting a total of
111 dividend payments per year. By January of
2014, I expect the total number of dividends to go
up to 127 with purchases of WFC, KO, INTC and
T. I’ll be adding one additional stock to bring my
total investment portfolio to 20 stocks and funds.
Although not evenly divided between taxable and
retirement accounts, it’s a pretty even allocation
dollar wise. Once in place, the only changes to
stocks or funds in the portfolio may be to replace
any investment which cuts or ceases to pay
dividends. Otherwise I’m going long term all the
way.
My biggest reason for choosing a dividend
investment strategy over say aggressive growth or
value investing is, I love to get paid. The more
often I get paid the better. It’s what motivates me
to keep investing month after month. I think it
was J.D. Rockefeller who said one of the things
that made him truly happy was collecting his
dividends month after month. That’s the way I
am. While collecting dividends isn’t the only
thing that makes me happy, it is something I
count on to brighten my week. I’ve had a lot of
bad luck in the past couple of years. Health
problems (3 heart attacks), loss of family and
friends who’ve passed away and not much luck
job wise. However, while I could just sit around
feeling sorry for myself, I’d much rather spend
whatever time and resources I have rebuilding my
portfolio and compounding my investments as
rapidly as possible through lots and lots of
dividends.
monthly dividends, I’ll now be collecting a total of
111 dividend payments per year. By January of
2014, I expect the total number of dividends to go
up to 127 with purchases of WFC, KO, INTC and
T. I’ll be adding one additional stock to bring my
total investment portfolio to 20 stocks and funds.
Although not evenly divided between taxable and
retirement accounts, it’s a pretty even allocation
dollar wise. Once in place, the only changes to
stocks or funds in the portfolio may be to replace
any investment which cuts or ceases to pay
dividends. Otherwise I’m going long term all the
way.
My biggest reason for choosing a dividend
investment strategy over say aggressive growth or
value investing is, I love to get paid. The more
often I get paid the better. It’s what motivates me
to keep investing month after month. I think it
was J.D. Rockefeller who said one of the things
that made him truly happy was collecting his
dividends month after month. That’s the way I
am. While collecting dividends isn’t the only
thing that makes me happy, it is something I
count on to brighten my week. I’ve had a lot of
bad luck in the past couple of years. Health
problems (3 heart attacks), loss of family and
friends who’ve passed away and not much luck
job wise. However, while I could just sit around
feeling sorry for myself, I’d much rather spend
whatever time and resources I have rebuilding my
portfolio and compounding my investments as
rapidly as possible through lots and lots of
dividends.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
DIVIDEND INCOME UP EVERY MONTH OF SECOND QUARTER!
With the latest dividend payments from CNP and LLY, dividend income from my investment portfolio for the month of June is already up over the month of March. Which means that dividend income for the second quarter has beaten each month of the first quarter! I expect to repeat this process for the remainder of 2013, with each successive quarter beating out income from the previous 3 months.
Currently new cash additions to my investment accounts make up the bulk of increased income. However, with steadily rising monthly cash flow from dividends, it should not be long until dividend income and re-investment is responsible for the bulk of growth. Since I'm working on reducing debt and building up cash in the bank to purchase my own home, I don't anticipate being able to increase the monthly cash contributions to my taxable or retirement account for the remainder of the year. So progress seems a little slow, as far as rebuilding my accounts after my heart attack last year, but percentage wise income growth has been phenomenal! I think I've hit on the perfect plan to reach my goals.
In my last post I outlined my planned stock purchases for the rest of the year. Along the way, I'll also be beefing up my current positions by re-investing all dividends. By the end of 2013 I'll re-evaluate my plan and make adjustments where needed, but I'm thinking I'll be able to continue most of the plan I've put in place for several years to come.
Currently new cash additions to my investment accounts make up the bulk of increased income. However, with steadily rising monthly cash flow from dividends, it should not be long until dividend income and re-investment is responsible for the bulk of growth. Since I'm working on reducing debt and building up cash in the bank to purchase my own home, I don't anticipate being able to increase the monthly cash contributions to my taxable or retirement account for the remainder of the year. So progress seems a little slow, as far as rebuilding my accounts after my heart attack last year, but percentage wise income growth has been phenomenal! I think I've hit on the perfect plan to reach my goals.
