Weekly Roundup - May 13, 2017
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| Happy Weekend! Check out what's been going on in my world and some of the best articles from around the blogosphere. |
Speaking of work it's looking like I'll probably be officially back working for Halliburton sometime over the next month or so. My boss keeps hounding me about applying and frankly it makes the most sense. I'll be getting a pay raise on top of having benefits like health insurance, 401k and matching, ESPP...but I'll be giving up the freedom to say "no" if I need to have some time off. That's a tough pill to swallow because I've really enjoyed that ability, but considering the rather dicey situation in the oil field right now getting back on as an employee makes the most sense.
However, before I do I told my boss that I need to be off for about 2-2.5 weeks in late June/early July and then again for about 5 days in September. If he can't make that happen then I won't be going back just yet.
My wife and I really want to take a road trip this summer hence the need for the 2-2.5 weeks off in June/July. Our ultimate destination is to see our friends in Nashville, but other than that we're pretty open for any places to stop and visit. So if anyone has any suggestions on some must see places in Arkansas, Kentucky, north Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama, feel free to pass them along.
Forecasts are always interesting to me because they rarely, if ever, are right. Especially when you're dealing with quarterly GDP forecasts. I'm working a bit off of memory here, but the the Atlanta Fed's original forecast for Q1 GDP growth was around 2.4%. They revised it higher to about 3.1% and then the initial reading, now that Q1 is done, was 0.7%. So they were only off by about 75% from their highest estimate. Clearly they're very accurate.
So what do they see in store for Q2? As of their May 1st forecast it was all the way up at 4.3%. What? How is that supposed to happen? That's already been revised down to 3.6% as of May 12th although my gut says there's still plenty more room for that to come down.
On to the Roundup
In case you missed them, here's the posts from Passive-Income-Pursuit over the past week.
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. This dividend growth investing and financial independence community is amazing and the openness from everyone is awesome. Thanks again!
Now on to the links!
5 Changes in Flexible Independence by Income Surfer
Berkshire Meeting Notes - Daily Improvement, Business Evolution and Investment Strategy by Base Hit Investing
Everything, In Retrospect, Is Obvious by A Wealth of Common Sense
The Most Important Stock Investment Lesson I Ever Learned by Chuck Carnevale
Recent Stock Purchase May 2017 by DivHut
Is Buffett's Partial Exit of IBM a Warning Sign? by Dividends in Hand
J.M. Smucker (SJM) Dividend Stock Analysis by Dividend Growth Investor
20 Years in the Coca-Cola DRIP by Retire Before Dad
A Severance Negotiation Success Story on Financial Samurai
Top Dividend Raises and Cuts for April 2017 by Roadmap2Retire
Lanny's April Dividend Income Summary by Dividend Diplomats
10 Dividend Growth Stocks for May 2017 by DivGro
The Dot-Com Boom and Bust by 25iq
Quantitative Investing: A Crisis Waiting to Happen by Jason Zweig
If you're looking for investment ideas, A Frugal Family's Journey maintains 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
I totally agree. The dividend growth community is amazing. Everyone helping each other no matter the size on the portfolio.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, one day, I´ll be added to your list.
Best of luck,
Stockles
Go for the trip buddy! Keep the balance, it's tough but worth it :)
ReplyDelete-Bryan
PIP -
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the mention! Stick to your guns on the time away to make those trips!
-Lanny
As always I appreciate the DivHut mention. That HAL job seems like a good thing to consider. Sure, a little freedom is lost but nothing in this life is permanent and who says that HAL will be your last job. A sacrifice now in the near term for less "freedom" but more financial security and you can always reevaluate your situation months or a year or more down the road.
ReplyDeleteThank you for including my IBM post in your list of links.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of road trip stop suggestions, I really enjoyed my time in New Orleans a couple years ago. The history, food, and pace of life all made it a very pleasurable city to visit.
Whatever you decide, I look forward to reading about your road trip. Nashville has long been near the top of my list of US destinations. I'd love to hear your take on it.