October Good and Bad

October was great for our net worth!  And, earnings were great for the most part for my stocks with a few positive surprises.  The only bad part was that I didn't invest much this month.  We had car problems, and had to pay a few bills.  However, I am looking forward to November and getting back on track.  It is unfortunate to not have cash on hand during earnings season, but then again, there weren't really any massive drops in value for any stocks.  I have been tracking report-outs for each of my stocks this time around, and they are about 2/3 done.  There were some nice dividend increases as well.

Hormel's Hit Product

I have slowly added all of the cost-consistent bills to my brokerage account, and will be funding the brokerage from my checking account for their amounts.  As I mentioned in another post, this is in an effort to slowly let dividends pay for my bills.

Today

I also would like to set a goal to have each of my stocks pay $100 a year at least if possible as deals present themselves.  15 out of 28 already do!  And some quite a bit (MAIN $323 a year).  The goal after that would be to have each stock pay at least $100 a quarter.  This way, even if the stock values change, the income should be diversified enough to handle any possible disruption from any individual stock.  While it is possible for more than ONE stock to be disrupted, in my 2.5 years experience, this has not happened!

I'm adding a new section to the blog progress, dividend increases.  Since this is unique to the current month, I will post it here along with purchases.  I will remove the dividends received, as the total for the year (e.g. div-o-meter to the right) is what really matters.  There is a high month and a low month, but if I budget correctly, this should not matter for generating income (only for purchasing).  As I said earlier, my purchases this month will be miniscule:

A Year Ago

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) declares $1.18/share quarterly dividend, 10.3% increase from prior dividend of $1.07.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) declares $0.915/share quarterly dividend, 2.8% increase from prior dividend of $0.89.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) declares $0.5125/share quarterly dividend, 2.5% increase from prior dividend of $0.50.

Main Street Capital (NYSE:MAIN) declares supplemental semi-annual dividend of $0.24/share.

October Purchases:

JNJ	3
ADM	2
FAST	2
ABT	2
HRL	2
WTR	1

A Little Late... October Meltdown?

Today

September was a good month for net worth, and I've decided to start paying bills via my brokerage using dividend money (per se). 

We have a no interest loan with two popular hardware stores for the remodeling we did to improve our home's value.  They expire sometime next year, and we are paying them down.  One of the bills is less than the other, and less than the dividends I make on the low months (~$100).  Going forward, I will add that amount to my brokerage funding each paycheck, and as it pays off, I will not reduce my brokerage funding.  This gives me more cash flow, plus 2 extra paycheck's worth of funding per year.  I will most likely choose another bill to pay with the remaining amount on the LOW month to do the same.  The end goal is to basically have all of my paycheck go to my brokerage account, then pay all the bills through dividend income, and fund the brokerage with the rest. 

Two Years Ago

Why not just do it all now?  Well, I want to make sure I can make ends meet "virtually" before retiring, so that when I do, essentially nothing will change.  This means I will also need to start funding the stocks that pay in the low month when I can (starting with XEL since it is below my 3% minimum diversity weight).

As I write this, 10/2, today and yesterday the market has sold off.  So far the October Effect is in full swing, so I expect to find some investing opportunities next week when my funding hits the brokerage. 

Dividends were a tad higher this month due to Old Republic's $1/share bonus dividend.  I don't know if I will see this number again in 3 months, but I hope so!

Dividends Received: $775 (the high paying month)

QCOM			$40.30
MAIN			$22.55
HD			$24.48
MCD			$22.04
O			$11.33
ORI			$121.20
MAIN			$22.00
IP			$44.50
JNJ			$20.90
TGT			$33.66
CVX			$20.23
SO			$34.72
ADM			$17.15
WEC			$7.67
WTR			$7.26
401k Taxable			$346.87

September Purchases:

CVX	8
ADM	2
FAST	12
ABT	4
WEC	2
WTR	2

Old Republic Offers Special Dividend Again!

Last time ORI offered a special dividend, I called it "Breaking News!".  This insurance company, which I personally used as my home warranty during my recent move, has been doing great since the Trump era of reduced regulations.  Because of the reduced regulations removed by this administration (by ORI's admission), they offered their original special dividend of $1 per share, which I then loaded up on.  You can consider it as $1 off the share price, but in this case it actually doubles the dividend offered this year.  I hope this trend continues where they reward shareholders.  ORI is a nice slow-growth company with a decent dividend and a great balance sheet.  So hurry up and buy in before September 6th!  I'll probably grab some ORI before the 6th, but I'm hoping for some tradewar "bad" news to cause all the stocks to drop first.  I never thought I'd be such a bear when it comes to stocks, but dividend investing will do that to you.

