The Covid

Just when the market was getting a little boring, this happens.

This is why I refuse to ever pull from my 401k.  When I retire, which will be hopefully soon, I will just move it into an IRA, receive taxable dividends from it, and NEVER pull from it.  If you have to depend on it, the market will fall when you need it, then what will you do?
I have depleted all of my dry powder, and now am waiting for each paycheck as it comes in to buy as much as I can here, or on the way down.  I don't expect my job to be in peril, as it is big tech, and big tech is the clear winner here with everyone at home using it.


I am trying to be careful to pick quality stocks with increased dividends, but since I am middle-aged and prone to a little risk to catch up, I have bought a few riskier stocks (MAIN, OKE).  I did tax harvest IP, but I maybe

KMB Makes Toilet Paper!

should not have since they have a great balance sheet.  I should have harvested OKE, and I may yet still.  If anyone cuts their dividend, I *will* sell them, so that is why I am not harvesting yet, I may be forced to.  I only see OKE cutting at this point, but many stocks are at or slightly above their payout ratio.  I am watching the market more often to see if I can catch the moment the announcement is made.

Many stocks have cancelled buybacks, which I have mixed feelings on.  Buybacks decreased the payout ratio, and during these low prices it seems foolish not to take advantage.  At the same time, it is very bad PR for the company, since everyone wants companies to use that extra money to keep people employed.  If! they use it for that. 

Several CEOs have come around saying the dividends are safe.  Of course they are, until they aren't, right?  Q1 earnings will be the true test.  Still, I was surprised to see O raise theirs, even a little.  QCOM raise should be fine, with the 5G rollout and the home PC use, tech will be fine or better for Q1.

In the past week, the market seems to have found some footing, to slightly the point at the beginning of Trump's presidency, so a nice mulligan for anyone who wants to start jumping in.  However, many stocks are at risk.  The recessionary stocks, as expected, are doing fine, and are floating my portfolio well enough against the rest of them.  I expect them to have a good quarter, if not a great one, and all the others to be affected almost exactly inversely.  It is basic econ, the money flows one way, then the other.  I also expect Home Depot to do well, as people finally get around to doing their home projects if they still have a job.  I'm glad I don't have any stocks in the RED ZONE, such as restaurants, travel, and any consumer discretionary that isn't selling recessionary brands.

I am VERY proud to own ABT and JNJ, as they are leading the charge in this pandemic war.

It is hard not to say anything that hasn't already been said by the stock gurus.  Stay safe out there, and always make sure the main source of your passive income is recessionary stocks!  I need to buy more ADM on Monday!

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announces dividend increase to $0.65/share quarterly dividend, 4.8% increase from prior dividend of $0.62.
Realty Income (NYSE:O) declares $0.233/share monthly dividend, a 0.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.2325.

March Purchases:

MAIN	47
FAST	11
QCOM	6
NNN	20
ADM	30
WTRG	12
SO	22
WEC	16
GIS	22
KMB	17
WSO	9
OKE	60
CVX	17
IP	-30
PG	4
TGT	5
JNJ	5
ABT	5
ABBV	10
ORI	35

Whew!  Most purchases I have made in a month, and I certainly exceeded 30 trades (all of the ones above were split into 2 or more transactions throughout the month).

Keep on buying on the slide down, or the ramp up.  Research your companies.  Receive your dividends.

Corona Fever Finally Hits the Market

*EXHALE*

Breathe, take it easy.  After months of predictable increased prices and dropping yields, the market finally went into correction this last week of February.  And in classic dividend investor style, I bought into the panic.  I still have a *little* cash left on hand for any more stomach twisting drops ahead, but I think the bears (and the algorithms) have had their way.  Looking forward to a good jobs report, and a bullish market for another 4 years...?

My annual income has increased dramatically (almost $500), now that we have had some yield increases, and I thawed a bit of my frozen assets to make it happen.  However, my net worth and my brokerage took a huge hit from the drops.  But that's how the market works, and it has historically recovered every time.  I feel fortunate I was able to have some cash on hand to take advantage of it.  While it felt like being a kid in a candy store picking up all the high yielders, there was the sobering reality of losing about half the profits I've gained over the years.



As of this writing, the virus has not really affected the USA too much, and China has been crippled by it.  It will be interesting to see if the panic in the market is at all justified.  Ok, now on to the data:

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
Old Republic (NYSE:ORI) declares $0.21/share quarterly dividend, 5% increase from prior dividend of $0.20.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) declares $1.50/share quarterly dividend, 10.3% increase from prior dividend of $1.36.
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) declares $0.43/share quarterly dividend, 6.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.405.

