Not cheap...but cheaper --- MAT & QCOM

Today I initiated a position in MAT and QCOM.

• MAT:  100 shares @ $26.69 --- Yield  5.70%
• QCOM:  45 shares @ $ 53.59 --- Yield  3.96%

Total capital invested is $5094.10 and the combined yield is 4.86%. These purchases will add $247.40 to my yearly dividends.

I owned shares of MAT back in 2014 and 2015 and quite frankly it is not for the faint of heart. I watched my shares bounce around between 19 and 34 during that period. This certainly could happen again. Speaking of volatile, QCOM is down around $20 over the last couple of months and traded between $40 and $70 in 2016. Great yielders, but speculative....no doubt about it.

Forward dividends are around $6725.

Recent Buy --- BMY

Today I added to my BMY position.

• BMY: 40 shares @ $48.98 --- Yield 3.18%

Total capital invested is $1966.15 and will add $62.4 to my yearly dividends.

I just got back from a vacation on a cruise ship and noticed BMY has dropped quite a bit over the past week. Since it is one of my smallest positions, I decided to add a few shares.

Other stocks on my radar include JNJ, VZ, XOM, and TGT. I may lighten up on TIS as well since it is approaching $30. 

Forward dividends are around $6475.00.

KMB raises dividend 5.43% --- New yield is 3.21%

Today KMB declared a quarterly dividend of $0.97 per share, or $3.88 annualized. This is a 5.43% increase from the prior dividend of $0.92.

The dividend will be payable on April 4, 2017, to stockholders of record on March 10, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of March 8, 2017.

Since I currently own 40.16 shares my yearly dividends will increase by $8.03. This is the second increase for this year from my portfolio.

2017 Dividend raises

• OHI:  1.64% --- $3.20
• KMB:  5.43% --- $8.03

Total yearly dividend increase --- $11.23

Recent Buy --- TGT

Today I doubled my TGT position.

• TGT: 40 shares @ $67.28 --- Yield  3.57%

Total capital invested is $2698.07 and will add $96.00 to my yearly dividends. These share have been under insane pressure recently having plummeted $10 over the last month.

I like the yield, dividend growth, and long term prospects. Amazon can't put everyone out of business....can they?

In other news, I closed out an XOM covered call that netted me around $120 and am currently trying to close 3 PFE covered calls that expire tomorrow. The strike price is $32 and the shares are hovering around $32.05 and are not cooperating with me today. I have a $.21 limit order to buy the calls against a $1.29 premium so I should net around $320 went the transaction occurs. This call should be closed when PFE falls back down to $32.

I am not dumping the shares over a few pennies if push comes to shove, but it would be nice to earn around 85% of the premium. We'll see how it goes.

Forward dividends are now around $6400.00.

First blog stats for 2017

A few years ago, I would occasionally post updated blog stats. Many have told me to use Google analytics to monitor all kinds of neat SEO stuff and other website analytics. I truly think Google analytics is more accurate with the monthly page view account, but in the end...meh the Blogger info is convenient enough and paints a fairly descriptive picture of what is happening.

To be perfectly honest, Even if I had the patience to go through the process, it is HIGHLY unlikely that I would implement any strategies to drive more traffic to the site. I am a gen Xer who really doesn't give a shit about all that sort of stuff. I'm using the site as a virtual financial diary.

I simply like to record my buys and sells and track the results. My tools are the most basic Blogger platforms that I set up 3 years ago and could not set up this blog again now without about 10 hours of grueling, hair pulling frustration. The idea of setting up my dividend spreadsheet which pulls info from Google sheets gives me a headache. Typing links and code and right sizing the charts and then syncing them to the blog really was a pain in the ass!!

I simply like to use my camera phone to photograph the stock purchases and then write a brief summary of my thoughts. It doesn't get more simple than that! Oh yeah, I simply attach the photos because some goofball sent me an email a few years back and insinuated that I was not really investing this much money each month and that my dividends were fictitious.

