Robinhood Buys: 4/27/2021

 

SJW Group (SJW): $4

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM):$4

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $4

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $4

Yum Brands (YUM): $4

Domino's (DPZ): $4

Papa John's (PZZA): $4

Lockheed Martin (LMT): $4

General Dynamics (GD): $4

Closing out the month with the wild card.  Mostly just added to already existing positions here.  SJW is new to the Robinhood wing, but it is an already existing part of my portfolio.  I don't know why, but E-Trade won't let me buy it anymore.  As such, it's brought here so that I can bolster the DRIP on that.  This wasn't quite as Vanguard heavy as other rounds, but a lot of positions were calling to me.  The pizza chains and the defense companies take up quite a few slots.  Still got a couple in there, though, so I won't complain.

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How to Look at Your Food

 

Robinhood Buys: 4/20/2021

 Let's hit some highs

Starbucks (SBUX): $3

Campbell's (CPB): $3

Verizon (VZ): $3

Realty Income (O): $3

GlobalXSuperDividend (SDIV): $1

Wisdom Tree (DON): $1

Powershares S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $1

AGNC: $1

Stag Industrial (STAG): $1

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $1

GlobalXFunds Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $1

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Brad Thor Bibliography: 'State of the Union'

 I had a hard time getting into this book.  I don't know why, exactly.  It isn't like "Lions", where the writing was clunky and stilted.  A part of it is just a busy schedule, which isn't helped by the fact that the longer you go without picking up a book, the harder it is to pick back up.  Still, this one didn't grab me the way I had hoped it would.

The book does have an interesting premise: "what if the Soviet Union didn't really collapse, but instead, rolled over and played dead until the time was right to strike".  It's certainly big in scope, but alas the book doesn't really do too much with it.  The idea is touched on once or twice, but it's almost an afterthought.  To be fair, we can't really expect Harvath to take down an entire superpower by himself.  At the same time, having him focus on finding nukes and dismantling a "Star Wars" style missile defense system isn't really what we were sold.  It's not bad, but I feel like this could have been a more epic entry than the 24-style outing that we got.

The book attempts to flesh out Harvath, with him reflecting about his relationship with his father.  It does give some more details about his history, but it doesn't really connect with the plot.  It's more like something that acts as bookends.  It's well intentioned, but again, the book doesn't do enough with it.

Meg Cassidy sits this one out for the most part.  I was certain that their relationship was going to end, but while there are tensions due to Harvath's job and commitment to said job, the two are still together by book's end, albeit attempting a long distance relationship.  It does buck the trend of having the female love interests cycle out book to book.  Still, it would have been cool to see her play a bigger role in the plot.  I don't know how much longer she'll be sticking around, but we'll see.

We do still get a new female partner to team up with Harvath.  This one doesn't turn out to be a love interest, though.  She doesn't even really meet Scot up until the last third of the book.  It was surprising, but it worked.  She has her own goals and reasons for stopping the villain du jour that aren't really tied to Harvath or even the well being of the United States. When all is said and done, she just goes home.  It was a good breaking of the expected formula.  

This read was very sporadic.  It got to the point where I actually considered starting over again.  I opted against it, though, because I'm behind schedule enough as it is.  Still, though, I do want to give this a re-read at some point.  I don't think this run through gave it a fair shake.  I know that, much like with George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" books, Thor fans will read through the entire chronology more than once.  I don't know if I'll go that far; I still have to finish this read-through.  On top of that, there are plenty of other books on my to-read pile.  Still, I wouldn't mind taking another crack at this one some time down the line.

The book ends with Harvath getting a new mission.  Had more specifics been dropped it could have been a cool sequel hook/segue to the next book: Blowback.  As it is, I think the intent was more for a general "and the adventure continues" type thing.  Either way works, really, though I think I would be more partial to the first option.  Maybe the prior does turn out to be the case, I guess I'll just have to see

Robinhood Buys: 4/16/2021

"But it's gonna take money. A whole lotta spendin' money.  It's gonna take plenty of money; to do it right, child.  It's gonna take time.  A whole lot of precious time.  It's gonna take patience and time to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right, child"

George Harrison

 3M (MMM): $3

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $3

Emerson (EMR): $3

PepsiCo (PEP): $3

AT&T (T): $3

Target (TGT): $3

McDonald's (MCD): $3

ConEd (ED): $3

Proctor & Gamble (PG): $3

Great song, by the way.  Anyway, I rarely get the chance to do buys on Friday; but since I got out of work early, I figured I'd take the chance to make up for what I missed last week and get back on schedule.  

