Unilever (UL): $2
General Dynamics (GD): $2
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $2
ConEd (ED): $2
Coca-Cola (KO): $2
Target (TGT): $2
Realty Income (O): $2
WisdomTree Midcap Fund (DON): $2
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $2
NextEra Energy (NEE): $2
Click here to open an E-Trade account
Amazon is one of the biggest, most successful businesses on the planet. Everybody uses it. It's convenient, it's easy, it's reliable; the list goes on. With all that success comes a target on their back, as many say that Amazon should have to pay for any myriad of things. You hear it a lot, it's a go to for many people on the internet.
But, what if I told you that there were already mechanisms that you yourself could use to achieve that same goal? What if, instead of waiting for a legislator, we actually (with minimal effort) got that ball rolling ourselves? Hard as it may be to believe, these tools do exist, and you'll find out about them....right now!
1. Raise wages --- Affiliate links
You've seen these before on this blog, as well as several others. If you click on one of these links, it will take you to Amazon's page for the item in question. The only difference is that, because you used that specific link, the person who posted said link gets a small portion of that money. Amazon doesn't pay a dividend, but this is a way to get a piece of those profits into the hands of individuals. Even better, that's taxable income, so you are (admittedly indirectly) getting Amazon to pay more in taxes.
If you're looking to boost your own income, these can potentially help. I know a lot of people bring these up when talking about blogging as a side hustle, but there is no guarantee. You could just as easily end up with a perpetual goose egg.
Even if you don't have a blog or website, you can post links directly to social media channels and pages. Again, no guarantee of revenue, but it could be worth trying out if you're looking to up your fiscal game.
2. Strengthening Social Safety Nets ---- Amazon Smile
There are a lot of problems that need addressing. While there are organizations doing things to address them, they need money to do what they do. With Amazon Smile, you can help provide them with said funds. Much like the affiliate link, buying a product through Smile redirects a portion of the funds from your purchase and puts it towards a charity of your choice. You might recall that this was an aspect in the "stimulus plan" that I laid out back in the early days of the pandemic. They have a lot of options too, so whatever issue you feel compelled to champion, odds are pretty good that you'll be able to advance it through this avenue.
3. (1b/2b?) Stacking
For the longest time, I thought that these two things operated independently of each other. I figured you could either do an affiliate link or Smile. How cool would it be, though, if you could stack the two? With one purchase you could raise a wage and fund a cause simultaneously. Well, it turns out that you can. Smile affiliate links do exist. Two birds, one stone. It's pretty awesome. I've been making a point to use them since I found out and I would urge bloggers who do use affiliate links to make the switch, especially if you are one of the people who pull in regular income from their use of affiliate links.
4. Support Small Businesses
Amazon is a goliath that has often been charged with putting smaller businesses out of...business. It's understandable, they have reach and resources that a lot of companies don't. But, you can actually get the convenience of Amazon while still supporting smaller chains and stores. See that "buy used and new" button that's near the "add to wish list" and "add to cart" buttons? That'll take you to a list of smaller, independently run stores and individuals that also sell the product. Admittedly, this isn't "making Amazon pay" the same way that the other items in the list are, but it is using Amazon's infrastructure to elevate the little guy.
Now the downside is that, more often than not, items bought this way won't qualify for free shipping. So, even if you buy multiple items and break that $25 threshold, you'll still have to pay S+H on all of them. It's not too big a deal if you're just buying one item, but if you get a few, it can add up to a pretty good chunk of change.
In the case of buying a single item, you could potentially get the item at an even lower price (even factoring in shipping and handling) so everybody comes out ahead.
So, there you have it. A bevy of tools to get Amazon to do what we want it to do. They have some substantial capital, now we just need to use the resources we have to put it to work.
Starbucks (SBUX): $2
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $2
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $2
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $2
Target (TGT): $2
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $2
McCormick (MKC): $2
SJW Group (SJW): $2
iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO): $2
Intel (INTC): $2
Click here to open an E-Trade account
By and large, real estate is a solid investment. Sure, it has its ups and downs like the market or crypto, but overall, it is a good place to park and grow your money.
From a distance, it can appear to be pricey, but there are options for the regular John or Jane Q. Public. You can invest in REITS like Realty Income, Store Capital, or Iron Mountain. If picking and choosing is too daunting or too much work, you can go broader and go with something like Vanguards US REIT fund (VNQ).