Since I started posting the photos of the buys and dividends received, I have never heard another peep. I know I shouldn't do all this extra work with the cameras because one little doggie was barking. No biggie, I kind of like seeing the actual transactions on the blog.

Now if you look at the 1st chart above, you can see that for the first year and a half or so, I had steady increases each month and peaked around 28,000 views. Around August 2015 I was essentially dormant for 5 months as my wife and I went through a divorce.

In January 2016 I started buying and selling again, but was still in hibernation until the middle of the year. This is when the blog activity started to accelerate from a low point of around 10,000 monthly page views.  In December 2016 I actually surpassed 30,000 page views for the first time. Again, the actually count after subtracting various noise is probably several thousand views less.


Who sends me the traffic??

Chart #2 says Google, Dividend Mantra, Passive Income Pursuit, Captain Dividend, and one bad ass dividend building dividend machine named Accumulating Assets are sending me the most traffic each month. There are also some other weird looking websites in that list that I don't really understand.

Dividend Mantra used to send the most traffic, but the site has gone to hell and I can't even leave a comment without joining something. Fucking strange!

Anyway thanks everyone for your continued support and referrals.


Charts #3 and #4 show me which posts received the most traffic and what what my daily, monthly, and all time stats look like.

Damn!!! I still can't believe I hit $14,500 in forward passive income way back in 2014!! I've got some serious work to do....

I'll post more blog updates every couple of months or so going forward.

OHI raises dividend 1.64% --- New yield is 7.66%

Omega Healthcare Investors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.62 per share, or $2.48 annualized. This is a 1.64% increase from the prior dividend of $0.61.

The dividend will be payable on February 15, 2017, to stockholders of record on January 31, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of January 27, 2017.

Since I currently own 80 shares, my yearly dividends will increase by $3.20.

Back in 2014 & 2015 I posted every time a company I owned increased their dividends. I'm going to document dividend raises again this year.

Other companies I own that hopefully will provide increases this month include GM, TUP, and perhaps HCP.

2017 Dividend Increases

• OHI:  1.64% --- $3.20

Recent Buy --- ABBV

Today I initiated a new position in ABBV.

• ABBV:  40 shares @ $60.82 --- Yield  4.21%

Total capital invested is $2439.59 and will add $102.40 to my yearly dividends. I really didn't have any plans to buy anything for a few days, but then President Trump came to the rescue. Bargains are bargains, regardless of the catalyst. Lots of opportunities are opening up across the drug companies.

In other news my 3 Jan 20 $32 PFE covereds calls are looking a lot better today. The premium is $1.3 and I can capture about $.50 right now, but will hold on a bit longer to see what happens in the next few days.

Forward dividends are around $6300. 

Recent Buy --- PG

Today I started a position in P&G.

• PG: 30 shares @ $83.67 --- Yield  3.20%

Total capital invested is $2516.99 and will add $80.40 to my yearly dividends. 

Yesterday both Procter and Coke were downgraded to sell by Goldman Sachs with target prices of 77 and 39 (target yields of around 3.5%). Both are due for dividend raises soon. I'll definitely use the opportunity to add to both positions if they display further weakness. 

Also GIS is closing in on $60 so I am certainly looking to initiate a position soon. 

Forward dividends are around $6200.00

December 2016 Income & Expenses

The amounts below are cash amounts and are net of taxes, insurance, 401k contributions, HSA, etc. In other words, the amounts are what get deposited and withdrawn from my accounts.

Day job (take home pay) --- $12079.84
Dividends/Interest ---  $757.09

Total net income --- $12836.93

Expenses --- $8338 (Taken from Mint)

Savings  $4498 --- Rate  35.05%


Well another month is in the books and December proved to be equally difficult from a business and expense standpoint. I did grind it out though!!

