Recent Buy: Franklin Resources

I actually wasn't planning on making any other purchases this month. However, when work annoys you, you do what you gotta do; and what I do is buy stock.

This time around I added two more shares of Franklin Resources (BEN) to the portfolio. I did consider the idea of adding a new position   or doing a share of this  as well as a share of something else to make it a double-header, but this seemed the simpler way to go.

Much like the last purchase, this transaction came to the same $50-ish grand total.  It's still mid-tier, but it's consistent, if nothing else.

Despite the same price point, this purchase packed more of a punch, adding over two whole dollars to the total projected forward dividend income.  I've learned first hand that chasing higher yielders can backfire, but this is a dividend aristocrat and from what I've read, their numbers are still solid.

One added perk, as the stock is priced less than what I originally paid, it allowed me to "average down".  Obviously, the idea is for the price to go back up; but while it's a bit lower, why not take advantage, right?

This purchase has NOT been reflected in the portfolio post, not yet anyway.  I'm going to hold off until the end of the month on that.  I might actually keep that update to a once a month event going forward, but I'm still on the fence about how to handle that.  Having it be up to date is nice, but doing it once a month allows all the DRIP to be accounted for in one swoop and it makes it more worth the effort; especially considering the changes right now are highly fractional and, thus, updates fall more on the tedious side of things.  Like I said, I'm not sure how I'll go about that, but I'm certain that I'll figure something out as we progress.

  "Buy" by Got Credit is licensed under CC BY 2.0 














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'JLA' Volume 1: 'New World Order'

You can read my review of the trade paperback collection here.



Pros

- Plot raises questions about the League's effectiveness as a global force

- Fast pace with plenty of big action sequences

- Batman gets a memorable sequence where he turns the tables on the villains


Cons


- The short length means a lot of ideas go under explored and leaves little time for characters to really develop



Overall

The comic was simple but it worked fairly well.  There was potential that went untapped, but if you're looking for an inexpensive, fast read that introduces you to the DC universe, this does the job.




                                                          












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'Let's Get It Right' Episode 7

'Let's Get It Right' Episode 6

'Let's Get It Right' Episode 5

Recent Buy: Hormel

Up until now, I've included stock buys in the monthly dividend articles.  However, taking a cue from other investing bloggers, I'm going to try and make posts to chronicle purchases as I make them.  There are some benefits to this.  For one, it will create a better balance between the investing and miscellaneous content.  On top of that, it will allow for some new reading material as we progress through the great content migration.  New content is better than old content, yes? Yes.  I don't know if I'll do this for EVERY purchase.  Depending on the month, I might keep a few in my back pocket to toss into the dividend articles just to add some flavor, but we'll see how things play out.

So, what stock did I buy? I added a share of Hormel to the portfolio (as if the title didn't give it away.)  My original plan was to beef up my Armanino position.  I was going to buy either 1 share (because the idea of blogging about a $3.50 stock purchase is funny to me) or 4 (to make for a slightly more substantial money move and to bring my position up to an even 15 shares.)  However, E-Trade decided to try and attach their old commission fee to the purchase for some reason and screw that noise.  I guess I'll have to wait and make larger purchases on that position.  It's a pity, as that one seemed tailor made for my nickel and dime strategy.

All in all, the total came in under $50, so it was a pretty middle of the road purchase for me.  Not the smallest move I've made, but not the largest either.  It's one of those firm "C" purchases on the investing grading scale.  It boosted the forward income up by just under a dollar, so there's that too.

As can be expected, the purchase has been added to the portfolio.






"Buy" by Got Credit is licensed under CC BY 2.0 














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'Let's Get It Right' Episode 4

'Let's Get It Right' Episode 3

'Let's Get It Right' Episode 2

'Let's Get It Right' Episode 1

Taking Stock: The Portfolio

(As of 12/18/2023)


It's common procedure for investing bloggers to display their portfolios.  Others often have a separate page, but I'm just making it a post in its own right.  I'll update it when I can and indicate it as such with the date noted above.  With that out of the way, let's run down the list, shall we?