There is another option, however. Enter, Fundrise, this is a crowdfunding real estate investing platform that allows you to put your money into properties across the country. The returns are consistent, solid, and steady. You can even generate dividend income from it as a bonus. Having another passive income source is always a good thing.
It piqued my interest when I first found out about it, but I finally decided to quit dawdling and set up an account. It is actually surprisingly easy. You can get started with as little as $10 too, which makes it nice and accessible. They did take that away for a little while a year or so ago and the next opening tier is $1,000, which is substantially higher.
That's what I did (the $10 starter account, not the $1,000.) It's a nice little seed that I planted that can grow over time. These investments aren't tied to the stock market, which is definitely a selling point given all the volatility and other assorted craziness that's been going on. It's also a nice follow up to my opening of the Current account. It may not be a power play, but it is making a move and setting things up for future me.
The site does allow you to make automated transfers with different time gaps. I went for $10 weekly. It's not a huge amount, but it'll get the ball rolling.
It's not exactly taking a leap, but I am glad I finally got this off the ground. I'm excited to see how this works out.
Click here to open an E-Trade account
Market was down big yesterday; it's down (though not as much) today. Yeah, let's do some stuff.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $2
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $2
Target (TGT): $2
Starbucks (SBUX): $2
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $2
STAG Industrial (STAG): $2
Coca-Cola (KO): $2
Lockheed (LMT): $2
Procter & Gamble (PG): $2
SJW (SJW): $2
Click here to open an E-Trade account
And away we go.
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $2
PepsiCo (PEP): $2
NextEra Energy (NEE): $2
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $2
Intel (INTC): $2
Schwab US Dividend Equity Fund (SCHD): $2
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $2
Chevron (CVX): $2
Kraft-Heinz (KHC): $2
McCormick (MKC): $2
Click here to open an E-Trade account
Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when savings accounts were useful. You could get 2-3% on a regular savings account and I have more than once alluded to the bygone era where an ING online savings account paid a whopping 5%, good times.
More recently, Capital One offered a new beefed-up savings account that paid 3.5%. Of course, about a month after I opened that, interest rates sunk like a rock to the point where I was eventually making 0.4% on that same account. Now, credit where it's due, the fed raising interest rates has brought that up to 0.8%, which is significantly better, but still nowhere close to what it was.
I recently found out about Digital Federal Credit Union, an institution that pays over 6% (on the first $1,000 anyway) alas, they have certain eligibility requirements where you have to work for, or be associated, with certain organizations with which they are partnered. I was not. Would have been nice, but oh well. It was worth a shot.
Soon after, I found out about Current. An online financial institution (they explicitly say that they are not a bank) that offers 4% interest. Much like with DFCU, they only offer that up to a certain amount, in this case, $6,000 on what they call "savings pods". What happens after that, it doesn't specify. It's a little weird, especially since each pod can have up to $2,000 and you're limited to 3. Seems a little overcomplicated, but I suppose for a 4% interest rate, it's worth it.
While Current is explicit in its assertion that it isn't a bank, they are connected to one, thus the accounts are still FDIC insured, which is a nice perk. Another nice perk is the fact that there are no minimum balance requirements.
This is an app only operation. You can't log in through your computer like you would be able to with other banks. It might not bother some people, and I'll probably get used to it, but it is something to take into consideration.
One cool thing about this account though, is that the interest is applied to your account daily. I haven't seen this in action myself, as I only just opened the thing, but it is a pretty awesome perk. Not only does it encourage you to put money in, but it also helps with cash flow once you get to those higher balances. You can transfer the interest to your main account and fire it at other things. Being able to make small moves daily can really help build up momentum in the long run.
We'll see how this goes. I see no reason to be pessimistic at this point, but I'm in the very early stages. With everything going on, it would be nice to be able to point to this as a port in the storm.
Click here to open an E-Trade account
Word to your mother, it's time for the mid-quarter dividend post. Why do this? Because dividends are awesome. It's a rising income floor that can be used to fund...well, anything: life, creative endeavors, philanthropy, whatever.
