Why I Don’t Have Cable

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Many of the readers on these platforms are very frugal or are looking for ways to be frugal.  I know I push myself to limit monthly expenditures I have that take away from life, interaction (to some degree) and also my pocket.  I read an article from the NY times last year that said something around 90% of Americans are paying a form of cable television – 90%!!!! That’s a pretty alarming amount of people that are paying on a monthly basis to large corporations such as, but not limited to: AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA), WOW!, etc.. I know my fellow Diplomat – Bert – probably has shrills going through his body about this article because I know he enjoys having cable, more so for the fact to watch Sports, well, there are other means BERT.

Cut the cable, save money

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Bert’s May Investment Report

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How crazy is it to think that we are already 5 months in to 2014? We are nearly approaching the halfway mark and I still feel like I was just watching the ball drop. Anyways, as May closes it is time to review my month and to see assess my progress towards my 2014 portfolio goals. The month started out slow for me, but then things took an interesting turn as I made two purchases at the end of the month. With these purchases and some appreciation, I now see my portfolio sitting north of $37,750 with a yield of 4.03%. I am inching closer and closer to $40,000!

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HCP Stock Analysis and Purchase Summary

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This week was a pretty exciting week for my portfolio.  I crossed two major milestones in my portfolio: $35,000 in market value (Now over $37k) and $1,500 in projected dividend income.  What’s exciting/crazy is I am one purchase and one crazy week of appreciation away from crossing the $40k mark.  It is funny how fast your portfolio can grow. I was able to cross the $35k mark with two purchases  last week.

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Stock Analysis – SBSI & OABC

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A few days ago, I found myself at Dividend Mantra’s blog reading about stocks on his watch list and became very enthralled at his attention to the financial institution industry and a stock within there that he is observing.  The financial institution industry has been ever-so changing over the last 5-6 years, with the financial crisis, increased transparency, regulation, increases of capital, consolidation of companies/institutions and the dramatic line of – “Acquire or become Acquired” mindset over the last 2 years – it has been a very exciting time for smaller community banks.  I’m going to perform an evaluation of Southside Bancshares (SBSI) and OmniAmerican Bancorp (OABC), as SBSI is acquiring OABC.  See below: Continue reading →

Lanny’s May Investment Report

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Hello Everyone!  This will be a traditional/monthly post where I explain my investment activities (purchases, sales) and goal updates.  This should always be an exciting time, as it will help not only me & Bert, but hopefully YOU – the reader stay on track with your goals as well.  Let’s get down to business and to breakdown the transparency to my portfolio & goals!

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Latest Stock Purchase 5/27/14

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Well gosh darn it, I did it again!  I purchased 3 individual stocks on a market trade with my brokerage account that was set in the past!  But it’s okay, that bulk purchase of $2,772 spread event over three companies provided me with quite a “bang” to my annual dividend income.  Here is the breakdown of the trades that happened a few days ago on May 27, 2014:

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Expected June Dividend Increases

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As dividend followers, we love companies that  raise their dividend on an annual basis. Lanny and I often find ourselves having side bets about how much a company will raise their dividend to see which one of us will get closer. Of course it is all fun and games, but it emphasizes the importance of investing in a company that will continue to grow their dividend as a flat dividend or a dividend increase  less than inflation will decrease your future purchasing power. Using the Wikipedia definition of a  Dividend Aristocrat (25 years of dividend increases), we projected which aristocrat will declare a dividend increase in June. Remember, we cannot guarantee that the dividend will be increased in this month, but we wanted to use the timing of historical dividend increases to project which aristocrats will declare an increase  in the upcoming month.

Bad news, after accumulating the list we realized Aristocrats do not typically raise  their dividend in June. We predict only the following companies will announce an increase next month:

The Target increase should be the most interesting of the three in lieu of the recent pullback in the stock price. I am looking forward to see what action they take. Hopefully all three of the companies will continue their historical trend and increase their dividend.

~Bert

 See which companies increased their dividend in May