Last week, I released my March dividend income summary. Typically, I’ll show my stock purchases in the summary article. However, in March, I made a lot of low dollar stock purchases, as the market showed its twists and turns. As a result, I decided to split the articles so I can discuss some of the purchases in greater detail. This article will summarize my March dividend stock purchases.
I thought the end of February was insane for the market. During that time, I took advantage of some great deals in the stock market. But if March has proven anything to me, it is the importance of why you cannot try to time the market. Each day presents a new set of twists and turns, as more information and details come to light about the coronavirus and those impacted. The most important thing is we all do our best to stay healthy. Like Lanny this week, who wrote about how his family added $230 in dividend income from purchases in February, I also wanted to take some time and summarize my stock purchases from February.
The first month is officially in the book. Lanny kicked off our round of purchase summaries by showing how he invested over $9,000 in the stock market in January! Amazing Lanny, just amazing. While we didn’t add anywhere close to that, we were able to move a little cash off the sidelines and into the market. Here are our January dividend stock purchases!
Winter is here. I’ll tell you what, we are tired of shoveling snow and the frigid cold temperatures here in Cleveland. But even while it is cold, the dividends and dividend increases continue to heat up! Sorry for the bad play on words, couldn’t resist it right there. With a new month looming, it is time for the next installment of our monthly series projecting all the Dividend Aristocrats and dividend growth stocks that are expected to announce a dividend increase in the coming month. Here is the February 2019 edition of the Expected Dividend Increases series!
What a month it has been for dividend increases! Each month, I highlight the companies that are expected to announce a dividend increase in the coming month. For the first time, I am speechless. In January, I highlighted three companies that were expected to increase their dividend in the coming month. But man was I blown out of the water with all of the dividend increases that were announced. February will have some tough shoes to follow! Enough talk, let’s dive right in and summarize the companies that increased their dividend in January and which companies are expected to announce a dividend increase in February.
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.
Throughout the life of our blog, Lanny and I have searched and slashed our way to save as much as possible to invest in the market NOW. Even though we have tried to identify ways to save through battling with our phone/internet provider (nice job Lanny!), tried to make our football season more enjoyable at a cheaper price (Can a football season be enjoyable as a Browns fan?), or just finding random savings “life hacks,” there is one expense that we have flagged as a major liability…I mean…money pit… our cars. A car is a necessary evil in the Midwest that does nothing but lose value and cost you money. Sadly I am writing this article, so that must mean something happened to my car. Let’s see how my car took a little extra money out of my savings account this month.
