Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses (Update) - End-Month (December 2014)



For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 550 stock analyses (and still growing) with links to various stock analyses that I found throughout the dividend blog community.  

The collection was created in a Google Docs Spreadsheet so that I may continue to maintain and update the list periodically. My plan is to provide bi-monthly updates (one at mid month and another and the end of the month) to inform everyone of new stock analysis I have recently added to my collection. 

The collection goes back two years.  Eventually, as the collection grows, I am planning to only keep stock analyses for a one year time period. You should also know that to help highlight the stock analyses that have recently been created during the last 2 months, I have provided NEW!! at the end of those analyses.

The following is a list of newly added stocks analysis that were prepared during the second half of the month of DECEMBER (2014):

1. Aaron's, Inc (AAN)
• by Sure Dividend
2. American Reality Capital Properties (ARCP)
• by Dividend Growth Investor
3. Cardinal Health, Inc (CAH)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
4. Caterpillar, Inc (CAT)
• by Sure Dividend
5. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
6. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
7. Church & Dwight Co, Inc (CHD)
• by Sure Dividend
8. Deere & Co (DE)
• by Sure Dividend
9. Emerson Electric Co (EMR)
• by Dividend Ladder
10. Flowers Food (FLO)
• by Sure Dividend
11. Helmerich & Payne, Inc (HP)
• by Sure Dividend
12. IBM Corp (IBM)
• by Sure Dividend
13. McGraw-Hill Financial (MHFI)
• by Dividend Ladder
14. Microsoft Corp (MSFT)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
15. Nucor Corp (NUE)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
16. TJX Companies, Inc (TJX)
• by Sure Dividend
17. Unilever Plc (UL)
• by Cazadividendos
18. Vector Group Ltd (VGR)
• by Sure Dividend
19. Waste Management, Inc (WM)
• by Sure Dividend

 

Hope you like the new and improved updates
with links provided directly in this post!

Please feel free to leave me a message if you prepared a stock analysis during Second Half of December 2014 that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to this post and my collection.  Please make sure to confirm that it is a dividend paying stock and that it is a individual stock analysis.

My goal is to make this collection become the centralized source where one begins their research on a particular dividend stock company or at the very least, a source to confirm if a company stock is worth buying. Whether your a beginner or a veteran, I want this list to become an invaluable reference tool for you all. Best part, unlike other subscription based sites, I plan to keep this completely free for everyone to enjoy and benefit from. Feel free to share with all of your friends and family! 

Click on Link Below

Complete Collection of Stock Analyses

Also don't forget to check out our:

NEW!! Collection of Recent Buys

 

 

Collection of RECENT BUYS (Summary) - December 2014

Since I began investing in dividend stocks approximately a year and a half ago I've been keeping a personal log of what other dividend bloggers and dividend investors are buying.  Until now, I've just done it for my own personal knowledge and it has proven to be a great resource I use when I have no idea what I should buy. 

The collection essentially highlights the recent buys I have discovered throughout the dividend blog community. I always like to see what others are buying.  And with this collection, one can easily see all the buys in one centralized source.  And just last month, I started making my collection of Recent Buys available on my blog for everyone. Hope everyone has found it to be a great resource! 
 

In case you just want a quick summary of what everyone has been buying this past month, below is a chart that depicts just that! :)  

(The chart and table above only includes companies with more than 1 buy)

As you can see, the clear winner were oil and energy company stocks.  With the market making a little surge towards the end of the year and the Dow Jones now above 18,000, value is become just a bit harder to find again (outside of oil and energy stocks).

 

Don't forget to bookmark or add this page to your favorites!!
 

 COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

As with my collection of stock analyses, my goal is to make this collection also become a centralized source for everyone. It could become a place where one can get ideas on what to invest in next, to establish a desired stock purchase price, or simply to see what your favorite bloggers are buying.  Whatever your reason, my hope is that this collection proves to be a great reference tool and helps provide you that little extra advantage that you are looking for in order to succeed with your investing.

 

Please make sure to check back periodically as

the list will be updated frequently!

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!

Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!!

 

 

 And a prosperous 2015 year filled with more "dividends" than you received last year!!



ASK THE READERS - Should I buy BBL, GE, CVX, COP?

 

We tried this out for the first time last month I thought it went well so I am planning to continue with an "Ask the Reader" post every month. 

