Emerson (EMR): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $7 (Roth)
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Everything is a dumpster fire. There are problems aplenty. Governments have boxed themselves into a corner. One can't help but wonder how it is all supposed to be dealt with.
It's not all doom and gloom, there are tools at our disposal. Greatergood is up and running. You can click up to 12 times a day now and they have added a few spin-offs that can provide further funding. The Charity Miles app is still a great option. Alas, Amazon Smile is no more, but Samsung has a "Global Goals" app that you can use to raise money for those causes. Renowned Youtuber MrBeast has a Youtube channel specifically created to fund altruistic endeavors.
These things are all fantastic. They help a lot of people, and I would encourage others to use them. However, even with all of that used in tandem, it might not feel like you're moving the needle as much as one would hope.
One way to up your game would be to set up a "foundation". Now, I'm putting that in quotes, because it isn't a foundation in the tax-deductible institution sense. It is really just a savings account where you put money aside to build up and donate to the cause or causes of your choice.
You might think that I got the idea from MrBeast with his aforementioned charity. It planted the seed, yes; having a well of money that you can use to help people and steer humanity in the right direction sounds awesome, right?
It was actually another Youtuber, though, who really brought the concept to fruition when she opened a savings account and called it her "grant" or "scholarship fund". That is to say, that after building up to a certain point, she gave the money to somebody else to help them on their financial journey. I thought that was really cool and it inspired me. There are actually a few perks to this approach (besides the obvious giving aspect.)
Prosperity Grant surpassed?
I was a fan of Andrew Yang's "Prosperity Grant". It was a plank in his Presidential platform where everyone would get a $100 voucher each year to put towards the non-profit of their choice. I even included it in my Presidential wish list when Biden was first elected.
Sadly, it doesn't seem like it's going to be a thing; but with this approach, you can create your own. Depending on which bank you use (an online high yield savings account would be ideal, the brick and mortar bank savings accounts are pretty much useless on this front) it will only be a matter of time before you're pulling in that much in interest. Even better, you could end up generating even more than $100. You're not limited in the same way that you were with the aforementioned policy.
Forever Donor Lives?
I've mentioned this site before. It's defunct now, but the idea was that you would open up an investment account through the site and a portion of the passive income would go towards the charity/charities of your choice. This enabled the charities to get ever increasing amounts of money thanks to the other portion being reinvested. It was an awesome idea that was struck down way too soon.
With this, you can use a similar strategy, take a portion of the interest and pump it to your cause of choice and use the other portion to grow the cash flow so that you will be able to do more and more over time. It's still sad that the site didn't gain a solid footing, but you can replicate the effect on your own.
Taxes Taxes Taxes
One of the big criticisms of foundations is that they are "tax havens". With this, you don't have that problem. Not only is it a great criticism deflection, but it saves you a lot of paperwork and hassle. Now, interest is taxed at a lower rate than regular income, which might vex some people. But for those who want to see the government better funded, they can throw their gains at the debt to clear the country's balance sheet and put the government in a better position to operate. Just imagine, there could be no more debt ceiling shut downs. Furthermore, the "how are we going to pay for it?" line will become a far less frequent utterance.
Now, they probably won't do this. That crowd's track record the past decade and a half has been...abysmal, but it is an option, and it is a thing that could theoretically be done. If they did do it, it would be fantastic, but I've learned not to hold my breath when it comes to this sort of thing.
Have I set up my own account? Yes, as a matter of fact, just did so today. Don't get too excited, the balance is a whopping $3, but you know what they say about the journey of a thousand miles. People always tell you to have a personal emergency fund, this takes that sentiment up to the next level. This would be your macro-emergency fund. The personal fund is your defense against various socio-political woes, this is your offense. Take the fight to it and turn the tide.
Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Emerson (EMR): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Target (TGT): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Blackrock (BLK): $7 (Roth)
A new position added to the retirement account. You may recognize the name, as it is the rather infamous investment company that "owns everything". Well, in a power play worthy of Victor Newman himself; I have established a foothold into the company and will now begin the process of "owning the owner". Checkmate.