E-Trade

AGNC:   10.763 shares
Armanino Foods (AMNF): 20 shares
AT&T (T): 13.208 shares

Coca-Cola (KO): 3.253 shares

Exxon Mobil (XOM): 2.235 shares
Flowers Foods (FLO): 7.021 shares
Franklin Resources (BEN): 11.683 shares
Hormel (HRL): 4.39 shares
Iron Mountain (IRM): 6.476 shares

Kimberly Clark (KMB): 1.103 shares
Kinder Morgan (KMI): 9.902 shares

Kraft-Heinz (KHC): 4.432 shares
Kroger (KR): 6.685 shares
Leggett and Platt (LEG): 5.46 shares

Main Street Capital (MAIN): 1 share

Realty Income (O): 26.775 shares
Omega Healthcare (OHI): 8.194 shares

Paramount Global (PARA) (formerly ViacomCBS): 10.556 shares
Paychex (PAYX): 2.318 shares

Pepsi (PEP): 1.127 shares

Pfizer (PFE): 3.317 shares
Proctor and Gamble (PG):  2.133 shares
The SJW Group (SJW): 1.094 shares

SpartanNash (SPTN): 5.319 shares
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT): 5.538 shares
VF Corp (VFC): 7.558 shares

Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): 3.478 shares

Wendy's (WEN): 12.215 shares
Westrock (WRK): 7.65 shares

Independent Positions

Best Buy (BBY): 15.048424 shares

Publix: 415.5987 shares

Robin Hood portfolio

3M (MMM): 0.364741 shares

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 0.59775 shares

Emerson (EMR): 0.846335 shares

Pepsi (PEP): 0.555361 shares

AT&T (T): 3.49 shares

Target (TGT): 0.463863 shares

McDonald's (MCD): 0.335331 shares

ConEd (ED): 1.06 shares

Proctor & Gamble (PG): 0.415436 shares

Vanguard Total Market Index (VTI): 4.21 shares

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): 1.15 shares

Vanguard S&P 500 Index (VOO): 0.340448 shares

Vanguard REIT Index (VNQ): 1.09 shares

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index (VIG): 1.02 shares

Vanguard Utilities Index (VPU): 0.526899 shares

Starbucks (SBUX): 0.645776 shares

Campbell's (CPB): 1.12 shares

Realty Income (O): 1.11 shares

Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): 1.07 shares

AGNC: 2.09 shares

GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): 1.18 shares

Wisdom Tree (DON): 0.832006 shares

Verizon (VZ): 1.24 shares

Stag (STAG): 1.09 shares

Main (MAIN): 1.15 shares

Nasdaq Covered Call ETF (QYLD): 1.3 shares

Chevron (CVX): 0.334233 shares

Smuckers (SJM): 0.211433 shares

Paychex (PAYX); 0.32829 shares

Exxon Mobil (XOM): 1.06 shares

Hormel (HRL): 1.04 shares

Papa Johns (PZZA): 0.403487 shares

Domino's (DPZ): 0.101864 shares

Lockheed (LMT): 0.162697 shares

Yum (YUM): 0.352905 shares

General Dynamics (GD): 0.246862 shares

SJW: 1.05 shares

Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): 0.131474 shares

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): 1.08 shares

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): 1.08 shares

Intel (INTC): 1.15 shares

Apple (AAPL): 0.069912 shares

MicroSoft (MSFT): 0.05748 shares 

IBM: 0.113651 shares

Hewlett Packard (HPQ): 1.11 shares

Kinder Morgan (KMI): 1.11 shares

VF Corp (VFC): 1.09 shares

Coca-Cola (KO): 0.388672 shares

Kroger (KR): 0.430987 shares

Kraft-Heinz (KHC): 0.756372 shares

Unilever (UL): 0.703842 shares

McCormick (MKC): 0.136082 shares 

NextEra Energy (NEE): 0.413895 shares

iShares Gold Trust (IAU): 4.19 shares

iShares Silver Trust (SLV): 7.01 shares

Dogecoin (DOGE): 1,975.74

Ethereum (ETH): 0.097486

Bitcoin (BITC): 0.00724303

Robinhood Roth IRA

General Mills (GIS): 2.6 shares

Kellogg (K): 2.92 shares

Clorox (CLX): 0.837545 shares

Colgate (CL): 2.46 shares

Northrop Grumman (NOC): 0.277419 shares

Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): 0.818728 shares

Exxon Mobil (XOM): 0.481795 shares

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): 0.419791 shares

WK Kellogg Co (KLG): 1.4 shares

401K

Invesco Stable Value Trust Fund: 322.1983 shares

Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: 162.7132 shares

T. Rowe Price Value Fund: 47.0659 shares

State Street S&P 500 Index Fund: 17.8886 shares

T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund: 29.0268 shares

State Street S&P Midcap Index: 44.2931 shares

DFA US Small Cap: 22.6985 shares

American EuroPacific Growth: 16.2716 shares

Publix: 226.1639 shares

State Street Conservative Strategy Balanced Securities: 42.6204 shares

State Street Moderate Strategy Balanced Securities: 35.2041 shares

State Street Aggressive Strategy Balanced Securities: 31.4233 shares

Roth IRA

Realty Income (O): 9 shares

Exxon Mobil (XOM): 6 shares

Campbell's Soup (CPB): 10 shares

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): 2 shares

PepsiCo (PEP): 3 shares

SJW Group (SJW): 8 shares

Hershey (HSY): 2 shares

Lowe's (LOW): 3 shares

Home Depot (HD): 2 shares

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): 6 shares

