Sunday, May 31, 2015

P2P Accounts (Update) - May 2015

On May 1st, our Lending Club account balance was at $9,280.02 (an increase of $53.93 from last month). We received $520.98 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received $55.48 in interest (an increase of $.30).  The principal balance of our active notes was $7,753.28 (an increase of $609.92  from last month), with $125.00 of loans in review or funding and a remaining cash balance of $1,501.74 (decrease of $430.99).  We are currently generating 5.15% on our seasoned notes. No loans were charged off this past month.   

This past month we put forth a little more effort in trying to manually find notes to help lower our total cash flow in our Lending Club account. We found some notes in pre-funding through the standard browse loans option. But we found the bulk of our notes through the trading accounts simply buying up notes that others are looking to cash out early. We definitely don't have the time to do this consistently every month so hopefully the automatic investments start to pick up more notes soon. :) 
 
 
_____________________________________________________________ 

 

On May 1st, our Prosper account balance was at $9,269.70 (an increase of $79.76 from last month).  We received $457.89 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received, $56.70 in interest (a decrease of $3.60). The principal balance of our active notes was $8,387.06 (an increase of $71.87 from last month). The last two months have been much better in terms of putting our cash flow to use.  Both from the bumping up our automatic purchases to $50 instead of $40 and simply because we had found more notes this past two months. Unfortunately, we are still currently sitting on a cash balance of $882.64 (an increase of $7.89), of which a total of $450.00 is  pending investments.  We are currently generating 6.41% on our seasoned notes, and 6.21% on all notes invested to date (includes profits from paid off notes).
 


 _______________________________________________________________
Even though we are not having great luck finding notes that meet our criteria (described below), the accounts continue to show some growth (albeit very small). 

Below are the updated numbers that include both Lending Club and Prosper accounts: 
 
Total Value of Both P2P accounts: $18,549.72
($133.69 increase from last month)
 
Total Interest Earned in February: $112.18
($3.30 decrease from last month)
 
Estimate Average Interest Earned: 5.78%


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

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.

Friday, May 29, 2015

RECENT BUY - (NYSE: HCP)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING

counts hcp market counts hcp time stock information and more

HCP, Inc
 (HCP)
Purchased 9 shares of HCP on 5/29/2015 at $38.75
Total Spent: $348.75
$20.34 added to annual dividends
 

Our purchase of HCP, Inc (HCP) was based on the results from our recent ASK THE READERS post. On Tuesday, after the votes were tallied, we set a limit order to buy HCP, Inc at $38.75.  This afternoon, the market provided us with an opportunity to add another company to our family's dividend stocks portfolio. In fact, HCP, Inc actually set a new 52-week low today when it dipped as low as $38.53.  We didn't pick up shares at the today's bottom but we are still happy grabbing a few shares at the limit price we had established.  Plus, as typical for an initial purchase, we didn't spend a huge amount of capital.  If HCP, Inc. continues to dip into the low $30s, we wouldn't have any problems grabbing few more shares to average down our cost basis. 

With the recent purchase HCP, Inc (HCP), our family's dividend stocks portfolio now holds a total of 38 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs in the portfolio. Our estimated forward dividends grew another $20.34, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $3,196/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:

We also just started a list of Recent Buys by other bloggers
that can be access through the link below:
 



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

counts hcp market counts hcp time stock information and more


HCP, Inc (HCP)
P/E: 41.63
Payout Ratio: 72.4%
Dividend Yield: 5.84%
29 consecutive years of dividend increases
Last Ex-dividend date: 5/7/2015
Next Ex-dividend date: approx. - 8/7/2015
Have paid a dividend since: 1985 (30 years)
Pays a dividend 4 times a year.

Market Cap: 18.3 Billion
52-week high: $49.61
52-week low: $38.53

Purchased Price: $38.75

What are your thoughts about my recent purchase?

What are you buying?

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

ASK THE READERS - Should I buy HCP, TIS, WPC?

HCP, TIS, WPC?


