Friday, October 27, 2017

OCTOBER 2017 HAS NOT BEEN KIND TO MY FINANCES

The total value of my investment portfolio is down and a series of necessary auto repairs and maintenance have left me anxious to see the end of October 2017.  While I'm not at all in a panic, I will have to be very careful with my finances going in to November.  Got to get back on track, build up my reserves and add to my investments.

O.K., enough of the negativity.  One thing I am excited about, the recent drop in prices has my reinvested dividends purchasing more shares!  If the market languishes, I should see my average price paid per share decline significantly.  Setting the stage for even better returns once the market takes off again.  It also makes my cash purchases go a lot further.  So a down market is not all bad news.  It's actually good news to me, since I'm still in the purchasing phase.  As long as the companies and funds I'm invested in don't start cutting dividends, it could turn out to be a great thing.

I've figured out how to double my monthly income from Swagbucks and am looking forward to putting that money to work with the purchase of NLY.  This will give me 475 dividend payments per year in total, with 28 of those dividend payments coming from money earned through Swagbucks.  I'd like to buy one more monthly dividend stock with Swagbucks cash and use any money earned afterwards to build my stakes in those four stocks.  A few years from now, this should turn into a nice tidy monthly income.

I have long lamented being single and not being a 2 income household.  However, it occurred to me recently that I'm actually a 45 income family.  That is, I actually have 45 sources of income including stocks, funds, my job, interest bearing accounts and cash back accounts.  While my job is still my largest single source of income, the income I receive from outside my job is growing rapidly.  So I just need to stick to the plan and keep doing what I've been doing, because I'm obviously headed in the right direction.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

OCTOBER UPDATE

It's been a busy month so far and I'm afraid I've been a bit lax in posting.  Have already collected a lot of dividend payments for the month, with several more to go.  Little too early to tell if October will set any records, but should still have a good showing non the less.

Had to get some repairs done on my car, so it's taken up a lot of cash I'd otherwise have invested.  Still gained some ground through 401k contributions and reinvested dividends.  Even when I have no additional cash to invest, it's comforting to know that my investments continue to grow automatically.

Just read an interesting article about the CFO of PSEC making a huge investment in his company's shares.  It's that kind of inside trading that makes me think I'm on the right track by purchasing shares.  Whatever happens price wise, I'll collect a nice tidy dividend every month.  

Looks like my Swagbucks income will double this month and should be even better next month.  The more I learn about ways to earn on their site, the easier it becomes to make more money in less time.  Of course I'll be investing this cash in dividend stocks to keep the money growing.  It's turning out to be a great way to build up my portfolio without having to have a second job.  

My biggest revelation this month was when I realized I'm already living off what I expect to earn each month in retirement.  Meaning, if you subtract debt payments which will be paid off by the time I retire, what I have left each month now is about the same or a little less than I collect each month when I retire.  Given that I have 5 years to build up my portfolio, thus increasing income in retirement, I may end up better off than I am now.  So that takes a lot of the worry out of retirement.