As we did last month, we have selected four stocks on our current watch list that we have considered buying at this time.  But rather than stress ourselves out trying to decide which one to buy, we have decided to add some fun into our buying process and turn to our fellow bloggers and readers to find out what you think we should buy. 

Please spend a few minutes to vote for one stock from this group that you would consider buying in the upcoming week.  Also, please briefly tell us why you like the stock that you picked. 

Thanks in advance for your contribution!

STOCK #1 (BBL)

• Sector: Materials - Metals & Mining
• Market Cap: 93 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 4.26% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 11 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1990
• Payout Ratio: 56%
• P/E Ratio: 11.6

STOCK #2 (GE)

• Sector: Industrials - Electrical Equipment
• Market Cap: 252 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 3.5% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 3 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1899 
• Payout Ratio: 67%
• P/E Ratio: 19.1

STOCK #3 (CVX)

• Sector: Energy - Oil & Gas
• Market Cap: 206 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 4.10% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 19 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1912 
• Payout Ratio: 39%
• P/E Ratio: 10.0

STOCK #4 (COP)

• Sector: Energy - Oil & Gas
• Market Cap: 85.9 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 4.6% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 1 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1934
• Payout Ratio: 38%
• P/E Ratio: 9.25

**LET US KNOW WHICH STOCK YOU WOULD PICK AND WHY**

Collection of Stock Analyses (NEW additions) : Mid-Month (December 2014)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 531 stock analyses (and still growing) with links to various stock analyses that I found throughout the dividend blog community.  

The collection was created in a Google Docs Spreadsheet so that I may continue to maintain and update the list periodically. My plan is to provide bi-monthly updates (one at mid month and another and the end of the month) to inform everyone of new stock analysis I have recently added to my collection. 

The collection goes back two years.  Eventually, as the collection grows, I am planning to only keep stock analyses for a one year time period. You should also know that to help highlight the stock analyses that have recently been created during the last 2 months, I have provided NEW!! at the end of those analyses.

The following is a list of newly added stocks analysis that were prepared during the first half of the month of DECEMBER (2014):

1. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc (APD)
• by Dividend Ladder
2. Acher-Daniels Midland Co (ADM)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
3. Archer-Daniels Midland Co (ADM)
• by Sure Dividend
4. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
• by Cazadividendos
5. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
• by Pollies Dividend
6. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Pollies Dividend
7. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Average Dividend Yield
8. Cisco Systems, Inc (CSCO)
• by Dividends 4 Life
9. Coca Cola Company (KO)
• by Sure Dividend
10. Consolidated Edison (ED)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
11. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Dividend Growth Investor
12. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Pollies Dividend
13. Family Dollar Stores, Inc (FDO)
• by Sure Dividend
14. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
• by Sure Dividend
15. National Oilwell Varco (NOV)
    • by Dividend Developer
16. PepsiCo, Inc (PEP)
• by Market Realist
17. Realty Income Corp (O)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
18. Texas Instruments, Inc (TXN)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
19. Union Pacfic Corp (UNP)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
20. Walmart Stores, Inc (WMT)
    • by Sure Dividend
21. Walmart Stores, Inc (WMT)
• by Dividends 4 Life
22. 3M Company (MMM)
• by Dividend Ladder

Hope you like the new and improved updates
with links provided directly in this post!

Please feel free to leave me a message if you prepared a stock analysis during First Half of December 2014 that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to this post and my collection.  Please make sure to confirm that it is a dividend paying stock and that it is a individual stock analysis.

My goal is to make this collection become the centralized source where one begins their research on a particular dividend stock company or at the very least, a source to confirm if a company stock is worth buying. Whether your a beginner or a veteran, I want this list to become an invaluable reference tool for you all. Best part, unlike other subscription based sites, I plan to keep this completely free for everyone to enjoy and benefit from. Feel free to share with all of your friends and family! 

Click on Link Below

Complete Collection of Stock Analyses

Also don't forget to check out our:

NEW!! Collection of Recent Buys

P2P Accounts (Update) - December 2014

November was somewhat flat month for us on Lending Club as we purchased a total of $422.13 worth of notes this month (a total of $300.00 in new notes and $122.13 notes from the trading platform).  We came close to our goal of reinvest the money we collect each month. And this past month, many of the notes purchased (outside of the trading platform) was done through an automatic investment program. This was the first month and so far so good.  It has definitely saved me a bunch of time...time I really don't have because work has gotten really busy for me lately.  I received a promotion back in August but I'm definitely earning every penny of that promotion. 