February Purchases:

GIS	13
T	8
MAIN	45
NNN	6
SO	6
ORI	14
ADM	4
CVX	14
O	7
ABBV	9
IP	13
HRL	26
OKE	1
WSO	5

Here's hoping March, coming in like a lion, will come out like a lamb...

December, January, and the Corona Virus

The volatility many of us have been waiting for might actually be here.  As far as the market goes, the Iran dustup was not very effective.  The Corona virus might be responsible for the next correction, and drive the market even lower.  In the meantime I have been shoring up my stocks to be more diverse, and did indeed increase the utilities I had planned to buy.  The only stock under 2.5% weight in my portfolio is Hormel, and I'm not sure how it will perform in this market.  As a recessionary stock, it should increase, and with SPAM impossible to contaminate, it should fare well, however for the "fresher" brands, it may not.  It is already too expensive with a low yield that I may continue to pass it over for now.

Going into Monday morning February, the things I will be watching for will be the retreat of Corona (unlikely).  Which means waiting for the correction to continue, or for Corona cases to stabilize.  In the meantime we have the jobs report on Friday, and if the past 3 years are any indication, it should be a good one.  Couple that with the unusually warm January weather in large metropolis areas, no reason not to go out and look for a job.  Or better yet, move to one (many openings in the Midwest).

December went well, and January for the most part, just at the end did things heat up.  The "impeachment" was another non-event for the market.  The Corona Virus steals the show as the true disruption in growth.  If China can't supply the global economy, the global economy will panic.  This is the best time to buy.  Be ready to catch that bottom when it happens!  Lots of increases these past 2 months, here they are (along with some commentary by me):

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
Mastercard (NYSE:MA) declares $0.40/share quarterly dividend, 21.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.33.
WEC Energy (NYSE:WEC) declares $0.6325/share quarterly dividend, 7.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.59.
Realty Income (NYSE:O) declares $0.2275/share monthly dividend, 0.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.227. (monthly payer that increases small several times a year, with usually one large increase once a year.  This isn't it!)
AT&T (NYSE:T) declares $0.52/share quarterly dividend, 2% increase from prior dividend of $0.51. (ATT just increases a little in order to keep their aristocrat status - which is fine because of their great yield)
Realty Income (NYSE:O) declares $0.2325/share monthly dividend, 2.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.2275. (Here's the bigger raise)
ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) declares $0.935/share quarterly dividend, 2.2% increase from prior dividend of $0.915. (This is another one that likes to increase several times a year)
Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) declares $0.25/share quarterly dividend, 13.6% increase from prior dividend of $0.22. (Nice!)
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) declares $1.07/share quarterly dividend, 3.9% increase from prior dividend of $1.03.
Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) declares $1.34/share quarterly dividend, 15.5% increase from prior dividend of $1.16. (Nicer!)
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) declares $1.29/share quarterly dividend, 8.4% increase from prior dividend of $1.19.
Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) declares $0.36/share quarterly dividend, 2.9% increase from prior dividend of $0.35.

December Purchases:
XEL         14
WEC 25
ORI          29
ADM        22
WTR 40
ABT            2

January Purchases:
ABT         14
ORI          14
APD         4
FAST 11 
CVX         6
HRL         13
ADM         9

Another Great Month For Net Worth

Today

...not so hot for purchases.

It was hard to find bargains.  While earnings were about even for all my companies (half profit/half loss), most stocks went up in value, regardless.  Our net worth is approaching retirement values, which is good news, but my annual income has hit a snag as I'm having harder times finding stocks on sale.  A relative and friend of mine is thinking of starting dividend investing, and if I were to start today, I would start in 5 diversified stocks:  Abbvie (ABBV), International Paper (IP), Southern (SO), Okeo (OKE), and AT&T (T).  You have medical, industrial, utility, energy, and telecom.  While they may be peaked on value, they have great yields.  So yeah, if you buy them, they may drop in the next crash, but you will still be making some money in the meantime to buy them at better prices.  AT&T was a dog in my portfolio for almost two years, but has recovered nicely, and still has a

great yield.  After those, I would invest in as many consumer staples & utilities as possible, as they will thrive in the next recession.

Two Years Ago

I have been filling out my portfolio buying a few lower yielders to diversify.  However, I really need to start concentrating on the utilities for a few reasons.  1, their profits should do nicely after the winter season, and 2, they also will thrive when a recession hits.  So, XEL, SO, WTR, and WEC, I'll be keeping my eye on you.

Dividend Increases & Special Payouts
Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) declares $0.2325/share quarterly dividend, 10.7% increase from prior dividend of $0.21!!!  Gotta love a 10.7% raise!

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) declares $1.18/share quarterly dividend, 10.3% increase from prior dividend of $1.07.  Another great raise! Better than my job!


November Purchases:

CVX	2
ORI	25
MCD	3

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