Recent Buy -- MO

I decided to take advantage of a MO downgrade today and add to my position.

• MO:  50 shares @ $44.64 --- Yield  7.17%

Total capital invested is $2232.00 and will add $160 to my yearly dividends.

I'm definitely overweight in both MO and PM, but these two have always been reliable dividend payers and growers. With a 7% initial yield it seems like a no brainer to keep adding.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

December 2018 Dividends Received

Here are the dividends I received last month.

SO --- $61.20
LB --- $60.00
F --- $52.50
IBM --- $39.25
KHC --- $31.25
XOM --- $24.60

Total dividends received last month are $268.80 from my taxable account.

For the last 5 years I've only been including income from my taxable accounts on these monthly reports.  If  I had included mutual fund dividends from taxable and retirement accounts I would have received about $1900 during December.  I also have over $300 a month that I received from CDs.

Now that I am retired I and we are starting a new year. I am going to report all forms of passive income from all investment accounts except Lending Club. I have been letting those loans expire and have less than $3000 that is still scheduled to be repaid.

2018 End of Year Net Worth

All figures except my Jeep value are generated from Mint.com. 

During the month of December the S&P 500 fell over 9%!! A monthly drop of 9% is extremely rare and the December plunge was the worst December for the markets since 1931 during the depths of the Great Depression. Fortunately the markets rebounded during the last week, but the S&P did briefly fall into Bear Market territory.

As most of you know I sold all of my stocks within my taxable account during the back half of 2017.  I have been accumulating dividends stock and some mutual funds during this year. I still have over half of my taxable funds in 2.25% CDs. This definitely cushions the blows from the market plunge, but I still felt the hit to my net worth as many others have as well.

From a spending perspective, I had the lowest total since I retired back in February at just over $2000 for the month. I also received $581 from my Cap 1 credit card churn as well as the first $150 from Amegy. Over $700 for spending that would have occurred anyway. Gotta love that!.

I started buying into some seriously beaten down companies during the past few weeks and hope to continue buying heavy as opportunities present themselves.

It's a little disheartening to see my net worth decline during my first (almost) year of FI. I fully expect my net worth to increase over time, NOT decline.  Having a bear, or even a falling market during the early year(s) of retirement really can change probabilities for the worse of funding your life for the long term..... Black Swan stuff

This is one of the reasons that I have a huge chunk of cash in CDs. 2.25% is not very impressive, but absorbing a potential 50-60% 2 to 3 year bear market like the ones suffered in 73-74, 00-02, and 07-09 have to be accounted for. 

Here are December's final 2018 numbers

Assets

Checking --- $4,096
Savings/Investments --- $346,435
Lending Club --- $2,455
HSA --- $2,644
IRA --- $9,304
401K --- $336,461
2014 Jeep Wrangler --- $21,500

House --- $144,105

Liabilities

$2387

Net Worth

864,613


YTD Totals

2018

Jan 2018 --- $917,116
Feb 2018 --- $910,667

Mar 2018 --- $909,746
Apr 2018 --- $903,416

May 2018 --- $889,032
Jun 2018 --- $893,278

Jul 2018 --- $892,002
Aug 2018 --- $896,619

Sep 2018 --- $899,763
Oct 2018 --- $876,927

Nov 2018 --- $891,402

Dec 2018 --- $864,613


2017

May 2017 --- $835,009
July 2017 --- $851,904 

Aug 2017 --- $860,072
Sept 2017 --- $869,374

Oct 2017 --- $887,033
Nov 2017 --- $897,145

Dec 2017 --- $914,266


There is no down time when building a path that doesn't lead back to ZERO

Recent Buy --- KHC

Today I added to my KHC position

• KHC:  40 shares @ $41.69 --- Yield  6.00%

Total capital invested is $1667.60 and will increase my yearly dividends by $100.

Wow the yields on food companies is starting to rival energy companies and REITs.  I was looking closely at CAG and GIS as well. I currently have shares of GIS, but not with CAG.  I decided to stick with Warren Buffett on this purchase.

There were some crazy deals earlier today with IBM right at 6% and the continued tobacco carnage.  A name that I haven't added to for a while is SO. It's close to 6% right now so is becoming very interesting.

Recent Buy - T

Today I added to my T position.

• T: 100 shares @ $27.42 --- Yield  7.44%

Total capital invested is $2742 and will add $204 to my yearly dividends.

This is the highest yield I can remember on T. It may have been higher during 2008-2009, but not too much as the stock price is nearing those levels.  While the Dow has essentially tripled during the last 10 years, T has basically remained unchanged. The thing to remember is is T has probably paid out $17-$18 in dividends during this period making it a rather stealthy investment.

I will add a few hundred more shares as the yield continues it's march to 10%.

Merry Christmas everyone!! 2019 is going to be OUTSTANDING!!

Recent Buy --- CAH

I did some last minute Christmas shopping today.

• CAH:  100 shares @ $44.30 --- Yield  4.31%

Total capital invested is $4430 and will increase my yearly dividends by $191.00.

Many stocks are on my radar including the ones listed yesterday. UPS, CAG, HP, BBBY are in free fall right now so I hope to add one or two of these names by year end.

Recent Buys -- PM & XOM

Today I added to my PM and XOM positions.

• PM:  30 shares @ $69.91 --- Yield  6.53%
• XOM:  30 shares @ $69.75 --- Yield  4.70%

Total capital invested is $4189.80 and the combined yield is 5.61%.  These purchases will add $235.20 to my yearly dividends.

Lots of weakness in these two companies and I will probably add more as the PM yield approaches 7%. I will also watch MO closely and will go strong if the price dips into the $30s.

I only own XOM in the energy space right now. BP and Shell surprisingly have held up better than XOM. I will start adding to BP and Shell if the yields reach 8% or higher.

Another off the grid company is SMG. The share price has fallen by $50 from $110 to $60 pushing the yield up to around 3.5%. If it reaches 4% I will initiate a position.