Lanny’s July Investment Report

Another month has passed and another month of results to analyze and look back on.  Time to look at where I stand with my goals, to see if any “tweaking” needs to be performed and also – another month closer to Financial Freedom!  Let’s see what July brought us.

Investment Activities

This will not include any 401K purchases through my employer as an FYI.  Only 1 large purchase of Scott’s Miracle Gro occurred this month of $1,972 which added $63 to my annual dividend from the 36 shares purchased.  The company’s valuation, financial position, earnings and dividend metrics all came in clean for me and I thought they have a pretty good grip on their market round now.  A younger company in the dividend area, but 4 years of dividend growth and I am betting, mark my words here, that SMG increases their dividend on August 5th.  You’ve heard it here first.

Goal Updates

As the portfolio has been updated in our Dividend Portfolio section, we have come to update you on the following goals for Lanny:

Forward Annual Dividend Projection: $3,735 or 97.65% towards the dividend goal of $3,825.  Given that I plan to invest through my employer’s 401K, may have even purchased a stock from my 4 stocks I’m watching to “Re-Up” my position on the 1st of August and also have a projected $1,600-$1,700 in dividends for the remainder of the year = ANOTHER GOAL BUMP!  New Goal based on my push to continue to reach Financial Freedom from $3,825 to $4,000, a 4.57% increase.  I need to continue to push myself to new heights, not goals that I know I’ll easily reach.  This will be harder because $175 more from an investment that yields 3% is another $5.8K in additional capital.  Let’s lock and LOAD.

Market Value: $104,999 or 105% towards the $100,000 goal –> Continue to succeed even with the downturn this week!

# of Stocks: Increased to 26 out of 25 or 104% towards the goal – Awesome!  I will look to increase positions into other stocks.

Dividend Yield Individual Portfolio: 3.91% (up 4 basis points from 3.87% last month), thanks to the pullback in the market.

Dividend Yield Retirement Portfolio: 3.12%, above my goal of 3.00%

Investments YTD: $20,000 (give or take a few dollars)

Thoughts…

I know I re-vamped my dividend projection goal from $3,825 to $4,000 and this is the 2nd time I’ve done so.  I’m beginning to realize that my savings rate has been very high, typically between 45% and 60% every month this year and I’m lucky enough to be able to dish out fresh capital into the portfolio.  Another great thing I’ve really learned, which I knew – I love buying dividend paying stocks.  Hands down – I have so much fun finding a new stock to read on, an additional purchase to make in a stock I bought years ago and also – seeing the growth to my dividend income grow every month.  At July 31 I had a projection of $3,735 income for the forward year.  That’s $311 per month that covers my expenses.  Here is the kicker – I feel like I’m not stressing myself into that number either.  Which to me – pisses me off haha.  To be honest – I want to be pushed and pressured.  I want to feel a bit of a – oh wow, I shouldn’t buy this because I want to add more capital to my portfolio.  I’ll begin to feel that this month now that my roommate will be moved out on August 8th, as I talked about losing that check every month, but I am hopeful and optimistic I can keep my trend up.  $4,000 just seemed to be a much more rounded figure and will be now much harder to reach than the $3,825.  This is where I need to be “uncomfortable” and begin to think of new ways to pop the capital into the portfolio.  With the market sliding downwards this week, I hope that this will continue into the upcoming weeks, allowing me to purchase high quality dividend paying stocks at a much better bargain.  Who knows, maybe I will be able to snag all 4 stocks I discussed in “Re-Up”-ing my position.  For the readers – have you made any revisions to your goal this often?  Any revisions at all?  How did the month of July pan out?  Always curious.  Any stocks you’re seeing with the slight pushdown?  Thanks again, talk soon!

-Lanny

7 thoughts on “Lanny’s July Investment Report

  1. Lanny,

    Seems like a great month all around! Awesome stuff. 🙂

    And glad to see you boosting the goals for the year. I hope you crush them all. $4k in forward dividends would set you up for a wonderful 2015!

    Best regards.

    • DM,

      Thanks for the roll by! Not a too shabby month and Dividend Pipeline just struck a new chord with thinking about a $5K goal. Seems very far/out there, but then again, I’ve ran a half marathon without training & placing first in my age group, did the same with a biathalon, can dunk as a 6’2 white guy, took the CPA exam while working 3 jobs and getting my MBA aka I am all up for challenges and the $5K challenge is intriguing to me right now. More to come DM, more to come. Let’s continue this push!

      -Lanny

  2. Lanny,

    Fantastic job. You are right about increasing your goals. Life really begins just outside your comfort zone. I think 4k is probably still within your comfort zone. 5k has a nice ring to it don’t you think? You may not reach it, but you will without a doubt stretch yourself to new limits and savings rates you never imagine. Good luck for the rest of the year!

    MDP

    • DP,

      $5K eh? hmmm… this could cause for an update here. $5K, another $1K on top of $4K. Can I do it? I do seem intrigued by this pipeline, I truthfully do.

      Thanks for the inspiration and thought. I may cut this response short as you have my mind going right now on the idea. Talk soon and keep it up!

      -Lanny

    • Henry,

      Thank you. I hope to maybe make a bigger jump and new stretch/push it to the limit type goals. That’s what it’s about right? Dividend Pipeline has struck the idea in my head.. we shall see. Thanks for the stop by and checking out the summary! Talk soon Henry.

      -Lanny

  3. Hey Lanny,

    Congrat’s on a successful month! I like the fact you’re pushing yourself to achieve more, and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of ‘Goal Bumping’. I find myself continually bumping goals to fit with where I’m at. Like you, I’ve tried to make things a bit more ‘uncomfortable’. I find it brings the best out of me.

    Your performance this year has been fantastic, especially when you look back at your previous years dividends. I wish you all the best of luck with getting that total! I’ll keep an eye on how you get on.

    Cheers
    Huw

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