 

On December 1st, our Lending Club account balance was at $9,092.76 (an increase of $46.83 from last month). We received $489.18 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received $53.48 in interest (a decrease of $9.00/mo.).  The principal balance of our active notes was $8,338.40 (a decrease of $64.68 from last month), with $125.00 of loans in review or funding and a remaining cash balance of $754.36 (increase of 236.51).  We are currently generating 5.03% on our seasoned notes. One loan in the amount of $5.57 was charged off this month.

_____________________________________________________________ 

  

Again, November was another disappointing month for our Prosper account as we purchased a total of only $284.86.  For the fourth month in a row, we didn't find enough notes to reinvest our payments for the month. And unlike Lending Club, we unfortunately didn't even come close to reinvesting the money we collected last month meaning our money didn't get the immediate compounding effect that we strive to achieve through our P2P accounts. We are started the automatic investing for Prosper towards the middle of the month so we are hoping that in December, we begin to see things turn around a bit.  Either that or I will need to somehow find the time each night to look for notes. 



On December 1st, our Prosper account balance was at $8,758.00 (an decrease of $2.47 from last month).  We received $441.35 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received, $57.76 in interest (a decrease of $5.70/mo.).  Since we were not very successful in finding new Prosper notes to invest in, the principal balance of our active notes was $7,896.99 (a decrease of $125.33 from last month). We are currently sitting on a cash balance of $861.01, of which a total of $175.00 is  pending investments and $681.01 available to invest.  We are currently generating 7.18% on our seasoned notes.

 



 ________________________________________________________________

Total Value of Both P2P accounts: $17,850.76

($44.36 increase from last month)

 

Total Interest Earned in November: $111.24
($14.70 decrease from last month)

 

Estimate Average Interest Earned: 6.10%

Click below to view  our peer-to-peer lending accounts

PEER-TO-PEER LENDING ACCOUNTS

________________________________________________________________
  

NOTES CRITERIA:

Our family has been investing in peer-to-peer lending notes for approximately 3 years now. And because of past defaults, we have now refined our search criteria. As a result, we now take a slightly more conservative approach with the notes we invest in. Currently, we only invest in notes that fit the following initial criteria:

• Amount requested is under $6,000;
• Credit score of 700 or more; and
• Monthly payment will be less than $250.

From those we evaluate (Employment Status):

• The borrower's income (prefer > $50,000 but depends on amount requested);
• Length of employment (must be > 2 years); and
• Their occupation (certain occupations, known to be more secured, are more desirable).

We then look at (Ability To Pay):

• Their credit history;
• Revolving balance; and
• Debt to income level, etc.

We do not invest in any notes where borrow is currently delinquent, of if they have had  a public record within the last 12 months. We also do not invest in notes where the description provided is "Other." We feel that there is too much risk involve when the borrower is not willing to reveal why he/she needs the money.

 

Retirement Accounts (Update) - December 2014



For several years now, our retirement accounts have been growing at a decent pace...this year, however, the performance has been pretty anemic! I am thankful that, overall, we are not losing money. But as our readers probably already know, the anemic growth is one of the reasons why our family has now decided to switch our focus towards building our Dividend Stocks Portfolio and P2P Lending Accounts so as to have optional income streams in retirement. Nevertheless, we will still continue to track these accounts as they are still part of our retirement plan.

EXISTING RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS (DECEMBER UPDATE):

 

Below is a quick update to show the current values of our retirement accounts as of December 1, 2014.  For a more comprehensive list of values (beginning January 2014) and details of these accounts, please visit the Retirement Accounts page on our blog.

 

As of December 1, 2014

PENSION

Cash Value of Pension: $210,287
($1,817 increase from November update of $208,470)
 

457K

Total value of 457K: $118,660
($750 increase from November update of $117,910)
 

Roth IRAs

Total value of Roth IRA accounts: $55,018
($435 increase from November update of $54,583)

 

For the second straight month, we saw increases in all, three of our retirement accounts.  In all, these three accounts increased a total of $3,002. Not as good as the $6,311 we saw last month but I will take a monthly gain over a monthly loss any day!

