Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - JUNE 2016

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: $794,650 (up $7,300 in the last 30-days).  I really don't understand how Zillow comes up with their 30-day gains because based on our calculations (with numbers from our post in MAY), we actually saw our home value grow a whooping $21,283! (from $773,367).  

It's fun to calculate and certainly makes you feel a little bit more wealthy but, 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 (As of June 1st):
$304,335 (down $1,867 from our last post)

Percentage Owed:
38.3% (down from 1.2% from our last post)

Home Equity:
$490,315 (up $23,150 from our last post)
   

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 0 months (132 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 11  years  -10 months (142 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

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - June 2016 (Week 24)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,235 stock analyses (and still growing). The collection essentially provides links to various stock analyses that we found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013. Last year we added a total of 445 stock analyses to the collection. If you would like to view archives from previous years, please follow the respective links provided at the end of this post. 

2016
Our currently readers already know that we recently began providing weekly updates. We started providing weekly updates back in November of 2015 and we are committed to continuing with the weekly updates throughout 2016. We hope the weekly updates not only provides more value to our readers but also helps ensure that we continue to keep our collection up to date.  Our 2016 Collection is now comprised of 241 stock analyses to date.
     

June 2016 - Week 24 of 52:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 3rd week of June: 

1. Aflac Inc (AFL)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
2. Apple Inc (AAPL)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
3. Canadian National Railway (CNI)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
4. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
• by Stock Blog (German)
5. Hormel Foods Corp (HRL)
• by DividendTIME
6. Intel Corp (INTC)
• by Italian Dividends
7. Johnson Controls (JCI)
• by Sure Dividend
8. Procter and Gamble (PG)
• by Sure Dividend
9. Target Corp (TGT)
• by Divgro
10. Texas Instruments (TXN)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
11. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
12. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
13. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
• by Sure Dividend

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

2016 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2015, 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

Collection of Recent Buys

Collection of RECENT BUYS (May 2016 Summary)

Since I began investing in dividend stocks approximately two years 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. 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! :)

During the month of May a total of 76 buys were found throughout the DGI community (Compared to just 37 found during the month of April).  After several consecutive months of a relative low buying from the DGI community, it was nice to see everyone buying once again. So far, June is starting out with buying activity similar to what we saw in May.  Let's hope that continues so that we can all boost those forward dividends! Dividend raises are nice, but nothing moves the needle better than adding more companies or shares to the portfolio. :)

To summarize the past month, out of a total of 76 buys found around the DGI community, a total of 52 companies were purchased, and a total of 11 companies were bought more than once.  From the buys collected,  DGI investors picked up a stock that was not purchased by others 68.4% of the time. 

The most popular company this past month was Apple Inc (AAPL), which was purchased by 9 different investors throughout the DGI community. Last month, although there were only 37 buys, APPL was in the top two having been purchased by three DGI investors. As long as AAPL remains below $100, we think APPL may still remain a popular buy among DGI investors.

The second most popular company this past month was Target Corporation (TGT), which was purchased by 5 different investors throughout the DGI community. As detailed in our last Recent Buy post, our family also purchased a few shares in TGT this past month. We are ready to add more shares if TGT continues to dip near the low 60s.  If not, we still think TGT is a nice buy in the mid 60s.

There was a 4-way tie for third place between Gilead Sciences (GILD), Valero Energy Corp (VLO), Wells Fargo Corp (WFC), and Southern Company (SO) with a total of 3 buys. 

And although not included in the chart, there were a total of 6 companies with 2 buys:

1. Automatic Data Processing (ADP)
2. Stag Industrial Inc Real Estate Trust (STAG)
3. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB)
4. Walt Disney Company, The (DIS)
5. Corus Entertainment Inc (CJR.B)

Data used for this SUMMARY is from our 

 COLLECTION OF RECENT BUYS

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 happened to have missed it.

If you have a chance, make sure you also take a look at my COLLECTION OF STOCK ANALYSES!! As with my collection of recent buys, 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 blogger is 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.

Also, if you have a chance, make sure you also follow or visit Adam over at I Want to Retire Soon (IWTRS) as he provides a weekly summary of recent buys! A link to past summaries is maintained on his blog. Another great resource for ideas if you are not sure where to invest next! 

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - June 2016 (Week 22 & 23)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,222 stock analyses (and still growing). The collection essentially provides links to various stock analyses that we found throughout the dividend blog community since 2013. Last year we added a total of 445 stock analyses to the collection. If you would like to view archives from previous years, please follow the respective links provided at the end of this post. 

2016
Our currently readers already know that we recently began providing weekly updates. We started providing weekly updates back in November of 2015 and we are committed to continuing with the weekly updates throughout 2016. We hope the weekly updates not only provides more value to our readers but also helps ensure that we continue to keep our collection up to date.  Our 2016 Collection is now comprised of 228 stock analyses to date.
     

