Happy Halloween!!

Our kids are SUPER excited for tonight. With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, many families are probably celebrating all day long this year.  Our neighborhood is already pretty wild on Halloween but I imagine that it will be an extra lively place this year!  This year, we have permission from the City to block off our streets so there will surely be plenty of BBQs, Pumpkin Carvings, and extended families.  This is in addition to the few hundred kids that are generally dropped off each year to go trick or treating in our neighborhood. Yes, we are one of those neighborhoods!! ;)

Living in a neighborhood like ours certainly makes Halloween fun for everyone (kids and adults). Kids get to enjoy plenty of candy and usually a few haunted houses, and adults are often offered beer and/or wine at certain houses!! But I must admit, the frugal side of me cringes at the added expense. :) We usually buy three large bags of candy at Costco and, even then, we usually run out before the night is over.  This year, in anticipation of a larger crowd, we bought 5 bags!! 

Excluding the kids costumes, a few new Halloween decorations, we spent $90 on candy this year.  That is $90 that won't go to buy more dividend paying stocks.  But the truth is, even though we are willing to remain frugal and penny pinch in other areas, we aren't willing to scale back our Halloween fun. The joy and excitement on our kids faces during Halloween time is reason enough for us to adjust our budget in other categories to make it all work. :)  

Wishing all of our readers and fellow DGI bloggers a Fa-BOO-lous Halloween!!

RECENT BUY (NYSE: VTR)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING

VENTAS Inc (VTR)

Purchased 6 shares of VTR on 10/28/2015 at $55.20
Total Spent: $331.20

This morning, with Ventas Inc (VTR) seemingly this month's ASK THE READERS pick, we decided to place an order to buy 6 shares of VTR.  In case you missed it, we asked our readers to pick a stock between Ventas Inc (VTR), Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI), and Potash Corp (POT).  At the time of this write up, the final tally was: VTR- 5, KMI- 2, and POT- 1.  

Company Description

From Google Finance:

“Ventas, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company has a portfolio of seniors housing and healthcare properties located throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Company operates through three segments: triple-net leased properties, senior living operations and MOB operations. The triple-net leased properties segment invests in seniors housing and healthcare properties throughout the United States and the United Kingdom and lease those properties to healthcare operating companies under triple-net or absolute-net leases that obligate the tenants to pay all property-related expenses. The senior living operations segment invests in seniors housing communities throughout the United States and Canada and engages independent operators, such as Atria and Sunrise, to manage those communities. The MOB operations segment, acquires, owns, develops, leases, and manages MOBs throughout the United States. It invests in seniors housing and healthcare properties.”

Thank you all who voted for this month's Ask the Readers post. We do not currently own shares of VTR so we were happy to be adding 6 shares of VTR (Ventas Inc) to our family's dividend stocks portfolio. With our new purchase this morning, our estimated forward dividends grew another $17.52, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $3,575/year (excluding our Edwards Jones account) and $3,932/year (including our Edward Jones account). 

Since we did not previously own VTR, the purchase now means that our family's dividend stocks portfolios (WF and EJ Accounts) is now mode up of a total of 48 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs and also 4 companies that either don't pay a dividend our has currently suspended their dividends.

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:

Ventas Inc (VTR)

P/E: 44.10
Payout Ratio: 207.6%
Dividend Yield: 5.3%
5 consecutive years of dividend increases
Last Ex-dividend date: 9/11/2015

Next Ex-dividend date: approx. - 12/11/2015
Have paid a dividend since: 1999 (16 years)
Pays a dividend 4 times a year.
Market Cap: 18.3 Billion
52-week high: $71.74
52-week low: $52.03
Purchased Price: $55.20

What are your thoughts on of recent purchase?

What are you buying?

ASK THE READERS - Should I buy VTR, KMI, or POT?

We started this series back in November of 2014 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. 

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. 

The stocks we have chosen this month 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: 



So far, this account hasn't really done too well.  Mainly due to the fall of energy and oil stocks.  But it's OK, we are long term investors and have confidence that the so-called losers here will eventually see a turn around.  We've been investing long enough to know that there are cycles in everything.  Although it may take longer than we may like, we remain confident that many of these will eventually rebound.  Meanwhile, we'll just sit back and collect the dividends. :) 

Please help us get this account in the green by spending 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!

