ALTRIA GROUP "WORLD'S GREATEST INVESTMENT"

I know it hasn't been popular to invest in the tobacco industry for quite some time now, which might explain (in part at least) the mediocre/poor performance of Altria Group's (MO) stock price.  However, I recently read an article on the Motley Fool website which presented a good argument for Altria being possibly the "world's greatest investment."  They made some good points about how stocks with slow growth and high yields can make stellar gains through reinvested dividends over a period of time. 

I've owned shares of Altria for quite some time now and, after reading the article, have decided the best use of their dividends would be to reinvest and increase my stake in the company.  Some may think this an insane move with tobacco use on the decline in the U.S. for several years now, but I seriously doubt that the industry will fold anytime soon.  Basically what you have is a simple business model consistently churning out cash for shareholders.  As a smoker, I have no qualms about investing in the tobacco industry.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree.

Closed on my purchase of AGNC shares earlier in the week and collected some great dividends from Campbell's Soup, AT&T and Universal Insurance Group.  The month is off to a great start, hope to see it continue through the rest of 2010!

GOLDMAN SCANDAL CAUSES MARKET DROP

The big scandal at Goldman Sachs put investors on edge this week, causing a minor drop in share prices across the board. While scandal in corporate America is never a good thing, it's especially troublesome in such a fragile economic recovery. I'm sure there will be a great deal of investors running for cover, pulling their money out of the market in anticipation of a much more severe drop in the market. I for one intend to stay fully invested and plan to be ready to take advantage of any major drop in share prices to add more shares to my investment portfolio.

Got my first dividend from Campbell's Soup this past week, was pretty happy about that. I'm currently holding shares of CPB in both my regular investment account and my IRA. I think they're a great long term holding. Their current dividend yield is only 3.07%, however with their great franchise product line and ample earnings per share I hope to see some increases in dividends in the years to come.

I will also be collecting dividends this month from all of my investments in energy limited partnerships. I didn't realize when I made my initial investments that they all paid in the same month and on the same day. While I like to have payments spread out more evenly, I can see where having a big lump sum payout every quarter could come in handy at times. I plan to hold this money in cash in my money market account until I find another good dividend stock so I can put it to work. In the mean time, I'll draw interest on the cash.

Haven't made a lot of big moves in either of my investment accounts lately. I did end dividend re investments in AEA, the cash advance company. I wasn't especially happy with some of the things I read in their annual report, so I don't intend to invest any additional funds with them. However, I will continue to hold shares I currently own and draw the dividends in cash. Otherwise I haven't made a lot many adjustments to my investment plan for this year. Happy to report everything is moving along quite well and I'm on target for reaching or exceeding my goals for the year.

LATEST ADDITIONS TO MY PORTFOLIO

Yesterday I purchased shares in British Petroleum Trust (BPT) and Campbells Soup (CPB). I also added shares of Clorox (CLX). BPT I added for their great dividend payout and CPB and CLX for their long-term prospects. The way I look at it, they always tell you to invest in what you know and I know that even when I had very little money, I always bought Clorox products and Campbells Soup. I figure I'm far from being the only one. When you talk about franchise names, you can't find any better than those two.

The market was not too kind today. However, I was kind of hoping for prices to drop some, so I can take advantage of lower share prices and add more franchise names to my portfolio. You can never go wrong with quality stocks, especially when you're thinking long-term. Corporate America is operating in a very difficult environment right now and it doesn't look to get any better real soon, so I'm thinking high quality investments are the way to go. Won't be making too many speculative investments this year.