In my last post I outlined my planned stock purchases for the rest of the year. Along the way, I'll also be beefing up my current positions by re-investing all dividends. By the end of 2013 I'll re-evaluate my plan and make adjustments where needed, but I'm thinking I'll be able to continue most of the plan I've put in place for several years to come.
Friday, June 7, 2013
DIVIDEND INCOME FOR JUNE OFF TO A GOOD START!
June is definitely going to be a good month for dividend
income. In the first 5 days of the month I’ve already collected
5 dividend payments. Was glad to collect my first dividend
payment from HBI, great job, keep them coming! Also
collected from NCZ, NCV, PHK and RRD.
While June is a great month, with a total of 11 dividend
payments for the month, it looks like September and December
will be the best overall. For both months, I’ll collect 12
dividend payments and in December I should also see capital
gains payouts from the 5 mutual funds I hold stakes in.
As for planned purchases of the last four stocks for my overall
portfolio, I plan to add positions in CRF and WFC in June and
July respectively. I’ll follow that up by adding positions in KO
and INTC in August and September and finish up by adding T
in the month of December. Then it will be a simple matter of
increasing my investment in each holding by reinvested
dividends and future cash investments. I’ll only add new
positions if it becomes necessary to sell one of my holdings due
to poor performance or cancelled dividends.
Pickles and I have finished our move and are getting settled in
the new place. We’re currently in a 3 bedroom apartment in
an old church. The building is up for sale, so it’s a temporary
situation, but we’re enjoying while it lasts. Thanks to my
sister, was able to get a great deal on a used washer and dryer.
I got a Hotpoint washer (one of the best) and a good Kenmore
dryer. It doesn’t bother me in the least that they’re a little
scuffed up and don’t match. They work great and that’s all
that really matters. May be getting a mower next. These are
things I’ll need if I’m able to figure a way to by our own place.
It’s going to be much harder since I’ve never fully recovered
employment wise from the “great recession”. However, where
there’s a will there’s a way and I intend to find it. I once
bought a fixer upper mobile home for $800 and a corner city
lot for $2,000. For a total of $2,800 and a little cleaning and
painting, I had a decent place to live. While I don’t expect to
do that now, I do think there are comparable deals if you
adjust for inflation. We’ll see how it goes.
income. In the first 5 days of the month I’ve already collected
5 dividend payments. Was glad to collect my first dividend
payment from HBI, great job, keep them coming! Also
collected from NCZ, NCV, PHK and RRD.
While June is a great month, with a total of 11 dividend
payments for the month, it looks like September and December
will be the best overall. For both months, I’ll collect 12
dividend payments and in December I should also see capital
gains payouts from the 5 mutual funds I hold stakes in.
As for planned purchases of the last four stocks for my overall
portfolio, I plan to add positions in CRF and WFC in June and
July respectively. I’ll follow that up by adding positions in KO
and INTC in August and September and finish up by adding T
in the month of December. Then it will be a simple matter of
increasing my investment in each holding by reinvested
dividends and future cash investments. I’ll only add new
positions if it becomes necessary to sell one of my holdings due
to poor performance or cancelled dividends.
Pickles and I have finished our move and are getting settled in
the new place. We’re currently in a 3 bedroom apartment in
an old church. The building is up for sale, so it’s a temporary
situation, but we’re enjoying while it lasts. Thanks to my
sister, was able to get a great deal on a used washer and dryer.
I got a Hotpoint washer (one of the best) and a good Kenmore
dryer. It doesn’t bother me in the least that they’re a little
scuffed up and don’t match. They work great and that’s all
that really matters. May be getting a mower next. These are
things I’ll need if I’m able to figure a way to by our own place.
It’s going to be much harder since I’ve never fully recovered
employment wise from the “great recession”. However, where
there’s a will there’s a way and I intend to find it. I once
bought a fixer upper mobile home for $800 and a corner city
lot for $2,000. For a total of $2,800 and a little cleaning and
painting, I had a decent place to live. While I don’t expect to
do that now, I do think there are comparable deals if you
adjust for inflation. We’ll see how it goes.
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