Now

I have reached a full position on IP, and am closing in on a full position on ABBV.  I believe those two have found their "bottom" and should more or less go up from here.  My goal is to achieve 3-4% of my portfolio for each of my stocks, to ensure greater diversification.  However, if they yield higher than 5%, I crank them up to 4-5% in order to take advantage of the situation to play "catch-up" (since I started a little late on this gig).  

2 Years Ago

In the meantime, I've been setting up my own personal "margin" account.  My wife and I set up a savings account with my broker's partner bank (quick and easy transfers) that we are feeding extra cash into without detracting from our dividend investments.  I've already used it twice to catch good stocks on "bad" news days, and paid it back when the paycheck is deposited.  I think that with all the unsubstantiated talk in the media about a recession on the way, it might be a good idea.  The problem with recessions is that you can actually talk yourself into one, but you can't talk your way out of one.  The only thing that worries me is the amount of subprime mortgages being allowed to exist in 2018 and even more projected for 2019.  This smells of 2007 all over again.  While I don't think you can prevent a recession (that's like trying to prevent winter), you can delay it, ease into it, and ease out of it.  So I guess I'm officially "saving for a rainy day".  Happy investing!

Dividends Received: $347.24 (the mid-paying month)

FAST	$16.50
ABT	$6.08
O	$11.33
PG	$31.33
NNN	$37.60
MAIN	$22.55
HRL	$8.61
ABBV	$44.94
OKE	$50.73
APD	$17.40
MA	$5.28
T	$58.14
GIS	$36.75

August Purchases:

ABBV	12
IP	20
FAST	3
ORI	4
ADM	10
WSO	3

Back on track

A Year Ago

I'd like to take a moment and reiterate to the readers of this site what I am doing here and why I am doing it.  Back at the turn of the century, I did some trading (not investing, there's a difference) and made a bit of money, lost a bit of money.  My employer had a stock participation program (SPP) which I partook in to some profit as well.  As time when on, I bought some stocks and promptly forgot about them.  During the interim, I worked hard to eliminate all debt, and develop a lifestyle that made me a good steward of the funds I was given (disposable cars, abstain from subscription models, determine ROI, etc.) and suddenly had plenty of cash flow.  I had been feeding my 401k like most drones, and started to wonder why I couldn't make money in the stock market (I'm a reasonably smart guy).

Today!

The Trump economy was starting to get underway, and I was poised to be left in the dust.  I logged into my old brokerage account, and found $400 sitting in it, and I wondered why.  I owned a paper company that paid dividends.  It piqued my interest.  I started reading primers on investing (and trading) and long story short, learned about dividend investing.  Slow growth with cash just for hanging onto the stock, what could go wrong?  I liquidated all my stocks, borrowed against my 401k, and began my foray into dividend stocks exclusively.  That had to have a solid balance sheet, plenty of cash flow to pay the dividend, have to have paid out faithfully, and a clear direction.  After all, I wanted to own a company and invest in it, which is a far cry from the "casino" trading that is done.  It would be as though I am financing a business, but letting someone else do all the work.

The goal:  Work free income with raises that exceed cost of living.  I put $1000 into a stock, and I get (starting) $50 a year for the rest of my life, with that $50 increasing every year by 4-30%.  So that, when I retire, I receive income that won't count against social security income, and just have to maintain the stock by making sure the dividend isn't cut.  If it is cut, I pull out and invest into another.

This way I obtain independence and freedom, and can pursue other things, such as setting up my children with income from dividends when I pass on, I won't have to depend on social security, have control over my assets (which a 401k won't allow me to do), and pursue a ministry and philanthropy.

So far, I am 2 years in, have almost $100k in assets (by reinvesting dividends and NOT investing in my 401k) and am making almost $5k a year.  The goal is 30-50k, of course, but the snowball is getting bigger and moving faster!  In the beginning I could only pay my water bill, now I can pay all my utilities plus more (if I wanted to!).  Instead, I put more and more every month into the dividend stocks, which makes me more and more money.  When I read that dividend investing, while not sexy, is 99% successful, I didn't believe it, but now I do.  Know that if I lost my job today, I would be making $400 a month doing nothing, adds some security which just grows and grows.