We started this series back in November as a way to add some fun to our buying process. We plan to continue doing these Ask the Reader post once a month (except when funds are limited) and will be maintaining the stocks purchased in a separate portfolio just to see how they perform. 
 
The three stocks we have chosen are stocks that are currently at the top of our watch list and thus stocks we would be comfortable buying regardless of the outcome.  But we thought it would be fun to get our readers input and see if collectively, we can all beat the market with this interactive portfolio. :) 

Below is a chart below of our ASK THE READER purchases to date: 



For each ASK THE READER post, we will select 3-4 current stocks on our watch list that we feel are worth buying.  But to add some fun into our buying process, we have decided to put our faith in our fellow bloggers and readers once a month. 
 
Please spend a few minutes to vote for ONE stock from the companies listed below.  Tell us why you like the stock that you picked. 

Thanks in advance for your STOCK PICK!
 
counts hcp market counts hcp time stock information and more
STOCK #1 HCP, Inc (HCP)
  • Sector: Financials - Real Estate
  • Market Cap: 18.3 Billion
  • Dividend Yield: 5.68% 
  • Consecutive years of dividend increase: 19 Years
  • Paying Dividends Since: 1990
  • Payout Ratio: 72.4%
  • P/E Ratio: 43.43

STOCK #2 Orchids Paper Products Co (TIS)
  • Sector: Consumer Products - Household & Personal Products
  • Market Cap: 228.0 Million
  • Dividend Yield: 6.2% 
  • Consecutive years of dividend increase: 4 Years
  • Paying Dividends Since: 2011
  • Payout Ratio: 106.1%
  • P/E Ratio: 20

STOCK #3 W.P. Carey, Inc (WPC)
  • Sector: Financials - Real Estate
  • Market Cap: 6.6 Billion
  • Dividend Yield: 6.0% 
  • Consecutive years of dividend increase: 14 Years
  • Paying Dividends Since: 1998
  • Payout Ratio: 91.1%
  • P/E Ratio: 26.54

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


Monday, May 18, 2015

Retirement Accounts (Update) - May 2015


As our readers already know, our family has switched our focus towards diligently building our Dividend Stocks Portfolio and P2P Lending Accounts in an effort to building additional income streams for retirement so we don't have to solely rely on the typical retirement vehicles.

We will still continue to track are retirement accounts (pension, 457K, Roth IRAs) as they are still part of our retirement plan.  Plus, although they are mainly invested in mutual funds, we still need to keep an eye on them and re-balance them periodically.

EXISTING RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

(MAY UPDATE):


Below is a quick update to show the current values of our retirement accounts as of May 1, 2015.  For a more comprehensive list of values and details of these accounts, please visit the Retirement Accounts page on our blog.

As of May 1, 2015

PENSION
Cash Value of Pension$219,915
($1,421 increase from last month's update of $218,494)
457K
Total value of 457K: $123,819
($1,515 increase from last month's update of $122,304)
Roth IRAs
Total value of Roth IRA accounts: $57,499
($866 increase from last month's update of $56,633)
Overall, the month of April was a good month. We saw an increase in all three accounts (pension, 457K and Roth IRAs). Any month where all accounts are in the green is a good month, right?!  

The overall gain from all three accounts this past month was $3,802. It basically translates into a .95% one-month gain.  Well, if we kept that up for an entire year, we would have an annual gain of 11.4%. :) So as it stands, the total amount of our retirement accounts is currently valued at: $401,233 (up from the $397,431 reported last month).  Feeling blessed to have crossed yet another milestone in our journey. 
** WOOHOO! $400K in our retirement accounts!! **
Click below to view retirement accounts page

RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

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. With some of the uncertainties around government pension these days, they could very well serve as back-up plans as well. 