STOCK #1 - Ventas, Inc (VTR)

• Sector: Financials - Real Estate
• Market Cap: 18.3 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 5.3% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 5 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1999 (16 years)
• Payout Ratio: 207.6%
• P/E Ratio: 44.10

STOCK #2 - Kinder Morgan, Inc (KMI)

• Sector: Energy - Oil & Gas
• Market Cap: 64.0 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 6.98% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 3 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1937 (78 years)
• Payout Ratio: 252.55%
• P/E Ratio: 55.15

STOCK #3 - Potash Corp (POT)

• Sector: Materials - Agricultural Chemicals 
• Market Cap: 18.2 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 6.95% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 4 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1990 (25 years)
• Payout Ratio: 79.17%
• P/E Ratio: 12.08

The 3 companies we picked this month have three things in common: 1) they all pay great dividends; 2) they are all billion dollar companies; and 3) unfortunately, they all have undesirable payout ratios!!! Of the three, which company do you think has the best long-term prospects?

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

Thank you in advance!!

2015 Goals (3rd Quarter Update)

In January, we set a total of 12 goals for the 2015 Calendar year.  We had made goals for our dividend stocks, P2P accounts, Blog, and Financial Milestone. 

Below is a progress report to show how we are doing on these 12 goals after 3 quarters of the year. With 3-months (or 1-quarter) left in the year, we should technically be 75% of the way towards meeting our goal. 

Based on these results, it appears that we are doing well and should be on target to accomplish most of the 12 goals we set for ourselves.  In fact, we've already accomplished 5 of the 12 goals.  It appears that goals #1, #4, and #12 are the ones we will need to work a bit harder on if want to accomplish them.  

Thanks for following along...stay tuned to see if we continue our current success! 

Regards, 

A Frugal Family's Journey

2015 GOALS

DIVIDEND STOCKS:

1.  Earn $3,000 in dividend income.

• $1,994.50 - Wells Fargo Account
• $281.77 - Edward Jones Account
• Current total: $2,276.27 (75.8% of goal)

2.  Increase projected annual dividend income to $3,500.

• $3521.68 - Wells Fargo Account
• $358.25 - Edward Jones Account
• Current Annual Projection: $3,879.93 (110% of goal)

• ACCOMPLISHED!

3.  Increase number of holdings to 40 (stocks and/or ETFs).

• ACCOMPLISHED!

P2P ACCOUNTS:

4.  Have a combined $20,000 from both accounts.

• $7,436 - Prosper
• $9,947 - Lending Club
• Current total: $17,383 (86.9% of goal)*
• *Withdrew $2,000 to open and build a new Loyal3 account. No longer happy with P2P results.

5.  Maintain an average interest rate of 6.0% or higher (combined).

• AVG return from notes is currently: 6.11% (on target)

BLOG:

6.  Write at least 84 posts (7 posts / month).

• Currently total: 102 posts (121% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

7.  Reach 150,000 total hits by end of the year.

• Current total: 148,088 total hits (98.7% of goal)

8.  Increase stock analyses collection to 800+.

• Current total: 871 stock analyses in our collection (108% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

9. Cash out my first $100 from Google AdSense.

• Currently total: $125.13 (125% of goal)
• ACCOMPLISHED!

FINANCIAL MILESTONES:

10.  Increase value of retirement accounts to $425,000.

• Current total: $397,677 (93.5% of goal) 

11.  Increase Net Worth to $650,000 (excluding home equity).

• Current total: $629,196 (96.7% of goal)

12. Reduce mortgage balance to $312,000.

• Current Balance: $319,142 ($7,142 to reach goal).

What are your goals for 2015?

How are you doing?

RECENT BUY (NYSE: WMT)

WE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE FOLLOWING

WAL-MART STORES (WMT)

Purchased 18 shares of KMI on 10/15/2015 at $59.43
Total Spent: $1,069.87

Company Description

From Google Finance:

“Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is engaged in the operation of retail, wholesale and other units in various formats around the world. The Company offers an assortment of merchandise and services at everyday low prices (EDLP). The Company's operations are conducted in three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam's Club. The Walmart U.S. segment operates retail stores in all 50 states in the United States, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, with three primary store formats, as well as digital retail. The Walmart International segment consists of operations in 26 countries outside of the United States and includes numerous formats divided into three main categories: retail, wholesale and other. The Sam's Club consists of membership-only warehouse clubs and operates in 48 states in the United States and in Puerto Rico, as well as digital retail.”

With Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) down roughly 13% this week, we decided to take a advantage of the dip. As a long-term investor, we believe the current price offers a great value. It seems that the current dip is is related to the recent announcements made at Wal-Mart's annual meeting. After all, the dip occurred soon after the meeting.

We think that the recent decline is attributed to the sentiments of short-term investors. Yes, there will likely be short term impacts to growth and profits as the companies moves ahead with their effort to re-brand and position themselves for future success.  But we remain optimistic that the dividends for a dividend aristocrat (with over 40 years of dividend increases) like Wal-Mart Stores will remain safe.  We think their efforts to change their customer service experience and also position themselves to capitalize on the growing eCommerce business is a smart idea.  Even after reading the notes from the recent annual meeting, we remain positive on Wal-Mart's future.  In fact, if anything, we think their plans will help keep Wal-Mart relevant and a leader in the retail world for years to come.

With that said, and as a long term investors, we took the opportunity to add a few more shares to our family's dividend stocks portfolio.  In fact, with today's purchase, we were able to lower our cost basis on another stock we currently own. With the 18 shares added today, we now own 35 total shares of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) in our family's dividend stocks portfolio. Our purchase today lowered our cost basis on WMT from $74.70 to $66.85. Additionally, our estimated forward dividends grew another $35.28, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $3,557/year (excluding our Edwards Jones account) and $3,915/year (including our Edward Jones account).

Since we had already held WMT shares in our family's dividend stocks portfolios (WF and EJ Accounts), the portfolio remains unchanged at a total of 47 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs and also 4 companies that either don't pay a dividend our has currently suspended their dividends.

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:

WAL-MART STORES (WMT)

P/E: 12.29
Payout Ratio: 40.77%
Dividend Yield: 3.33%
40 consecutive years of dividend increases
Last Ex-dividend date: 8/5/2015

Next Ex-dividend date: 12/2/2015
Have paid a dividend since: 1975 (40 years)
Pays a dividend 4 times a year.
Market Cap: 188.7 Billion
52-week high: $90.97
52-week low: $58.61
Purchased Price: $59.43

What are your thoughts on of recent purchase?

What are you buying?

Net Worth (3rd Quarter Update)

Originally, I was only planning to provide annual Net Worth updates.  However, since I am now part of an active list of bloggers who provide their net worth on Rockstar Finance's page - The Ultimate List of Blogger Net Worth, I have decided to start providing quarterly updates.  Providing quarterly updates will allow us to keep our readers more updated with our overall progress towards Financial Independence. It will also allow us to stay accurate and current on the Rockstar Finance's Ultimate List of Blogger Net Worth. ;)

At the end of September 2015 (3rd Quarter), our family net worth is as follows:

Retirement Savings:                      $ 397,677

P2P Lending Accounts:                   $  17,472

Dividend Stock Accounts (DSA):     $   68,529
DSA - Surplus Cash:                      $    7,729
College Savings Accounts:              $  46,643

Cash and Savings:                         $  91,146

GRAND TOTAL

$629,196
(Decrease of $16,044 since 6/31/15)

Although we do not count it as part of our Net Worth,
it is still nice to know that our Home Equity is:

$463,671*

(Increase of $13,583 since 3/31/15)

I think I may have spoke to soon...during the last Net Worth, I said that "we have somehow managed to continue to grow our net worth each and every quarter."  Well, whether it is coincidental or not, the streak has now officially ended. 

This past quarter, for the first time since we began tracking our net worth, our family saw in shrink by $16,044.  We had gone from from $645,240 at the end of June (2nd quarter) to $629,196 at the end of September (3rd quarter). Not sure how others did but our family would like to forget about this last quarter and simply look forward to next quarter.  After all, we did have a record quarter in terms of putting new capital to work for us.  In all, we put $10,117 of capital to work for us.  The monies invested is projected to provide $531.35 in forward dividends.  Hoping we see dividends, literally, in future months and net worth reports!!  

Although we don't consider our home equity as part of our Net Worth, we understand that some people do.  So to be fully transparent, we would like to report that our home equity did grow $13,583. nevertheless, our Net Worth (with home equity included still decreased by $2,461 from $1,095,328 to $1,092,867.  It's a pretty awesome figure when you include the home equity but until we can accumulate 7 figures without our home equity, I don't consider myself a millionaire. 

* NOTE: If you follow us, you know that we do not consider the home equity in our home as part of our net worth. Although others do consider home equity, and even cars, collections, etc. as part of their net worth, it is our opinion that since these items are not very liquid and the value of these items is highly dependent on what others are willing to pay for them (at the present time), we have decided not to consider these type of assets as part of our family's recognized net worth.

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - October 2015

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 874 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.

Here is a list of newly added stocks analyses since my last post.

