Weekly Roundup - June 21, 2014

As usual it was a busy, busy week with work.  There were lots of issues which led to us having to change out tools a bunch of times this past week and to top it off I picked up a bit of a head cold on Tuesday and been fighting it ever since.  Is it just me or do head colds in the summer seem a lot worse than head colds in the winter?

So work was busy although not as productive as I'd have liked and unfortunately Mr. Market continued to be in a happy mood and didn't give much opportunities for me to put extra capital to work.  I did close out my position in Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and sold about 40% of my position in Lorillard (LO) and I hope to get a write up about those soon but this darn head cold has really worn me out.  Other than that my portfolio just continued to churn out dividends as I had three companies pay out this past week.  That's the beauty of dividend growth investing.  Whether the markets are on fire or dropping like a rock, the dividend checks keep coming from high quality companies.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that stopped by, commented and shared posts from Passive-Income-Pursuit this past week.  I truly appreciate it all of your continued support and I just hope to reciprocate.


Now on to the links!

Congratulations to the Class of 2014!  What I've Learned in Seven Years by FI Fighter - Over the past month or two both college and high school students have been graduating and moving on to the next step in their lives.  It's important to learn from every resource that you can and what better way than to learn from someone that has been there and done that already and is well on his way towards achieving freedom.

A multistage rocket model for a dividend growth portfolio by Dividend Mantra - When it comes to dividend growth companies they typically fall into three areas.  There's the high current yield/low growth rate, the moderate current yield/moderate growth rate, and the low current yield/high growth rate.  Obviously there's exceptions to these but generally this is how they fall.

Investment Income Update - June 2014 by Retire Before Dad - Another solid month for RBD and he's back on a roll of increasing forward dividends after a dip last month.  Steady position increases through direct stock purchase plans can make a big difference over the long run since you're consistently putting money to work.

Weekly Business Break: Always Selling! by Income Surfer - Since one idea for what I'd like to do once I reach financial independence is to go work for small local companies and help them expand and improve operations, this inside look at Bryan's real time example is pretty interesting.

Should I invest in bonds? by Dividend Growth Stock Investing - I think we all need some exposure to bonds although the amount will vary for everyone.  Given the current low interest rates I'm not looking to have much exposure but I still invest a small portion of my 401k contributions in a bond mutual fund.  Even after reaching financial independence I'll maintain a portion of our portfolio in bonds, although admittedly it'll probably be fairly low.

What attracted Warren Buffett to IBM? by Dividend Growth Investor - IBM has been changing its business model from being hardware oriented to software/services oriented.  DGI outlines the reasons that Warren Buffett took such a large stake in IBM and why you should consider it too.  I'm looking into adding to my position if I can get a solid entry point.

The split that makes me want more by The Dividend Guy - Since initiating its dividend a few years ago and subsequently giving annual raises, Apple has started to be loved by more dividend growth investors.  And the recent stock split surely had something to do with the surge in price over the last few months.  The Dividend Guy discusses his plans going forward as he divests out of one position and goes heavier into both Apple and Johnson & Johnson.

Recent Buy - General Electric Company (GE) by Roadmap2Retire - GE definitely took a beating during the financial collapse due to its financial arm.  But there's plans in the works to spin off the consumer finance segment and get the company back in line with its industrial roots.  With a huge backlog of orders and a renewed dividend growth streak, General Electric could be offering some decent value in this market.

How the unemployment rate affects stock market performance by A Wealth of Common Sense - It's interesting to see the correlations between future stock market returns and the unemployment rate.  While it's quite intuitive that a high unemployment rate will lead to higher future returns because the economy is usually contracting to reach those high unemployment rates.  And a contracting economy leads to depressed stock market valuations.

Three life changing investment lessons from ConocoPhillips by The Conservative Income Investor - It's important to keep a long-term perspective and getting real-life examples of how older investors have gone through their investment life is great.  Life tends to get in the way of the standard $10,000 one time or $1,000 per year investment examples we always see.  But great companies win out in the long run and finding those companies and sticking with them is the biggest creator of wealth.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention, PIP. Have a great weekend

    R2R

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pursuit,

    Thanks for including me!

    Looking forward to your articles about the transactions with LO and BNS. Try to get some time in to relax, bud. And I hope you feel better.

    Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing PIP. It looks like I may have picked up another client as of Friday. It will be a while until (if ever) they pay an invoice, but we are ideally suited to meeting their needs. Score one for the sales calls! Have a great weekend buddy
    -Bryan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan,

      That's awesome that you're helping turn the company around. At the worst, it'll be a great experience for you. At the best who knows where it could lead.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. PIP,
    Thanks again for adding my piece to your round up. Try to keep that cold in check this weekend. Maybe watch a little soccer if you're into that!
    -RBD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RBD,

      No problem. This cold has definitely been troublesome. But I think I've turned the corner on it because I feel much better today. Now it's just a matter of getting the congestion out of my system.

      I've been trying to catch some of the World Cup games but unfortunately they come on during the day so I can't really watch them. But luckily I've got my wife recording the US games for me to watch whenever I get home. Sadly I already know how the first one ended but there was no way I was not going to peek at that for over a week.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. I’m enjoying these weekend readings as there’s so many things to follow. Having them consolidated is nice! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the mention! Hope you're having a great weekend and work can slow down a bit for you. Feel better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Definitely some great blogs to follow. A few I don't regularly follow, so it's nice stopping by to get an update!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment