Saturday, November 28, 2015

PURCHASED SHARES OF CSX FOR IRA ACCOUNT

This past week I purchased shares or railroad CSX for my IRA account.  With it's history of increasing dividends and a price that seemed like a good buying point, I've added it as a core holding (long term) to my retirement account.  I also believe that railroads will benefit greatly from continued low energy prices.  Got in before the ex-dividend date, so I should see my first dividend from CSX in December.

Was shocked to see the drop in share price of UVE.  It appears to be mostly due to a report issued by some short sellers of UVE, putting the company in a bad light.  However, UVE has rebutted their claims, although the damage has been done as far as share price goes.  I think it's a bunch of hogwash myself.  As a long time investor in UVE, I've seen the company steadily grow their service area and increase income and I personally thought it was still a buy at over $30 per share.  As far as I'm concerned, it's a steal at just over $20 per share.  I'll continue to hold UVE and reinvest dividends to purchase additional shares.  It's kind of nice the share price is so low right before they pay out the special dividend in December.  I'll be able to buy more shares with my dividend payment at the lower price.  Eventually I'm sure the price rebound.  Even at the current price it's a great return on my original investment.

After reading the latest report from NCZ I switched from reinvesting monthly dividends to having them paid in cash.  While I expect bonds in general to perform poorly for the next few years, NCZ hasn't done well at all.  I don't plan on selling my shares, but I will take the monthly cash and put it to work elsewhere.

The month of November edged out July as the record month for dividend income, beating July by a little over 1%.  That's not much but I'll take it.  This record won't hold long since December is set to blow it out of the water!  It's looking to be a very Merry Christmas and a good start to a Happy New Year!




Thursday, November 26, 2015



Wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 23, 2015

NEW RECORD MONTH FOR DIVIDEND INCOME!

While I expected to set a new record for dividend income in December with it's total of 22 dividend payments, I was not expecting to beat July's record earnings in November.  However, after calculating remaining dividends due for this month, it looks like I'll have a new record, beating out July by a 1% increase.  One percent isn't much, but I'm happy with any increase in record earnings.  This month's record won't last long, as I still expect December's earnings to blow it out of the water.  

Not only will I receive an additional 8 dividend payments in the month of December, but payments will be higher and include two special dividends from UVE and MAIN.  It looks as though that trend will continue in 2016, with the biggest months being July and December.  March and June of 2016 also look to be very good months with high number of payments and a special dividend in June.  So I'm pretty excited about the upcoming year as far as monthly cash flow goes!

While the stock market being down of late certainly presents some good buying opportunities and a chance to increase overall yields, it is kind of depressing to see the overall value of portfolio holdings decrease.  Still, this is much easier to deal with when monthly income increases month after month.  So I'm not overly concerned.  

It seems very likely the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.  I think this will actually relieve some of the uncertainty in the markets and its' effects will be mostly inconsequential in the long run.  I'm not expecting to see any major increases in interest rates anytime soon.  This rate increase will have a negative impact on bond funds, utilities and REIT's but should benefit some of the other holdings in my portfolio, helping to offset the impact.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

UVE TO PAY SPECIAL DIVIDEND IN DECEMBER 2015!

Nov. 5, 2015 Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:UVE) announced that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of 27 cents per share on its common stock to be paid on December 10, 2015 to shareholders of record as of December 1, 2015, which includes the quarterly dividend of 12 cents per share and a special dividend of 15 cents per share.  This follows the strongest quarter ever in UVE's history.

The recent plunge in the U.S. stock market has seen UVE's share price plummet, however fundamentals remain intact and it continues to be one of my core holdings in both my IRA and my taxable investment accounts.  While this is not the first time UVE has paid a special dividend in December, it's great to see that they are continuing to do so.  HWBK is another of my stock holdings which usually pays a special dividend in July each year.  Theirs is in the form of stock, but I always look forward to the extra boost to my investments from the extra dividend.  Since special dividends are not included in stated dividend yields, it's like hidden income from the stocks that pay them.  So I'm always glad to see one of my holdings pay a special dividend.

As for the recent plunge in the stock market, I'm looking at it as a buying opportunity and a chance to boost overall yield in my portfolio.  As long as the market is down, re-invested dividends are buying more shares of current holdings at lower prices, reducing average cost per share and increasing yields.  So while I have less money on paper, monthly income is actually increasing at a faster pace.  I'll be looking to add additional cash investments as personal income allows.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

LOOKING FORWARD TO ANOTHER RECORD MONTH IN DECEMBER!

