Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - February 2016 (Week 8)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,094 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 98 stock analyses to date.     

February 2016 - Week 8 of 52:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 4th week of February: 

1. 3M Company (MMM)
• by The Conservative Income Investor
2. Boeing Co (BA)
• by Dividend Value Builder
3. Cardinal Health Inc (CAH)
• by Simply Safe Dividends 
4. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
5. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
6. General Dynamics Corp (GD)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
7. Kimberly Clark Corp (WFC)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
8. Starbucks Corp (SBUX)
• by Passive Income Pursuit

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

P2P Accounts (Update) - FEB 2016

On February 1st, our Lending Club account balance was at $7,361.93. We had $2,353.61 in available cash and out outstanding principal stood at $5,143.71. 

As our followers may already know, it has been more and more difficult to find and buy notes that meet our criteria.  We don't have the time to search for notes each morning as we once had so we now rely on the automatic investing tool.  Unfortunately, we've just haven't had much success through automatic investing.  So in September, since we had way too much money sitting idle, we decided to open a new Loyal3 account. We will still keep our P2P accounts but plan to continue to move idle cash back to our bank account and invest the money into our new Loyal3 account. We obviously need to do a better to job moving this idle cash because our available cash is growing faster than we are investing money into our Loyal3 account.

From our outstanding notes, we did receive $34.33 in interest. Thankfully, there are no charged off loans this past month so the entire $17.58 was considered a net gain for this past month.

With our Lending Club on auto-pilot using the automatic investing tool, unfortunately, we didn't manage to pick up any new notes this past month. In all, our total continuous to dwindle down and currently stands at 361 outstanding notes (26 notes have settled since our December post).  On the bright side, although our outstanding notes are not growing well, we have now seen a total of 922 notes paid in full.     

As you can see our  361 active notes are part of a very conservative mix with 71% of the notes being A Rated, 26% are B Rated, and 2% are C Rated.  We do not own any notes with a rating less than C. I'm not too sure why it doesn't add up to 100% but I assume that these number have been rounded down as they were closer to the lower number. 

We are currently generating a Net Annualized Return of 5.40% (up .05% from December report) on our seasoned notes. 

_____________________________________________________________ 



On February 1st, our Prosper account balance was at $10,196 ($107.33 more than our December report). We had $2,323.78 in available cash and out outstanding principal stood at $7,774.87.

All in all, our Prosper account is certainly seeing better performance than our Lending Club account, however, the struggle to find additional notes and having too much idle cash also exists for our Prosper account. 

From our outstanding notes, we received $585.23 in payments from our active notes. From those payments, we received a total of $51.36 in interest and with no loans charged-off this past month. Surprisingly, we also managed to re-invest $250.00 into new notes this past month. 

Similar to our Lending Club notes, the our Prosper notes are invested into a similar conservative mix. As you can from the pie chart above, majority of our notes are have an A or AA rating. Although we do have a few C rated notes, they make up a very small part of our investments.  Unfortunately, like our Lending Club account, we have way too much idle cash.  Hopefully, that continues to change as we slowly begin to withdraw the idle cash and invest into our new Loyal 3 account.  

We are currently generating an Annualized Return of 6.81% on our seasoned notes and 6.41% on all notes. 

 _______________________________________________________________

Below are the updated numbers that include both Lending Club and Prosper accounts: 

Total Value of Both P2P accounts: $17,557.96

Estimate Average Interest Earned: 5.90%

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.

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - February 2016 (Week 7)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,086 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 90 stock analyses to date.     

February 2016 - Week 7 of 52:

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

1. Brown Foreman Corp (BF-B)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
2. Clorox Co (CLX)
• by Dividend Value Builder
3. CSX Corp (CSX)
• by Dividend Monk 
4. Disney Company, The Walt (DIS)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
5. Illinois Tool Works Inc (ITW)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
6. National Bank of Canada (NA)
• by Dividends Beginner
7. Starbucks Corp (SBUX)
• by Passive Income Pursuit
8. T.Rowe Price Group (TROW)
• by Dividend Diplomats
9. Wells Fargo Corp (WFC)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks

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

Fun Goals (Update) - Hike No. 6, 7, & 8

Another fun filled weekend in the books.  It was a nice 4-day weekend for dad so the family all enjoyed a few more local hikes. The best part, aside from gas maybe snacks for the trail, it was FREE entertainment! 

Our first hike was the Pumpkin Rock Trail in Norco, CA.  It was a short hike but the kids were excited to reach the top and see the big pumpkin rock sitting at the peak of the hill. As you can imagine, this is a popular hike during the month of October. I hear people even do this hike in costumes during that time!

