July Review / August Preview, 2015

Investment Gremlin here to review how the second half of this year has started out.  It certainly was busy; getting a professional certification, traveling for a wedding, to Texas for work, and doing all the usual stuff at home with my wife, friends, and our new dog.  I did have the pleasure during my travels to try some new beers and have gotten my wife to start talking about financial matters.  We have started discussing banks we would like to use for savings, checking, and credit card accounts.

For the first two, clearly the highest interest and friendliest services are desired.  Concerning credit cards, I am not a person who thinks I should pay with cash for everything - screw that.  I prefer using a card, then paying it off, to access the maximum amount of benefit to us.  My wife is on-board with this, so now we just need to figure out what benefit scheme we want.  Applause for the minor victories.

July:

Last month I brought in a total of $78.11 in dividends ($52.61 taxable , $25.50 Roth).  This is a increase from last year ($69.37 total) by 12.6%.  I had estimated $75 this past month, and I happily exceeded that.

I also received a $559.92 special dividend from the merger of Kraft and Heinz into KHC.  I am not counting this towards my regular dividend income because of the one time nature, but it is awesome.  This extra cash is helping me to fuel a large buy next month in my Roth.  Very, very exciting!

In terms of dividend increases, I realized four this month; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), Disney (DIS), Realty Income (O), and PepsiCo (PEP).  It should be noted that a strong US dollar hurt my CM payout, which is in Canadian dollars.  DIS increase was a unique surprise with a large pay increase and movement from annual to semi-annual dividends - makes me want a lot more of it.  One new announcement for a dividend increase was made; Kinder Morgan (KMI) increasing its payout by 2.08% / 1¢ per share quarterly!  I love getting raises...

As with prior months I continued my Loyal3 march towards Financial Independence.  I added 2 shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and slightly more than 4 of Coke Cola (KO).  KO now sits at a 'full' Loyal3 position, and I will not be adding to it, save for extreme price dips.

August:


My only long term debt is my car, which shall continue.  I have already gotten ahead on my monthly payments, and I will continue pushing that direction. I have no tests left, just one wedding to attend.  So I will be doubling down on investing and saving for the remainder of the year.

Next month should produce around $67 in dividends, which is a 9% year-over-year increase.  I expect to realize one raise next month from KMI.  I expect to pick up more shares of either MSFT and complete its position in my Loyal3 account.  I also expect to add shares of Kellogg's (K), Hershey (HSY)*, WalMart (WMT)*, and or PEP in my Loyal3 account.  Asterisked stocks indicate positions that would be new.

Outside of investments, I will be traveling for both work and fun.  I hope to pop out a review of a local vineyard or brewery in my travels, so stay tuned for that.  Doing a few days of work near Buffalo, NY and possibly other locations.  I will also be spending just short of a week at the beach, which brings me to my favorite question do you prefer the beach or the mountains?  My answer is clearly both, but if I had to choose it'd probably be the beach.

Hope everyone has a great August!
- Dividend Gremlin.
- Long KHC, CM, DIS, O, PEP, KMI, MSFT, and K.