Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses (Update) - Mid-Month (September 2014)


 
For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 387 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 immediately provide updates for new stock analysis the moment I become aware of them. So please make sure to check back periodically as the list will be updated frequently.
 
The collection goes back two years.  I will continue to delete old reviews that are more than 2 years old.  But to also highlight the stock analyses that have recently been created during the last 2 months, I have provided NEW!! at the end of those analyses.

Originally, I was only planning to provide monthly updates. However, seeing that there is already a decent size list of stocks to report just in the first half of the month, I have know decided that I will provide two updates to my blog collection. One at mid month and another and the end of the month.  This will allow everyone to be more up-to-date with the newly added stock analyses.
 
With that said, the following is a list of newly added stocks analysis that were prepared during the first half of the month of SEPTEMBER (2014):
  1. Chevron Corp (CVX)
  2. Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF)
  3. Coca Cola Co (KO)
  4. Consolidated Edison (ED)
  5. General Dynamics Corp (GD)
  6. Intel Corp (INTC)
  7. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
  8. Mattel, Inc (MAT)
  9. McDonalds Corp (MCD)
  10. Medtronic, Inc (MDT)
  11. PepsiCo, Inc (PEP)
  12. Sherwin Williams (SHW)
  13. Stanley Black & Decker (SWK)
  14. Walgreen Co (WAG)
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

Collection of Stock Analyses

Monday, September 15, 2014

Recent Buy - (NYSE: BBL)

 
 WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING:
  • BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
    • Purchased 10 shares of BBL on 9/15/14 at $59.75
    • Total Spent: $597.50
      • $24.20 added to annual dividends

With recent dip to the stock price for BHP Billiton Plc (BBL), we purchased a few shares today for our family's dividend stock portfolio.  Today's purchase of BBL was another new holdings for our family's dividend stocks portfolio. Our family's dividend stocks portfolio now has a total of 27 dividend paying companies that pay us just a little over $2,012/year in dividends. Happy to see that with today's purchase, our family's annual dividends has now reached the $2K milestone. YAY!

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

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis
that can be access through the link below: 


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

BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
  • P/E: 11.54
  • Payout Ratio: 56%
  • Dividend Yield: 4.04%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 8.19% 
  • 11 consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Recent dividend Ex date: 9/3/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 2002 (12 years)
  • Pays a dividend 2 a year.
  • Market Cap: 126.3 Billion
  • 52-week high: $71.44
  • 52-week low: $56.24
 
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 dipped under $60 today 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?

Friday, September 12, 2014

Recent Buys - (NYSE: SDRL, VZ, KMI, DE, TIS)

 
WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING:

SEADRILL LTD (SDRL)
    • Purchased 15 shares of SDRL on 9/11/14 at $32.48
      • $60.00 added to annual dividends
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC (VZ)
    • Purchased 5 shares of VZ on 9/10/14 at $48.45
      • $11.00 added to annual dividends
KINDER MORGAN INC (KMI)
    • Purchased 8 shares of KMI on 9/9/14 at $38.50
      • $13.76 added to annual dividends
 DEERE & CO (DE)
    • Purchased 3 shares of DE on 9/5/14 at $83.00
      • $7.20 added to annual dividends
ORCHIDS PAPER PRODUCTS CO (TIS)
    • Purchased 10 shares of TIS on 9/5/14 at $26.10
      • $14.00 added to annual dividends

Of the recent stocks purchased, only SDRL was a new holding as we already own shares of VZ, KMI, DE, TIS in our family's dividend stock portfolio. 
 
With the recent purchase of SDRL, our family's dividend stocks portfolio now has a total of 26 dividend paying companies. More importantly, the recent purchases added $105.96 to our family's annual dividends which is now estimated to be $1,960.20 a year.


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

We also maintain an extensive list of stock analysis
that can be access through the link below: 


HERE IS A QUICK FACT SHEET FOR THE STOCKS WE JUST PURCHASED:


Seadrill LTD (SDRL)
  • P/E:
  • Payout Ratio: 72%
  • Dividend Yield: 11.70%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 18.11% 
  • consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Last dividend Ex date: 9/4/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 2010 (4 years)
 

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ)
  • P/E: 10.66
  • Payout Ratio: 45%
  • Dividend Yield: 4.50%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 2.87% 
  • consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Upcoming dividend Ex date: 10/8/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 1984 (30 years)
 

Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI)
  • P/E: 33
  • Payout Ratio: 145%
  • Dividend Yield: 4.50%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): N/A 
  • consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Last dividend Ex date: 7/29/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 2011 (3 years)


Deere & Co (DE)

  • P/E: 9
  • Payout Ratio: 24%
  • Dividend Yield: 2.9%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): 14.03% 
  • 10 consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Upcoming dividend Ex date: 9/26/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 1937 (77 years)


Orchids Paper Products Co (TIS)
  • P/E: 17
  • Payout Ratio: 109%
  • Dividend Yield: 5.30%
  • Dividend Growth rate (5yr AVG): N/A 
  • consecutive years of dividend increases
  • Last dividend Ex date: 7/31/2014
  • Have paid a dividend since: 2011 (3 years)

What are your thoughts about my recent purchase?
What are you buying?

