Weekly Roundup - March 8, 2014

What a busy last week.  Finished one job, had an awesome time at home with my wife, friends, and family, but all good things must come to an end and it was time to head back to work.  A bummer, I know, but the wonderful thing is that while I was off in my own world and busy with other things in life the wonderful companies that I own just continued to work for me 24/7 and earn profits and of course paying me dividends.  February wasn't the best of months, but it was a personal best for a February and the snowball just continues to grow larger.

I've still got a lot of catching up to do with my portfolio, writing, some exciting new things that I hope to have here and of course keeping up with everyone else's blogs.  There's just never enough time in the day which is exactly why I'm working hard to save and invest in quality companies to reach the holy grail of dividend growth investing:  financial independence!

I hate when I have some time away from the blog because all of you just continue to churn out some great posts and I have so much reading to do just to catch up.  I always enjoy getting to read all of your thoughts and it's very inspiring.  So please keep up the great content!  I'd just like to say thanks again to all of you for stopping by, commenting, and sharing posts from here this past week.  I'm planning on getting some more writing done over the next few days because this week was fairly light so hopefully y'all will enjoy what's to come.

Now on to the links!

Why do you limit your own potential? by FI Fighter - This is one thing that I just don't understand.  In a country where anyone can do anything why do so many people just resign themselves to being ordinary?  Now I don't think that early retirement is necessarily right for everyone, but for everyone that just accepts their current position in life as the way things will always be, you need to get up and do something.

Learn YOUR strengths/weaknesses and get better returns by Income Surfer - Bryan had a great article about why it's important to recognize both your strengths and weaknesses.  Buffet and Munger always harp about staying in their circle of competence.  If they don't understand the business model then how can they reasonably expect to value the business?

It's not about hating your job by Dividend Mantra - Jason continues to write some awesome posts and I hope to write as well as he does one day.  Financial independence isn't about hating your job, at least not for most people.  With almost everyone I talk to about financial independence they have a desire to do other things, whether that's starting a business, traveling the world, or focusing on their relationships, but the common theme is the desire for freedom and to own their own time.

Millenials and The New Death of Equities by A Wealth of Common Sense - Second verse, same as the first.  The younger generation is worried about retirement but avoiding investing in equities which have shown to provide the best long-term returns.  The same thing was going on in 1979 inspiring the now infamous Business Week cover touting the "Death of Equities".

Cash Flow, Retirement, and Dividend Growth Investing by Starting From Zero - I love the quote to start off this post; "Age doesn't retire, your cash flow does".  If you want to retire, whether early or at all, you have to find a way to turn your savings/investments into cash flow.  When it comes to investing in the stock market there's the typical 4% withdrawal rule or you can go with dividend growth investing.  I think you all know which side of the fence I'm at on those options.

Successful investors demonstrate patience on Dividend Growth Stock Investing - Patience, especially when it comes to investing, is one of the most important traits to develop.  It's something I continue to struggle with because I want to make progress as quickly as I can but I continue to get better as I gain more experience.

Warren Wednesday: H2 1961 by Pulling Ourselves Up Financially - I love this series because what better person to learn from than Warren Buffet himself.  Going through each of his annual letters allows us all to get those nuggets of wisdom, heck it's really mines of wisdom when it comes to Buffett.

The Top 17 Quotes from Buffet's Letter by Clear Eyes Investing - Speaking of Buffet, he shared an excerpt from his upcoming annual letter and there's plenty of "food for thought" so to speak.

More popular dividend growth stocks by DivGro - As a follow up to the to 31 dividend growth stocks held by 20 bloggers, DivGro gave us a look at the companies that were found in 3-6 of the 20 portfolios that he looked at.  I think this list is a good starting point for those looking for some fresh ideas of companies to look into.

Weeding out some bad investment habits by Get Financially Integrated - We've all got some bad habits, especially when it comes to investing.  I know my list of bad habits is a bit longer than I'd like.  One of the best things about keeping an investment blog is that it lets me record my thought process at the time of analysis or purchase to see if there's something to improve on in the future.

How to think like a long-term dividend investor by Dividend Growth Investor - It's easy to get caught up in short-term thinking when you're investing, but the key is to stay focused on the long-term.  Dividend Growth Investor gives us 5 questions to ask before making a potential investment.

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Also, I'm starting a newsletter that I hope to get going over the next month or two so go on and be the first to sign up to receive new posts to your email and newsletter!

Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention and the support JC. Have a great weekend!
    -Bryan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi PIP,l

    "Back to the work" - that is almost the hardest!
    For me it is the same!
    Holidays - and then work ... oh no...!

    Your links are good!
    There's a lot here again, what I did not know!
    There are really a lot of websites on the net ...

    Best whishes
    D-S

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D-S,

      No kidding. I hate having to go back to work, but unfortunately it pays the bills and lets me save/invest so it has to be done. There's so many great websites out there.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. JC,

    Thanks for the very kind words. You're doing a great job over here, bud.

    And I appreciate the mention.

    I hear you on not having enough time. But the sacrifices we're making right now will pay off big time later down the road when we have enough time to do whatever we want.

    Best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,

      Unfortunately we weren't born with family money, although I have a feeling we probably wouldn't appreciate it if we were. I feel pretty blessed to have been laid off since it gave me a taste of what I'd like to do, of course it was a bit longer of an unemployment period that I'd have liked.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Thanks for sharing my post JC!
    I love reading weekly lists like this, as I always find new blogs to follow. There's so many good ones out there and it seems like I never have enough time to read them all.
    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Starting from Zero,

      There's so many great blogs out there and I'm sure I haven't really even scratched the surface of them all. I hear ya on never having enough time.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. I really enjoyed DivGro's most popular dividend post. Very cool to see how everyone's portfolio shakes out. I'm planning to take my holdings public this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zach,

      Those 2 posts by DivGro were great. I liked seeing the frequency histograms to see which one's are the most common but I think the 2nd post is the better one for DGI since it lists some of the not as popular stocks and hopefully not as followed.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Thanks for the mention! I'm amazed by that as well, especially since I see it everyday at work with co-workers who like to complain, but who don't do anything to better their situation.

    Also, thanks for the continued inspiration and support. Hope you had a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FI Fighter,

      It's a shame really but I don't expect it to change on a large scale basis. Too many people are comfortable with the status quo or just don't want to put in the effort to escape it.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

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