My investing strategy is gauged different than a younger person's, as I am middle-aged and need to be a bit more risky, but I still am quite conservative compared to my co-worker who is about 10+ years older and chases yield a bit more.  I may discuss the finer points in a future post, but you can figure it out studying my past blogs.

Raising two kids gets a little complicated, and this year expenses for school were a tad steep.  Coupled with current debt for remodeling, our FCF (free cash flow) is getting a workout.  If it wasn't for the free cash flow, and ability to move things around, we couldn't make ends meet.  However, the FCF is there, and savings and retirement were impacted little if at all.

Purchases were down for July, since there wasn't a lot of downward action in the market for most of the month.  In fact, there was a lot of growth for my stocks.  It wasn't until August 1st (today) that I backed up the truck to buy several stocks that went on sale after the double whammy of a rate cut, followed by additional presidential tariffs.

Dividends Received: $113.28 (the low paying month)

WSO			$33.60
XEL			$17.42
O			$10.87
MAIN			$22.55
KMB			$28.84

July Purchases:

FAST 3

IP      3

WSO 3

OKE   3

ORI    3

ADM 2

ABBV  9

O       2

WTR 2

Best June for the Dow since 1938!

It was a good month, in many ways.

Despite starting to pay down debt, I was able to move things around in my 401k to increase my taxable dividends by a moderate amount (and take advantage of some dips).  Normally, I would use this increase to buy more stocks, I will be using it to help pay down debt (for now).  My debt is interest free, and half of it is 401k loan (which isn't interest free, but the interest goes to me so - same thing!).  However, living completel
y debt free is such a great feeling, so I aspire to get back there as soon as possible.

My net worth got a nice boost not just from the market this month, but the remodel added 60% of the cost (per Dave Ramsey) to the value of the home.  I thought this was quite high, but since it included flooring and cabinets, it seems legit across several websites. 

Finally, ABBV dropped 14% on the news it was buying Allergen!  I was only able to snag 4 shares before it bounced back by half of that.  Early next week I hope to buy more.  General Mills also dropped 7% and has bounced back a little, but I was out of cash, not to mention I already have enough GIS for now.  ABBV is in my sights right now, until I own 4+%.

One thing I've noticed is that although I have money going to many different places, the cash flow allows for a little chaos.  I get to feel how AT&T feels with their debt, chaos, but substantial cash flow.  I think this is important:  Have no debt, have a plan for your money, and have a lot of free cash flow to funnel where it is needed.  Not doing this leads to unnecessary debt, unnecessary purchases, and unnecessary opulent lifestyle changes.

Dividends Received: $572 (the high paying month)

QCOM			$40.30
MAIN			$27.50
HD			$24.48
MCD			$18.56
O			$10.85
ORI			$18.80
MAIN			$22.00
IP			$39.00
JNJ			$20.90
TGT			$32.64
CVX			$16.66
SO			$34.72
ADM			$8.75
WEC			$7.67
WTR			$6.35
401k Taxable			$255.78

June Purchases:

ABBV	4
IP	4
FAST	2
WSO	2
ABBV	2
FAST	4
OKE	2
CVX	1
MCD	3
FAST	2

TradeWars!

There was a game I used to play back in the day on the BBS's (dialup 300 baud modem days) called Tradewars.  You would go around "space" (I say that loosely, it was a text game) and trade between planets, building up your ship(s) and sometimes encountering opposition.  It was a pretty fun game, but not as fun as dividend stocks.  This month wasn't as fun as usual, though.  Mainly because I'm in a spot where I need to spend money due to our move and remodeling, so I don't have as much cash on hand as I would like.  There have been great dividend stock opportunities here in my accumulation stage I would like to take advantage of during this Tradewar with China (and now Mexico).  The good news is I didn't limit my normal contributions like the previous month, but going forward things will be tighter than usual.  The important thing is that I keep the flow of money consistent to take advantage of the drops.

