Tuesday, June 30, 2015

THIS IS WHAT'S GREAT ABOUT DIVIDEND INVESTING

Just collected 6 dividend payments on the last day of June.  While I was pleased to see the increase in dividends from last month, what makes me even more excited is that tomorrow, on July 1st, I'll have a repeat of today with all of the first of the month dividends rolling in.  This is the greatest part of dividend investing.  The market is down, yet the money keeps pouring in.  Not only am I collecting more each month, as reinvested dividends increase monthly cash flows, but I'm also seeing my total stock holdings increase with every payment.  While your portfolio is small, the increases seem slow, but as your holdings increase, the money rolls in in ever increasing quantities.

I'm at the point now where I'm in the maintenance mode.  I don't expect to add any new stocks anytime soon, but I'm working on building positions in current holdings.  The only thing that would trigger a trade would be a dividend cut, then it's time to sell.  Otherwise it's just a matter of monitoring my investments.  I do plan to increase my portfolio to a total of 30 holdings after doing more research in dividend investing.  According to my research, a portfolio of 30 investments stands a greater chance of positive returns with less volatility than a smaller portfolio.  I don't feel particularly rushed to buy stakes in an additional 10 stocks.  I think at this point I should be very selective and search out quality stocks at good prices to add to my holdings.  I'll be looking for the best deals with the most profit potential.  When I do decide to buy new stocks, they will most likely all be from the list of Dividend Aristocrats.

Monday, June 29, 2015

MARKET TUMBLE OVER GREECE DEBT NOT ALL BAD NEWS

Today's drop in the stock market is actually not all bad news.  At least not for me, or people like me, who re-invest dividends.  I have several stocks that pay at the end of the month and on the first of the month.  With dividends being re-invested and prices being down, I'll get more bang for my buck.  Lower priced shares also mean rising dividend yields, as long as dividends aren't cut.  Don't really see that happening anytime soon.

I am a bit concerned about the rumors of the IMF adding China's yuan to the international basket of reference currencies.  If other countries begin to sell off U.S. dollars in exchange for the Chinese yuan, it could create havoc in the U.S. economy and the stock markets.  Although, I'm not convinced that it would be the end of the world scenario that some are predicting right now.  If it all goes down, it could lead to a massive transfer of wealth, which means that there will be opportunities to make money as well as the potential of losing money.  

Thursday, June 25, 2015

SHORT SUCCESS STORY FROM A DIVIDEND INVESTOR

An active comment writer on Seeking Alpha shared their brief story of success investing in companies with growing dividends.

Actually, having owned CL since 1991, the facts are:
Purchased 200 shares at $69.75
Original cost: $13,950.00
Stock split 2-1 in 1991, 2-1 in 1997, and 2-1 in 1999.
The 200 shares grew to 1600 shares.
Dividends reinvested added an additional 527 shares
Currently holding 2172 shares.
Current price $82.41
Current value $178994.52
Change in value: $165044.54
Cost Basis Per Share: $6.42
Current Dividend: .58 per share per quarter or $2.32 annually
Income from Cl holdings: $5039.04 annually or $419.92 per month.
Peace of Mind: Priceless
Just Sayin
This reminds me of the kind of success the early buyers of Walmart have had – without even counting reinvested dividends, an original investment in 1970 of 100 shares has grown to over 200,000 today, with an income of $292,000.

YOUR FUTURE STARTS NOW!

Below is an excerpt from my initial blog post dated October 27, 2007, I thought it was worth re-posting:

At this point, I don't have much doubt that I will reach my goals, but telling the story as I go is very appealing to me and I hope will be of interest to others who might want to follow along. I most certainly welcome advice from others along the way and hope that my example might inspire people who, like myself, may not see any way out of the wage slave racket of going to work day after day and spending all their hard earned cash to pay bills and just get by. Opportunities and money abound in this country, that's why so many people want to come here. Sometimes when you're so close to something every day, you don't really notice it. I've finally realized it was time to open my eyes and my mind to all the possibilities and to take action to get from where I am to where I want to be. The future starts NOW!

PLUG THE LEAKS IN YOUR FINANCES!

Got a call from one of my banks about my statement being returned, turns out they'd sent it to my old address.  This was from an account I opened when I worked in Columbia, MO and I hadn't used it in a while.  Decided I'd better update my checking and savings, so I went to their website and signed in.  I was shocked at what I found.  They'd been charging me an inactivity fee on my "free" checking and had used up all the money, then closed the account.  My savings was below the minimum amount and I knew they were charging me a fee for that, but I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd checked it and was shocked to see the balance was below $10.

