UPDATES TO MY PORTFOLIO FOR JUNE

While reviewing my investments recently, I decided to make some changes in my investments. Legacy (LGCY) and EV Energy Partners (EVEP) showed some dissappointing earnings, so I decided to pull my money out of both stocks and reinvest the proceeds elsewhere. While I was way ahead on both, as far as capital gains, I wanted to take my initial investment cash out in case earnings continue to slide. Instead of selling all shares, I pulled out only my original investment in both partnerships and kept the remaining shares. I figure I'm playing with the house's money, so if they tank, I'll still be ahead on both by the amount of dividends I've drawn in the past year.

I also decided to sell CPL, the Brazilian utility company. I was up over 21% and while I think they're a great company, I'd rather invest the money with companies that pay quarterly, instead of yearly dividends. With the sale of these 3 stocks I ended up with quite a bit of cash. So I decided to reinvest the money in equal amounts in PM, General Mills (GIS), Windstream (WIN), Astrazeneca (AZN) and Centerpoint Energy (CNP). It's all part of my move toward more mainstream stock investments. General Mills is a new addition to my portfolio, with the rest I'll just be increasing my current investments. Overall I should improve stability while maintaining cash flow from dividends.

I'll still have money invested in ENP, LGCY, CLMT and EVEP, so I'm not writing off energy limited partnerships. I just wanted to reduce exposure to the sector, since they had become such a large part of my investment portfolio. Hopefully they will do better in the future and I can continue to draw dividends for years to come. We'll see how it goes.

LATE MARKET RALLY, JOBS REPORT

The rally in the market, late in the day, boosted the balances in my regular investment account and my IRA. I had returned to positive territory in my regular investment account about a month ago, recovering all I'd lost in the "great recession" and then some. My IRA account has always shown a positive return, although lately I'm only showing a 16% return overall (not counting dividends). Not a bad return on investment, but it had run as high as 24% late last year. Total returns were affected by new investments added at higher prices, since the market has recovered.

The jobs report comes out on Friday and I'm sure we'll see how that affects the market early next week. I'm slowing down on new investments in my regular portfolio until around June or July. I'll stick with reinvesting dividends in some of my core holdings and collecting the rest in cash paid to my money market account. I've noticed that the market tends to slump in the summer when people are busy with vacations and summertime activities. I plan to take advantage of any slowdown to add to some of my core investments, like Clorox and Campbell Soup, as well as buying additional shares in some of the energy limited partnerships I currently hold. My investments in the limited partnerships have done quite well price wise and pay fantastic tax advantaged dividends. Wish I'd bought more when the prices were lower.

MY TOP TEN HOLDINGS!

My Top 10 Holdings For 2010:

1. CPFL Energia SA-ADR (CPL)--Brazilian Utility Company

2. Legacy Reserves LP (LGCY)--Energy Limited Partnership

3. AT&T (T)--Telecom

4. Universal Insurance Holdings (UVE)--Insurance

5. Encore Energy Partners (ENP)--Energy Limited Partnership

6. Merck & Co. Inc (MRK)--Pharmaceutical

7. EV Energy Partners (EVEP)--Energy Limited Partnership

8. Philip Morris Intl. Inc. (PM)--Tobacco

9. Calumet Specialty Products (CLMT)--Limited Partnership

10. AstraZeneca CA PLC (AZN)--Pharmaceutical


This is a list of my top 10 investments for 2010. I'm not trying to endorse these particular investments, I only list them for informational purposes.

Recent Stock Trades

Decided to sell Copano Energy (CPNO) for a profit of 27%, with earnings down I am concerned about their ability to maintain their dividend payments. I will be reinvesting a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Copano in ConAgra Inc. (CAG). Their earnings per share of $2.15 per share is more than sufficient to maintain, and possibly increase, their dividend of 76 cents a share, which represents a 4% yield on the current price per share. While energy use may be declining in the current economy, people still have to eat, so upping my stake in ConAgra looks like the way to go.

For my IRA account, I'm adding more shares of AT&T (T). While their dividend payout of $1.64 represents 76% of earnings, I feel that their dividend is in little danger of being cut. AT&T is a long term holding in my personal portfolio as well.

My stake in Regency Energy Partners (RGNC) is doing well. It is up nearly 20% since my initial investment. Their dividend payout is around 62% of earnings, so I'll probably hang for the dividends unless the unless the price goes up over 20%. In that case, I would take the gain, since I initially bought the shares of the energy partnerships for short term gains. We'll see how that plays out.

Stocks May Go Lower Today

Stocks are predicted to go lower today ahead of the G8 summit. It's been a slow week for my portfolio. Bought shares in some limited partnerships at the beginning of the week and the balance of my portfolios hasn't moved much. Been doing a lot of research and checking out investment websites. Found a few new blogs about investing that seem well worth following. Also found a great article about dividend investing:

http://www.bestgrowthstock.com/blog/2009/06/11/time-to-dive-into-stock-dividends/


Dividends are a form of passive income from the stocks you hold in your portfolio. By purchasing stocks with a good track record of paying dividends, investors can generally guarantee decent returns. Shares in a company that pays consistent dividends can perform better than many other types of investments, including standard savings accounts and certificates of deposit. This is a very hands-off method of making money from stocks. Instead of constantly trading, you just buy the stock and collect the dividends.

Dividend stock investing can be a good long-term strategy, but it’s still important to remember that it is not without risk and to monitor how your stocks are doing. If dividends are cut or, worse yet, stopped all together, it may be time to consider a different investment.


On a more personal note, had a pretty good week for job searches. Did my first interview with the state and it went very well, should here from them in a couple of weeks. Also found out that Probation and Parole, the people I really want to work for, have 45 new job openings they will be hiring for soon. So I'm looking forward to hearing from them. I'm on the state register for several jobs, so sooner or later something should work out there.

Trading for Some Quick Cash

Today was a day for selling on Wall Street and I decided to join in on some of the profit taking. I put in orders to sell half my position in Univeral Insurance (UVE), I'm keeping the rest for the dividend payout. I also sold British Petroleum (BP) and Veolia Environmental (VE) for quick cash profits.

I will be investing most of the money from the above sales in 3 energy limited partnerships:


EV Energy Partners LP (EVEP) Recent Price $21.91, Dividend/Yield $3.01/13.70%

Encore Energy Partners LP (ENP) Recent Price $15.93, Dividend/Yield $2.00/12.80%

Regency Energy Partners LP (RGNC) Recent Price $13.05, Dividend/Yield $1.78/13.70%


All three have fantastic dividend payouts, so I could be holding them long-term, depending on whether the payouts hold up. They were also attractive in the sense that I believe there is room for quick short term growth in stock price. So it's possible I could be trading them off for quick profits, depending on how the price moves. Whatever I decide, I'll be sure and post the results as they happen.