All of my stocks are headquartered domestically, but many are global, not immune to the TradeWar.  ADM particularly is a stock I would like to take advantage of next week.  "International" Paper, or IP, is another one to accumulate.  Both are great companies, but Mr. Market doesn't think so at the moment, so some good deals with higher yields.  This war could last a month, or it could last 10 years.  While it will strengthen the domestic economy in the long run, it won't be without casualties.  Vigilance is the watchword for any investor out there.  Quarterly earning trends will be a focus area for many of these companies that deal with China.

I've been moving money out of my 401k's BrokerageLink into the taxable dividend generating area of my 401k to the fullest (I found the limit) to increase income and ease some of the debt I've been accumulating for the remodel.  The Brokeragelink netted some profit, but was not the great thing I thought it would be.  I thought I could reinvest the "ETF" dividends where I wanted to, but they gave me no control.  They also only allowed ETF investment, when I wanted to invest in individual dividend stocks.  Nope.  Not allowed.  I'm not going to waste my time with it anymore.

The good news is the debt is interest fee for at least a year to 18 months.  The bad news is they want us to start paying it down.  I have no fears we will pay it off, I would just prefer to do it in my time.  I am looking at fee free balance transfer zero interest credit lines for the long run, but for now I would like to take advantage of the current zero interest situation as long as possible.  Just need to move a few things around.  My wife had mentioned taking a job at home, and we may look into that more just to pay down the debt sooner than later, and then I can get back to the business of investing into retirement.  In the end, this is probably a good time to take on some debt, as the market is still priced quite high for most of my stocks, and instead of stockpiling cash for a downturn, I'm dropping money into the house for resale value instead.  Not a great ROI, but better than bonds!

My net profit in my brokerage dropped from that brief 20% profit at the end of April to 15% at the end of May.  Easy come easy go :)  At this point there is no end in sight for the TradeWar, so I don't expect a rebound anytime soon.  In the meantime I'll just buy the deals where I can find them.  I did make the $4k annual income goal, though!

FAST had a stock split this month, which wreaked havoc on my tracking app for a week, but my Google spreadsheet took it all in stride.  My first stock split since I started dividend investing, I hope it allows small investors (like me) to get in on it.

May Dividends Received: $306.56 (the mid paying month)
FAST $12.04  
O           $10.17  
PG         $31.33  
OKE       $38.06  
NNN       $36.50  
MAIN   $22.00  
HRL       $8.61  
ABBV       $26.75  
ABT        $6.08  
APD       $17.40  
MA         $5.28  
T              $55.59  
GIS        $36.75

May Purchases  
OKE 8
CVX 2
ADM   12
IP        4
O         3
FAST   5

QCOM and Benchmarks

Qualcomm is now my largest holding, thanks to Apple and QCOM making nice.  Apple tried to use Intel as leverage against Qualcomm, however, QCOM in the end makes the superior product, and Apple needs to use QCOM chips for 5G.  In the end, Apple wins, QCOM wins, Intel loses.  I only see QCOM going up from here, so I probably won't be adding to my position for some time.  The tech sector is so volatile, though, so I may find some dips here and there.  It is nice to have a 56% gain on a stock in a month, but I have no doubts that it could drop just as fast.

My biggest regret this month was ADM.  Archer Daniels reported earnings and dropped 5%.  I had no more cash on hand due to limited funds this month thanks to the move.  A week later it is up 7%.  Missed opportunity!  I did find a few other good purchases though.  All in all, it has been quite a profitable Q1, which is unusual.  The market is getting dangerously close to the Euphoria level, so I am bracing for impact.

A positive benchmark was hit this week with my net worth, and also with my stock profits.  My profits hit the 20% profit mark, which it couldn't maintain May 1 at the open, but it was nice to see it turn gold for one night on my spreadsheet.  I should be hitting the 4k benchmark soon for annual income.  It may seem like not a lot after 2 years of work, but it should start to grow faster and faster as dividends increase and as I continue to add more.  Also, it is nice to know that whatever happens, I'll be getting a 4k bonus year after year.  My charts also show that by October I should be close to 5k a year.  The snowball is starting to gain some traction.

April Dividends Received: $108.83 (the low paying month)

WSO			$30.40
XEL			$17.42
O			$10.17
MAIN			$22.00
KMB			$28.84

April Purchases:

TGT	4
ORI	3
T	5
ABBV	2
IP	4
WTR	3
CVX	1