TOTAL INCOME UP FOR THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF 2016!

I just posted about the terrific 33% increase in dividend income for February 2016 compared to last year, but I was pleased to see earned income increased for the first two months of the year as well.  Compared to January and February of 2015, earned income is up 12% in 2016!  Even though my hourly pay is lower than my previous job, I'm able to get more hours, so income has increased.

I'll be using this extra earned income to purchase more dividend paying investments and to reduce debt.  The combination of increasing income and reducing interest on debt should free up even more cash to build my portfolio.  Going to be looking for ways to pick up extra income to apply to debt reduction.  The faster I pay off the debt, the easier it will be to manage my finances.  Although I sometimes get depressed by the fact that my income has never returned to pre-2008 levels, I do take comfort in the fact that my personal finances have improved dramatically.  Also, I've been much happier in my new job.  Not only am I appreciated more by my employer and clients, but I'm more proud of the line of work I do now.  

FEBRUARY DIVIDEND INCOME UP OVER 33% COMPARED TO 2015!

Just collected the end of the month dividend payments for 2016 and was excited to see month total was up over 33% compared to February 2015!  While I was expecting it to be higher, I never would have guessed it would be such a big increase over last year.  

This has made me even more excited, going in to the month of March, with it's 23 dividend payments.  I'm sure it will be out last March in total income, but it will be interesting to see just how much it has gone up.  Dividends for March will get a boost from this month's purchase of additional shares of AOD and PHK.  

I hated to part with NYCB, since I'd held the shares for so long.  However, the move was in line with my plan of replacing stocks when they cut their dividend.  I still came out with a modest gain, even with the share price being down and after accounting for commissions.  By putting the money in a monthly dividend payer, I've also boosted total monthly cash flows by a significant amount.  So I believe I made the right decision.

Finally got all my 1099's, so I'll be working on taxes next week.  

ADDED TO SHARES OF AOD TO BOOST MONTHLY DIVIDENDS 2%!

Just placed an order to purchase more shares of AOD, a monthly dividend paying stock fund.  Completion of this order will increase total monthly dividends by 2% starting in March!  May not sound like much, but imagine doing this month after month.  Didn't seem possible to me at first, but looks like I was wrong, because I just keep finding ways to increase monthly cash flows.  Mid year I'll be reviewing my investment plan and goals for 2016, I'm thinking I'll have to revise goals upwards.  

I have to admit, with the market in such turmoil since the first of this year, I was getting a little down on investing.  This month especially, with only 14 dividends for the month.  Then I looked at it another way.  I'm collecting 14 dividend payments and getting paid twice from my job.  That's 16 paydays for the month of February!  Even better, February is one of the lowest paying months.  For the month of March, I'm expecting 23 dividend payments, along with my two paychecks from work and a check from SendEarnings.  So I'll be getting paid 26 times in March!  Needless to say, I'm all excited about investing again.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS ERROR CODE C 1900101-30018

While trying to upgrade my Dell Latitude laptop to Windows 10, I kept getting the error code C 1900101-30018.  If you're having the same problem, here's what I did to fix it.  I uninstalled the printer and fax from the computer.  Then I uninstalled the graphics card and driver.  Also uninstalled Java and disconnected all non-essential peripherals.  From there I downloaded the Windows 10 upgrade and it installed perfectly.  Everything is up and running great!

INEXPENSIVE COMPUTER UPGRADE

I'm always looking for ways to save money and I'd been using my old Windows XP desktop way past when I should have upgraded.  It worked well and I kept the browser and virus protection up to date, so I just kept using it.  Now, however, the browser I was using notified me they were no longer going to support computers running Windows XP, so I had to make an upgrade.

Here's what I did instead of buying a new computer.  I went on ebay and bought 3 rehabbed desktop computers with Windows 7 Pro for $89 each.  Also got a great deal on a Windows 8.1 laptop on Amazon for $189.  I then took advantage of Microsofts free upgrade to Windows 10 and upgraded all 4 computers.  One desktop was for my sister, one for my brother and one for me.  Did all four upgrades without a hitch and couldn't be happier with the performance.  So instead of getting one new computer for around $500, I got 3 desktops and a laptop for $456, all with the latest version of Windows!  While it's true you never know how long used electronics will last, I bought my old XP computer for $89 as well and I've had it for 7 or 8 years.  So even if one or more of these computers should fail within a year or less, I'm still ahead of the game.  I really don't expect that to happen.

CHECKED MY ESTIMATED BENEFITS ON SOCIALSECURITY.GOV

To give me a better idea of where I stand retirement wise, I usually do an annual check of my estimated benefits and earnings record on socialsecurity.gov.  I was pleased to see that my estimated benefits recovered somewhat from the economic downturn back in 2008.  Due to poor earned income since that time, my estimated benefits had dropped from around $1,200 per month to a little over $600 per month.  With my new job and slightly increasing earned income, that has now gone up to $800 per month.  Still not great, but much better than it was.  Of course there are ways to boost this amount.  I can continue working and delay taking Social Security and my benefits will go up, but given the fact I've already had two heart attacks, I'm thinking the better choice would be to take earliest retirement at 62.  

Before suffering financial setbacks from my two heart attacks and stint surgeries, I was pretty well positioned for retirement.  Now it's a matter of playing catch up.  I don't expect to be able to regain all that I lost, but I do think it's possible to build a decent income stream that will help carry me through retirement.  While my current income is much lower than it was back in 2008, I have been able to manage pretty well.  So what it really boils down to is replacing my current income, which will be much easier, since my previous income was nearly double what I make now.  

TOOK PROFIT FROM NYCB AND REINVESTED TO BOOST MONTHLY CASH FLOW 7.5%!

Due to sliding share price and recent cut in dividend payments, I decided to sell my stake in NYCB and take the profits to put to work elsewhere.  While I still have exposure to NYCB through stock fund investments, I thought the money invested in the individual stock could produce more income elsewhere.  I ended up purchasing shares of PHK for my IRA account with the proceeds from the sale.  This will boost overall monthly dividend income by a whopping 7.5%!  However, I did get my order in too late to collect the dividend for March, so I'll collect the first dividend payment starting in April.  

This sale fits in with my plan to pare down total number of holdings to 20 stocks and funds.  I may make some additional adjustments as the year goes on, most likely in the IRA account, since I'm trying to avoid any taxable events in my regular investment account.  Any sales and re-deployment of cash will be with a view towards raising monthly cash flows.  Want to boost dividend income as much as possible this year.