Weekly Roundup - August 23, 2014

I've been off work for 1.5 weeks now but today I'll be heading back.  Time to go make some money.  Now don't get me wrong I much prefer to be home but we aren't close to financial independence yet so I have to grind away.  It was great to be home and last weekend we had the gender reveal party, IT'S A BOY!, and then my wife and I and some friends went to the Soundgarden/Nine Inch Nails concert.  That made for a long day but it sure was fun.

After making at least one purchase each of the last four weeks I took a breather this week.  Although I didn't see a whole lot of value but I am looking into another insurer, Chubb Corporation (CB).  I hope to make a purchase of something next week though because I still have a good amount of cash waiting to be invested and with the month coming to an end there's about to be some more savings available.  I did make two small purchases though but definitely not needle movers.  The purchases were made in my new Loyal3 portfolio and I'm excited to dollar cost average into positions there.  With Loyal3 you can Buy Stocks Fee-Free$0 fees to buy and sell stock.Open a free online account today. (Affiliate Link) or Loyal3 (Regular Link).  The options are a bit limited but there's still plenty of great dividend growth companies to choose from.



In case you missed them, here's the posts from this past week.
Thanks again to all of you that stopped by, commented, or shared posts from Passive-Income-Pursuit this past week.  I truly appreciate it and can't say that enough.  I always like getting to follow along with everyone's journey because it helps to keep me motivated and focused.

Now on to the links!

Top 40 stocks held by DGI bloggers by Captain Dividend - It's always interesting to see the overlap among the various DGI blogger portfolios.  What I really like to do with this information is to see which companies aren't as widely held to see if maybe there's so lesser owner diamonds.

Why keep at it? by The Dividend Family Guy - Investing for financial independence has a lot of parallels with the idea of financial independence.  It takes planning and patience and a vision of where you ultimately want to be.

Destination: Ann Arbor by Dividend Mantra - Jason's been checking out some potential places to "settle down" during his new semi early retirement.  It's fun getting to live vicariously through him as he reaches for his dreams.

Medtronic: Dividends and healthcare make a great combination by Dividend Ladder - What happens when a great company and demographics merge, well that'd be what we have here with Medtronic.  It's no doubt that medical expenses will continue to grow every year thanks to the upcoming wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age.

Investment income update - August 15th 2014 by Retire Before Dad - I enjoy getting to follow along with everyone's journey and how they go about building up their passive income stream.  RBD didn't have much growth over the last month but that's because he was sitting on cash for a potential rental property that would have really boosted his income.  Unfortunately that deal fell through but he still managed growth in his forward income and now he's sitting on a bunch of cash and is ready to strike.

How to invest like Warren Buffett by Dividend Growth Investor - Who better to learn from than one of the greatest investors of all time?  Long term investing is pretty simple: identify companies with strong brands, large protected moats, excess cash flows and both pay and grow their dividends.

Doctor's orders: Time to get serious about losing weight by Cashville Skyline - Since weight loss is a priority for myself the rest of this year I completely relate.  It's a big focus for me and I wish Addison the best.  Be on the lookout for another blog to help chronicle my path back towards healthy living.

Switching to DRIPs by Starting From Zero - Automatic reinvestment or selective reinvestment?  Either way the key is to continually reinvest the dividends when you're in the accumulation phase.

Change and opportunities by Income Surfer - Bryan has a lot going on with a new job and a potential investment partnership in the works.

A good time to sell the low quality stocks that slithered into your portfolio by The Conservative Income Investor - I'm sure everyone knows that the stock markets have been on a huge run since the lows of 2009 and many have been expecting a pull back or correction.  The best time to figure out how you'll react during a correction is before it happens.  If you're not comfortable waking up tomorrow and seeing a 25-50% loss in one of your holdings, should you really be owning that company?

Comments

  1. Thanks for including my post JC. I'm glad you had a good vacation and got to spend some time with your wife. We've been thinking and praying a lot for you three. Thanks for sharing your "roller coaster".
    -Bryan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan,

      It wasn't a planned vacation but the way things worked out sure was nice. I got to spend a lot of time with my wife which is going to be much more limited now with school starting back up. Thanks again for the prayers. We found out that this Tuesday we'll have a day's worth of tests and meetings and I hope we get a bit more clarity on where Lucas stands as of now.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. JC,
    Thanks for the mention this week. Sounds like you're back to work so I hope you enjoyed your time off.
    -RBD

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    Replies
    1. RBD,

      The time off was much appreciated and not expected. Well not that long off straight especially since I didn't have vacation planned. But it's time to get back to work so I can save more money towards FI.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. Thanks for including my post JC. Have a great week!
    -SFZ

    ReplyDelete
  4. PIP,
    I was interested in Starting From Zero's comments on using DRIPs. My wife and I started using DRIPs six months ago, and it has already added over $200 to our annual dividend income. Seeing how popular Loyal3 is, you would think that DRIPs would be also. They both have the advantage of being commission free, with the disadvantage of possibly buying stock when it is over valued.
    Thanks for the list, and keep up the good work!
    Keith

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    Replies
    1. KeithX,

      Now that you mention I do see the contradiction between my own investing. I turned off the DRIP for all holdings a few months back but now I'm DCAing into positions. One other factor though is that there's some companies I don't want to add to or don't need to due to their weighting in my portfolio. That was one of the big reasons I turned off the automatic reinvestment.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. JC,

    Thanks for the mention! Was out of town this weekend for a family trip to Cedar Point. Had a great time!

    Glad to hear you were out having fun at a concert. Used to really love both NIN and Soundgarden back in the day. Good stuff!

    Hope the party went well!

    Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DM,

      Ahh Cedar Point. I've never been but I've heard it's one of the best amusement parks around. I love going to parks and getting to ride roller coasters. Last summer my wife and I went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas when I was on a break from work and it was awesome. We got to go on their new ride that had just opened up too. I really want to hit up Cedar Point whenever I can do a really good road trip.

      The concert was great and the party was fun. We ended up having around 50 people there and it was great to have everyone come out and share the day/announcement with us.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Speaking of Cedar Point- has anyone evaluated Cedar Fair as an investment? I grew up near there and have great memories. They seem to be doing things right by continuously upgrading and improving the amusement parks they own.

    Congrats on the reveal, PIP.

    ReplyDelete

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