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Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Domino's (DPZ): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Emerson (EMR): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Paychex (PAYX): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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NextEra Energy (NEE): $3
Clorox (CLX): $7 (Roth)
Unilever (UL): $3
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $7 (Roth)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $3
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $7 (Roth)
Coca-Cola (KO): $3
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $7 (Roth)
Kraft Foods (KHC): $3
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $7 (Roth)
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January: Taxable: $26.25 Retirement: $20.82 Total: $47.07
February: Taxable: $47.52 Retirement: $35.64 Total: $83.16
March: Taxable: $32.69 Retirement: $66.87 Total: $99.56
April: Taxable: $34.39 Retirement: $21.23 Total: $55.62
May: Taxable: $74.11 Retirement: $47.08 Total: $121.19
June: Taxable: $31.78 Retirement: $69.77 Total: $101.55
July: Taxable: $38.88 Retirement: $20.86 Total: $59.74
August: Taxable: $75.26 Retirement: $49.04 Total: $124.30
September: Taxable: $40.55 Retirement: $67.55 Total: $108.10
October: Taxable: $38.37 Retirement: $26.66 Total: $65.03
November: Taxable: $76.64 Retirement: $47.58 Total: $124.22
December: Taxable: $45.37 Retirement: $176.64 Total: $222.01
Taxable Sub-total: $561.81
Retirement Sub-total: $649.74
Grand total: $1,211.55
That's a nice jump compared to last year. Cleared the 1K mark with room to spare. Considering how stagnant things felt during the year itself, that number comes as a pleasant surprise. It looks like the snowball is really starting to gain momentum. I daresay this is where things are going to get interesting.
What better way to kick off the new year than to talk about dividends, am I right? Dividends are awesome, December dividends especially so. There's a lot to cover, so let's dive right in.
Intel (INTC): $0.14
Kroger (KR): $2.05
J.M. Smucker (SJM): $0.22
Pfizer (PFE): $1.34
Unilever (UL): $0.32
SJW Group (SJW): $3.85 ($0.81 taxable/$3.04 IRA)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $0.71
AGNC: $1.52
Yum! (YUM): $0.20
Walgreen's Boots Alliance (WBA): $1.64
IBM: $0.19
Kellanova (K): $1.49 (IRA)
Target (TGT): $0.51
Sherwin Williams (SHW): $1.21 (IRA)
Chevron (CVX): $0.50
NextEra Energy (NEE): $3.00 ($0.19 taxable/$2.81 IRA)
Emerson (EMR): $0.41
Flowers Foods (FLO): $1.60
3M (MMM): $0.54
Kraft Foods (KHC): $2.05
Microsoft (MSFT): $0.04
Coca Cola (KO): $5.31 ($1.63 taxable/$3.68 IRA)
GlobalXSuperdividend (SDIV): $0.25
Home Depot (HD): $4.18 (IRA)
Domino's (DPZ): $0.12
Exxon Mobil (XOM): $9.16 ($3.09 taxable/$6.07 IRA)
Northrop Grumman (NOC): $0.49 (IRA)
Hershey's (HSY): $2.38 (IRA)
ConEd (ED): $0.85
Wendy's (WEN): $3.02
Main Street Capital (MAIN): $0.87
Stanley, Black & Decker (SWK): $4.86 (IRA)
WK Kellogg Co (KLG): $0.12 (IRA)
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): $4.21 ($0.61 taxable/$3.60 IRA)
Stag Industrial (STAG): $0.13
Vanguard US REIT Fund (VNQ): $1.17
iShares Core Growth ETF (DGRO): $4.84 ($0.40 taxable/$4.44 IRA)
McDonald's (MCD): $0.55
SpartanNash (SPTN): $1.14
VF Corp (VFC): $0.78
Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD): $6.54 ($0.80 taxable/$5.74 IRA)
Invesco High Dividend Low Volatility ETF (SPHD): $0.18
T. Rowe Price Group (TROW): $4.88 (IRA)
Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU): $0.69
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): $8.32 ($1.26 taxable/$7.06 IRA)
Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (VOOG): $0.12
Realty Income (O): $9.15 ($6.85 taxable/$2.30 IRA)
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG): $0.93
Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI): $9.32 ($4.31 taxable/$5.01 IRA)
WisdomTree Midcap Dividend Fund (DON): $0.13
DFA US Small Cap: $16.02 (401K)
Lockheed Martin (LMT): $0.51
American EuroPacific Growth: $30.55 (401K)
Baird Aggregate Bond Fund: $7.27 (401K)
T Rowe Price Value Fund: $59.44 (401K)
The taxable sub-total comes to a respectable $45.37. Retirement accounts, however, pulled in $176.64. That brings the grand total to $222.01. A solid number, no doubt, but it's actually down quite a bit from last year. The T Rowe Price value fund dipped quite a bit this year. It's a bit sad, especially after a year of further contributions, but it is what it is. Like I said, it's hard to complain about the current number. It just means that I need to bolster the other positions to make up the difference.
Interest clocked in at $7.13
Not a bad month on the buying front. There were two rounds on Robinhood, but over on E-Trade, I made single share buys of Realty Income (O), Main Street Capital (MAIN), Gold Share Hedged Bond ETF (GLDB), and WisdomTree (DON). These are all monthly payers. Some of these I already had in my Robinhood account, but the gold ETF is a new one. I'm still continuing building up my IAU position, but this pays, so it seemed to be worth an add. Hopefully, bolstering these will help pick up the slack after a largely dormant 2023.
What will 2024 bring? Who's to say?
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