JP Morgan ETF Trust (JEPI): 8 shares

Scott's Miracle Gro (SMG): 12 shares

IRA

Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): 5 shares

Coca-Cola (KO): 8 shares

NextEra Energy (NEE): 6 shares

Verizon (VZ): 10 shares

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): 6 shares

Proctor & Gamble (PG): 3 shares

Hormel (HRL): 10 shares

Sherwin Williams (SHW): 2 shares

T. Rowe Price (TROW): 4 shares

Schwab US Dividend Equity Fund (SCHD): 7 shares

Kimberly Clark (KMB): 4 shares

iShares Dividend Core Growth ETF (DGRO): 12 shares 

November 2019 Dividend Income: Thanksdivving

So be good! For goodness' saaake, whoa-oh! Dividends are comin'!  Yes, another month has passed us by.  Crazy as it may sound, we are in the final month of 2019.  2020 looms over the horizon, but before we get to that, it's time (as we do) to log the dividends from November.  This is a mid-quarter month, which means there's quite a bit to cover, so let's get right to it.

AT&T (T): $1.07 Up $0.02 from last quarter due to reinvested dividends
Best Buy (BBY): $3.50, same as before, though it did throw another curveball in terms of timing.  I really do need to get this one straightened out.  The randomness is a little amusing, and it does make for a wild card, but having it be more consistent does seem kind of appealing in all honesty.

AGNC: $0.17 Up a penny!
Sprague Resources (SRLP): $7.86  This might be the biggest payment I've gotten from a single company to date. DRIP had a bit to do with this, but redirecting Barnes and Noble capital into this one is the big reason why this position spiked the way it did.

Senior Housing (SNH): $0.16  Up a penny!
Hormel (HRL): $0.43 Same as before
Kinder Morgan (KMI): $1.01 Up 26 cents from DRIP and a stock purchase
Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI): $2.16  Up $0.07 from DRIP
Realty Income: $0.71  As noted before, this one cent increase was due to a dividend increase, as well as DRIP
Tanger Factory Outlet (SKT): $1.45  Up $0.38 from DRIP and a stock purchase
Paychex (PAYX): $1.28  Up a penny!
Arconic (ARNC): $0.02  Same as last quarter
Bloomin Brands (BLMN): $0.30
Publix: $0.30

This brings the non-401K dividend total to $20.42.  This in and of itself is a milestone and a new record, but there are still a couple of more entries to note. 

Speaking of the 401K, Publix threw in another $1.21 to that account and one of the other funds added $0.52, up $0.24 and $0.08 respectively.

All in all, the grand total comes to $22.15, which is up $5.05 from last quarter.  Not too shabby all things considered.

Bank interest threw in $3.72, which is down a bit from last month.  To be fair, it wasn't my fault.  The online bank I use reduced the interest rates on their accounts, be it ever so slightly.

This was a light purchase month for me.  It's odd, as I had unintentionally created this pattern where I augment the heavy dividend month with an active buying month.  That wasn't the case here; as I only logged a single purchase, a share of VF Corp.  Like Pepsi, this is a company that's on the verge of dividend kinghood, with well over 40 years of dividend increases under their belt.    It's not a huge add as far as forward income, but it is a strong name that I was happy to bring to the portfolio. Besides, last month was pretty active, so I think it evens out.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how this month turned out.  A new threshold was broken, the growth rate was healthy, and a small, but strong addition was made to the portfolio.  I don't know if December can "top" this, but there are some factors that should make it an interesting entry to close out the year. 

                                "stock dividend" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0 













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October 2019 Dividend Income: Straight Cash Homie

With Halloween having come and gone, it's time to see whether the month of October delivered tricks or treats.  Let's do the dividend thing, shall we?

Pepsi (PEP): $0.96   Technically, this is a September payer, with an official listed payout date of 9/30.  However, as dividends don't appear in my account until the next day, this becomes an October payer.  It's odd, but it is what it is.

Iron Mountain: $1.87  Up $0.04 from last quarter due to DRIP
AGNC: $0.17   Same as last month.
Franklin Resources (BEN): $1.31  Up $0.79 due to new shares bought and DRIP
Bed, Bath, and Beyond (BBBY): $0.68
Realty Income (O): $0.70   Same as last month.  I was going to lament the fact that even the combination of DRIP and a dividend increase wasn't enough to move the needle, however, next month's payment is projected to have that one cent uptick, as such, I can roll with it.

