May Review / June Preview, 2017

Summer Gremlin here to discuss the wonderful month that was May.  So far this past month has been relatively uneventful, which is good.  I had one weekend away from my home, and it was only one day at that.  Things are moving at what seems to be a breakneck pace, specifically searching for housing.  It would appear that my hope that we would buy in 2 years, is more like we will buy this summer.  These things happen, and other people have ways of changing your plans faster than you can yourself (if you are married, you understand this).  That is not always a bad thing, indeed this is smarter in the long run in generating value and wealth.

As of this moment I am still waiting on ol' Loyal3 to transfer funds, as requested.  Apparently their transfer department was swamped by transfer requests.  Guess they found out you cannot dupe thousands of people into paying you money easily.  The new brokerage that has my account has told me to wait about 10 business days, and that was 7 business days ago, so time will tell if they can get it done in any normal amount of time, doubtful.  I hope it goes smoothly, much easier to be nice on the phone instead of a big jerk.

May:

This past month I put $1035.26 dollars to work in my IRA account, and started a new position in T. Rowe Price (TROW).

Last month I brought in a total of $246.08 in dividends ($36.86 taxable, $66.14 Roth, and $143.08 IRA).  This is an increase from last year ($85.54 total) by 187%. The IRA money does it again, destroying a prior month.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized four this month from Apple (AAPL), Ameriprise Financial (AMP), General Dynamics (GD), and Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI).  Raises were between  1.5% to more than 9%.  Thus far for 2017, I have realized 25 dividend increases!

Next month I will realize four raises, from Pepsico (PEP), Unilever (UL), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), and Exxon Mobile (XOM).  The increases range from around 2% to more than 8%.

June:

This is my birthday month.  I will post a serious look at my net-worth and general progress in life in terms of FI (and still having a roof over my head / food in the fridge).

Our only remaining debt is extremely low interest auto loans, however that may change.  Stashing of cash for the impending house continues.  In addition, I expect a significant amount of cash to come my way when my Loyal3 account transfers.  This should speed another purchase in my brokerage account.  At the moment the market is all over the place, the cash might sit for a month waiting for instructions.

Next month should produce around $293 in dividends, which is a 152% YOY increase, which is mainly attributable to my IRA and a few newer positions plus some growth in my other accounts.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great June, suns out - guns out!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned

Recent Buy, May 2017

Clean Teeth Gremlin here to talk about some more recent buys. Today I accomplished two things.  One, I went to the dentist then starved myself for a few extra hours because my teeth felt so damn clean - minty fresh.  And two, I bought some stock.  I have been making fewer purchases since the demise of Loyal3 (which I will also discuss today), but going forward my purchases will all be bigger in terms of quantity.  Also because I cannot shotgun approach investing as I could with Loyal3, I a being a little more price conscious.  Still those are not bad things, and what did I buy?

Today, I added a new position by purchasing shares of T-Rowe Price (TROW) in my IRA  account.  I bought 15 shares, with a total cost of $1035.26 ($69.01 / share, including commission).  The current yield is 3.21%.    The P/E ratio for TROW sits today at approximately 13.34, below it historical average.  TROW boasts around a 43% payout ratio and 31 years of dividend growth.  This purchase will add $34.20 to my 12-month forward income.

TROW has been raising their dividend as long as I have been alive.  Last year was their weakest raise in a long time, below 4%, however looking at them over the last 5-10 year frame one can see their assets under management (AUM) have increased, and the dividend TROW pays has typically been increasing between 6 and 10%.  That is the kind of growth I want.  Overall, I am a supporter of asset managers, after all I already own AMP and would like to own a few others.

I agree with dividend bloggers who have stated online before that 'the market and investing are not that hard to understand.'  Still most of those people (and people less driven or intelligent than them)  who even do understand the basics jump for ETFs, Mutual Funds, and other types of index funds.  Why?  Because it is easy.  Investing as a dividend growth investor takes time and patience.  Most people don't have those things.  Picking a few low cost index funds is much easier (for the record if you're not interested in stocks, I fully support people going that route). In a sense this investment along with AMP show that I do think people will invest, but I don't think they will doing the investing.  Perhaps that is a somewhat cynical thought, but in doing my regular work, my side job at a bar, and overall daily life it is easy to think most people fall into that category.

As for Loyal3, I am still waiting on them to transfer my assets to my main account.  Apparently the tiny transfer division at Loyal3 was completely swamped with transfer requests when they announced their recent shutdown.  Who did not see that coming?  Answer - clearly just Loyal3.  I would imagine a lot of the low costs users immediately looked for the next best option, and it was not the one being offered to them at the outset.  So all those fleeing the ship did the same thing, jumped to a better ship or an island in my case.

I will update my portfolio page at the end of the month.  Here, again, is to a stronger 2017.

What do you think of TROW? 

- Gremlin
- Long TROW and AMP

PS - I hope Nashville gets the Stanley Cup!

April Review / May Preview 2017

Party Gremlin here to discuss the wonderful month that was April.  Before I get to finance I will just say I had a few nice weekends away, both in the state of Pennsylvania.  One trip was for sports, and the other was to celebrate the fact that a friend of mine is losing the ability to claim the 'single-not married' box on his taxes.  Congrats to him, but we all know that those parties really are for the other guys, especially the married ones, like me, in attendance.  No there were no clubs of the stripped down variety, but that is no impedance to fun!

Apart from the fun, Loyal 3 announced they were ceasing operations and changing their format.  I have already begun an account transfer to move the shares out into my existing brokerage.  Though many positions I had there were not yet completed, the fact remains is that they will continue to pay me and boost my output.  I intend on holding those positions, and adding to them when the valuations become justified in the future.  The 'loss' of Loyal 3 is not a loss so much as it is merely a transition that I anticipated making anyway.

April:

This past month I put $1600 dollars to work between Loyal 3 and my regular brokerage.  With the loss of Loyal 3, my regular large purchases should become much more common.

Last month I brought in a total of $70.94 in dividends ($70.94 taxable, $0 Roth, and $0 IRA).  This is a decrease from last year ($84.31 total) by 16%.  The reason for the decrease remains the change in payout structure from Kraft-Heinz (KHC), which has switched to paying on the 3rd month of each quarter.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized six this month from Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)*, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)*, Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), Coca Cola (KO), Realty Income (O), and Walmart (WMT).  Raises were between  0.2% to more than 9%.  Thus far for 2017, I have realized 21 dividend increases! (* = in local currency)

Next month I will realize three raises, from Ameriprise Financial (AMP), General Dynamics (GD), and Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI).  The increases range from around 1.5% to more than 9%.  I will also likely realize a dividend increase from Apple (AAPL), however it has not yet been announced.

May:

Our only remaining debt is extremely low interest auto loans.  So far I have stashed a significant amount of cash, with the impending doom of home shopping on the horizon...

Next month should produce around $242 in dividends, which is a 183% YOY increase, which is mainly attributable to my IRA and a few newer positions plus some growth in my other accounts.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

Hope everyone has a great May (have fun)!
- Dividend Gremlin
- Long all stock tickers mentioned