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses (Update) - Mid-Month (May 2015)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 697 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 MAY (2015):

          1. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
            • by DivGro
          2. AT&T Corp (T)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          3. Automatic Data Processing, Inc (ADP)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          4. Coca Cola Company (KO)
            • by Div4Son
          5. Corning Inc (GLW)
            • by Dividend Empire
          6. Diageo Plc (DEO)
            • by Div4Son
          7. Fastenal Company (FAST)
            • by Dividend Engineering
          8. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
            • by Passive Income Pursuit
          9. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
            • by Dividend Growth Investor
          10. Kraft Foods Group, Inc (KRFT)
            • by The Conservative Investor
          11. McCormick & Company (MKC)
            • by Passive Income Pursuit
          12. McDonalds Corp (MCD)
            • by The Conservative Investor
          13. Omega Health Care Investors (OHI)
            • by Roadmap 2 Retire
          14. Omega Health Care Investors (OHI)
            • by My Dividend Growth
          15. Tractor Supply Company (TSCO)
            • by Dennis McCain
          16. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
            • by Passive Income Pursuit
          17. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
            • by Dividend Empire
          18. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)
            • by Div4Son
          19. Waste Management,Inc (WM)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          20. 3M Company (MMM)
            • by Dividend Growth Investor
          21. 3M Company (MMM)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks

    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 May 2015 that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to both this post and our collection of stock analyses.  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

     

    Saturday, May 9, 2015

    Mortgage Balance (Udpate) - May 2015

    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: $780,504 (up $676 since last month's post).  Home prices have steadily increased every month this year, the rise continued once again this past month.  This makes four consecutive months of increasing values.

    As nice as it is to see our home values rise, but it really doesn't mean much to our family as we have no intentions to sell or otherwise move.  We are very lucky to be able to say that we love were we are and couldn't see ourselves living and/or raising our family any other place. :)
     
    Mortgage Balance (May):
    $328,154 (down from $329,914 in April)
    Percentage Owed:
    42.0% (down from 42.3% in April)
    Home Equity:
    $452,350 (up from $449,914 in April)

    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. :) 

    The truth is that as long as my mortgage balance continues to go down consistently each month, I am happy. Nevertheless, our journey is currently laid out where if all we do is make our exact mortgage payment each month, the mortgage will be paid off a few months after my planned retirement date.  

    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 12 years and 3 months so we are setting out to pay off our mortgage on or before my retirement date. Right now we are a few months behind the target retirement date. Currently, we have 13  years  - 0 months (156 months) 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:

    Thursday, May 7, 2015

    Dividend Stocks Portfolio (Update) - May 2015

    Here is the recent update to our dividend stocks portfolio – May 2015.

    SALES 

    This past month we did not sell off any shares from our family's dividend stock portfolio.  But since we did not sell any shares throughout the month of April, that also means that our annual dividends did not decrease. As some of my friends would say,"I'll drink to that!" :)

    TOTAL VALUE OF ALL SALES: $0.00

    OVERALL DECREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $0.00

     
     

    PURCHASES

    I know its not a great reason, but work and home life got the best of us this past month.  We ended the month with just 1 buy transaction. 

    But the buy added a new company to our family's dividend stocks portfolio. With our recent purchase of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT), our family dividend stocks portfolio now contains a total of 38 different companies/ETF that all pay us a dividend.
    The following is the actual buy that we made during the month of April:

    4/22/15
    8 shares of WMT (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc) at $77.75 ($622.00)
    • Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.68
    TOTAL SPENT ON NEW ACQUISITION: $622.00*

    OVERALL INCREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $15.68

    With the additional $15.68 in dividends, our new estimated annual income is now $3,191 or and average of approximately $265/month.
      

    TRADE COUNTER

    We are blessed to have a PMA trading account with Wells Fargo Investments.  With our PMA trading account, we receive 100 free trades a year!  How awesome is that?!? So far, we've used a little more than half of the free trades, but we still have a total of 45 trades left out of 100.  Our trade counter will reset on 9/15/2015. With just a little over 4 months left before our trade counter resets, that means we can average roughly 10 trades a month and not pay single penny in commission.
     

    DIVIDENDS

    In terms of dividends received from companies, April was another good month. It was the record setting $274 we received in March, but must say we are still very blessed to be where we are today. During the month of April,  our family received dividends from a total of 9 companies/ETFs!! The total dividends received from those 9 companies/ETFs was: $235.68.