Collected my first dividend from MAIN today and the monthly dividend from ROYT!  While I'm always glad to see the dividends roll in each month, I especially look forward to milestone months, where the dividend income sets a new record high.  The month of December 2015 looks all set to be the next milestone month, with a whopping 22 dividends!  It should easily beat out the month of July as the biggest month for dividend income.  Looks like it's going to be a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

HIGH NET WORTH VERSUS HIGH MONTHLY CASH FLOW

You might think it's not one or the other, but it is possible to have a high net worth and a negative cash flow.  The ideal situation would be to have both.  However, if you're just starting out or rebuilding (as in my case) which should you concentrate on first?  I decided that it's more important to build cash flow and then concentrate on improving net worth.  The main reason being that you can own a lot and have a high net worth but it may not be generating any income.  Take for example someone who owns gold bars or gold coins.  If they have enough of them, they might be quite valuable.  However, unless they sell the gold, it's not really putting money in their pockets.  It may go up in price which would increase net worth, but the only way to unlock net worth is to sell something or to borrow against it.

If, instead of a high net worth, you have steadily growing cash flow and use the cash flow to pay off debt or increase your holdings, then you will build net worth.  That was the idea I had when starting to rebuild my investment portfolio after losing most of it to pay off medical bills.  So far it's working out quite well.  While my net worth is nowhere near what it used to be, monthly cash flow is increasing rapidly and I expect to see a turnaround in the next few years.  As cash flow increases, my net worth improves along with it.  But I still concentrate all my efforts on improving monthly passive income.  In my case the passive income is from dividend stocks, but it would be the same principle with real estate or a business.  Build cash flow every month and you've set yourself up for success.

Monday, November 9, 2015

INVESTING IN ISRAEL

Recently I posted about interest in investing in Israel, specifically the possible new found oil field.  However, upon closer examination of current stock holdings I've discovered that I already have a significant amount of money invested in technology and pharmaceutical companies in Israel.  This does not mean that I would no longer be interested in investing in Israeli oil, but I'm happy to know that I'm supporting my people by supporting Jewish owned and operated companies.

I am painfully aware of all the unrest in the middle east and the hostility and danger faced by Jewish people of Israel on a daily basis.  At this time, the best that I can do to show my support is to invest in the nation of Israel and help support their economy.  While I'm not a practicing Jew (I consider myself Christian), I am descended from a German Jewish family and I do support the nation of Israel and have great respect for the Jewish people.

MARKET DOWN OVER FEAR OF FED RATE HIKE

The stock market is down due to concern over a Federal Reserve hike in interest rates.  While I like to see my stocks go up in price as much as the next guy, this is not an entirely bad thing.  Lower stock prices create more buying opportunities with higher yields for the dividend investor.  For example, NYCB's price has dropped significantly since their last dividend payment.  So the money I re-invest from this month's dividend will buy more shares at the lower price than if the price had remained high.  The more shares I own, the more the next dividend payment will be.  But wait, it's gets even better than that, because the lower price without a reduction in the dividend means I'll be getting an even higher yield on the newly purchased shares.  It also raises the average dividend yield for all of the NYCB shares owned.  As long as the market stays down, this trend will continue for all re-invested dividends.  So the real opportunity is boosting monthly cash flow and accelerating stock purchases through re-invested dividends.  It's kind of exciting to think about.  I wouldn't mind the market staying down for a while, although I'm hoping we'll avoid a major recession.

The political scene in the U.S. looks to be favoring Republicans in upcoming elections, which could be good for the stock market.  But it's a little too soon to count the Democrats out.  One things for sure, whoever ends up in control of the country, they're really going to have to do some serious reigning in of spending.  

Sunday, November 1, 2015

MONTHLY CASH FLOW FROM STOCKS

As a dividend investor, I invest for monthly cash flow as opposed to traders who attempt to buy low and sell high.  As long as my monthly cash flow is increasing, I'm pretty happy.  This is a very simple way to invest and make money every month from stocks.  However, I just read an article on the Rich Dad Blog, by best selling author Robert Kyosaki, concerning cash flow investing from selling covered call options.  It's a great post and certainly worth your time to check it out.  I intend to give it a try as soon as I learn more about options.

The post is titled: Yes You Can Cash Flow With Stocks  and you can find it by clicking the link below.

Rich Dad blog post