Weekly Roundup - October 22, 2016

Happy Weekend!  Check out what's been going on in my world and some of the best articles from around the blogosphere.

Finally a break in the heat.  Friday morning we woke up to temperatures in the upper 50's which was awesome and the high only got to 78 or so.  Considering 2 days earlier we were in the low 90's this is wonderful.  We'll see how long it lasts, but I know my plan is to spend as much time outside as I can. 


This past week I decided to trim another position with full details coming over the next couple days.  The valuation isn't crazy, but the yield has been pushed down below 2% due to price appreciation and a lower than expected dividend increase earlier this year.  While I hate to lose the dividends, replacing the lost income should be easy enough with such a low hurdle.  Plus I can't complain about locking in over a 100% return.

I'm still not thrilled about the current market level and see very little value opportunities in the dividend growth space.  So cash is my friend in that scenario and I can still generate extra income via the options market.  

Speaking of options I opened a new position on Friday although with the way the market moved on me I left a lot of option premium on the table.  If I had been a bit more nimble I could have moved my strike down $1 for the same amount of premium.  Go figure considering it's a put option on one of the staunchest businesses out there.  It's still set up for a good return or a good purchase so I'm not concerned, but it could have been better.

I didn't move my 401k this week although I'm still in the deciding phase on where to move the funds.  The top candidate right now is to Interactive Brokers because the commissions are extremely low and likely the cheapest around.  I plan to be a bit more active with my Rollover IRA but still keep a long term mindset.  With over $140k in that account I'd expect to get anywhere from 24-50% of it invested for the long term via ETFs and individual dividend growth companies and use the remaining as a revolving balance to fund an active options strategy.  It's not a huge shift in strategy, just a more active and what I feel optimal way to use that cash and generate higher income than I can via dividends alone.  

What about you?  Have you been taking any profits or making any purchases?

On to the Roundup

In case you missed them, here's the posts from Passive-Income-Pursuit over the past week.

• Recent Option Transaction
• McDonald's Corporation: Buy, Sell or Hold? on Seeking Alpha
• Dividend Growth Investing at Work - Another 10%+ Raise
• CVS Health Corporation: Attractively Valued and Set Up For Double Digit Returns on Seeking Alpha

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.  You can also follow me on Facebook or Pinterest if you prefer those methods to get your daily fix and keep up to date on happenings around here.

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!

What They Don't Tell You About Retiring Early by Our Next Life

How To Grow Dividend Income Much Faster With Tax Advantaged Accounts by Dividend Growth Investor

October Surprise by Income Surfer

Building A Dividend Retirement Portfolio: A Real Life Story by Simply Safe Dividends

That Time I Was Almost Bat-Shit Stupid...Again by Think Save Retire

I Need To Read More by Dividend Diplomats

How Much Is Enough...Condo Purchase by Dividend Hustler

Is Moving Worth It To Achieve Financial Independence? by Retire Before Dad

Kansas City Southern Dividend Stock Analysis by Roadmap2Retire

How I Choose My Dividend Stocks by DivHut

How To Stay Patient by Clear Eyes Investing

Would I Forgo Kids To Become Financially Independent Earlier? by Tawcan

Q3 Review! Dividends, Rental Cash Flow, Babies and Basketball by Passive Income Dude

Active Investing vs Passive Investing Right Now by The Conservative Income Investor

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 via FreeDigitalPhotos