Recent Sell --- FLO

I just had a $20 limit order executed and I sold my entire position of FLO today.

• FLO:  120 shares @ $20.01 --- Yield  3.2%

Total proceeds from this transaction are $2393.65 and my yearly dividends will be reduced by $76.80.

I originally purchased the shares back in September for $14.62 and I planned on adding to the position, but as many stocks have done over the past couple of months the shares got away from me. When the yield was in 4.5% range, FLO seemed like a steal, but now it's just another 3% yielder and quite frankly I am happy to take the 37% gain and redeploy into another better quality 3% yielder.

Forward dividends are back around 5k. I have some work to do in the next few weeks.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

GS exchanged for JNJ --- DJIA 19500 (WOW)

Today I sold my GS position and initiated a position in JNJ.

• GS:  12.05 shares @ $235.04 --- Yield  1.11%
• JNJ:  27 shares @ $110.62 --- Yield  2.89%

Total new capital invested is only $168.84, but will raise my net yearly dividends will increase by $55.07 since the difference in yields is so large between the two companies.

Rational:

I bought GS a few months back at $141 and a 2% yield and it is now almost $100 a share higher with a 1.1% yield. It has been a while since I have sold a position and really didn't want to. I must admit seeing a 63% in a just a few months combined with a 1% yield made the decision much easier.

Also I have been trying to create a more traditional DGI portfolio and JNJ fits within with that strategy much better than GS. I am closely watching massive gains in M, MET, and GM as well. These companies are some of my biggest gainers in recent months and I may slowly drop them as well and look for other DG companies. I will most likely keep GM because of its high yield and strong earnings growth.

JNJ is not cheap, but is cheaper. It may get even cheaper which is fine with me. 3% and 7-10% yearly dividend growth is awesome! 

Forward dividends are $5100.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

November 2016 Recap

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

• HCP --- $76.41
• VZ --- $29.71
• ABT --- $26.15
• TIS --- $21.00
• AAPL --- $14.33
• NEA --- $7.54

Total dividend income received for November is $175.14

I'm really pleased with November's results and other than HCP, most of the income is fairly evenly distributed. 

I was down just a bit when compared to August's result, however most of that can be attributed to the HCP cut. These things happen and the only thing to do is move on and keep adding to the portfolio and replacing the lost income..

I was also able to contribute $18537.17 to the portfolio.  These new contributions will add an additional $700.36 to my forward dividends.

During the month of December I will be looking to add to current positions as well as adding a few small dogs of the dow companies (PG, CSCO, GE, KO, and VZ are amazing companies).

Forward dividends are around $5000.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

Getting Defensive --- KO

I had a limit order filled today and added another 50 shares of KO.

• KO:  50 shares @ $39.99 --- Yield  3.50%

Total capital invested is $2006.45 and will add an additional $70 to my yearly dividends. 

This purchase pushes me just over 210 shares. Adding KO add a 3.5% yield is never a bad idea!

In other news, I am SERIOUSLY considering selling my GS shares that I bought several months ago at $140 and I see the shares are currently over $220. Other non traditional dividend companies I own that I might dump are M, MET, and GM. They are all way up off their lows and I am up 30-60% in the last few months. 

I don't normally look at precious metals, but they have been totally destroyed during the last few months and might be a nice speculative play. 

Just a few things on my mind.... :-)

Forward dividends are $5050.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

Final November Buy --- PM

Today I added PM to my dividend portfolio.

• PM --- 50 shares @ $88.59 --- Yield  4.70%

Total capital invested is $4436.33 and will add $208 to my yearly dividends.

Last year I owned over 200 shares of PM and sold out I believe around this price at the end of the year. This is an interesting company that feels like it should trade around $100, but just as easily could fall down to $75. I have a hard time understanding it's perpetual "little brother" status compared to MO. I'm glad that I own shares of both companies once again and look forward to the January dividends.

Forward dividends are now around $5000. 6K by year end?? Well of course that is going to happen. I do hate buying into new all time highs seemingly every month. 

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

October 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) --- $13692.23
Dividends/Interest ---  $162.59

Total net income --- $13854.82

Expenses --- $7143 (Taken from Mint)

Savings  $6711.82 --- Rate  48.44%

October was a challenging business month. The start was very slow, but eventually things picked up and it turned out to my best income month of the year. That was somewhat surprising considering all the national election buzz. My savings amount total was within in $1 of last month which is a strange coincidence. The net result is that my savings rate checked in again just below the 50% mark.

Even though my expenses were up a bit, some of that can be attributed to early knee surgery bills. There are thousands more on the horizon as the amounts from the various professionals and rehab facilities are tallied. Strangely enough none have been billed to me yet. They are coming though, no doubt about it!!

November is humming along both on the job front and the expense front. Christmas is going to break the bank, but at least we have most of the presents purchased.....I hope.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY

Recent Buy --- GILD All time market highs!!

Today I added to my GILD position.

• GILD:  27 shares @ $74.97 --- Yield  2.51%

Total capital invested is $2031.09 and will add $50.76 to my yearly dividends. 

It's amazing how the market continues to hit all time high after all time high. The DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ are all hitting new highs today.

I remember thinking the S&P 500 was way too high when it was trading around 1400 a few years back in 2013. Now we are inches away from 2200.

It just goes to show how powerful and unpredictable market forces are and that waiting for that ever elusive 20% pullback can result in a missed 80% surge! 

The good news is there are still sectors that are deep in correction territory and GILD happens fall smack dab in the middle of one!

Forward dividends are $4750.

DEFY MEDIOCRITY