As it stands, the total amount of our retirement accounts is currently valued at: $383,965 (up from $380,963 reported last month). We currently contribute to my 457K (up to my company's match - 3%) and also $200 each to a Roth IRA for both myself and my wife. Although we are not entirely happy with their growth, we still feel that the 457K and Roth IRAs should remain part of our retirement plan.  If for nothing more, the 457K and Roth IRAs will help supplement my pension. 

 

Click below to view retirement accounts page 

RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

 



Mortgage Balance (Update) - December 2014



If you have viewed our family's Net Worth Page, you probably already know that it does not include the equity in our home.  Although, we do realize that it is technically part of our overall net worth, we decided that since our home equity is not an asset that we can count on for income (unless we sell and buy something cheaper) we would exclude it from our net worth calculation.

 

For the purpose of this blog, we are more interested in documenting our loan balance rather than our home equity.  With that said, we will use the current Zillow value as our estimated home value and use it to figure out the percentage we owe on our home. For those interested, we will include the amount of our home equity, but know that we are less concerned with the equity since we have no plans to cash out or otherwise sell our home. Our main goal is to pay off our home on or before my retirement date. 

HOME VALUE:

According to Zillow, our home is currently worth: $784,294 (slightly up from $781,080 in November post). The housing market in our area has been steadily climbing this year but the gains have definitely subsided since reaching the summer highs. 

 

  

 

 

Mortgage Balance (November 2014):
$336,849 (down from $338,557 in November)
Percentage Owed:
42.95% (down from 43.34% in November)
Home Equity:
$447,445 (up from $442,522 in November)

Even though we don't consider home equity as part of our net worth, since I am sort of a statistics nerd, I still like to look at the numbers and draw fancy comparisons. :) 

With that said, our home equity did increase by almost $5K this past month (a total of: $4,923). For percentage owed,  the number slightly decreased, going from 43.34% to 42.95% during the past month.  For now, I think the housing market will remain steady...at least until the Feds decide to raise interest rates.  I have a feeling we may see a dip in home prices in 2015 when the Feds raise interest rates as expected.  

Mortgage Background:
For those that have not read the Preface on our home equity, we currently hold a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at the incredibly low rate of 2.875%.  My goal is to retire within 13 1/2 years so we are setting out to pay off our mortgage on or before my retirement date. Right in line with my retirement goal, we have a little less than 13 1/2 years left on our mortgage. Nevertheless, I would like to have it paid off in another 10 years (or less). If we accomplish that, I plan to use the last few years to aggressively build our passive income to help supplement our retirement and defer tapping into the 457K as long as we can so it can continue to grow. 
 
Right now we are not putting any extra money towards the principal given our low 2.875% interest rate. We feel that we could make our money grow faster by investing it and while keeping the money more liquid. At a certain point, maybe in 8-10 years, we may consider using money from our investment accounts to wipe out the remaining mortgage balance.  Until then, we will continue to grow that money outside, rather than have it locked into our home.

  

Click on the link below to view our mortgage balance history:

Mortgage Balance History

 

RECENT BUY - BHP Billiton Plc (NYSE: BBL)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING:

• BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
• Purchased 15 shares of BBL on 12/5/14 at $46.00
• Total Spent: $690.00
• $36.30 added to annual dividends

In case you missed our recent post, ASK THE READERS - Should I buy BBL, UL, XOM, or BNS?, we had asked our readers of four stocks selected, which one they would purchase, BBL was the clear winner! (BBL-7; UL-2 , XOM- 2,BNS-1). 

Follow our readers pick, we purchased 10 shares of BBL near the end of November when the stock was around $50.  On Friday, the stock set a new 52-week low. Since we believe in the stock's long term prospects and the company's ability to recover from the woes, we think BBL offers a great value here.  So on Friday, we decided to pick up another 15 shares of BBL. We now own a total of 45 shares in our family's dividend stocks portfolio.

Our family's dividend stocks portfolio currently has a total of 31 dividend paying companies that pay us just a little over $2,903/year in dividends (excludes our Edward Jones account). 

