August Review / September Preview, 2015

Investment Gremlin here to review August, that wild and crazy month.  I started the month off by receiving a major work certification called Certified Hazardous Materials Manager or CHMM.  This should make my work prospects much better.  Next, I had work travel that brought me to upstate New York, and some vacation that took be to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and a wedding near the DC area.  Also, some sports are starting up again, which means I will see the occasional BPL and NFL game soon, but I've been so busy that my interest is not as strong as in prior years.  Everything, just appears to be moving at 110%, and that is kind of my jam. 

And then August 21st and 24th happened.  The stock market tumbled double digit percentages, with some wild swings throughout the days (especially on the 24th).  Speaking with a few friends who lamented their holdings lost 15% of their value.  That might have been true of my holdings, but as of today's check my total account value is only 5% below what it was to start the month out.  Now don't get me wrong that sucks, but it is not the end goal.  Dividend income is the goal, and depressed prices are merely opportunities that provide better entry or averaging points from which I can take advantage of in my long term investing.  Naturally timing the market is not always possible, especially with work that has me out of the office.  So the goal is to be prepared for the long haul, and exploit these chances if able.

August:

Last month I brought in a total of $67.45 in dividends ($18.18 taxable , $49.27 Roth), pretty much as expected.  This is a increase from last year ($61.75 total) by 9.23%.  Not my best increase, but one nonetheless.  


In terms of dividend increases, I realized one this month; Kinder Morgan (KMI) with a 2.08% increase.  KMI has been killing for me, I hope to see the trend of KMI raising quarterly payments continue as it has for 2 years straight now!  No new raises were reported.

In my Roth account, I initiated a new position with Exxon-Mobile (XOM) by acquiring 14 shares.  As with prior months I continued my Loyal3 march towards Financial Independence.  I added  approx. 2 shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and opened new positions in Wal-Mart (WMT) and Hershey's (HSY), with just above one share each.  Going forward I will be doing short monthly posts on my Loyal3 Buys, it will keep purchases more streamlined in my head and allow me to shorten this summary section.

September:


My only long term debt is my car, which continues.  I have already gotten ahead on my monthly payments, and I will continue pushing that direction.  My work life looks to have me traveling to Ohio this month, but in my personal life things have died down.  That can only be described as financially awesome and relaxing.  I hope to have a review of a local brewery next month along with my investment stuff.  Also I am going tubing tomorrow, so between that and work, I needed to get this up before those things happened.

Next month should produce around $76 in dividends, which is a 21% year-over-year increase.  I expect to realize two raises next month from Kellogg's (K) and Target (TGT) - which is in both Roth and Taxable.  On the Loyal3 side, almost every stock is on the table after the drop, I plan to put a solid amount of capital to work here.

Hope everyone has a great September!
- Dividend Gremlin, CHMM
- Long KMI, MSFT, WMT, HSY, K, TGT