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

    WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
    4/1/15 - Dividend from EDIV(SPDR Emerging Mkts ETF) Inc: $4.06
    4/2/15 - Dividend from BPY (Brookfield Property Partners): $6.16
    4/8/15 - Dividend from BPY (Brookfield Property Partners): $0.76
    4/13/15 - Dividend from BPY (Brookfield Property Partners): $12.31
    4/15/15 - Dividend from OXY (Occidental Petroleum Corp): $3.60

    4/15/15 - Dividend from CRC (California Resource Corp): $0.02

    4/15/15 - Dividend from ARI(Apollo Comm. Real Estate Fin., Inc.): $55.57
    4/27/15 - Dividend from GE (General Electric Co): $10.35
    4/30/15 - Dividend from TD (Toronto Dominion Bank): $4.21
    4/30/15 - Dividend from AMTG (Apollo Res. Mortgage , Inc): $87.49

    BPY paid us three separate dividends on 4/2, 4/8, & 4/13.

    EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
    4/22/15 - Dividend from CMCSA (Comcast Corp): $51.15


    OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $235.68*

    * 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:

    Tuesday, May 5, 2015

    Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses (Update) - End-Month (April 2015)

    For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 678 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 APRIL (2015):
          1. American Water Works (AWK)
            • by Roadmap 2 Retire
          2. Ameriprise Financial, Inc (AMP)
            • by Chuck Carnevale
          3. Aqua America, Inc (WTR)
            • by Roadmap 2 Retire
          4. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
            • by Dividend Developer
          5. Canadian National Railway (CNR)
            • by Dennis McCain
          6. Cincinati Financial Corp (CINF)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          7. Cisco Systems, Inc (CSCO)
            • by Passive Income Pursuit
          8. CSX Corp (CSX)
            • by Dennis McCain
          9. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
            • by Pollies Dividend
          10. Eaton Corporation (ETN)
            • by Dividend Engineering
          11. Emerson Electric Company (EMR)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          12. International Business Machine (IBM)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          13. Illinois Tool Works, Inc (ITW)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          14. Lockhead Martin Corp (LMT)
            • by Dividend Growth Stocks
          15. Norfolk Southern Corp (NCS)
            • by Dividend Diplomats
          16. Philip Morris International, Inc (PM)
            • by Dividend Growth Investor
          17. Philip Morris International, Inc (PM)
            • by Sure Dividend
          18. Qualcomm, Inc (QCOM)
            • by Passive Income Pursuit
          19. Ross Stores, Inc (ROST)
            • by Dividend Growth Investor
          20. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (WMT)
            • by Ken Faulkenberry
    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 April 2015 that I did not include in my post.  I would be more than happy to add your stock analysis to both this post and our collection of stock analyses.  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

     

    Saturday, May 2, 2015

    Collection of RECENT BUYS (Summary) - April 2015

     
    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.  In November of 2014, I started making my collection of Recent Buys available on my blog for everyone. I 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)

    April wasn't the buying frenzy that March was but it was still a pretty active buying month around the DGI community.  Throughout the month of April, we found a total of 47 buys (compared to the 62 buys found last month). 

    Out of a total of 47 buys found around the DGI community, a total of 8 companies were bought more than once.  Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) was the clear winner with a total of 7 buys this past month.  Tied for second was Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) and T.Row Price Group, Inc (TROW) with 4 buys a piece. Rounding third was Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) with a total of 3 buys.  And there was a 4-way tie for fourth between HCP, Inc. (HCP), National Oilwell Varco (NOV), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), and Phillip Morris Int'l (PM). 
     
    Our family was less active adding capital to our family's dividend stocks portfolio this past month.  We did, however, still managed to purchase a few shares of the 3rd most popular stock Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) on April 22nd.  I know its not a great excuse but both work and life got the best of us this past month.  Hopefully, May provides our family with more free time as well as buying opportunities!
     
    What have you been buying?  Please feel free to share in the comments or send me a link to your Recent Buy post in case I've missed it.
     
    Don't forget to bookmark or add this page to your favorites!!


    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.