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'Let's Get It Right'- Tua Watson Trade

 

Robinhood Buys: 4/13/2021

 Vanguard Total Market Index (VTI): $3

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $3

Vanguard S&P 500 Index (VOO): $3

Vanguard US REIT Fund (VNQ): $3

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $3

Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $3

March gives me an extra week of buys and April throws me a curve that prevents me from making buys in the first week, go figure.  Oh well, the snowbirds are beginning their journey North, so there was going to be a reduction in terms of moves eventually anyway.  It sucks, but such is the seasonal life.  

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What a 7 Year Vegan Buys Weekly

 

'Let's Get It Right' - Alabama vs. Ohio State

 

Dispelling the Plant Meat Gripes

 

Another one of my friends (this one back up in Annapolis) has a YouTube channel (well, technically he has two.)  They have laid dormant for a while, but he recently decided to get back into the content creation game.  As such, I figured I'd try to offer a little signal boost and hopefully help get the ball rolling.  

Where "Let's Get It Right' is sports and culture, this channel is health/nutrition focused. 

As to the topic itself, not for nothing, but Little Caesars had the Impossible sausage as a topping option for a while and I could honestly barely notice a difference between it and the genuine article.  Was legitimately surprised by that.

March 2021 Dividend Income: Prep Time

 2021 marches onward. Eh? Eeeeh?  Honestly, though, how are we already into the second quarter of the year, and why didn't 2020 move this fast?  You know the drill by now.  This is where we recap the dividends from the past month.  Now, while my mid-quarters are the big payers, the quarter end is when most investors really hit their peaks.  Did my portfolio even out, allowing the quarter ends to take their rightful place at the top?

No.

BUT MAYBE...

Nope.

ALTHOUGH...

Not happening. 

Alright, enough silliness, let's get to it.

Kroger (KR): $1.13  (+$0.01 QoQ/ +$0.15 YoY)

SJW Group (SJW): $0.35 (+$0.02 QoQ/ +$0.03 YoY)

Pfizer (PFE): $0.39 (+$0.01 QoQ)

Starbucks (SBUX): $0.03 

AGNC: $0.30 (+$0.16 QoQ)

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $0.12 (+$0.06 QoQ)

Exxon Mobil (XOM): $0.89 (+$0.02 QoQ)

Emerson (EMR): $0.10 (+$0.06 QoQ)

Target (TGT): $0.06 (+0.03 QoQ)

Global X Superdividend (SDIV): $0.02

Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): $0.96 (+$0.01 QoQ)

3M (MMM): $0.13 (+$0.06 QoQ)

McDonald's (MCD): $0.13 (+$0.08 QoQ)

Realty Income (O): $1.04 (+$0.04 QoQ/ +$0.31 YoY/+$0.02 from last month)

Wendy's (WEN): $0.74 (+$0.$0.23 QoQ; -$0.12 YoY

ConEd (ED): $0.17 ($0.07 QoQ)

Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.01

Flowers Foods (FLO): $1.07 Up a penny from last quarter; Up $0.09 from last year.

 Lumen Technologies (LUMN): $0.55 cents (+$0.36 increase QoQ)

VF Corp (VFC): $1.00 (+$0.01 QoQ, +$0.52 YoY)

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index (VIG): $0.12 (+$0.07 QoQ)

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $0.34 (+$0.17 QoQ)

Kraft Heinz (KHC): $0.40 (-----)

Nasdaq Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $0.01

Wisdom Tree (DON): $0.01

Vanguard US REIT Fund (VNQ): $0.18 (+$0.02 QoQ)

Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $0.16 (+$0.07 QoQ)

This brings the taxable sub-total to $10.41, up $1.01 from last quarter and up $5.01 from last year.

Only one fund in the 401K threw in some scratch this time around.  The Baird Aggregate Bond Fund thew in $0.77.

All in all, the portfolio brought in $11.18.  That's up a decent bit from last year, but down from last quarter due to December being a big month for the 401K. Overall, though, the numbers are all going in the right direction.  The only regression was Wendy's compared to last year, but that's to be expected.  

Interest also threw in $2.40

In addition to the Robinhood buys (which you can read about here, here, here, here, and here) I also added another share of both Pfizer and Kraft Heinz over on the E-Trade wing of my portflio.  As you can see, the latter was too late to effect the dividend, but it's something to look forward to next quarter. I also sold the last share of Bloomin' Brands (BLMN).  As was the case last year, I also got a decent chunk of Publix stock. It's not as much as last year, but the price has gone up and I didn't get as many hours this year, so that's not surprising.  Actually I'm surprised I got it at all, as I came up short on the hours requirement, but I'm not complaining. This has all been reflected in the newly updated portfolio.

Sadly, the most recent stimulus check still sits.  I'm expecting to have to fire it back at the IRS when I file my taxes.  I wasn't able to do any IRA contributions last year for a couple of reasons and with these economic impact payments being an advance, I figure it's all going back to cover the first one.  It's vexing, but c'est la vie.

In any event, Q2 is officially on. Let's do this.

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