Correction Over, P&G Purchase

Looks like the correction is over.  😥 This is the "Disappointed but relieved" emoji.  I am disappointed I couldn't take more advantage of it, but relieved it was only a correction, or VIX cover, or interest rates, or whatever.  Now it looks like back to business as usual.

I only added about 3k into it when it happened.  I have plenty of dry powder waiting for an all-out crash, but will pull a bit more from the stash if we have another correction.

Most of the purple and pink (companies that are -10% and -5% respectively) in my portfolio are gone.  Only the REITs persist due to interest rates rising, and they seem to have found somewhat of a floor.  This probably means I will be buying them on the slide down until I am overweight.  In May or June, I will be able to start tax harvesting.  I actually have a loss carryover from last year (I did mention my OLD stocks were stinkers), but I may have a hard time finding many stocks that apply.  Right now, Philip Morris will be the first to go.  Nothing against smokers, but you can see my previous blog on tobacco stocks for my take on them.  That will probably net me only a negative 300-400 dollars.  I bought some of O at $57 (glad I didn't buy in at $70), and that lot will probably be sold if the interest rates keep rising.

Right now I aim to harvest by shifting the money from a bad stock price, into something with a comparable or higher yield.  If I did this today, PM would probably be shuffled into CMP or SO (Compass has fallen on rough times due to city salt stockpiles), while O would probably end up in MAIN.  PM and O have *very* good yields, so they have a tough time finding something that meets or beats.

My higher yield stocks have the highest market volatility, compared to my lower yield stocks which are quite sturdy (MasterCard rounding out the bottom with excellent returns).

Oh yeah, PG: 7 more shares after a nice drop.

Recent Purchases: O & NNN

10 shares of O
13 shares of NNN

O is still hovering around -10% in my portfolio, but now real estate outweighs staples in source income.  I will be looking to a staple for my next purchase.  There are a few good prospects, but I'm going to wait a bit while the floor makes itself more apparent in that sector.

Enjoy the ride!

Dividend Investor's Dream

The pullback finally happened!  And while I'm glad it did, I wish I had more money on the sidelines.  The main issue is getting money into my brokerage fast enough (thank goodness for photo check deposit!).  I dropped some in Monday, which was available this morning, and I also dropped some in late last night which showed up midday today.  I was able to purchase:

20 shares of MAIN (right before it took off)
19 shares of XEL (came back a little, but still pretty flat).

Both stocks were +10% underwater in my portfolio, but now only the REITs are (well, O as of right now, NNN is close).  I decided to go with MAIN first, as the bank stocks are set to bounce back after the spanking Wells Fargo got from Yellen.  Then XEL, and this was a tough decision, but I decided to go with XEL over the REITs in the afternoon trading because I'm betting on a good quarter for earnings, and because Utilities seem to be getting closer to the floor (at least until the next rate hike).  XEL was also a pick by YD a month ago, and I got it for $5 cheaper than he did.  I am getting more money in by tomorrow, so I will see about the REITs then.  Depending on how the market acts tomorrow, will decide if I deposit more money in the account for Thursday (and Friday) purchases.

It has been a roller coaster, but a fun one!  I'm still ahead on my gains, but I *did* lose more than half of the gains I had accumulated.  This plus my 401k put a dent into my net worth, but I'm optimistic about it bouncing back by the end of the month.  My annual income jumped about $87 with the above purchases, and will probably round out to $100 extra per year with tomorrow's purchases.  We will have to see what Yellen's replacement does to an already jittery market.  I feel bad for any people who finally decided to jump in during January, I'm sure they were discouraged, but then, they took over a year to do it.  I'm lucky I started in May, though I started late as well.  However, if you have been sitting on the fence, now is a good time to jump into some dividend stocks.  Yields have pumped up quite a bit!

Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Recent Purchase: 5 shares of KMB

There are some good buying opportunities as of yesterday.  KMB wasn't on my short list, but I needed to get consumer staples on top of my portfolio again.  I was going to purchase PG or GIS, but due to its recent dividend increase, Kimberly Clark Corp (KMB) had the best yield.  While I'm not a big believer in their toilet paper market futures (wait 'til America discovers the bidet), diapers and depends may never go out of style.  Not to mention Kleenex in this flu season.  I dropped TDS from my T-Com watchlist and put KMB in its place.  I should now own enough high yielding staples to re-invest in for awhile.  Wal-Mart is still on my radar, but it needs to drop quite a bit before I'll buy in.  At market close today I will update my charts.  I recently added linear trendlines to a few graphs, to help me predict, or work towards, my future goals.  Right now they show the $2k div mark to hit sometime mid-September, and barring any hardship, I'll try to make that happen sooner.