I had to go by this bank on my way to work today, so I stopped in and closed the savings account.  While there was only a small amount left, I figure there was no good reason for me to let the bank have it.  Not to mention they'd already taken enough of my money.  This got me to thinking about all the other small fees I've been paying.  While I'm pretty good about checking for automatic charges to my credit cards and cancelling the ones I don't use anymore, I've been lax about my bank accounts.  Decided it was a good time to close out all the accounts that charge fees and go with the banks that pay me instead.  Sorry to say my main bank for the past 22 years didn't make the cut.  Their interest rate on savings is one of the lowest in the nation and they still charge me a $4.00 monthly fee on checking.  So they're out.  I'm going with Discover checking (free checks, no monthly fees, free debit card, cash back on checks, electronic payments and debit card swipes).  For savings I'm going to stick with Capital One (competitive interest rate, monthly compounding).

It's always good to take a look at your day to day finances periodically to look for leaks.  When you have small amounts of cash taken away for non-essentials or for goods or services you no longer use, cut them off, plug up the leaks!  It will make for a lot smoother sailing financially.

ROYT BOOSTS DIVIDEND PAYMENT FOR JULY 2015!

Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE:ROYT) announced a July cash distribution to unit holders in the amount of $0.04289 per unit.  This represents an increase of over 50% compared to the June distribution!  The trust's distribution relates to net profits and overriding royalties generated in May of 2015.  While ROYT was a speculative investment on my part, I'm happy to see the dividends rolling in!

This may be a good investment for to use my "free stock" strategy.  By "free stock" I mean, when the price per share increases to double what I paid, I sell half of the shares and take out my initial cash and keep the remaining shares.  Thus making it "free" in the sense that no out of pocket money is invested.  So whatever it makes from then on is just icing on the cake.  I'll have to keep a close eye on it.  The share price has been moving higher along with gas prices, so it could potentially double in a relatively short time.  Just have to see how it goes.

Friday, June 12, 2015

ROYT DIVIDEND UP OVER 300% FROM LAST MONTH!

Collected monthly dividend from ROYT today and the payout was up over 300% compared to last month's payout!  Not sure why the increase, unless the profits for the trust were up, but whatever the case may be, I'm pretty happy about it.  I bought in to ROYT for possible capital gains profits, since I believed the price had been driven down way more than it should have.  However, it's great to collect the dividends every month while I wait to see if the price goes back up.

Also collected dividends from 3 quarterly payers this week.  LLY, CNP and PDLI.  Lilly and Centerpoint Energy are two of my core holdings, PDLI is more of a speculative ploy, but I'm expecting to hold on to my shares in the bio-pharma company for quite some time.  

Needed to upgrade to a newer computer and I finally found a deal this past week.  Got a new Toshiba Satellite, by searching under "laptop deals" on Amazon, for $179 and also got a great deal on Kenneth Cole Reaction leather laptop case, bringing my total to a little over $200.  Since my old Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista is still in great working order, I figure I can resell it for $80 to $100 and recoup a good deal of the money I spent on the Windows 8 laptop.  Took only a couple of hours for me to figure out the differences between Vista and Windows 8, I'm liking the newer version pretty well.  By buying now, I also got to reserve a free upgrade to Windows 10 due in July of this year!  Just goes to show, if you have a little patience, you can get what you want or need for a great deal less than if you just run right out and buy. 

Sunday, June 7, 2015

KICKED OFF THE MONTH OF JUNE WITH 5 DIVIDEND PAYMENTS!

The month of June started off on a positive note with 5 dividend payments on the first of the month!  While not unexpected, it's still nice to see the money keep rolling in month after month.  It's also nice to see the payments increasing every month!  Been looking at ways to come up with extra cash to boost current positions and increase the dividends even more, but I'm still thinking the market will go in to a slump mid year and I'd rather invest at the lower prices.

This week kind of gave me a case of whiplash.  One day my portfolio was up, the next day it was down and Friday it was all over the place.  But that's when you just have to remember that, as a dividend investor, it's not so much about the current price as it is the current cash flow from investments.  Price is a big consideration when you buy in or sell, but when you're holding for the cash flow from dividends it's not as big a deal.  That being said, it's still nice to see the value of your holdings going up instead of down.  

The new job I started in March is going great!  Still not making the kind of salary I'd like, but there is a lot to be said about job satisfaction.  I haven't had a single bad day at work since I started and I've had a lot of great days.  It's such a nice change to do something you like and actually be appreciated for it.  Getting out of the bad work environment I'd been in for the past 6 years was one of the best things I've done in a long time.  It's changed my entire perspective on life overall.  Much easier to look on the bright side of things when you're not faced with a constant barrage of negativity from co-workers.

Since the positive job change is working out so well, I've set my sights on moving to a better neighborhood.  I figure a change of location on the home front will keep the good energy flowing.  So I've been looking for a new place to live.  Wish me luck!