Our family's dividend stocks portfolio may be found by
clicking on the link below: 

Dividend Stocks Portfolio

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis

that can be access through the link below: 

Collection of Stock Analyses

We also just started a list of Recent Buys by other bloggers

that can be access through the link below:

Collection of Recent Buys
 

 

HERE IS A QUICK FACT SHEET FOR THE STOCK I JUST PURCHASED:

BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)

• P/E: 10.04
• Payout Ratio: 56%
• Dividend Yield: 4.80%
• Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 8.19% 
• 11 consecutive years of dividend increases
• Recent dividend Ex date: 9/3/2014
• Next dividend Ex date: approx. 3/5/2015
• Have paid a dividend since: 2002 (12 years)
• Pays a dividend 2 times a year.
• Market Cap: 138.7 Billion
• 52-week high: $71.44
• 52-week low: $45.75

 

If you missed it, I had prepared a stock analysis of BBL back in May of this year where I concluded that I felt the stock was a good value under $60. Well, the stock has continued to dip and is now near $50 and my feelings haven't changed so took the opportunity to invest in a company I think is a good value at today's prices.  

What are your thoughts about my recent purchase?

What are you buying?


 

NEW Twitter Account!



 

You can now follow us on our new Twitter account:

 

Check out AFFJ (@FrugalFamilyof4): https://twitter.com/FrugalFamilyof4?s=09

 

We finally did it.  It took me a while but I finally found the time to open up a twitter account today.  I am hoping to use the twitter account to help me stay more in tune with everyone's updates.  I figure, the quicker I find out about a Recent Buys and a Stock Analysis, the sooner I can add it to your collections. 

 

If you have a twitter account, feel free to stop by and say hello! :) AFFJ

Dividend Stocks Portfolio (Update) - December 2014

Here is the recent update to our dividend stocks portfolio – December 2014.

 

SALES 

We are still trying to re-balance our portfolio as there are a few companies we do not plan to hang onto for the long term. Unfortunately, our re-balancing efforts was non-existent again as we did not sell any shares in our portfolio this past month.  On the positive side, since we did not sell any shares, at least that means that our annual dividends did not decrease.

TOTAL VALUE OF ALL SALES: $0.00

OVERALL DECREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $0.00

 

PURCHASES

November was somewhat light for us compared to the last few months.  We still ended up picking up shares in two companies this past month. Both were companies we had already owned and was merely buying more shares to lower our overall cost basis.  
 

The following are the actual buys that we made during the month of November:

11/3/14
100 shares of ARCP (American Reality Capital Properties) at $7.54 ($754.00)

• Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $100.00

11/19/14

10 shares of BBL (BHP Billiton Plc) at $51.00 ($510.00)

• Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $24.20

TOTAL SPENT ON NEW ACQUISITION: $1,264.00*
*We receive 100 free trades per year through our brokerage account so there was no commission paid on these purchase.
 

As of 12/3/2014, we still have 73 free trades to make until 9/15/2015

OVERALL INCREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $124.20

With the additional $124.20 in annual dividends, our new estimated annual income is now $2,859.32 or and average of approximately $238/month. Our plan is to continued adding money to our portfolio each month at similar rate as we did this past month. However, we do have surplus cash sitting around in case we do see another nice dip in the market, or if we find a great value that we simply can't past up. :) 

DIVIDENDS

November was a below average month in terms of dividends received but the month just before the end of a quarter always seems to be a little low for us.  During this past month, our dividend total was $156.74. To date, we are averaging $199.75 in dividends each month.  We had 7 companies pay us a dividend this past month. 

For the month of November, we receive the following dividends:

WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
11/03/14 - Dividend from VZ (Verizon Communications): $8.25
11/03/14 - Dividend from DE (Deere and Company): $10.80
11/03/14 - Dividend from T (AT&T Inc): $18.56
11/14/14 - Dividend from ARCP (American Realty Capital Properties): $37.50
11/17/14 - Dividend from KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc): $10.12
11/21/14 - Dividend from ARTNA (Artesian Resources Corp): $13.98
11/24/14 - Dividend from TIS (Orchids Paper Product Co): $14.00

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
11/03/14 - Dividend from T (AT&T Inc): $43.53

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $156.74*

* We currently receive our dividends as cash in all stock positions held.
  

With the November dividends, we just exceed our 2014 goal of $2,150 in annual dividends received.  In fact, we are now roughly 2% above our goal.  It definitely feels good to meet a particular goal you've set for yourself.  Now onward and upward! :)

In case you interested, our family's dividend stocks portfolio may be found by clicking on the link below:

 

Dividend Stocks Portfolio