COUPONS HELPING ME RETIRE EARLY

Thanks to coupons I'm beginning to see the possibility of early retirement once again.  A few years back, when I lost my job to the economic downturn and had to take a much lower paying job, things didn't look too good for an early retirement.  Then, after suffering a couple of heart attacks last year and being faced with ongoing expenses for medical care, I had pretty much given up hope of retiring even a few years early.  Now I'm beginning to think I might get out of the rat race earlier than I expected, thanks in part, to using coupons. 


I've only been maximizing coupon use since June of this year, but in that same time period I've been able to triple my monthly savings and investment amount.  While my income from my job has actually declined with less hours, I've seen a dramatic increase in earnings from SendEarnings.com due to increased use of printed coupons.  They pay 10 cents for every printed coupon redeemed, which may not sound like much, but when you're using a lot of coupons, it really starts to add up. 

My taxable stock portfolio produces 8 dividend payouts per month, 2 of which I'm currently reinvesting for growth and the remainder I'm having paid in to an FDIC savings account which pays interest.  My taxable account is set up for automatic investments each month to increase my stock holdings.  Both of my retirement accounts are also set for automatic investments.  So by the time I actually retire I can expect to draw at least 8 payouts per month, while continuing to reinvest dividends in at least to stock positions each month for increased dividend income. 

With the money I'm saving by couponing, I'm also paying off the remainder of my old debts and will be debt free much sooner than I expected.  As soon as that happens, I'll be able to triple my monthly investment contributions once again which should lead to a much earlier retirement than I had hoped for. 

TWEEKING MY TAXABLE PORTFOLIO

I've been concentrating a lot lately on my tax deferred retirement accounts and decided it was high time I took a close look at my investment plan for my taxable portfolio.  I spent a few hours this afternoon reviewing my holdings and decided to purchase shares in 3 utility companies to round out my account.  I put in an order to buy shares of DUK, AEP and EXC.  All three stocks have dividend yields close to or above 5% which will add nicely to my cash flow.  I've set my account to reinvest dividends automatically in 2 different stocks per month and pay the remaining 6 dividends to my cash account.  In this way I'll be building a nice cash reserve in an FDIC insured, interest paying account and will be increasing my stock holdings at the same time. 

For a while I had been reinvesting all dividends, however, since I've signed up for the savings plan at work and I'm still investing in my own IRA account, with the new plan for my taxable account I'll have tripled my savings contributions per month.  I think that's probably enough.  The great thing about my current investment plan is that it's all automated.  Everything is set so I have to do nothing but sit back and watch the dividends roll in!  Of course I'll still be actively managing my accounts, making sure that my investment choices are still right for my goals, but otherwise there is very little for me to do.  That's the way it should be, something simple that allows you to sleep at night. 

ATTENTION WASHINGTON, MY SUGGESTION FOR CREATING JOBS

From an earlier post in May when I wrote about QE2:

''Since the total cost of QE2 came to $6 billion, that works out to $850,000 per job created. I figure I could retire quite comfortably on about a third of that amount. So if the government had simply offered early retirement to people like myself, they could have easily freed up 2,100,000 jobs. Now if you had 2,100,000 job openings and 2,100,000 new retirees with adequately funded retirements, not only would you create additional jobs to support the needs of the retirees, but income tax revenues would have increased since retirees would still be paying income taxes, and the government would have recouped the money spent on early retirements in the form of income taxes. Given the fact that new hires are usually hired on at a lower pay scale than seasoned employees, it would have had the added effect of keeping inflation in check by lowering payrolls and reducing overall costs for businesses. Private corporations and state governments do this all the time, offering early retirement as a way to reduce payroll costs. Why not apply the same method on a national level if you're going to spend the money anyway? Something our political leaders may need to look into.''




Corporations and state governments do early retirement buyouts, why not the Federal Government?  In the case above, instead of creating just a few hundred thousand jobs, for the same tax dollars they could free up a couple of million jobs and create additional jobs to meet the needs of an additional 2 million retirees.  Granted, they're not talking about spending an additional $6 Billion, but the principle is the same. 

EIGHT DAYS IN TO SEPTEMBER, MORE OF THE SAME

I suppose the big news this week is the President's jobs program, or as Shakespeare might call it, "Much ado about nothing."  Another $3 billion of taxpayers money down the drain.  The last "stimulus" program didn't stimulate much as far as I can see. 

