Saturday, June 28, 2014

DEALING WITH MINOR SETBACK TO MY INVESTMENT PLAN

I had some unexpected expenses this month and needed some work done on my car, so I had a minor setback in my investment plan.  I was forced to sell a few shares of stock to meet all my financial obligations for the month.  Something I do not like to do.  However, I was able to meet all my expenses and rearrange some of my finances to make things better going forward, so things are looking up.

One of the changes I made was to switch from AT&T to Virgin Mobile for my phone service.  With Virgin Mobile I get unlimited texting and anytime talk for half of what I was paying for 450 anytime minutes with AT&T.  While I'll continue to hold my AT&T stock, I'm glad to get a better deal on my phone service.  Perhaps I can use some of the money I save to purchase more shares in AT&T or even Virgin Mobile.  

Otherwise things are moving right along.  It was the biggest month of the year for dividend income.  Even though I sold some shares, I minimized the effect it would have on dividend income so I shouldn't see too much of a reduction in monthly cash flow.  I plan to replace the money by purchasing new shares as rapidly as possible.  But to avoid another situation like I found myself in this month, I'm going to put aside more cash.  So I may not be buying much stock for the next couple of months.  Of course reinvested dividends will continue to increase my stock holdings every month. 

Haven't seen the crash in the market yet, but I don't think we're out of the woods.  Seems a lot of people are expecting bad things to come of Obama's new legislation which kicks in in July.  We'll just have to wait and see.  Since the market has been on a tear lately, I'm looking at any drop as a buying opportunity.  

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

DIVIDENDS FROM CNP AND LLY

Collected dividends from CNP and LLY this week which were automatically reinvested, increasing my stake in both stocks.  I have a lot of confidence in both companies and consider them part of my core portfolio.  With a good investment, even a small stake can grow into a large amount over a period of time.  So I'm in it for the long haul on most of my individual stock holdings.

Nothing brought this home more than the recent annual report from one of my bank stocks.  Now you don't usually think of bank stocks as being tremendous growth companies, although they do provide growth.  However, in this case the stock had created a total return of over 4,000% over the past 21 years.  The company went public back in November of 1993, the same year I started investing.  If I'd come across the stock then and purchased just $500 worth of shares and held the stock reinvesting dividends, I'd be retired now.  It was a real eye opener for me.  Of course I've held the stock for several years now and have been quite pleased with my return, so I have no regrets about the missed opportunity.  While I missed that opportunity, I think I might be in on a great opportunity with Hawthorne Bank.  They're a growing company and have really been ramping up efforts to boost business and upgrade their image.  I like the way things are going with Hawthorne and I'll be a shareholder for several years to come, so it's possible I could see the same type of growth I missed out on from the other bank.

It just goes to show, it doesn't have to be the next big tech company or the next Walmart, tremendous profits can come from well run companies in less exciting areas of the market. 

Sunday, June 8, 2014

JUNE OFF TO A GREAT START!

My portfolio closed out the first full week of June on the up side.  However, I'm more excited about the first 7 out of 20 dividend payments I'll receive for the month.  Monthly cash flow from dividends continues to increase month after month and June will definitely be the best month of the year so far.

That being said, I'm not resting on my laurels.  I've put in an order to purchase more shares of PHK, which will boost dividend income another 2.5% per month.  Not a big increase admittedly but this is on top of the 8% from the purchase of shares of AOD, which means I'm already over halfway towards boosting monthly income by 20% or more for the third quarter.  My goal this year has been to boost income by 20% each quarter and so far I've met or exceeded that goal.  It's pretty exciting to watch the dividends grow every month.  Reinvested dividends alone increase monthly cash flow by 1%.  So for this quarter I'm really looking at an increase of 13.5% so far.  I don't usually count this as part of my 20% increase because not counting it means I'm really increasing income 23% or more each quarter, which is in line with my goal of doubling dividend income each year.

Personal cash flow has been a problem for the first of the month, but I've managed to pay all the bills and reduce debt, so I'm not overly concerned.  I'm making a concentrated effort for the remainder of the year to pay off my remaining debt so I can divert that money toward building my investments.