I have almost thrown in the towel with the runaway expenses. Knee surgery bills, physical therapy bills, and oh yeah.....Christmas stuff!!

Anyway I feel fortunate to make it through this year as the economy in Houston has been damn tough. But like my boss has told me over the years "live in hope and die in despair"

The economy will only get bet better as I get better.!!

I'm looking forward to a great 2017 and will work damn hard to make it happen. I have a neighbor who owned a business that he sold approximately one year ago. He is still relatively young (early 50s). Almost every morning as I drive to work, he can be found in his yard working on some sort of project. He takes care of his own yard, builds tree houses, fiddles around with old cars, etc.

He looks very happy and most definitely relaxed. I will be that guy in a few short years!

Recent Buy --- M

Today I added to my Macy's position.

• M: 47 shares @ $30.69 --- Yield  4.92%

Total capital invested is $1449.38 and will add $70.97 to my yearly dividends.

Retail stocks are getting hammered across the board today so I decided to jump into what I consider a deep value play. It's hard to believe that M was trading around $45 a little over a month ago. Anyone who has followed me for a while know that I am not afraid to jump into unloved industries. I originally exercised an $32 M call several months ago. I almost purchased a call today but just decided to add a few shares instead.

Forward dividends are around $6120.

I will hit $10,000 in forward dividends THIS YEAR!

The 2017 Climb begins now --- VFC

Today I added more share to my VFC position.

• VFC:  30 shares @ $53.39 --- Yield  3.15%

Total capital invested is $1608.65 and will add $50.40 to my yearly dividends. This purchase brings my share count to 110.

Well the markets are starting off right where they ended last year....WAY UP! It feels good adding to my passive income right out of the gate and VFC is still trading near its 52 week low. I almost bought MDT and will be watching it closely.

Outside my current holdings, I really need to add a food company to the pipeline. GIS, MCD, and even SBUX after its recent pull back are interesting right now. On the muni side, I will be adding more share of NEA, hopefully each month.

It's exciting building an income portfolio and look forward to some scarier times in the market. Seeing a $20-30k paper loss but with cash on the sidelines is what it is all about if you want to create real wealth. If the market keeps chugging along for a while, NO PROBLEM! I'll just keep adding a few hundred dollars each month to the income stream.

Forward dividends are around $6050.

MAKE 2017 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER!!

2017 Goals

Here are few of the goals I would like to achieve during 2017.

Financial

Increase Lending Club balance from $10,000 to $15,000.
Reach $10,000 in forward passive income in my taxable account
Receive $8,000 in passive income in my taxable account


Build the following positions by year end

• 200 shares of Exxon
• 400 shares of Coke
• 100 shares of Procter & Gamble
• 200 shares of Verizon
• 100 shares of Johnson & Johnson
• 200 shares of Wells Fargo
• 100 shares of Apple
• 200 combined shares of PM & MO

Reach $900,000 in total net worth.

Health goals

Continue ACL knee rehab and start running again in March
Lots of hiking!!
Eat more grilled chicken and fish
2 gym visits a week


Education goals

Read at least 30 books on various business topics investing, retirement, sales, real estate, passive income, motivation, personal improvement

Get real estate and insurance licenses this year
Get myself knee deep into some serious grilling/smokin/outdoor cooking


Fun goals

Go on 1 cruise
Cabin rental and fishing trip
Attend a weekend baseball series at Disch Falk field in Austin
Hike a part of the PCT, Continental Divide Trail, or The Appalachian Trail
Continue learning how to play guitar
Transition back to a 5 day workweek 
Spend more time drinking cold beer in my hammock
Buy an old Jeep and just go driving off the grid every now and then


Professional goals

Continue to build a world class and dominant sales team
Promote at least two of my hand picked sales proteges into management
Increase sales by 10% and net profit by 25%
Earn $250,000 from my day job
Help build my girlfriend's new insurance career


Personal Goals

When not grinding my ass off at work, lots of family and friends time