Lanny’s December Dividend Income

The LAST month of the year.  The last month to tally up dividends for your annual/yearly total.  Typically, within investing in US-based companies – December is usually a big quarter end, as well for all you Mutual Fund & ETF holders out there, in regards to dividend distributions, as well as capital gain distributions.  With 11 months in the book and not one crossing the 4 digit mark yet – did the time finally come this December?  I had my hopes high, so let’s see if Santa delivered over the 1K mark this Christmas!

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Lanny’s 2016 Goals

I love this time of the year.  Time to sit down in a quiet space with no distractions going on and reflect on the year a bit and then prepare for the successes and even failures of 2016/the next year.  2015 has been an amazing year, big ups and big downs throughout this time period – but that’s how we learn, that’s what makes us stronger and it’s on the pursuit of being happy.  Cannot wait for what the upcoming year has in store and obviously will try to make due on my goals that I am establishing for the upcoming 12 months.  My 2016 goals are as follows:

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Bert’s December Watch List

First of all, I want to take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  Today is such a great day as you get to sit down with family, share stories, exchange gifts, and spend some time catching up with each other.   Hopefully everyone is having a relaxing, special, day off.  I know Lanny and I are.   A few days ago, I published my 2016 goals article and I have been inspired over the last few days to find some great dividend growth stocks to add to my portfolio.   After all is said in done, there have been two stocks recently that I keep coming back to and wanting to add to my position/initiate a position in my portfolio.  Here is my December Watch List everyone!

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Bert’s 2016 Goals

I can’t write this without smiling.  2016 is going to be an amazing, life-changing year for me and I cannot wait until the ball drops on New Year’s Eve to make it official.  I’ll be marrying the love of my life at the end of May, so I don’t think there is a bad thing that can happen to me.   Well, now I left myself with an impossible task.  How on earth to I segue from that to discussing my 2015 investing goals?  Nothing I do this year will mean more to mean than that.  So I guess I will technically knock out one goal at the end of May?  Anyway…. now I’ll get down to business.  This article will discuss my 2016 goals!goals

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Target (TGT) Stock Analysis

Just in time for Christmas eh?  As everyone is performing the mad dash to the stores – we all know who is always there for them… the big red bullseye.  For those last minute gift ideas, wrapping paper, clothes and even groceries – Target is there for consumers, and I would have to admit, typically at a higher quality as well.  I wanted to perform a stock analysis on the company, as I feel there are a high quality, fundamentally sound entity, where so many of my loved ones and close friends shop there.  Time to perform our analysis!

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Top 5 Dividend Aristocrats with Low Debt to Equity Ratios

Recently, we saw the ugly side of debt.  As we all watched Kinder Morgan’s stock fall and wait for the final, inevitable sword of a dividend increase, there was one thing that became evident…KMI’s debt level was too high and the results were unsustainable in the current market environment (See Lanny’s awesome write up/analysis about KMI from earlier in the week).  The pressures mounted and management plus the Board of Directors decided to slash their dividend to preserve cash flow for capital expenditures and cover interest/dividend payments.   While debt isn’t a bad thing, I don’t want you leaving this intro thinking that’s my conclusion, runaway/uncontrolled debt can present many problems.  The name of our game on this website is investing in stocks with a growing dividend income stream, so we try to avoid companies and stocks that take us off of this course.  Which is very ironic considering that Lanny and I purchased shares in KMI just under a month ago (here and here) With the wound from KMI still fresh, I wanted to run a stock screener and identify several Dividend Aristocrats with low debt levels.  Check out our newest installment of our Top 5 list series (foundation stocks and low dividend yield/high dividend growth rate stocks)….the Top 5 Dividend Aristocrats with Low Debt to Equity Levels.

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