BOOSTED BOND AND STOCK FUND DIVIDENDS, NOW IT'S TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL STOCKS

The extra cash I put to work recently boosted shares held in bond and stock funds and dramatically increased monthly dividend income.  With that in place, I've decided to shift gears and concentrate on increasing stakes in individual stocks in both my IRA and taxable accounts.  I'm setting money aside each month to buy when opportunity presents itself, as in recent dips in the market.  I also decided to collect bond fund dividends in cash to help purchase additional shares of stocks.

While UVE has been my best performing stock (up 349% as of this writing) I don't intend to buy additional shares, although I'll continue to reinvest dividends.  I pulled all my original investment cash out of UVE as the share price skyrocketed and kept the remaining shares.  I kind of like the idea of just letting it ride, knowing that no matter where it ends up going from here, I'm playing with the house's money.  It is still my largest individual stock holding dollar wise.

The first three stocks I'd like to buy more shares of are my original 3 remaining stocks from my last portfolio.  After paying off medical bills from two stent surgeries, I had small stakes in GE, LLY and NYCB.  All three have performed well over the past 3 years and I don't see myself ever selling, unless of course they should discontinue their dividend.  I'll probably start with NYCB.  Not the greatest growth prospects of the three, not even a really great bank stock, but it's been steadily churning out dividends and I like the yield.  LLY is the most expensive and also the best performer of the three, but I'll probably buy that second and GE third.  All of these can be added to using my plan mentioned above, however, should I come in to some unexpected cash, like I did recently, I'd probably buy all three at once.  Hmmm, wonder what kind of Christmas bonus I'll get from my new job?