Now, for most investors, the numbers peak in the quarter-ends. My portfolio, however, bucks the trend and seems to do its best work in the mid-quarters (barring December, which has become a powerhouse in its own right.) So, with that, let's get right to it.
Publix: $20.36 (+$3.62 QoQ and YoY)
AT&T (T): $3.28 (-$2.02 QoQ, -$0.14 YoY)
Campbell's (CPB): $0.22 (-$0.02 QoQ, +$0.10 YoY)
Verizon (VZ): $0.58 (+$0.13 QoQ, +$0.46 YoY)
General Dynamics (GD): $0.20 (+$0.05 QoQ, +$0.17 YoY)
AGNC: $0.63 (+$0.08 QoQ, +$0.31 YoY, +$0.04 from last month)
Sprague Resources (SRLP): $7.81 (+$0.19 QoQ, -$2.82 YoY)
GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.14 (+$0.07 QoQ, +$0.10 YoY, +$0.03 from last month)
Apple (AAPL): $0.01 (- QoQ)
Omega Healthcare (OHI): $4.07 (+$0.09 QoQ, +$0.96 YoY)
Realty Income (O): $1.29 (+$0.06 QoQ, +$0.22 YoY, +$0.03 from last month)
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT): $1.02 (+$0.46 QoQ, +$0.66 YoY)
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.07 (+$0.04 QoQ, +$0.05 YoY, +$0.02 from last month)
Hormel (HRL): $1.21 ($0.04 QoQ, +$0.43 YoY)
Kinder Morgan (KMI): $2.43 (+$0.17 QoQ, +$0.95 YoY)
Procter & Gamble (PG): $2.05 (+$0.88 QoQ, +$1.02 YoY)
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.08 (+$0.03 QoQ, +$0.07 YoY, +$0.01 from last month)
Westrock (WRK): $1.32 (+$0.01 QoQ, +$0.31 YoY)
Paychex (PAYX): $1.90 (+$0.36 QoQ, +$0.47 YoY)
Starbucks (SBUX): $0.12 (-$0.03 QoQ, +$0.05 YoY)
Papa John's (PZZA): $0.11 (+$0.02 QoQ, +$0.09 YoY)
Wisdom Tree (DON): $0.03 (+$0.02 YoY)
That brings the sub-total to $48.93. Just shy of breaking the $50 without the 401K, not too shabby. There were some small reductions in a couple of positions, which is kind of weird, but it didn't really make a difference in the grand scheme of things. The overall trajectory is still going in the right direction as it's up over $6 from last year.
Speaking of the 401K, those dividends were as follows:
Publix: $6.65 (+$2.26 QoQ, +$2.94 YoY)
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $1.52 (+$0.35 QoQ, +$0.63 YoY, +$0.23 from last month)
That sub-total comes to $8.17
All in all, the grand total comes to $57.10. Just shy of $60. It'll be nice to see this crack the triple digit threshold. At this rate, the day may come sooner than we think, but we'll see how things play out.
Interest clocked in at $4.97
In addition to the Robinhood buys (which you can read about here, here, here, here, and here) I also bought 4 shares of AGNC on E-Trade.
I'm making decent progress towards the two goals I have set for each branch of the portfolio. It's funny, I did cross the full share threshold on a few positions on Robinhood, but I didn't actually get around to updating it just yet. Eh, hopefully I'll knock a few more positions off and reduce the workload by that much more...so many digits past the decimal; it vexes me.
This whole hunkering thing is pretty vexing too. I've had to do it before at this time of year, but it is still annoying.
On the plus side, while the "off-season" budget is basically the same from years past, I have the added perk of continuing to juice up the 401K and build up more Publix stock, which didn't happen that much during this time of year before. So, long term, this still works out better. I'm hoping to set things up so that I won't have to hunker as much later on down the line because, like I said, it's annoying. I prefer momentum. Still, you get what you can when you can get it. With inflation being what it is, it may not be much, but anything is better than nothing. We are coming up on the second half of 2022, thus we plow forward.
Click here to open an E-Trade account
A round of stock buys seems like a good way to kick off the month.
Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD): $3
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $3
Sprague Resources (SRLP): $3
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $3
Hormel (HRL): $3
Kroger (KR): $3
PepsiCo (PEP): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $3
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3
Unilever (UL): $3
Click here to open an E-Trade account
