COUPONS, COUPONS, COUPONS!!!

Attention Couponers:

Sunday August 28, 2011;  There will be 3 coupon inserts in the Sunday paper.  One Proctor & Gamble, one Red Plum and one Smart Source.  Don't miss out on the chance to stock up on some great coupons!  A lot of my coupons expire August 31st, so it will be great to pick up new ones for more great deals on shopping.  This week I'm taking advantage of the buy 10 get $5 off and buy one steak get one free deals at my local Gerbes store.

MARK CUBAN VIDEO ON WSJ.COM

I enjoyed the "Big Interview" video with Mark Cuban on WSJ.com (click on title for link).  Especially liked what he had to say about diversification in today's stock market.  His comments about the best place for the average American to put their cash to work really hit home with me.  Especially the part about paying off credit card debt and stocking up on non-perishables for the home.  You're putting the money to good use by reducing high interest debt and protecting future purchasing power by stocking up for the home and avoiding future inflation.  Smart moves with much more potential for getting the most from your money in today's economy.

BUYING ON THE DOWNSIDE

We had a tumultuous week with the stock market to say the least.  However, I was able to take advantage of the lower stock prices to add to my positions in Clorox, EVEP, LGCY and SGU.  These are all long term holdings in my taxable portfolio.  I also managed to get things moving with work so I'll be able to take advantage of the generous 401k plan there.  They offer a dollar for dollar match up to 5% of my salary.  While I've always looked at my current job as a place to ride out the economic downturn, meaning I hope not to be there much longer, I figure I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to build on my investments while I'm there.  I can always do a rollover on the 401k when I leave.

I doubt we've seen the last of volatility in the market, so I'll be looking to add more to my current investments in the coming weeks and months.  As long as the market is down I'm looking at it as a sale on future dividend income.  So I'll be buying as much as I can afford.  Let's face it, volatile or not, with interest rates in the toilet for the foreseeable future, the stock market is still one of the best games going.

THE MARKET PLUNGES OVER 600 POINTS, OPPORTUNITY IS KNOCKING!

The market plunged over 600 points on the first day of trading after the S & P announced its' downgrade of U.S. debt from AAA to AA+.  While many are fleeing the market for the supposed "safety" of gold and bonds, I'm looking at things from a different perspective.  The U.S. stock market is having one hell of a sale!  Stocks which were valued at much higher prices just last week are down several dollars per share.  So I'm thinking it's time to pull out the stops and go all in.

I'm not recommended this for everyone else, it's what I personally have decided to do in response to the latest market reversal.  It worked out well for me in 2008 and 2009 and I'm looking to repeat the process.  So I've once again set all stocks in my investment portfolio to reinvest dividends, which I'll continue to do until we see some recovery in the market.  Right now I'm hoping that will be way down the road.  The longer I have to pour money in at the lower prices, the better it will be when the market recovers. 

In the mean time, I'll be satisfied knowing that I'm adding to my dividend portfolio at greatly reduced prices.  I'll also be boosting regular monthly investments to both portfolios for the foreseeable future. 

KRAFT SPLIT--GOOD OR BAD?

Kraft has announced plans to split in to two separate companies, spinning the second company off to shareholders by the end of 2012.  One will be a global snack business and the other a North American grocery business.  The grocery business, with revenues around $16 billion a year, would include its' U.S. beverages, cheese and convenience meals with brands like Maxwell House coffee and Jello.  The snacks company would include their high growth European and developing markets units along with their North American snacks and confectionery business, with annual revenues around $32 billion.  It would include brands such as Oreo cookies and Cadbury.

Krafts two largest investors, Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) and Nelson Peltz are both fine with the split.  Peltz pointed out that it was in the "best interest of shareholders" to separate the high growth snack business from the meat and cheese business.  Allowing investors to take advantage of both companies.  My only real concern is how debt will be divided between the two companies.  We'll just have to wait and see how that goes.  Otherwise, I'm thinking it's a good thing for shareholders.  I'll be adding to my position in Kraft (KFT:NYSE)  in the months before the split.

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Well here it is, August 2nd, central Missouri continues to suffocate under sweltering heat, I'll sure be glad when the heat wave is over.  The heat in Washington saw some relief with the deal to raise the debt ceiling, although I wouldn't say it was a victory for either side or for the U.S. economy for that matter.  Be that at is may, most seasoned investors know that adverse market reactions to bad economic news make for great times to pick up bargains on good stocks.  So I'll be concentrating on adding to some of my positions while prices are down and looking for bargains on new additions to my portfolio.  I think I made a good decision to sell some stock last month and pay off high interest debt.  Not only did I free up cash flow, but I got out of the stocks before further declines and put the money to good use.

Collected some great dividend payments at the end of July and the first part of August, so I'm pretty happy about that.  My investment company added an FDIC insured account for parking cash as an option to their traditional money market account.  With the interest on the FDIC account being .5% compared to .01% for the money market account, I've moved my cash to the insured account to pick up some additional interest. 

While the stock market is not doing so well, I've been racking up bargains right and left with couponing.  Picked up $97 worth of merchandise at Walgreens Sunday for just $24 and saved another 67% on my weekly grocery shopping at Gerbes.  The only problem I'm having is finding anything I actually need.  I've built up such a stockpile of groceries, household and personal care items that my shopping lists are getting smaller and smaller.  The good thing about that is I'm able to wait for the very best deals.  Which means that my average savings are going up with each trip to the store.  When I started couponing, I was averaging a 20-25% savings each trip.  Now I routinely save 50-75% on my purchases, allowing me to keep more of my hard earned money. 

MORE ADVENTURES IN COUPONING! SMALLER STORES VERSUS BIG BOX RETAILERS

Have had a busy couple of weeks.  We've been short handed at work, so I've been picking up extra hours there.  Also sold off a few shares of non performing stocks and put the money to better use paying off some high interest debt.  I'm on schedule to have all my debt paid off by the end of next year, at the latest.  So I'm pretty happy about that.  As it is my free cash flow has increased dramatically from the debt payoffs. 

I've also been busy with my couponing.  In the 2 1/2 months I've been matching coupons with store sales I've managed to build a sizable stockpile of household and personal care products.  I now have enough surplus to help supply 3 additional households.  It really feels good to be able to assist others, something I could not afford much of before using coupons.

On my most recent trips to the grocery store I saved 40 and 42% off my grocery bill.  On my latest Sunday shopping trip to Walgreens I was able to purchase $115 worth of merchandise for $49 with the use manufacturers coupons.  Where shopping used to be a chore for me, I find now that I'm excited to go to the store.  Can't wait to see what kind of deals I'll find next!

One thing that has really surprised me is that I'm doing a lot less shopping at the big box retailers.  I always assumed they had the lowest prices overall.  While this is true of some of the items they carry, I've found that I'm getting much better deals at the grocery stores and Walgreens than I was getting by shopping Kmart, Walmart or Target.  I'm sure it depends on what you buy most, but in my case, I'm doing less and less shopping at the big discount stores and more of my shopping at the smaller establishments.  In my area, the customer service at the smaller stores blows the big boys out of the water.  I'm not sure why this is, but I find my shopping trips much more enjoyable in the smaller stores.