Anyway, the market is much the same as last week, up and down, but mostly going nowhere fast.  I expect to see more of the same, which is good news for me since I'm in the buying mode.  Not so good for those who bought in at loftier prices. 

Got some great deals with coupons this week!  Took advantage of Schnuck's 10 for $10 sale, matched up coupons on some needed items and walked out with a 70% savings on my total grocery bill.  I expect to do as well or better at Walgreens this coming Sunday.  Already making my shopping lists and matching up coupons with their ad.  I created a simple spreadsheet with Microsoft Works to keep track of my coupon savings starting the first of this month.  Just curious to see how much I'm actually getting with coupons.  I'll post the results at the end of each month. 

SEPTEMBER OFF TO A MEDIOCRE START

We gained some and lost some in the market for the last few days of August and the first few days of September.  My accounts ended pretty much flat for the week.  I did collect some decent dividends from AEA, AFLAC, Intel and ConAgra, so it wasn't exactly an unprofitable week.  Still in the buying mode.  Reinvested my dividend payments in additional shares of current holdings.  I really don't see any sustainable rallies in the market until after October.  I think we'll just be seeing more of the same minor ups and downs.  Don't really think there will be a double dip recession, although I do think it will take quite a bit longer for the economy to recover.  Which, as far as I'm concerned, spells prolonged buying opportunities. 

I've decided to invest my extra check this month from SendEarnings in my cash accounts.  I'm working toward building additional cash reserves along with beefing up my stock holdings.  I should receive my first statement from my savings plan at work by the end of September.  It will be great having an additional investment account, especially one with 100% matching contributions.  I've already decided any new raises will go toward increasing contributions to the plan.  With the company match and tax deferral it's the best opportunity available to me at this time.

I've been offered a new job with better pay and reduced hours (something I want), but it involves working at the county jail.  So I'm going to have to think that one over.  It's a new jail and they're working through setting up their operating system, think I'll wait and see how things go before I make a final decision.  I'd be working for a private contractor, so it wouldn't be in my best interests to take the job and have them lose their contract leaving me unemployed.  Think I'll wait until they've at least finished construction.

THEY MIGHT NOT MAKE MONEY BUT YOU STILL MIGHT HAVE TO PAY TAXES

Just finished reading a new prospectus from one of my former holdings, which only convinced me that I was right to get rid of my shares.  Prospectuses can be a slow read to say the least, but this one really took the cake.  It involved the same list of investment risks as other prospectuses normally contain, but was written in such a way as to imply the company has never really made any money,  they don't really try very hard to make shareholders any money, but you still may have to pay taxes on distributions as if you had made money.  Granted, paying taxes on some fund distributions even though you've actually suffered a loss, is not unheard of.  However, the blatant way in which these guys came right out and said they weren't really trying to make shareholders any money and were still going to charge a management fee, is either the height of honesty or audacity, I'm not sure which.  Glad it's no longer part of my investment portfolio. 

OFF TO A GOOD START

Well the week is off to a good start with the stock market closing slightly higher.  I suspect the higher close is mostly attributable to less than expected damage from hurricane Irene over the weekend.  Given that, and remarks from Bernanke on Friday of last week, I still wouldn't hold out much optimism for any major upward moves anytime soon.  Right now I'm sticking with the buy low strategy, adding to positions in some of my best holdings while the price is down.  If I'm right, it could be a big payoff somewhere down the road and in the mean time I'll collect more in dividends with the increase in number of shares in my portfolio.


Got some great deals over the weekend at Gerbes and Walgreens matching coupons with store sales.  Saved 40% on my grocery store purchases and closer to 70% from Walgreens.  Anybody not using coupons is passing up a great opportunity to save, save, save!!!

Got my sign-up paperwork back from Edward Jones for the company savings plan.  Kind of anxious for payday to see if they've started the witholdings.  If, as I suspect, the before tax witholdings have little effect on my take home pay, I'll most likely increase witholdings within the next month or two.  I'm not maxed out on matching contributions, so I could increase my own contributions as long as it doesn't cut me too short on cash flow.  Just have to wait and see...

Requested another check from SendEarnings.com.  This will be my third check from them.  I intend to use it to repurchase some UVE stock I sold in my taxable account.  Got the medical bills down from my heart attack and follow up care, so I'm really concentrating on rebuilding my investment and cash positions.  If my health and the economy holds out, at least as well as it has been going, I should be in pretty good shape by this time next year.