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

P2P Accounts (Update) - September 2014



August was pretty busy month for us on Lending Club as we purchased a total of $713.72 worth of notes this month. A total of $275.00 in new notes and $438.72 notes from the trading platform.  Finding new notes have been challenging lately so we have turned to looking for notes on Lending Club's trading platform.  Essentially, we are picking up notes from others who are looking to liquidate their notes. 

For these notes, we are searching for notes where the borrows credit score has increased by 20pts or more, the notes has between 9 and 27 months left, the value of note is less than $25, the borrowers credit score is minimum of 720, the borrower is both current and never late, and the note is not marked up.  In fact, if we can find them, we prefer ones where the seller is offering at a discount. :)

At the end of August, our Lending Club account balance was at $8,833.49 (an increase of $291.24 from our balance at the end of July). We received $515.65 in payments from our active notes in July; of which, we received, $59.59 in interest (an increase of $5.65/mo.).  The principal balance of our active notes was $8,350.39 (an increase of $183.77 from July total), with $25.00 of loans in review or funding and a remaining cash balance of $458.10.  We are currently generating 5.24% on our seasoned notes. One loan was charged off this month. The remaining value of that loan was $13.28
 

 
_______________________________________________________________ 


  
The month of August saw a bit of a rebound for us within our Prosper account as we purchased a total of only $741.44.  This is definitely a welcome sight as last month, we didn't even find enough notes to reinvest our payments for the month.  That meant our money wasn't getting the immediate compounding effect that we always hope to achieve through our P2P accounts.  In fact, one of the biggest draw for us toward P2P notes is the ability to immediately re-invest our notes into more notes almost immediately each month.

As with our Lending Club account, we are also buying notes off the trading platform.  Unfortunately, not the same quantities as we are in Lending Club.  The main difference and reason is because Prosper notes are mostly offered through an auction format and not as fixed price notes. So far, I think I prefer the Lending Club format over the Prosper trading platform.

At the end of August, our Prosper account balance was at $8,642.81 (an increase of $59.98 from our balance at the end of July). We received $355.09 in payments from our active notes in July; of which, we received, $67.19 in interest (an increase of $5.13/mo.).  The principal balance of our active notes was $8,233.10 (an increase of $386.14 from July total due to are spike in activity this past month). We also had $50.00 of loans in review or funding and a remaining cash balance of $384.69.  We are currently generating 7.62% on our seasoned notes.

 
 
In an effort to grow both P2P accounts, we are currently re-investing all of the payments that we receive from our notes. And when the cash balance is low, we are continuing to add more funds to the account so that we may constantly purchase new notes.
 ________________________________________________________________
 
Total Value of Both P2P accounts: $17,476.30
($346.90 increase from August)
 
Total Interest Earned in August: $126.78
($10.78 increase from August)
 
Average Interest Earned: 6.43%

 ________________________________________________________________ 
 

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.

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

PEER-TO-PEER LENDING ACCOUNTS

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Retirement Accounts (Update) - September 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 still thankful that we are not losing money. But that is 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 - AUGUST UPDATE:

Below is a quick update to show the current values of our retirement accounts as of September 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.
 

September 1, 2014

PENSION
Cash Value of Pension$204,298 ($1,502 increase from August total of $202,796)
 
457K
Total value of 457K: $118,799 ($3,197 increase from August total of $115,602)
 
Roth IRAs
Total value of Roth IRA accounts: $54,549 ($1,659 increase from August total of  $52,890)
 
Overall, the month of July was a pretty decent month as all three of our retirement accounts saw increases.  In all, our accounts grew a total of $6,358 from the August 1, 2014 totals.  As it stands, the total amount of our retirement accounts is currently valued at: $377,646.
 
Click below to view retirement accounts page 

RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

Friday, September 5, 2014

Mortgage Balance (Update) - September 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: $849,688 (up from $798,131 in July). The housing market in our area has been steadily climbing in the last few months. This past month was no different as we saw another roughly $50K gain since last month. I have my doubts on the accuracy of Zillow though, especially since the 30-day difference is listed as -$938 though.  I'm not quite sure why...the only think I can think of is that the figures are only calculated starting on the 1st of the month and this is a reflection of a 1-day loss since my Zillow screenshot was captured on 9/2/2014.

Although it is nice to see home values go up, the reality is it is simply a paper gain until we actually go to sell our home. Meanwhile, the higher value translates to more property taxes. 


 
Mortgage Balance (September 2014):
$341,961.35 (down from $343,687.93 in July)
Percentage Owed:
32.65% (down from 43.06% in July)
Home Equity:
$507,726 (up from $454,443 in July)

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. We have a little less than 14 years left on our mortgage but I would like to have it paid off in another 10 years (or less) so I can use the last few years to aggressively build our retirement nest egg.  

