Weekly Roundup - September 28, 2013

This past week was pretty good.  We finished another well and things went pretty smooth.  Now I get to be home for my cousin's wedding today and through the rest of the weekend.  Unfortunately I'll be heading back to work sometime early next week.  There's was also a lot of blog news this past week.  I analyzed both Starbucks and Stryker this past week and I like both companies from a dividend growth perspective but not necessarily at current prices.  There was also some changes to my FI Portfolio where I trimmed positions in both Caterpillar and Intel to put that capital to work in companies I'm more bullish on for consistent growth in Baxter and Johnson & Johnson.

In potential market shaking news, the House passed a bill to defund Obamacare which was then sent to the Senate.  The Senate passed their own bill to increase the debt ceiling and keep the government running until November.  And then promptly sent the Senators home and won't reconvene until 2 PM on Monday, September 30th.  As of midnight Monday night the government will shut down if no agreement is reached between the House and Senate.  I try to avoid politics here because it's such a divisive issue, but I can't help but comment a little bit.  They say how big of an issue this will be if the debt ceiling isn't raised and the government is shut down, and then take the weekend off?  This is completely irresponsible in my opinion.  I know it's all part of the game of politics but I just can't stand these people.

One last thing and I'll be done.  I really hope that the individual mandate for Obamacare is delayed by a year like the employer mandate.  But I'm not holding my breath on that one.  Healthcare is a big issue here in America as a large portion of the country doesn't have access.  While I understand the need to have access to healthcare, the way the Affordable Care Act is set up is absolutely horrible and the fact that in the land of the free we are forced to purchase a product/service or get fined is completely ludicrous to me.  A public option should be just that an option.  If I want to forego health insurance I should be able to, that's my choice and a risk I'm taking.  Not that I would.  A friend of a friend is suffering the effects of Obamacare already.  They have a family of 4 and their employer is dropping the employer sponsored healthcare and sending them into the ACA.  Their insurance will now be $12,000 more per year than before.  So much for your health insurance not going up.

In better news, my cousin is getting married and everything worked out to where I can be home for it and share in their day.  It takes me back to my wedding day with my wife and I can't believe that it's already been 15 months since our own wedding.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets to spend some time with friends and family.  We're supposed to have some great weather here, although it will be a little warm.

What should you be worth? by Get Financially Integrated

New Scottrade Account by Compounding Income

Harris Corp (HRS) Dividend Stock Analysis by My Journey to Financial Independence

Rethinking this bond allocation should match your age formula by My Own Advisor

Dealing with investing indecision by Dividend Growth Stock Investing

Long term dividend growth investing by Dividend Growth Investor

What's your percentage? by I Heart Budgets

Those evil shareholders! by Pulling Ourselves Up Financially

Stock bought: XOM by Dividend Growth Machine

Recent Sale by Dividend Mantra

It's all in the habits: How I live cheap and create my own freedom by Young, Cheap Living

Have a great weekend!

Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention -- have a good weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pursuit,

    Thanks for including me. Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

    Hope you have fun at the wedding. :)

    Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is the first time I have ever been on someones weekly roundup type list. Thanks for the mention!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the mention, great to be part of your line-up.

    I'm very bullish on pharma and medical device companies. With an aging population, this sector is the one to be in. I need some BAX and MDT but I find the price is high now.

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mark,

      I'm also bullish on medical device/supplies companies, not so much pharma because it's harder for me to understand. The demographics globally will continue to push these companies to grow. I like BAX now that it's pulled back a lot. I think MDT is a higher quality company but the price is too high for me right now.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. PIP - I like both BAX and JNJ, but don't have room for two pharmas right now. I prefer JNJ, and as I have mentioned before, if the price slips a bit more I will likely swap it for Novartis.
    I bought CAT for my wife last year around $82 and I am going to hang in with it for awhile longer. She doesn't have a lot else in that space, and I think it may be okay yet.
    I never owned INTL, but I can't think of any tech stock I would be comfortable owning! My only holding in that space is MSFT (bought around $30), and I waffle constantly on whether to sell or not.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @DoD, I would consider BAX more of a healthcare play than a pharmaceutical. Although that is part of their business model, they are extremely diversified and a pretty big player in medical devices. I completely agree with you about tech stocks, they scare the hell out of me.

      Delete
    2. BAD - Point taken on BAX not being a true pharma.
      I just recommended it to a friend earlier this week, but had not really planned on purchasing myself. However, closed under $64 today, so getting tempted. Just have to decide if it is worth exiting either NVS or IFF to make the swich into BAX (and/or JNJ).
      Take care.

      Delete
    3. @DoD,

      If I was able to contribute fresh capital to my portfolio then I wouldn't have sold CAT, INTC would have still been trimmed. To me CAT is a bit too volatile given all the negative catalysts coming up here in the US.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. I'm not bullish on CAT either, but I'm going to hold it. I am still bullish on JNJ, though. I'm interested to see if the market drops 16% like it did in '11 when no one was willing to compromise on the budget.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WE,

      I would love to see the markets pull back over 10% but who knows what will happen. Luckily I can start contributing to my portfolio again to start taking advantage of the pullbacks.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

Post a Comment