Retirement Accounts (Update) - November 2015

As our readers already know, our family has switched our focus towards diligently building our Dividend Stocks Portfolio and to some extent P2P Lending Accounts in an effort to build 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

(NOVEMBER UPDATE):

Since we see such little change in these accounts, we decided a few months ago to stop providing monthly reports of our retirement accounts. In fact, our last update was in July, over 4 months ago!! 

Below is a quick update to show the current values of our retirement accounts as of November 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 July 1, 2015

PENSION

Cash Value of Pension: $232,246 
($8,065 increase from our July update of $224,181)

During these last few months, it appears that the only shining start is our pension.  Not a bad thing because, as a public sector employee, this will likely make up a big portion of my retirement income. In all, we saw a little over $8K increase in our pension value. 

457K

Total value of 457K: $120,400
($2,271 decrease from our July update of $122,671)

Our 457K (public employee version of a 401K) has been somewhat of a disappointment.  Currently, we only contribute the 3% minimum to receive our employee 3% match.  With how it has performed lately, I'm am glad we don't contribute more.  The more we dabble in dividend paying stocks and other investments vehicles, the less confidence I have in the 457K plan.  We will continue to invest just enough to get the company match but I don't see us investing more than that any time soon.

Roth IRAs

Total value of Roth IRA accounts: $56,752 
($185 increase from our July update of $56,567)

  
We do continue to contribute a small amount each month to both mine and my wife's Roth IRA.  Although we would like to max out these contributions, we are currently only contributing about 25% of the max to each account.  These accounts didn't see much growth these last few months but then most of the market has remained fairly idle during the recent summer months. Although we would have loved to see bigger growth, we would gladly accept some growth (albeit very small) over no growth or a decrease. 

As it stands, the total amount of our retirement accounts is currently valued at: $409,398 (up $5,979 from the $403,419 reported back in July).  

Click below to view retirement accounts page

RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2015 (Week 4)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 948 stock analyses (and still growing) with links to various stock analyses that I found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013.  

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.

Recent Changes Made!!

I recently made a few tweaks to the Collection.  For starters, the Collection of Stock Analyses will now be grouped by Calendar Year (ex. 2013, 2014, 2015). The current year will be immediately visible to readers with in-page links provided for stock analyses from past years collections.   

The Collection still highlights the various stock analyses created during the last 2 months. Such recent analyses are provided in bold as well as have NEW!! immediately following their link.

Lastly, to ensure readers become aware of the newly added stock analyses more frequently, we are now planning to provide weekly updates. Currently, we are providing updates just once a month. We are hoping that this strategy not only provides more value to our readers but also helps ensure that we continue to keep our collection up to date.     

November 2015 - Week 4:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 4th week of November.  

1. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
2. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
3. Fastenal Co (FAST)
• by Income Surfer
4. General Parts Co (GPC)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
5. Emerson Electric (EMR)
• by Sure Dividend 
6. International Business Machine (IBM)
• by Dividend Value Builder - Ken Faulkenberry
7. Nextera Energy (NEE)
• by Harvesting Dividends
8. Procter & Gamble (PG)
• by Sure Dividend 
9. Sanderson Farms (SAFM)
• by Dividend Value Builder - Ken Faulkenberry

Links 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

2015 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

NEW!! Collection of Recent Buys

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - Nov 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: $763,963 (down $3,490 in the last 30-days). If you follow us, the reality is that whether our home prices rise or fall, 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 (Nov.28):
$315,467 (down $3,675 from our last post)

Percentage Owed:
41.2 (up from 40.8% from our last post)

Home Equity:
$448,496 (down $14,038 from $462,5434 on our last post)

With the winter months cooling down the housing market, home price has surely taken a hit these past few months.  Our home price has dropped roughly $20,500) since the summer highs. As a result, out home equity fell has consistently fell during the last few months. 

Although we do track the home values and home equity in our home, the reality is that paying off our mortgage is the our MAIN goal. It is never fun to watch your home values or home drop, but just like any other long term investment, the decline is just a paper loss.  Unless you sell, which we have no plans to, the decrease in value shouldn't matter in the long run. Like stocks, housing market also goes through cycles. We are not day traders, nor are we house flippers, so the current cool down in the real estate market has not bearing on our long term goal of owning our house outright.  :)  

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 11 years and 9 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 approximately 12  years  - 6 months (152 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:

Mortgage Balance History

Happy Thanksgiving - From Our Family to Yours!

I started our blog a little over a year and half ago on March 15, 2014.  Today, as I sit here looking at the 167,939 lifetime visits to our little blog, I can't help but feel very blessed. I must admit that it just started out as a way to track our journey and keep our family on track towards our ultimate goal of early retirement. Considering that I able only able to commit between 5-10 hours each week to this blog, I honestly didn't expect to have the kind of success that we've enjoyed thus far. For that, I am VERY thankful! 

Below are the top five things I am thankful for this year:

1. Our Readers - for your frequent visits and contributions to our blog.
2. Fellow Bloggers - for the community, advice, and feedback.
3. My job - for giving me the financial ability to provide for my family and also invest for early retirement.
4. My Friends & Family - for your ongoing love and support in all aspects of my life.
5. God - for continuing to guide and steer me in the right directions.

What are you thankful for this year?

From our Frugal Family to yours,

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration!!

ASK THE READERS - Should I buy HCP, WMT, KMI, or IBM?

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 - HCP, Inc (HCP)

• Sector: Financials - Real Estate
• Market Cap: 16.2 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 6.46% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 29 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1990 (25 years)
• Payout Ratio: 71.5%
• P/E Ratio: 69

STOCK #2 - Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)

• Sector: Discount Stores
• Market Cap: 192.5 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 3.26% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 40 Years
• Paying Dividends Since:  1973 (42 years)
• Payout Ratio: 43.1%
• P/E Ratio: 13

STOCK #3 - Kinder Morgan, Inc (KMI)

• Sector: Energy - Oil & Gas
• Market Cap: 64.0 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 8.72% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 4 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1937 (78 years)
• Payout Ratio: 309%
• P/E Ratio: 52

STOCK #4 - International Business Machine (IBM)

• Sector: Informational Technology Services
• Market Cap: 134.3 Billion
• Dividend Yield: 3.75% 
• Consecutive years of dividend increase: 15 Years
• Paying Dividends Since: 1916 (99 years)
• Payout Ratio: 34.9%
• P/E Ratio: 10

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

Thank you in advance!!

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2015 (Week 3)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 939 stock analyses (and still growing) with links to various stock analyses that I found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013.  

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.

Recent Changes Made!!

I recently made a few tweaks to the Collection.  For starters, the Collection of Stock Analyses will now be grouped by Calendar Year (ex. 2013, 2014, 2015). The current year will be immediately visible to readers with in-page links provided for stock analyses from past years collections.   

The Collection still highlights the various stock analyses created during the last 2 months. Such recent analyses are provided in bold as well as have NEW!! immediately following their link.

Lastly, to ensure readers become aware of the newly added stock analyses more frequently, we are now planning to provide weekly updates. Currently, we are providing updates just once a month. We are hoping that this strategy not only provides more value to our readers but also helps ensure that we continue to keep our collection up to date.     

November 2015 - Week 3:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 3rd week of November.  

1. Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
2. American States Water Company (AWR)
• by Pollies Dividend
3. Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX)
• by Sure Dividend
4. General Electric Company (GE)
• by Simply Safe Dividends 
5. International Business Machines Corp (IBM)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
6. Kansas City Southern (KSU)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
7. Medtronic Inc (MDT)
• by Sure Dividend
8. Realty Income Corp (O)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
9. TransCanada Corp (TRP)
• by Dividend Beginner 
10. Westamerica Bancorp (WABC)
• by Dividends Value Builder

Links 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

2015 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

NEW!! Collection of Recent Buys

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2015 (Part 2 of 2)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 928 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.  Since there are a total of 54 new stock analysis, I decided to break this post up into two separate post in an effort to keep the post a bit shorter for everyone.

In case you missed it, below is a link to Part 1 of 2)

NEWLY ADDED STOCK ANALYSES (Part 1 of 2): 

NEWLY ADDED STOCK ANALYSES (Part 2 of 2):

1. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
2. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
3. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Dividend Value Builder
4. Hershey Company (HSY)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
5. Hershey Company (HSY)
• by Conservative Income Investor
6. Hormel Foods Corp (HRL)
• by Dividends Value Builder
7. International Business Machine Corp (IBM)
• by Sure Dividend 
8. Intel Corp (INTC)
• by Dividends Value Builder
9. Kimberly Clark Corp (KMB)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
10. Lowes Companies Inc (LOW)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
11. Monsanto Inc (MON)
• by Dividend Ladder
12. Omega Health Care Investors (OHI)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
13. Pepsico Inc (PEP)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
14. Potash Corp (POT)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
15. Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI)
• by Dennis McCain
16. Sigma Aldrich (SIAL)
• by Sure Dividend
17. Target Corp (TGT)
• by Sure Dividend
18. TJX Companies Inc (TJX)
• by Harvesting Dividends
19. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
• by Income Surfer
20. United Technologies Corp (UTX)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
21. Universal Corporation (UUV)
• by Harvesting Dividends
22. Verizon Communications Inc (VZ)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
23. V.F. Corp (VFC)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
24. Walmart Stores Inc (WMT)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
25. W.W. Grainger Inc (GWW)
• by Sure Dividends

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

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2015 (Part 1 of 2)

For those who are not yet familiar with my extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The collection is currently comprised of 928 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.  Since there are a total of 54 new stock analysis, I decided to break this post up into two separate post in an effort to keep the post a bit shorter for everyone.

NEWLY ADDED STOCK ANALYSES (Part 1 of 2):

1. Abbvie Inc (ABBV)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
2. Aflac Inc (AFL)
• by Sure Dividend
3. Agrium Inc (AGU)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
4. Apple Inc (APPL)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
5. Apple Inc (APPL)
• by Dividend Value Builder
6. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
• by Sure Dividend
7. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
• by Dividend Value Builder
8. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
9. AT&T Corp (T)
• by Dividend Value Builder
10. AT&T Corp (T)
• by Simply Safe Dividend
11. AT&T Corp (T)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
12. Caterpiller Inc (CAT)
• by Simply Safe Dividend 
13. Childrens Place Inc (PLCE)
• by Stable Dividend Portfolio
14. Chubb Corp (CB)
• by Sure Dividend
15. Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF)
• by Sure Dividend
16. Coca Cola Co (KO)
• by Passive Income Pursuit 
17. Coca Cola Co (KO)
• by Dividend Monk
18. Colgate Palmolive Co (CP)
• by Dividend Value Builder
19. Compass Minerals Interational (CMP)
• by Dennis McCain
20. Consolidated Edison (ED)
• by Sure Dividend
21. Consolidated Edison (ED)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
22. Consolidated Edison (ED)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
23. C.R. Bard Inc (BCR)
• by Sure Dividend
24. Cummins Inc (CMI)
• by Sure Dividend
25. Disney, The Walt (DIS)
• by Sure Dividend
26. Dominion Resources Inc (D)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
27. Emerson Electric Co (EMR)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
28. Emerson Electric Co (EMR)
• by Simply Safe Dividends

 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