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. :) This last month was an amazing month in that our home equity grew another $53,283 (10.5%). Because of the huge month, we saw our home equity go above $500K for the first time. As for percentage owed,  the number decreased from 43% to 32.6% mainly due to the large growth in our equity.

Right now we are not putting any extra money towards the principal given our low 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:

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Dividend Stocks Portfolio (Update) - September 2014

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

SALES

As noted in the narrative for our dividend stocks portfolio, we are in the process of re-balancing our portfolio to meet our current stock criteria. Some of our holdings, therefore, do not reflect our current goals. We are in the process of selling a few of them as they reach our pre-established limit price.

We are now currently in the 5th month of re-balancing our portfolio. Our goal is to finish the transition sometime before the end of the year. Unfortunately, our re-balancing efforts was non-existent this month as we did not sell any shares in our portfolio this past month. 

TOTAL VALUE OF ALL SALES: $0.00

OVERALL DECREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $0.00
Since we did not sell any shares this past month, that means our annual dividends did not decrease.
 

PURCHASES

Although we did not sell any shares, that did not stop us from picking up a few shares this past month.  With the recent dip early in the month, we took the opportunity to add some new companies to our family portfolio. In all, we made a total of 8 purchases during the month of August.  We initiated shares in 3 new companies that we previously had not owned. 
 
The following are the actual buys that we made during the month of August:

8/4/14
9 shares of AFL(Aflac, Inc) at $58.75 ($528.75)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $13.32
8/5/14
10 shares of RIG (Transocean Ltd) at $38.30 ($383.00)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $30.00
8/6/14
5 shares of ESV (Ensco Plc) at $49.00 ($245.00)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.00
8/8/14
6 shares of MCD (McDonalds Corp at $93.00 ($558.00)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $19.44
8/18/14
5 shares of ESV (Ensco Plc) at $48.75 ($243.75)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.00
8/22/14
5 shares of RIG (Transocean Ltd) at $38.00 ($190.00)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.00
8/25/14
5 shares of RIG (Transocean Ltd) at $37.49 ($187.45)
  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.00
8/28/141
10 shares of VZ (Verizon Communication Co) at $49.25 (492.50)

  • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $21.20
TOTAL SPENT ON NEW ACQUISITION: $2,828.45*
*We receive 100 free trades per year through our brokerage account so there was no commission paid on this purchase.

As of 9/1/2014, we still have 29 free trades to make until 9/15/2014.  Our trade counter resets on 9/16/2014 and we will get another 100 free trades. Woohoo!

OVERALL INCREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $143.96
With the additional $143.96 in annual dividends, our new estimated annual income is now $1,824.68 or and average of somewhere near $152 a month. From where we were just a few months ago to where we are now, I am definitely happy with the progress we've made in just a short time period.  Can't wait to see where our journey leads us a year from now!
 

DIVIDENDS

In July, we had set a new monthly high with $469.19 dividends received.  However, August was a slower month in terms of dividends received. In August our dividend total was $98.72. Although August totals was below our monthly average, we are still averaging $171.19 in dividends each month. 

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

WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
8/01/14 - Dividend from T (AT&T): $18.56
8/08/14 - Dividend from BBD (Banco Bradesco): $0.32
8/15/14 - Dividend from KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc): $12.90
8/15/14 - Dividend from ARCP (American Realty Capital Properties): $13.33
8/22/14 - Dividend from ARTNA (Artesian Resources Corp): $10.60



EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
8/01/14 - Dividend from T (AT&T): $43.01

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $98.72*

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

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

Monday, September 1, 2014

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


 
For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 373 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 immediately provide updates for new stock analysis the moment I become aware of them. So please make sure to check back periodically as the list will be updated frequently.
 
The collection goes back two years.  I will continue to delete old reviews that are more than 2 years old.  But to also highlight the stock analyses that have recently been created during the last 2 months, I have provided NEW!! at the end of those analyses.

Originally, I was only planning to provide monthly updates. However, seeing that there is already a decent size list of stocks to report just in the first half of the month, I have know decided that I will provide two updates to my blog collection. One at mid month and another and the end of the month.  This will allow everyone to be more up-to-date with the newly added stock analyses.
 
The following is a list of newly added stocks analysis that were prepared during the second half of the month of AUGUST (2014):
  1. Alfac, Inc (AFL)
  2. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
  3. American Water Works (AWK)
  4. Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF)
  5. ConocoPhillips (COP)
  6. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc (CBRL)
  7. Donaldson Company Inc (DCI)
  8. GATX Corporation (GMT)
  9. Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD)
  10. The Hershey Company (HSY)
  11. McDonalds Corp (MCD)
  12. Medtronic, Inc (MDT)
  13. The Men's Warehouse (MW)
  14. PepsiCo, Inc (PEP)
  15. Starbucks (SBUX)
  16. Target Corp (TGT)
  17. Walgreen Co (WAG)
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

Collection of Stock Analyses