Weekly Roundup - October 17, 2015


This past week was a bit bittersweet since it involved leaving home yet again, but luckily it's only 4 hours from home this time and in a much better location.  Just outside of Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana.  I haven't been in this area in about 4 years but it really is one of the more enjoyable areas to work.  Now I just need to make sure that I don't head to the casinos!  Although a trip or two might be in the works.

While home my wife and I went out to go see a movie.  I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I saw a movie in the theaters mainly because of the ridiculous prices.  But I'd been wanting to go because there's something different about seeing a movie on a huge screen rather than our tv at the house.  We ended up seeing The Martian with Matt Damon and I have to say it was better than I was expecting.  It was lower on my list of movies to see but it was the only one that the timing worked out unless we wanted to sit around for 30-45 minutes for another movie to start.  It was a pretty inspiring story about what one man will do to survive and how others will come to help.  I liken it to the battle for financial independence, although at much lower stakes.

I didn't get a whole lot of writing done this week but I should start working on that again over the weekend.  I spent most of my time just doing financial homework.  As most of you know our lives were crazy over the last year and luckily we were in a position to where we could neglect our finances.  That's one of the best reasons I have for why you need to get your financial house in order and build up a margin of safety through cash and investments.  When your world is crazy and you're helping someone fight for their life the last thing you want to do is add money troubles on top of that.

Due to the bookkeeping neglect there was a lot of data that was missing that I needed to compile.  Mainly it was just collecting pay stubs for this year and getting my tax spreadsheet caught up.  It's not necessary but given my variable work income, dividend income, capital gains/losses, and blogging/writing income I like to stay on top of things in regards to taxes.  Everything is caught up for the most part, although there's still a more loose ends that need to be tied up.

One last thing, help me root on my Texas A&M Aggies this afternoon as they play Alabama in college football. Gig 'Em! And BTHO Bama!

In case you missed them, here's the posts from the last two weeks.

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!

A dozen things I've learned from Charlie Munger about moats by 25iq

What they don't teach you in business school by A Wealth of Common Sense

Bill Miller the "contrarian" on Amazon (and a comparison to Wal-Mart) by Building a Stable Dividend Portfolio

Starting a dividend growth portfolio at birth by DivHut

Dividend Growth Update - Third Quarter 2015 by Dividend Mantra

From $0 to $15,000 in dividend income in 8 years by Dividend Growth Investor

Portfolio Retrospection by Roadmap2Retire

Appreciation by Dividend Hustler

Eight book recommendations from your favorite bloggers by Income Surfer

Why not retire now? by Financially Integrated

Analyzing Wal-Mart's recent stock price decline by Sure Dividend

Revisiting the two levers philosophy of cash flow management by Joshua Kennon

You need a blog by Retire29

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.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Image courtesy of Gubgib on FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
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Comments

  1. Income SurferOctober 17, 2015 at 9:41 AM

    Hey buddy. I'm glad work isn't taking you so far this time! Thank you for the mention this week!

    My wife and I went to see the second Avengers move, when it came out. Like you, it had been YEARS since we saw a movie at the theaters. Between the cost and being busy, I just don't enjoy going to theaters. I'm glad you and the Mrs, got some quality time. Take care JC

    -Bryan

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    Replies
    1. Passive Income PursuitOctober 18, 2015 at 4:48 AM

      Bryan,

      Yeah 4 hours is so much better than 10!

      I really want to go check out Everest in one of the IMAX studios. Other than that it'll probably be waiting for movies to come out on Netflix.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Dividend Growth InvestorOctober 17, 2015 at 6:26 PM

    Thanks for the mention PIP. I am glad you are taking the time to check paystubs and see if you can save on taxes ;-)



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Passive Income PursuitOctober 18, 2015 at 4:50 AM

      DGI,

      No problem. I like to keep up with it throughout the month but that didn't happen at all this year. But everything's caught up for the most part and now it's just figuring out ways to automate things a bit more and get a little bit more information as far as capital gains/losses for the year.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. Roadmap2RetireOctober 17, 2015 at 9:51 PM

    Thanks for the mention, JC. Hope things are well on your end.

    Have a great wknd
    R2R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Passive Income PursuitOctober 18, 2015 at 4:52 AM

      R2R,

      Things are going pretty nicely considering I'm gone from home again. But at least I'm working, I get to write, the weather is great, and there's so much more to do here compared to west Texas.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. Dividend HustlerOctober 17, 2015 at 11:14 PM

    Thanks for including me PIP. Hope you 2 are gonna spend more time on more outings. It's nice just to spend time with love ones.
    Thanks for sharing and hope everything gets back to normal. Can't wait to hear more posts from you. Glad to see you're writing more often now JC. Take care buddy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Passive Income PursuitOctober 18, 2015 at 4:53 AM

      Hustler,

      Me too. I'm looking forward to getting to spend more time with my wife and depending on how things go with work I'll probably have her come up here for a couple days and get a hotel room. Things are slowly getting back to normal, well, as normal as they can be.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. UnknownOctober 18, 2015 at 10:46 AM

    Good work!!! In just those few shorts years you've managed to do something people won't achieve in a lifetime. Well played sir.

    I have a question, for those of us who are interested in becoming investors, and start working our way up the dividend-ladder. In my case, I know nothing of stocks, and do not feel I will have time to sit down, review companies and make decisions about how to invest my money. I could simply just follow others, but hey ..

    Could dividend-paying etf's be an option? I know there's a cost to it, and that I will "loose" money this way. But I have made an portfolio I hoped could work. The dividends are less, but its more "secure" if you will, especially for someone like me. Whats your honest opinion on how to proceed further?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jonathanmcurryOctober 18, 2015 at 12:23 PM

      Simon,

      I honestly haven't looked at any of the dividend growth ETFs so unfortunately I can't be of much help. One option that's kind of a blend between the two methods would be Motif investing. You essentially get to make your own ETF up to 30 stocks and buy them all at once. It's an option if you want to pick your own stocks but still have it be relatively hands off. But overall I would think the dividend growth ETFs would probably still be an okay substitute.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. DivHutOctober 19, 2015 at 1:34 AM

    Those casinos can be that siren call especially when you are alone and just want to stop in for minute. Thank you for the DivHut mention. Always appreciate the link back. Interesting read about WMT. It's been getting popular after its recent drop and quite a few bloggers have been adding to their holdings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Passive Income PursuitOctober 19, 2015 at 4:52 AM

      DivHut,

      Especially when you're bored AF. They've been having issues controlling the well since I think it was Thursday and we haven't done anything since. That's great for a day or two but when it stretches into day 4/5 I can't stand it. But I'd rather them be safe than have something go wrong that could you know...kill us.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

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