NEWLY ADDED STOCK ANALYSES:

1. Aflac Inc (AFL)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
2. Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM)
• by Dividend Value Builder
3. Canadian National Railway (CNR)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
4. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
5. Caterpillar Inc (CAT)
• by Sure Dividend
6. Caterpillar Inc (CAT)
• by Simply Safe Dividend
7. Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
8. Coca Cola Co (KO)
• by Dividend Value Builder
9. Coca Cola Co (KO)
• by Sure Dividend 
10. Colgate Palmolive Co (CP)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
11. ConocoPhillips Co (CP)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
12. Clorox Co (CLX)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
13. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
14. Dover Corp (DOV)
• by Dividend Value Builder
15. Eaton Corp (ETN)
• by Sure Dividend
16. Emerson Electric Co (EMR)
• by Dividends Value Builder
17. Fastenal Co (FAST)
• by Income Surfer
18. Garmin Ltd (GRMN)
• by Stable Dividends Portfolio
19. General Electric Co (GE)
• by Simply Safe Dividend
20. General Mills Inc (GIS)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
21. Helmerich & Payne Inc (HP)
• by Dividends Value Builder
22. Helmerich & Payne Inc (HP)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks 
23. Kimberly-Clark Co (KMB)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks 
24. Lowes Companies Inc (LOW)
• by Dividends Value Builder
25. 3M Company (MMM)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
26. Phillip Morris Intl Corp (PM)
• by Simply Safe Dividend
27. Phillips 66 (PSX)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
28. Procter & Gamble Co (PG)
• by Dividend Diplomats
29. Raytheon Co (RTN)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
30. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
31. Textainer Group Holdings Ltd (TGH)
• by A Dividend Dream!
32. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
33. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks

 Links now provided directly in this post!

Please feel free to leave me a message if you prepared a stock analysis 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

Dividend Stocks Portfolio (Update) - October 2015

Here is the recent update to our dividend stocks portfolio – October 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 September, that also means that our annual dividends did not decrease either. 

TOTAL VALUE OF ALL SALES: $0.00

OVERALL DECREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $0.00
  

PURCHASES

This past month was somewhat busy at work and home so we didn't have as much time to research and buy stocks.  We did set a few limit orders but only a few executed because others simply didn't reach our set buy price. I am still happy to report that we ended the month of September with 3 quality buys with a total of $1,403 in new capital put to work. October has historically provided investors with buying opportunities and the Feds may decide to raise interest rates for the first time this coming month.  Hoping for some short term bad news so we can put more capital to work.  As a long term investor with roughly a decade left, I definitely welcome the dips during our investing years. 

Since our purchases this month were all with companies with had already owned, the family dividend stocks portfolio remains the same with a total of 47 different companies/ETF that pay us a dividend.

Below are the actual buys that we made during the past month:

9/22/15
8 shares of EMR (Emerson Electric Co) at $44.24

• Total Spent: $354.00
• Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $15.04

9/28/15
14 shares of RDS.B (Royal Dutch Shell) at $46.00

• Total Spent: $644.00
• Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $52.64

9/29/15
15 shares of KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc) at $27.00

• Total Spent: $405.00
• Estimated Annual Dividend Received: $29.40

TOTAL SPENT ON NEW ACQUISITION: $1,403.00

OVERALL INCREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $97.08

With the additional $97.08 in dividends, our new estimated annual income is now $3,707 (including our Edward Jones account) or and average of approximately $308.91/month.

DIVIDENDS

During the past month,  our family received dividends from a total of 23 companies/ETFs/Partnerships!! The total dividends received from those 23 companies/ETFs/Partnerships was: $347.30. Woohoo! It was the third time this year we received more than $300 in dividends!!

Below is a breakdown of the dividends received this past month:

WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
9/1/15 -  ENB (Enbridge Inc): $7.09
9/1/15 -  AFL (Aflac Inc): $13.65
9/4/15 -  BSBR (Banco Santander Brasil SA): $1.00
9/8/15 - WMT (Wal-Mart Store Inc): $8.33
9/8/15 - JNJ (Johnson & Johnson): $6.00
9/10/15 - TGT (Target Corp): $8.44
9/10/15 - IBM (Int'l Business Machine Corp): $3.90
9/10/15 - XOM (ExxonMobil Corp): $8.03
9/10/15 - EXC (Exelon Corp): $18.58
9/10/15 - EMR (Emerson Electric Co): $12.69
9/10/15 - CVX (Chevron Corp): $19.26
9/14/15 - MMM (3M Co): $3.08
9/15/15 - ORI (Old Republic Int'l Corp): $6.48
9/16/15 - MCD (McDonalds Corp): $5.10
9/18/15 - ESV (Ensco Plc): $15.75
9/21/15 - RDS.B (Royal Dutch Shell Plc): $8.46
9/23/15 - RIG (Transocean Ltd): $5.25
9/25/15 - NOV (National Oilwell Varco Inc): $20.70
9/29/15 - BBL (BHP Billiton Plc): $97.96
9/30/15 - BPY (Brookfield Property LP Partners): $.85
9/30/15 - UNP (Union Pacific Corp): $5.50
9/30/15 - EDIV (SPDR S&P Emerging ETF Markets Dividends): $31.76
9/30/15 - FTR (Frontier Communications Corp): $39.44

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
*No dividend were received in September from EJ Account

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $347.30

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

Dividend Stocks Portfolio