ORI has been a pleasant surprise, one of the few stocks positive these last few days, and for quite a bit since the short selloff after the bonus dividend cutoff date.  There's a lot to be confident about all around going into the first quarter of the new tax year.  I expect some good buys in healthcare after Bezos threatens to buy something up, and with the president's goal to reduce prescription drugs (may not be a coincidence he mentioned this).

Now that my staples are on top again, I can look at some other possibilities.  The REITs (O, NNN) are high on my list, along with MAIN, both due to interest rates.  Healthcare is next depending on what happens, and of course utilities are still offering some nice buys.  I am also keeping my eye on Alaska Air to finish out my 2 industrials, as it has been downgraded.  I would like to get a better yield on that one. 

Earnings season always reveals some great buys.

Goal Reached!

This is my current annual income, after purchasing 29 shares of ORI and 13 shares of SO.

Having reached my goal with the purchase of ORI, I decided to double-down on SO.  I know the P/E is not acceptable using my criteria, nor is the payout ratio, but I also know that SO is only out of favor because of redistribution in the utility sector, and that SO benefits greatly from the Trump tax cuts.  I also know that YD sold all his SO (I'm assuming for the tax harvesting) and dropped it into AT&T.  This is speculation on my part, I think the yield is worth the risk, despite SO's nuclear infrastructure, which would have occurred with or without the tax cuts.  I think that there are safer options out there, but I am chasing the yield so I can fit the part of the somewhat desperate mid-life investor :)

I would really like to spend next week's investment on O, since REITs are currently sinking due to rising interest rates, but I do plan to hold onto my requirement of keeping staples the largest part of my portfolio.  I am keeping an eye on P&G after their loss from earnings, but will also be watching the possible ADM/Bunge merger, earnings for my other staples, and the possible addition of Wal-Mart or Smuckers.  

I will be updating my charts today, and will take some time later to comment further.  I've been busy the past 3 weeks and need to research some things and digest it.

Breaking News!

Old Republic International (ORI) is giving away a bonus $1 dividend per share if you buy in by Jan. 10th.  This is a stock that I had just bought because I had $300 left over from my initial $20k position purchases because it was an aristocrat (barely) and was considered in the financial sector.  They offer 3.6% yield as of this writing, which amounts to $0.76 a year - so this bonus is more than the actual dividends received if you buy in now.  You can also consider that (excluding broker fees) that "Buy 21 shares, get 1 share free" since at $1 per share at the current share price of $21.  It hasn't motivated much buying since the announcement, which is ok with me, as my next amount for purchasing won't be available until the end of the month.  I guess a good reason to get a decent position on this stock.  They raised their dividend last in March of '17, so I think we can expect a nice increase in '18.

Merry Christmas!  Ok, I'll go update my other pages for real now.

Almost there!

Recent Buys:
15 more shares of AT&T
15 shares of ADM

Recent Dividend Increases:
Abbot Labs (ABT)
Mastercard (MA)
WEC Energy Group (WEC)
Realty Income (O)

Things are chugging along nicely.  The Dividend increases were a nice Christmas gift, along with almost all of December's dividends showing up in my account at the same time (allowed more purchases of ADM).  I am now overweight on AT&T and will have to stop a bit on adding more - besides, it is now above water!  As Hannibal Smith said, "I love it when a plan comes together."  ADM was a recent addition/replacement to my watchlist after eliminating Altria and putting Philip Morris on the hit list.  ADM (Archer-Daniels Midland) is an agricultural middleman that specializes in corn and soybean.  It tends to be volatile, being so close to the farm futures, and is on the decline.  It may decline again due to ethanol de-regulations, but it is a solid dividend payer, and an aristocrat (42 years of payouts).  It was also near its 52 week low, which is a bargain in this market.  I actually had two possibilities for my second purchase this month, O & ADM.  O took off at the last minute, and actually was above water, but ADM was the better buy at the time, and helped my get my staples ahead of the rest again.


Now sitting at about $985 a year, my last purchase for the year should vault me over the $1k mark.  What that purchase will be is hard to tell.  With the tax bill set to pass the House today (passed Senate last night), effects on the market will determine which is the best bargain.  My son, Little Dividend, has received Armanino Foods (AMNF) from his grandparents and The AES Group (AES) from me.  A little consumer staple and utility to add to his growing portfolio.  He now makes $22 a year with those additions.  His stocks tend to be a tad more speculative because his old man is taking care of him.

Have a Merry Christmas all, and a Happy New Year if I don't post until after that time.  I'll update my charts at market close Friday, so check back later.