Armanino (AMNF): $0.28 same as last quarter.


All in all, that brings us to $5.97.  With the 401K throwing in an extra $0.50 we get a total of $6.47.  This total is actually down over a quarterly basis.  It's annoying, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  Just as Best Buy contributed to last month's growth, so too does it account for the QoQ shrinkage here.  Annually, the total is only up $0.26.  The Barnes and Noble loss had a lot to do with that figure, giving me yet another reason to be vexed by that whole fiasco.

That being said, I do think my portfolio is a lot stronger now than it was then.  As such, I can shake it off for the most part.

Interest payments clocked in at $3.90, which is up $0.07 from last month.

October purchases were as follows.

1 share of Kinder Morgan (KMI)
1 share of Tanger Factory Outlet (SKT)
1 share of Sprague Resources (SRLP)
1 share of Bloomin' Brands (BLMN)
1 share of Westrock (WRK)

Can you tell I'm not paying brokerage commission fees anymore?  It looks absurd, but really, this development is great for a small timer like myself.  I can nickel and dime my way up; plus, those "work annoyed me" purchases won't be so much of a detriment. 

My original plan was to just buy 5 shares of SRLP, but I figured this was the better way to go.  That company accounts for a large portion of my income already.  It's funny, lately I've been trying to find companies that don't pay in the mid-quarter months, as that segment is so far ahead of the other months.  This time, however, I zeroed in on those specific companies so that I could hit a milestone.  I'm pretty sure I hit it, but we'll see next month.

I have started keeping cash on me.  It helps keep the credit card balance down.  While I pay them in full to avoid interest and there's no rebate incentive, it is nice not seeing that number creep up as the week or month progresses.  On top of that, stockpiling loose change is a longstanding savings technique, so that's pretty cool.  I've also used this as an impetus to do the Ramsey/Hogan envelope thing.  It's working pretty well so far.

That wraps things up for this month.  Considering October is supposed to be one of the rougher months for wall street, this went pretty smoothly.  Next month is the mid-quarter, though, and that's always the heavy hitter for me.  Definitely looking forward to that post.

                            "stock dividend" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0 
















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September 2019 Dividend Income: Going SJW

Hard as it may be to believe, we have entered Q4 of 2019, also known as "Crunch Time".  With the beginning of a new month, it is once again time to take a peek at the dividends that the last 30 days have brought.  As such, let's dive in.

Kroger (KR): $0.97 up $0.13 from last quarter and up $0.55 from last year.  The quarterly increase was partially due to reinvested dividends, but a dividend increase did most of the heavy lifting.  $0.12 may not seem like much, but that is just shy of a share's worth of dividends.  So, even at this fairly early stage, you can see how those make an impact.

Best Buy (BBY): $3.50. Same as before.
AGNC: $0.17  Up a penny from last quarter due to reinvested dividends
CenturyLink (CTL): $0.26  Same as last quarter
Flowers Foods (FLO): $0.96 Same as last quarter
Realty Income (O): $0.70 Up a penny from last quarter, but the same as last month's
Wendy's (WEN): $0.71  Up a penny due to dividend reinvestment


That brings the sub-total to $7.27.  Another impressive YoY figure compared to last September's $0.78 total.  It wasn't quite ten-fold, but it came pretty close.

The 401K also threw in a little something, with $0.75 added.  This brings the grand total to $8.02, which is up $3.64 from last quarter Granted, the Best Buy dividend has a lot to do with that and that is something of a wild card due to mitigating circumstances, but I won't complain.

Bank interest threw in $3.83 of extra income.  Which is a $0.65 increase from last quarter and a $0.37 increase from last month.

This was a fairly light month in terms of purchases, with only two being clocked in.  The first was a share of the SJW group....What? That's a real company.  Their stock symbol is SJW....I'm not joking! Look it up!  They're a water utility based out of San Jose.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "San Jose Water" is where the abbreviation comes from, but it's still funny.  Not only was this one worth adding for the pure "kek" factor, but they're a freaking dividend king (50+ consecutive years of dividend increases) a pretty solid addition if I do say so myself.

The second was two shares of Bloomin Brands (BLMN), which is the corporate name for Outback.  They don't have as long a record of dividend growth as the other addition, but they do have a couple of consecutive increases under their belt and the payout ratio is low enough where it should have no problem continuing the trajectory.  On top of that, the food's pretty good, so there you go.

