Weekly Roundup - July 25, 2015

The S&P 500 is up a little less than 1% so far in July, but it sure feels like there's a lot more companies trading for better valuations right now.  This past week I initiated a new position in Hershey (Full Stock Analysis Here) which I'd love to add more to.  I also made another purchase towards the end of the week as well that I'll get the details out about over the next couple of days.  There's just a lot more companies that are looking attractive here.  Union Pacific, 3M, Toronto-Dominion, T. Rowe Price Group, and  Johnson & Johnson.  I know my plan is to not add to many more companies to my portfolio but there's some other intriguing options out available right now with J.M. Smucker, Caterpillar, Eaton, and BlackRock.  Despite the markets continuing to inch higher, there's still opportunities available for the value and dividend growth investor.  What companies have you been buying?  Are any of these companies on your watchlist?
Luke continues to march on.  Sometimes forward, sometimes backward, sometimes just in place.  But at least he's still marching.  It's been a frustrating week mainly because no one knows what to do.  The doctors are frustrated because they can't figure it out.  We're frustrated because we can't figure it out.  And whenever we start to make progress on one thing then something else gets out of whack.  For example, this past week we tried to get some of the fluid off of him to help with his swelling.  We made progress for about 36 hours but that then threw his electrolytes out of whack which means now we're not moving forward on the diuresis any more because the electrolyte levels started bordering on dangerous levels.  We just continue to make circles like this day after day which is the most frustrating part.  But he's still here and still fighting!

In portfolio news it was a pretty great week.  AT&T finally got approval and closed the deal to acquire DirecTV which should help provide extra room for dividend growth going forward.  Starbucks knocked it out of the park with their Fiscal Q3 earnings with record revenues and 8% comp store sales in the U.S. market which many believed to be saturated (so much for that idea).  Visa also nailed it in their Fiscal Q3 with net income growing 33% year over year and earnings per share moving forward 36%.  I'd love to add more of all three of these companies but Starbucks and Visa will have to wait because they're expensive to point where everything has to go perfect to justify the valuations they're trading at.  At some point we'll have more market volatility or the companies will slip just enough to disappoint shareholders and better valuations will be available.  Both are absolutely wonderful companies that I wish I had added more to before.

In case you missed them, here's the post from this past week.

• Exclusive Club: Members Only!
• Building an Empire with PepsiCo Inc. - on Seeking Alpha
• Dividend Growth Investing at Work - A Trifecta of Raises
• Recent Buy

Also, be sure to sign up to receive posts via email and to follow me on Twitter@JC_PIP so you don't miss anything.  I also started a Facebook page to give people another option for keeping up to date on posts and happenings with the blog.

Once again I'd like to say thanks to each and every one of you that read, commented, and shared posts from here this past week.  I think this dividend growth investing and financial independence community is amazing and the openness from everyone is awesome.  Thanks again!

Now on to the links!

Sector overview: Healthcare REITs by Roadmap2Retire

Shouldn't the Joneses be keeping up with us? by Dividend Mantra

My 3 Loyal sons: How a wacky idea inspired my sons to invest in stocks by DivGro

Four attractively valued dividend challengers by My Dividend Growth

Withdraw your retirement accounts in your 30s.  No taxes.  No penalties. by Retire29

Too thin? by Income Surfer

Don't lose perspective by FI Fighter

Motif Investing Portfolio Update by All About Interest

Financial preparation for our RV trip by The Dividend Guy

Best states to live in for dividend taxes by Dividend Ladder

Recent stock purchase II - July 2015 by DivHut

Another reason to be financially independent by Tawcan

Also, if you're looking for investment ideas, A Frugal Family's Journey keeps a list of stock analyses and recent buys from fellow bloggers.

Here's another great TED talk.  It definitely seems like everything we do we need done faster and faster when what I think all of us are after is just to slow things down a bit and enjoy life.  There's no sense rushing through it.



I hope you all have a great weekend!

Image courtesy of Gubgib on FreeDigitalPhotos.net.