BP and AFL raise dividends --- New yields are 5.54% and 2.60%

Yesterday BP raised its quarterly dividend from $.585 to $.60.  This represents a 2.56% increase from last quarter and a 5.26% over last year.  Since I own 225 shares, my yearly dividends will increase by $13.50.

Aflac also announced that it will increase its quarterly dividend from $.37 to $.39. This represents am increase of 5.4%.  This is a rather unimpressive increase in a relatively low yielding stock, but I suppose any increase is better than no increase. I currently own 67 shares so my dividends will increase $5.36.

The combined increase in yearly dividends is $18.86.


Other news:

ARCP has seen its shares collapse today with shares trading as low as $8.93.  Apparently there are some accounting irregularities that have surfaced.  When I first started buying shares, I mentioned that this investment should be viewed as speculative.  My current share count is only 191 shares and this represents less than 0.6% of my portfolio.  The yield is now in excess of 10% and should be viewed as unsustainable in my opinion.  While I have no plans to sell right now, I will be watching it closely.

This is a classic example of why we should always remember to diversify across sectors, companies, and asset classes.

Weekly Sharebuilder Purchases

Here are my automatic investments for this week.

• ESV:  6.50 shares @ $38.33 --- Yield  7.83%
• RDS-b:  6.74 shares @ $74.07 --- Yield  5.08%
• GM:  16.13 shares @ $30.94 --- Yield  3.88%
• CVX:  4.31 shares @ $115.85 --- Yield  3.69%
• XOM:  5.27 shares @ $94.68 --- Yield  2.92%

Total capital invested is $2250 ($250 in ESV and $500 in the others).  The combined yield on this week's purchase is 4.33% and will add $97.43 to my yearly dividends.


$100/week Challenge --- Week 27   S&P 500:  1973

I missed my $100 goal this week, but my forward passive income is around $14,140 so I am ahead of schedule with my year end goal of $14,500 in passive income.  I plan on keeping up my current pace through Thanksgiving and then I will slow down the puchases for a while.

The recent market pullback certainly has been short-lived which follows a similar pattern over the last couple of  years.  It seems like we go through a quick 5-10% drop and then immediately recover. In any case, energy continues to be attractive so I will focus on building up that part of my portfolio.

Stock on my radar for next week include CVX, XOM, BP, RDS-b, COP, GM, UL, KO and IBM.

Weekly Sharebuilder Purchases

Here are my automatic investments for this week.

• ESV:  7.79 shares @ $38.40 --- Yield  7.81%
• RDS-b:  8.19 shares @ $73.12 --- Yield  5.14% 
• BAX:  8.81 shares @ $67.99 --- Yield  3.06%
• XOM:  6.48 shares @ $92.47 --- Yield  2.94%
• IBM:  3.70 shares @ $162.10 --- Yield  2.71%

Total capital invested is $2700 ($300 in ESV and $600 each in the other four).  The combined yield on this week's purchases is 3.95% and will add $106.50 dollars to my yearly dividends.

$100/week Challenge --- Week 26   S&P 500: 1933

IBM, KO, and MCD are taking a beating after showing lackluster earnings as well as unimpressive future guidance.  The market as a whole however, seems to be back on the upswing as energy has stablized and bargain hunters are jumping back into the waters.  For the remainder of this year, I am going to continue building up energy positions as well as completing underweight positions.

Stocks on my radar for next week include KO, MCD, GM, VZ, IBM, XOM, and RDS-b.

KMI raises dividend 2.3% --- New yield is 4.99%

Today KMI announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, or $1.76 annualized. This is a 2.3% increase from the prior dividend of $0.43. The dividend will be payable on November 17, 2014 with an ex-dividend date of October 29, 2014.

Since I own 232.72 shares this will increase my yearly dividends by $9.31 assuming no further increases for the next year.

The market continues to be highly volatile which means better opportunites for long term investors.  I almost pulled the trigger on TD and UL today but held off.  I plan on making weekly purchases and will try to avoid catching falling knives.  My fingers already have enough cuts on them . :-)

In all seriousness, I feel good about this pullback and will continue to average down in positions that I feel are undervalued. 

Weekly Sharebuilder Purchases

Here are my automatic investments for this week.

• APU:  11.77 shares @ $42.48 --- Yield 8.29% 
• RDS-b:  6.91 shares @ $72.31 --- Yield  5.20%
• BBL:  9.25 shares @ $54.05 --- Yield  4.59%
• CVX:  4.46 shares @ $112.07 --- Yield  3.82%
• GE:  20.41 shares @ $24.50 --- Yield  3.59%
• XOM:  5.46 shares @ $91.61 --- Yield 3.01%

Total capital invested is $3000 ($500 in each company).  The combined yield on this week's purchases is 4.75% and will add $142.50 to my yearly dividends.

100/week Challenge --- Week 25   S&P 500:  1895

Well we have all been waiting for a long overdue pullback and it may finally be arriving.  However, even with the drop in the markets in recent weeks, we are still hovering around the breakeven line for the year so I don't know if it can be considered a legitimate correction yet.  What I do know is energy continues to get hammered so it appears to be the obvious choice when making stock purchases. 

Stocks on my radar for next week include COP, BAX, ESV, BP, KMI, CAT, MCD, XOM, CVX,  JNJ, and GM.

Kraft raises dividend 4.76%---New yield is 3.95%

On Tuesday Kraft (KRFT) announced that is will raise its quarterly dividend from $.525 to $.55 which represents a 4.76% increase.  Since I own 75 shares, my yearly dividends will increase by $7.50.  While this isn't the biggest dividend raise, it is good to see a strong company will an already high yield give its investors a pay raise.

There has been some churning in the markets recently which is a good thing.   Since I am still in the accumulation phase of the FI journey, this means I can achieve greater future cash flows with less current capital investment.  Energy, heavy machinery, autos, and commodities continue to take the brunt of the market's fury.  GE, DE, CAT, GM and <Name your oil/energy company here> are becoming more attractive by the day.  Hopefully a little more blood will hit the streets during the rest of this year so we can take advantage of some quality companies with very attractive yields.

Record date is October 17th and the pay date is October 31th.

Weekly Sharebuilder Purchases

Here are my automatic investments for this week.

• ARCP:  41.97 shares @ $11.91 --- Yield  8.40%
• RDS-B:  6.54 shares @ $76.36 --- Yield  4.92%
• BBL:  9.27 shares @ $53.95 --- Yield  4.60%
• GE:  19.91 shares @ $25.11 --- Yield  3.50%
• XOM:  5.28 shares @ $94.71 --- Yield  2.91%
• PEP:  5.37 shares @ $93.05 --- Yield  2.82%

Total capital invested this week is $3000 ($500 in each company).  The combined yield for these purchases is 4.53% and will add $135.75 to my yearly dividends.


$100/week Challenge --- Week 24   S&P 500:  1948

I am still working on equalizing my positions.  RDS has come down quite a bit along with most energy names.  GE is drifting near its year low and BBL continues to sit in bear market territory.  I plan on adding to XOM until the end of the year and hopefully can reach 100 shares.  ARCP is one of my smallest positions and looks reasonable at these levels.  PEP is on the other end of the spectrum as it along with KO are sitting near the year highs.  I wish I had picked up more shares early this year when it was in the 70s.  Oh well,  I am going to add to this position until it reaches equal weighting with KO.

Other stocks on my radar for next week include DE, ESV, CVX, WM, CAG, and PAYX.

September 2014 Passive Income

Here is the summary of my passive income and purchases that I made during the month of September.  Beginning this month, I will only list my taxable dividends and interest as this will be what funds my FI.  Dividends and interest from my retirement accounts will be logged on my dividend spreadsheet and income tabs.  Eventually I will use the income from these accounts, but that will occur many years after I leave the workforce. 

All in all this was a good solid income month.  My forward dividend/interest is now approximately $13,200 so I am pleased with my progress.  I now feel confident that I can reach my year end goal of $14,500 in forward passive income.


Taxable Account

• CAIBX --- $546.40
• AHITX --- $287.59
• ESV --- $91.01
• DLR --- $83.00
• TGT --- $75.40
• BBL --- $67.05
• BP --- $66.12
• DVY --- $58.72
• CVX --- $45.24
• PFE --- $43.09
• MSFT --- $42.00
• IBM --- $30.80
• AFL --- $24.79
• MCD --- $21.49
• GM --- $16.63
• RDS-B --- $15.05
• ARCP --- $12.30
• PEP --- $10.95
• WM --- $7.32
• RDS-A --- $.14

Total taxable passive income is $1545.09.


New Capital Invested

• MAT --- $5024
• BP --- $4596
• MCD --- $3100
• BBL --- $2900
• GM --- $2300
• KO --- $1600
• XOM --- $1400
• ESV --- $1000
• PM --- $600
• VZ --- $500
• BAX --- $500
• GE --- $300

Total new capital invested is $23,820.00.

Note: This month's capital includes most of the funds received from my mutual fund sale that took place in August.