June 2016 - Week 22 & 23 of 52:

With two toddlers, last weekend was a bit hectic (followed by a busy work week trying to get things wrapped up before our summer trip). We are headed to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona on a roughly 2-week long road trip that will involve 8-10 hikes (if things go as planned). We are certainly thankful that our kids have really seemed to embrace the outdoors.  We even got them both their own Camelbaks (water backpacks)! Exercise and experiencing new adventures on the cheap...I can't think of a better way to raise my kids!! ;) 

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 1st and 2nd week of June: 

1. Abbvie Inc (ABBV)
• by DividendTIME
2. Cardinal Health Inc (CAH)
• by Sure Dividends
3. Chevron Corporation (CVX)
• by The Conservative Income Investor
4. Coca Cola Co (KO)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
5. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
• by Dividends Value Builder
6. Emerson Electric Co (EMR)
• by DividendTIME
7. Exelon Corp (EXC)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
8. General Electric Co (GE)
• by The Conservative Income Investor
9. Home Depot Inc (HD)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
10. Kraft Heinz Company, The (KHC)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
11. Magna International Inc (MGA)
• by The Dividend Guy
12. Marine Product Corp (MPX)
• by Simple Dividend Growth
13. Microsoft Corp (MSFT)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
14. Nike Inc (NKE)
• by The Conservative Income Investor
15. Pepsico Inc (PEP)
• by Dividend Growth Investor
16. Phillip Morris Int'l Inc (PM)
• by The Conservative Income Investor
17. PPG Industries Inc (PPG)
• by Sure Dividend
18. Procter & Gamble Co (PG)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
19. Realty Income Corp (O)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
20. Royal Bank of Canada (RY)
• by Sure Dividend
21. Seaspan Corp (SSW)
• by Dividend Monk
22. Target Corporation (TGT)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
23. Target Corporation (TGT)
• by Sure Dividend

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

2016 - Collection of Stock Analyses

(Archived 2015, 2014, 2013)

Also don't forget to check out our:

Collection of Recent Buys

Retirement Accounts (Update) - June 2016

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
(JUNE 2016 - 2ND QUARTER UPDATE):

Since we see such little change in these accounts, we decided last summer to stop providing monthly reports of our retirement accounts. We've only posted 3 updates since.  So earlier this year, we've decided to do quarterly updates.  

Below is a quick update to show the current values of our retirement accounts at the end of the 2nd Quarter of 2016 as well as the monthly growth (although we do not post the results).  Please visit the RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS page on our blog to see our retirement savings journey!

PENSION

Cash Value of Pension
June value: $246,599
May value: $244,570
April value: $242,512
March value: $239,650
February value: $237,730
January value: $236,189

457K

Total value of 457K
June value: $122,111
May value: $121,170
April value: $119,986
March value: $112,765

February value: $112,991

January value: $118,761

Roth IRAs

Total value of Roth IRA accounts 
June value: $58,467
May value: $57,922
April value: $56,696
March value: $53,940
February value: $53,517
January value: $55,747

  
This past quarter was a nice quarter as our retirements accounts saw pretty nice gains. Overall, our three retirement accounts saw an increase of 5.1%. This was a $20,822 gain from our March total of $406,355. 

Currently, the total amount of our retirement accounts is valued at:
$427,177 

Click below to view retirement accounts page
RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

Dividend Stocks Portfolio (UPDATE) - May 2016

Here is the recent update to our dividend stocks portfolio – May 2016.

SALES 

During the last two months, we have been selling shares from our family's dividend stocks portfolio in an effort to take some profits off the table.  We felt that the market has had a nice rebound since the slow start to the year and before it decides to give some of gains back we thought we'd cash out some profits. In all, a total of 2 sell orders were executed. Below are the actual executed sales transactions (no commission was charged since we get 100 free trades per year):

05/5/16 - ORI (Old Republic Int'l Corp) - 35 shares/$18.88
05/10/16 - PM (Phillip Morris Int'l Inc) 4 shares/$100.88

• SUMMARY OF SALES:
• Original cost basis: $833.32
• Total value of all sales: $1,064.32*
• Net Profit: $231.00 (27.7% gain)

* All sales were stocks owned for more than 1-year to the gains will be taxed at capital gains rate.

Unfortunately, the recent sells did impact our annual dividends. Overall, our 2 stock sells this past month decreased our annual dividends by: $42.57  No regrets as I plan to re-invest the proceeds into more dividend paying stocks. The goal is to find ones at better values than the ones we sold.  

PURCHASES

It has been since early February, but we are happy to report that we finally made a purchase for our family's dividend stocks portfolio. Below is our actual purchase but you can also find additional details from our recent post from May 29th.

05/19/16 - TGT (Target Corporation) - 10 shares/$67.25

TOTAL SPENT ON NEW ACQUISITION: $672.50

OVERALL INCREASE TO ANNUAL DIVIDENDS: $22.40

Our estimated annual income currently stands at $3,625 (including our Edward Jones account) or and average of approximately $302/month.

DIVIDENDS

During the past month, our family received dividends from a total of 14 companies/ETFs/Partnerships!! The total dividends received from those 14 companies/ETFs/Partnerships was: $195.70. 

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

WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
05/02/16 - VZ (Verizon Communications): $19.78
05/02/16 - TD (Toronto Dominion Bank): $8.78
05/02/15 - DE (Deere & Company): $10.80
05/02/16 - T (AT&T Inc): $19.37
05/03/16 - POT (Potash Corp): $5.00
05/13/15 - OKS (Oneok Partners LP): $18.96
05/16/16 - TIS (Orchids Paper Product): $14.00
05/16/16 - OHI (Omega Healthcare REIT Investors): $5.80
05/16/16 - KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc): $14.00
05/20/16 - CAT (Caterpillar Inc): $6.16
05/24/16 - RY (Royal Bank of Canada): $6.16
05/24/16 - HCP (Health Care Properties Inc): $5.18

05/26/16 - COF (Capital One Financial): $2.80
05/27/16 - ARTNA (Artesian Resource Corp): $13.49

EDWARD JONES INVESTMENT ACCOUNT:
05/2/16 - T (AT&T Inc): $45.42

OVERALL DIVIDENDS TOTAL THIS MONTH: $195.70

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

Dividend Stocks Portfolio