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