October Review / November Preview, 2016

Almost Healthy Gremlin here to talk about this past month and the future.  So far my ankle's recovery has gone well, though its still not at the point where I can run at a meaningful pace or distance, and I look as graceful as a baby deer.  Still, its better and continues to get better so hopefully that is finished soon.  On the home front the household student loans stand at less than $1k, which means they are almost over.  In addition, my new employee stock program and 401k have started accumulating.  Looking around at everything else I can say I am excited for winter, hockey, and for fantasy football to end.  I have got to learn to do a split football team in the future, and by split I mean just show up for the draft party but not draft... 

October:

I bought two new stocks in my new SEP IRA, however due to my lack of paying attention I neglected to post those buys so here I go.  I bought 30 shares of HCN for a total cost of $2,101.13 and 75 shares of OHI for $2,497.95.  Those are two huge purchases and round out the SEP IRA investments for a long time.  Only a negligible amount of cash remains in that account, and I will probably not be deploying that plus new dividends until next fall.  In the meantime I will soak up those dividends!

I also rounded out my position in YUM on Loyal3.  This is the final purchase I will make into YUM for a while, and I am deciding what action I will take on the YUM China (YUMC) stock, which  I will receive in November.  Exciting times over there at Loyal3 to be sure.

Last month I brought in a total of $81.58 in dividends ($61.22 taxable, $20.36 Roth).  This is an increase from last year ($53.45 total) by 52.6%.  Next month my SEP IRA will start to kick in distributions, and it will probably annihilate prior totals I have posted before.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized two this month from Realty Income (O) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS).  The raises ranged from 0.2% to 3% (approximate in $USD from $CAD). 

Next month I will realize two raises, from YUM and American Express (AXP).  The increases are around 11% each. Thus far for 2016, I have realized 27 dividend increases!

November:

Things are getting exciting.  As I noted above, one of my wife's student loans is gone.  Looking ahead two months, I will start to save a solid amount of cash.  This is related to the fact that my wife and I will look to get a house sometime in the next 2-3 years.  I want to go in with a decent down payment to make sure we get what we want.

I will post a Beers of Thanksgiving article, which will highlight my favorites for this time of year.

Next month should produce around $200 in dividends, which is a 426% YOY increase, most of which is attributable to my new IRA. I am now ahead of last year, and I need to remain focused.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great November!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned

Loyal3 Buys, Oct. 2016

Fall Gremlin here to talk about how I've been improving my portfolio via Loyal3.  Things have been coming along pretty well for the past few months, and I added a few shares to in Loyal3 as noted on my monthly updates.  Finally, I got my position in YUM up to a point I am satisfied with.  YUM is about to spin off YUM China (YUMC) at the beginning of November so it is easy to understand why I pursued YUM.  Once the deal is completed I will own shares in both, but YUMC will clearly be its own animal.  Part of me would still like to have seen YUM carry on as is.  There is a strength in companies like Johnson and Johnson (JNJ),  where width of their brands and innovation complements their depth.  Hopefully, after the spin off the two YUMs both do their thing and do it will.

I bought 3.2654 shares of YUM for $290.  This will add $6.66 to my forward annual income, considering the recent dividend raise.  More importantly, my total number of YUM shares now stands at just above 12, and I am happy with the size of the position currently ~ enough to start buying other things.

YUM has been the focus of this account for much of the past few months.  With other finances back in order and a slightly larger free hand, I will be able to tackle other Loyal3 stocks moving forward.  It is still my plan to fill up positions to a specific point, then merge them with my regular account.  This will create a lot more buying power concentrated in one place, which is the ultimate goal. 

Either way, have a great rest of October and enjoy the start to fall!
- Gremlin
- Long YUM and JNJ

September Review / October Preview, 2016

Hobbling Gremlin here to talk about this past month and the road ahead.  The road ahead starts with a twisted ankle, which will slow up my personal progress, but not my FI progress.  As I write this I know that one of my wife's student loans is gone (the highest interest loan which was at 6.8%).  There is still a 2.8% loan out there for her education, and that one is looking like it will be done next month.  Otherwise the normalcy of life has started again with the school year restarting.  This also means two paychecks back in the house, time to make these next few months count.  Though that normalcy is also to be short-lived, when you live in the DC area, election time should fill you with dread.  Not the dread of whoever wins, rather the dread of road closures and stupid rules for traffic. 

September:

I bought a bunch of new stock in my new Pre-Tax IRA account, which was funded with rollover money from my old 401k.  This was done in two phases; phase 1 and phase 2.  I will begin count these dividends along with others, but they will not be counted towards my year end goals. In addition, I added one share of YUM in my Loyal3 account, but only one so it was not worth an article. 

Last month I brought in a total of $115.43 in dividends ($75.50 taxable, $39.93 Roth).  This is an increase from last year ($79.91 total) by 44.5%.  Growth surely cannot maintain such high percentages, but with the new pre-tax IRA counting in the future surely the numbers will begin to balloon.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized four this month from Hershey's (HSY), Kellogg's (K), Realty Income (O), and Target (TGT).  The raises ranged from 1% to 7%. 

Next month I will realize two dividend increases.  They will be from O and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS).  The increases range from around 0.2% to above 2.8%. Thus far for 2016, I have realized 25 dividend increases!

October:

Things are getting exciting.  As I noted above, one of my wife's student loans is gone.  Since last December (when I first looked into this) we have plowed $7.6k into her debt and now just about $850 remains.  It may seem like a small drop in the bucket, but it is a huge stride forward.  Within a few months our savings will be bouncing along with more investments.  This is the start of something big, I can feel it.

Next month should produce around $80 in dividends, which is a 51% YOY increase. At this point I will already eclipse last year's totals, which is just great.  .

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great October!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned