Recent Buy --- NEA

Today I added more tax free munis fund to my portfolio.

• NEA:  150 shares @ $13.19 --- Yield  6.22% (Tax exempt)

Total capital invested is 1985.90 and will add $123 to my yearly dividends.

High yielding stocks aren't the only thing under pressure recently, munis are experiencing some major pain as well. NEA reached a peak of about $15.25 a few months back and has fallen over 15% since bringings it's tax free yield up over 6%. For me that is the equivalent of a 9% REIT or a 7.5% qualified dividend stock. I'm in at this level and will gladly add more shares if it continues its decent.

There is certainly more than one way to skin a cat and munis are a great complement to my dividend and lending club portfolios.

PM, T, VZ, SO, CLX, CL, GILD and NKE are in my sights as well.

Forward dividends are around $4700.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

October 2016 Lending Club Update

Once again, I am a little late posting this update. These numbers reflect yesterday's balances and interest payments received. Pretty boring and consistent which I like.

I have been investing $25 at a time and now have 421 notes up from 375 notes last report. I am continuing to use the automated note selecting mechanism which lets the computer spread the capital across a variety different loan grades.

Right now as you can see above, my current return is 6.76% after all defaults and past due loans have been written down.This return continues to closely mirror the predicted 6.68% return under the Platform Mix. Also, my monthly payments have increased to approximately $328.

As my loan portfolio continues to increase both in value and number of notes outstanding, my returns are becoming less volatile and a bit more predictable. It looks like I will be in the 6-7%.

In the early months, I have seen the returns as high as 9% and as low as 3%. I'll be more than satified at the 7% level. That is what could be expected from a typical REIT and slightly higher than most utilities.

I will continue to invest $200 a week until I reached $10,000. At that point I will probably continue investing new capital, but may stick with higher credit borrowers.


2016 Net Annualized Returns

July --- 6.77%
August  --- 6.33%
September --- 6.65%
October --- 6.76%

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

Recent Buy --- UL DJIA All time high!!

Today I initiated a position in UL.

• UL:  100 shares @ $39.87 --- Yield  3.51%

Total capital invested is $3993.60 and will increase my yearly dividends by $140.00.

Even though the markets and my portfolio continues to surge to new all time highs, there are still pockets of value out there. 

UL has fallen about $10 a share in the last month or so and so I took advantage of what I think is a pretty good yield and entry point. Other companies I am watching closely include PM, MO, VZ, T, OHI, HCP, NKE, and DEO. Most of these names are being left for dead. The best part is I have little or no position in most of them.

On the other side of the spectrum WFC, M, GS, MET, TROW, EMR, PFE, and GILD look really stretched. GS might be my first sell in a very long time as I am up about $60 a share in this position and the yield has really plummeted.

Forward dividends are around $4540.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

Recent Buy --- TIS & KMB

Today I add to my TIS position and initiated a position in KMB.

• TIS:  75 shares @ $24.30 --- Yield  5.76%
• KMB:  20 shares @ $112.37 --- Yield  3.27%

Total capital invested is $4083.80 and the combined yield is 4.37%. These purchases will add an additional $178.60.

It's nice to see some defensive names finally coming back to more reasonable levels. In addition to above companies, I am closely watching SBUX, NKE, DEO, ABBV, VZ, T, CLX, MCD, OHI, and HCP even after the dividend cut.

Speaking of the HCP dividend cut, my forward dividends are now $4350.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

October 2016 Recap

Here is the summary of the dividends I received in my taxable account.

• DEO --- $53.54
• M --- $37.75
• KO --- $28.00
• TUP --- $20.40
• VIAB --- $16.00
• NEA --- $6.90

Total dividends received for October are $162.59.

Well after laying goose eggs in April and July, I finally kicked down the door (LIKE THE WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO CUBS!!!!), and earned some money to start the fourth quarter.  As always, I reinvested all the dividends back into the companies paying them.

As you can see I also added $5893.98 in fresh new capital which increased my forward dividends by $225.00. 

I would love to have added more, but I had to under ACL surgery last month and obviously was preoccupied with that whole situation....and will be for months to come no doubt!!

Anyway I love the results from last month and hope to tickle $5000 in forward dividends by year end. We'll see how it goes.

Forward dividends are around $4300.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

September 2016 Income & Expenses

The amounts below are cash amounts and are net of taxes, insurance, 401k contributions, HSA, etc. In other words, the amounts are what get deposited and withdrawn from my accounts.

Day job (take home pay) --- $12907.95
Dividends/Interest ---  $535.72

Total net income --- $13443.67

Expenses --- $6733 (Taken from Mint)

Savings  $6710.67 --- Rate  49.94%

After hitting a record low savings rating in August, I bounced backed nicely saving 50% of my income for the month. Expenses were still on the high side, but my income was my highest amount so far for 2016.

Considering I prepaid a 4 day cruise last month, I feel really good about last month and will continue to work on my daily living expenses, I have noticed a trend this year that "one-time" anomalies are becoming monthly occurrences so I better tighten things up.

My day job income was outstanding last month which was surprising considering the election is so close. October will not be as kind as we are tracking for our worst month of the year. Make hay while the sun shines I guess.

It also feels good seeing some real progress from the passive income front. I probably should start reporting my interest income from Lending Club as well. I might hit the $100 mark in October.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

September 2016 Lending Club Update

I'm a couple of weeks late uploading my Lending Club Summary. These numbers reflect yesterday's balances and interest payments received. Pretty boring and consistent which I like.

I have been investing $25 at a time and now have 375 notes up from 310 notes last report.  I am continuing to use the automated note selecting mechanism which lets the computer spread the capital across a variety different loan grades.

Right now as you can see above, my current return is 6.65% after all defaults and past due loans have been written down.This return closely mirrors the predicted 6.68% return under the Platform Mix. Also, my monthly payments have increased to approximately $294.

The returns continue to bounce around like a pinball as notes are written down when they become past due. If and when the notes are made current, the return adjusts upward as expected.

As mentioned last update, I have seen the returns as high as 9% and as low as 3%. It tends to stay around 7% most of the time.

I will continue to invest $200 a week until I reached $10,000. At that point I will probably continue investing new capital, but may stick with higher credit borrowers.


2016 Net Annualized Returns

July --- 6.77%
August  --- 6.33%
September --- 6.65%