Sunday, November 27, 2016

Mortgage Balance (UPDATE) - NOV 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: $831,679 (down $4,043 in the last 30-days). Real estate typically cools down (literally) in the winter months so we expect the decline to carry forward into the next few months. And with the high likelihood of a rate increases in the near future, we expect our home to decline even further.  But from a property tax standpoint, and since we have no intentions of moving, we welcome the declines in value. :)

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 November 1st):
$294,936 (down $1,889 from our post last month)

Percentage Owed:
35.4% (down 0.1% from our post last month)

Home Equity:
$536,743 (down $2,146 from our post last month)
   
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 10 years and 7 months (127 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 and 5 months (137 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 6-9 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, November 24, 2016

Stocks Added to Collection of Stock Analyses - November 2016

For those who are not yet familiar with our extensive collection of individual dividend stocks. The entire collection is currently comprised of 1,281 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
We started the year providing weekly updates to our Collection of Stock Analyses. Although we started out strong, we eventually realized that we simply did not have enough time to keep up with the weekly updates. We still plan to continue growing our Collection of Stock Analyses but unfortunately can no longer commit to a weekly updateTo date, our 2016 Collection is now comprised of 332 stock analyses.
     
November 2016 (Update):
Below is a list of newly added stocks analyses that were recently added to our 2016 Collection of Stock Analyses:
  1. American Water Works Company (AWK)
    • by Roadmap 2 Retire
  2. Colgate Palmolive Co (CL)
    • by Sure Dividend
  3. Coca Cola Co (KO)
    • by Sure Dividend
  4. Clorox Co (CLX)
    • by DividendTIME
  5. Clorox Co (CLX)
    • by Sure Dividend
  6. CVS Health Corp (CVS)
    • by Dividend Growth Investor
  7. HCP Inc (HCP)
    • by Dividend Growth Investor
  8. Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB)
    • by DividendTIME
  9. Kroger Co (KR)
    • by Sure Dividend
  10. Nike Inc (NKE)
    • by The Dividend Manager
  11. Nike Inc (NKE)
    • by Harevesting Dividend
  12. Sysco Corp (SYY)
    • by The Dividend Manager
  13. Sysco Corp (SYY)
    • by DividendTIME
  14. Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
    • by The Dividend Manager
  15. Starbucks Corp (SBUX)
    • by Dividend Growth Investor
  16. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)
    • by DividendTIME
                        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 201520142013)



                        Also don't forget to check out our:


                        Collection of Recent Buys

                        Friday, November 18, 2016

                        RECENT BUY: Unilever Plc (NYSE: UL)

                        We Recently Purchased The Following:

                        Unilever PLC (UL)
                        Purchased 12 shares of UL on 11/18/2016 at $38.72
                        Total Spent: $464.64; added $16.80 in forward dividends.

                        After seeing some recent buying activity among DGI investors, we decided to do some further research into Unilever PLC (UL) to try and figure out why the price has dropped in recent weeks and also if it is a good long term buy for our family's dividend stocks portfolio

                        So from what we found, it appears that after reaching an all time high of $48.97 back in September, UL's stock price has slid a little over 20% down to today's trading at just under $39! So why did this leading consumer goods company experience this recent drop? We believe the price drop is currency related and a slow down that was evident from the 3rd quarter report.  Not to mention the fact that consumer staples have simply been on a steady decline since the U.S. election ended. 

                        Here were the main reasons why we bought Unilever PLC (UL) stock: 
                        1. The improved dollar strength has made UL more attractive for US investors.
                        2. UL is an international dividend payer that have been paying dividends to investors since 1937.
                        3. UL has increased dividends for last 20 years in a row. If we look at historical data, going as far back as 1996, the company has actually managed to double distributions every nine years on average!
                        4. Due to the recent price decline, the current dividend yield is an attractive 3.59%. 
                        5. Although uncommon for a European stock, Unilever pays quarterly dividends!
                        Company Description
                        The company is dually listed in the U.K. and the Netherlands. There are two classes of ADRs available for US investors, one for the U.K. listing - Unilever PLC (UL) and the other being Unilever N.V. (UN) in the Netherlands.

                        From Google Finance:
                        Unilever PLC is a supplier of food, home and personal care products. The Company's portfolio ranges from nutritionally balanced foods to indulgent ice creams, soaps, shampoos and household care products. The Company operates through four segments: Personal Care, Foods, Home Care and Refreshment. The Personal Care segment includes sales of skin care and hair care products, deodorants and oral care products. The Foods segment includes sales of soups, bouillons, sauces, snacks, mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarines and spreads. The Homecare segment includes sales of home care products, such as powders, liquids and capsules, soap bars and a range of cleaning products. The Refreshment segment includes sales of ice cream and tela-based beverages. The Company has approximately 400 brands found in homes around the world, including Persil, Dove, Knorr, Domestos, Hellmann's, Lipton, Wall's, PG Tips, Ben & Jerry's, Marmite, Magnum and Lynx. The Company operates in over 190 countries.
                        With our recent purchase of Unilever PLC (UL), the estimated forward dividends for our family's dividend stocks portfolio grew another $16.80, putting our yearly dividends at approximately $3,387/year (excluding our Edwards Jones account) and $3,772/year (including our Edward Jones account).  

                        We did not previously own Unilever PLC (UL), therefore, the recent buy of UL added yet another dividend paying company to our family's dividend stocks portfolios (WF and EJ Accounts). The total stocks held in our family's dividend stock portfolio is now 59 different dividend paying stocks/ETFs and also 5 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:

                        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:


                        Unilever PLC (UL)
                        P/E: 22.55
                        Payout Ratio: 74%
                        Dividend Yield: 3.59%

                        20 consecutive years of dividend increases
                        Last Ex-dividend date: 10/26/2016
                        Next Ex-dividend date: approx. 1/26/2016
                        Have paid a dividend since: 1937 (79 years)
                        Pays a dividend 4 times a year
                        Market Cap: 115.49 Billion
                        52-week high: $48.97
                        52-week low: $38.58

                        Purchased Price: $38.72


                        What are your thoughts on of recent purchase?

                        What are you buying?