With only 3 months remaining.  It's time to put the pedal to the metal; not just to achieve the goals we all laid out back in January, but to build up momentum so that 2020 can be even stronger. 

                          "stock dividend" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

















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August 2019 Dividend Income: "David, No!" "David, YEEESSSS!!!"

Some in my family have raised concerns and objections about these dividend posts.  It may seem odd that this comes up more than a year after I started, but I think the impetus was the unclaimed property, where the numbers featured were a bit larger (though in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that big).  The fear largely centers around hacking/identity theft.  The thought is that these posts will draw the wrong kind of attention. I get it. I do want to go on record and say that the objections were duly noted and I did take the "stop doing them" suggestion under advisement.  As you can see, though, I have decided to push forward. 

So, yeah, onward and upward as they say.

Alright, with all that out of the way, let's get to the good stuff; the material you really came here for: the dividend income for August.  As has been mentioned before, the mid-quarters are my big payer.  There's a lot to cover, so let's dive in.

AT&T (T): $1.05  Up a penny from last quarter due to reinvestment
AGNC: $0.16       Same as last month
Sprague Resources (SRLP):  $3.71    Up $0.13 from reinvestment
Hormel (HRL): $0.43   Up a penny from reinvestment
Kinder Morgan (KMI): $0.75
Omega Healthcare (OHI): $2.09   Up $0.04 from reinvestment
Realty Income (O): $0.70   Same as last month
Senior Housing (SNH): $0.15  Same as last quarter
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT): $1.07
Westrock (WRK): $0.91
Paychex (PAYX): $1.27 Up a penny from reinvestment
Arconic (ARNC): $0.02   Same as last quarter
Barnes and Noble (BKS) $3.08  Up $0.09 from last quarter due to reinvestment.
Publix paid $1.27 in dividends.  The non-401K portion remained $0.30, while the 401K shares threw in $0.97 in dividends.  The latter number is up $0.25 from last quarter.  This is due to reinvested dividends as well as some of my contributions going to more shares in the company.

The 401K also added another $0.44 in dividends (up $0.08) courtesy of one of the other funds.

That brings the non 401K dividend total to $15.69.  If we include the 401K, the total jumps to $17.10.  It's another record and just shy of the $20 threshold.  I'm pretty confident I'll have that beat by November.

Bank interest threw in $3.46 of passive income, which is up $0.74 from last month.

Sadly, this is going to be the last time you see Barnes and Noble featured on this list.  They were bought out by some hedge fund and became privately owned.  I, myself, voted against this arrangement, as Barnes and Noble was the passion project of the portfolio.  You could say that this was the company I was most invested in.  Sadly, the other shareholders didn't think the same way.  It's odd too, as by the time the form went out for us to cast our vote, the stock was worth more than what the hedge fund was offering.  I was certain that no one was going to take that deal, but here we are.  You did a dumb, shareholders.   You did a dumb.

I have no idea how to go about getting the company back into the public market, but I hope it happens.  This not being a Barnes and Noble shareholder thing isn't working for me.  I need my stake in the company back. Seeing as the deal just went through, I think it's safe to say it's going to be a while so I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it....for now.

In addition to a plethora of dividends that got reinvested.  This was a pretty active month on the stock buying front, with 4 purchases under the belt.

The first was a share of Pepsi (PEP).  A bit pricier than what I'm used to, but a great brand.  Now, when I use the vending machine at work, I can not only quench my thirst, but fund my own future.  See, tactics.

The second was 5 shares of Sprague Resources (SRLP).  I haven't really gone back to this company.  The thing that drew me to it in the first place (low cost, big dividend) suddenly became the reason I decided to keep my distance. However, with the loss of Barnes and Noble, I had to make up that loss in forward income.  With the money I got from the hedge fund, this was the only company that could allow me to do that.  On the plus side, it not only succeeded in that goal, but also boosted the number higher than it was before.

The third purchase was 3 shares of Franklin Resources (BEN).  I picked these up after that 800 point drop in the market.  An affordable dividend aristocrat and a company that I knew DIDN'T pay in the mid-quarter month.  I figured it was worth nabbing a few more shares.

The fourth and final purchase was 4 shares of Bed, Bath, and Beyond (BBBY).  Like the prior, this was a post-dip purchase, though it did happen at a later date.  This also doubled as a "work annoyed me" purchase, so hooray for multi-tasking.

All in all, this was a good month, Barnes and Noble loss notwithstanding.  A lot of forward progress with some interesting curve balls thrown in. 2019 is going into its third trimester.  It should be interesting to see where things go as we move closer to year's end.

                                                                                                    

"stock dividend" by CreditDebitPro is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

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