PUMPKIN ROCK TRAIL

(Pumpkin Rock from local residential streets)

(Pumpkin Rock close-up)

(views from the top looking into Norco and Corona)

Our second hike was the Graffiti Falls Trail in Corona, CA.  It was another short hike that ended at a small waterfall.  Not sure what to expect with the kids. Graffiti is not generally something you want to celebrate and acknowledge as a good act to a 3 1/2 and 6/1/2 year old. It wasn't easy as you can see from the pictures, there was plenty of it. On the positive side, this was mainly at the destination point (the waterfall), as the rest of the trail was mainly trees, brush, and rocks. 

My wife and I did try our best to focus on the pictures (and not so much the words) and explained to them that it was somewhat like art. At the end of the day, we tried to remind them of the waterfall and recall how fun it was to jump and play in it to get them to hopefully forget about the graffiti images. Hopefully it doesn't leave a long and lasting impression. :)

GRAFFITI FALLS TRAIL

(Graffiti Falls)

(view from opposite hill to provide a sense of scale)

The third hike was the Murphy Ranch trail in Pacific Palisades, CA.  This was the longest and most challenging hike of the three.  We did not bring the kids to this one. Round trip was approximately 4 miles but the hardest part (that I could not imagine doing with kids) was a total of 500+ concrete steps!!  It was a good workout but worth every effort as the Ranch is set to be demolished by the end of the month. Glad we were able to visit before it went away for good! 

For those that don't know the history behind the Murphy Ranch, it was built and occupied by Nazi sympathizers and was essentially a refuge and/or self-contained stronghold. Murphy Ranch was designed to serve as a hold out for fans of the Third Reich waiting for America to fall to the Nazis. Instead, the Ranch was raided by U.S. authorities and closed in 1941.  The abandoned buildings were transformed into an artists' colony in the 60s and 70s, but were abandoned after the Mandeville Canyon Fire in 1978. Today, the grounds are uninhabited, dilapidated, and covered in graffiti. While much of the history is lost, several structures remain, along with several long cement staircases.   

 (remains of Murphy Ranch gate) 

(main road down to Murphy Ranch)

(remains of old barn)

(close-up of old barn)

(abandoned truck remains)

(one of many stairs)

(remains of power building)

(remains of machine shed and garage)

(view of 500+ concrete steps from bottom)

(view of downtown LA on way back to our car)

(view of southern California coastline)

So with the recent hikes completed this past weekend, I am happy to say that I am well on my way to completing my 2016 fun goal of 26 hikes. With just a month and half into the year, I am already roughly 1/3 of the way there! 

Hope you all had a great weekend! Also, hope everyone is enjoying the added personal touch to our blog this year. :)

Best wishes, AFFJ

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - February 2016 (Week6)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,077 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 82 stock analyses to date.     

February 2016 - Week 6 of 52:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 2nd week of February: 

1. Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APD)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
2. American Electric Power Co (AEP)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
3. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL)
• by Sure Dividend 
4. Chubb Corp (CB)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
5. HCP Inc (HCP)
• by Sure Dividends
6. Hershey Company, The (HSY)
• by Dividends are Coming
7. Illinois Tool Works Inc (ITW)
• by Dividend Value Builder
8. McDonalds Corp (MCD)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
9. Medtronics Inc (MDT)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks
10. Pentair Inc (PNR)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
11. Sherwin-Williams Co (SHW)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
12. Visa Inc (V)
• by Passive Income Pursuit

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

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - FEB 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: $765,401 (up $285 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 (As of February 6th):
$311,744 (down $1,879 from our last post)

Percentage Owed:
40.7% (down from .2% from our last post)

Home Equity:
$453,657 (up $2,250 from our last post)

At this point, I'm not too sure what to make of the housing market and the direction is it headed.  With the recent rate hike by the Feds this past month, future mortgage rates will surely be impacted.  With that said, I am certainly glad we have a fixed rate mortgage.  I can sleep much easier at night knowing that regardless of what the Feds do, whether they decide to keep it the same or continue raising rates, my mortgage payment will not be affected.    

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 4 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  - 5 months (149 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 - February 2016 (Week 5)

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,065 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 69 stock analyses to date.     

February 2016 - Week 5 of 52:

Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses for the 1st week of February: 

1. Chevron Corp (CVX)
• by Roadmap 2 Retire
2. ConocoPhillips (COP)
• by Dividend Growth Stocks
3. ConocoPhillips (COP)
• by Dividend Growth Investor
4. ConocoPhillips (COP)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
5. Leggett & Platt (LEG)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
6. PPG Industries (PPG)
• by Simply Safe Dividends
7. Procter & Gamble (PG)
• by Dividend Monk
8. Waste Management Inc (WM)
• by Dividends Growth Stocks

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