DISMAL STOCK PRICE PERFORMANCE, BUT CASH BALANCES GROWING NICELY

The last few weeks haven't been good to stock prices, but it only serves to bolster my decision to convert dividend payments to cash for the time being.  Yes, I want to buy shares at lower prices but how much lower are prices going to go?  At this point, I have no idea, so I'm collecting cash and taking a wait and see approach.  If this sounds crazy to most dividend investors, I would point out my last post which referenced all the cash Warren Buffet has built up with Berkshire Hathaway this year.  There's a reason Buffet has accumulated so much wealth, he's very smart at buying stocks at the right price.  So if I'm accumulating cash waiting for better prices at the same time as Warren Buffet, I figure I'm in very good company.

Going forward, it looks as though I'll have enough cash from earned income to buy stakes in AGD and SPLV before the end of this year.  So I'll be able to boost dividend income for the last two months of 2016 and it will add another 24 dividend payments towards my goal of 365 per year.  Buying the stocks before the first of the year will also have a significant impact on total dividend income for 2017 and bring me much closer to my goal of doubling income for the fourth year in a row.  I've done the math and it is doable, but we'll just have to wait and see how things go.  Regardless of who wins the presidential election or how well the stock market performs in 2017, I still expect to continue growing dividend income as well as accumulating bigger cash balances in my investment accounts.  So far, the balance of my 401k account is minimal compared to my other accounts, but I expect that to change by the end of 2017.  It may eventually become my largest account, but whatever it ends up being, it will add to passive income during retirement.