Recent Buys, October 2019

Baby Watch Gremlin here to give you my October buy updates. My daughter is due soon, so if my next monthly update is late, you will understand why...  As I noted in a recent post, zero fee investing is allowing me to change the way I invest.  I will rapidly deploy money to attractive stocks in more of a shotgun fashion.  This will enable me to average into one or several positions overtime. I will also use this approach to round up positions in a practical manner.  I don't expect this to be a common methodology, but I thrive in chaos so it works for me.

No purchase or account fees were paid this month. I added shares of the following companies by account (* indicates a new position, which will be discussed below):

Taxable:
MSM* - 5 shares on 10/16 @ $71.21 / share ($356.05 total), $14.06 income added
SON - 2 shares on 10/17 @ $57.12 / share ($115.43 total), $3.44 income added
KTB - 2 shares on 10/18 @ $38.14 / share ($76.27 total), $4.48 income added
EVR - 1 share on 10/18 @ $77.51 / share ($77.51 total), $2.32 income added
KR* - 5 shares on 10/18 @ $24.21 / share ($121.08 total), $3.20 income added
Total Invested = $746.34
Annual Income Added (AIA) = $27.50

Roth:
WBA - 3 shares on 10/14 @ $53.61 / share ($160.82 total), $5.49 income added
XOM - 1 share on 10/14 @ $68.79 / share ($68.79 total), $3.48 income added
MATW - 1 share on 10/14 @ $34.86 / share ($34.86 total), $0.80 income added
KMI - 2 shares on 10/14 @ $20.11 / share ($40.21 total), $2.00 income added
SJM - 1 share on 10/18 @ $108.08 / share ($108.08 total), $3.52 income added
GLW* - 5 shares on 10/18 @ $29.33 / share ($146.63 total), $4.00 income added
Total Invested = $559.39
AIA = $19.29

Standard IRA:
WLK - 5 shares on 10/14 @ $62.47 / share ($312.34 total), $5.25 income added
Total Invested = $312.34
AIA = $5.25

Totals:
Invested = $1618.07
AIA = $52.04

*New Positions:
Most of my investments went to existing positions, so I will not cover my reasoning on them.  However, new investments are detailed below.

MSM (MSC Industrial Direct Co.): MSM is best described in their own words - "distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company’s MRO products comprise cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies". I like this type of repeatable, necessary industry plus MSM is valued very nicely.  MSM Overview Link

KR (Kroger): Here we have a grocery company, that follows on the heels of Walmart (WMT). The grocery industry is changing, and like all the rest so is KR - which is why is a slight bargain. Not everyone, but most people will still want to inspect their food before they buy it. In addition, having a physical store, which doubles as a local distribution center, people can find what they want and easily transition from physical to digital or vice versa. This is a huge market space, big enough for lots of competition.  KR Overview Link

GLW (Corning Inc): They are responsible for making glassware ranging from cookware that goes in the oven to high-tech products for your cell phone.  I like this company a lot, they are akin to the people selling pick-axes and shovels to miners during a gold-rush. They stand to make money regardless of how many ounces of gold are found.  GLW Overview Link

I will update my portfolio page at the end of the month.

What do you think of these companies?

- Gremlin
- Long all tickers mentioned

The Game Change of Fee Free Investing

Aggressive Gremlin here to talk about how fee free investing in a regular brokerage is a complete game changer - an outright epiphany if you will. Previously, I would stockpile cash to ensure that my expense ratio was super low.  That means investing $1000+ each time.  With fee free investing that concern is gone, and now the lightning round / golden age of investing is here. It is like the old Loyal3 or Robinhood set up, only faster.  So what does this mean?

Rapid Deployment: I will no longer let cash pile up, it will be deployed as quickly as possible to attractively valued stocks.  This might seem chaotic to some, but I like chaos.  It will further allow me to grow my annual projected income rapidly and regularly.  Additionally, after my second child comes along I will not have a ton of excess cash flow for about 8 months, so my dividends will be doing a lot of the lifting.

Instant Diversification: I will aim to add new positions, provided they are worth adding, all over the place.  If $500 is invested in a month, it will not be an all eggs in one basket.  Certainly some people will chime in with the 'diworseification' comment, but unless they're Copernicus or got a working crystal ball...

Rounding Up: I will be looking to round up stock positions by a few shares here or there, pending good value.  Nothing special here, I just prefer round numbers.

Once Monthly Posting: No longer will posts for recent buys occur, now it will be a monthly purchase update across all accounts. 

All changes will be reflected in my portfolio at the end of the month.

How will you use fee free investing to your advantage - beyond the obvious?
- Welcome to the brave new investing world.
- Gremlin

September Review / October Preview, 2019

Happy Fall Gremlin here to talk about this past month and look forward into the next.  Where did September go?  Between a blistering pace at work, family visits on weekends, and the day to day it all seems to go by so fast.  The market has rocketed up (mostly), and at times pushed some stocks off a cliff.  A lot of great companies are sitting out there ready to be purchased at good valuations.  Some are stretching so hard they are about to throw their backs out.  And yet here we sit with more dividends rolling in each month.  So with that said, how did I do?

September:

This month I made no stock purchases this month.

I brought in a total of $436.50 in dividends ($187.16 taxable, $90.58 Roth, and $158.76 IRA).  This is an increase from last year (397.59 total) by 9.8%.

In terms of dividend increases, I realized* nine raises from the Hershey's (HSY), Kellogg's (K), Target (TGT), Union Pacific (UNP), Discover Financial Services (DFS), JM Smucker (SJM), Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA), Westlake Chemical (WLK), and Aqua America (WTR).  The increases ranged from 2% to greater than 10%.  I have now realized 48 raises thus far this year.  I also realized one cut of approximately 33% by KHC. In addition, Kontoor Brands (KTB) initiated a dividend and VF Corp (VFC) decreased their's, however these add up to the same respective amount so this stat will not be added in as this is due to the KTB spin off by VFC.

Next month I will realize three raises from the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), and Realty Income (O).  The increases range from just about 0.2% to 3%.

* I only count increases when realized, because until that money is delivered any statements or declarations are simply conjecture.

October:

The mortgage continues and I am putting extra cash towards the principal monthly - not a huge number, but every little bit counts. Our debts currently outstrip our assets (I choose not to count the house or cars as assets).  Outside of our house, we still have very low interest auto debt (1.5% for our car), which I am aiming to pay off by the end of the year.  Debt is being eliminated, and we are aggressively building and assets.

My next purchase will be in November.  Our focus is on eliminating the auto debt before next year.

Next month should produce around $128 in dividends, which is a 34% YOY increase.

My portfolio page is currently up to date.

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