Tag Archives: JNJ

Am I too Overweight in Mutual Funds?

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As investors, one of our favorite words is diversification.   We are taught to diversify our portfolios to avoid exposure to any one particular investment or sector of the market and achieve balance.  One of the easiest ways to achieve diversification is through purchasing mutual funds, which I did at the beginning of my investing career.  However, now that I have grown as an investor and now own 30 individual stocks, I wanted to take a look back at my current mutual funds to determine if too much of my portfolio is allocated to these diversified holdings.  It is time to take a look at the five mutual funds I hold and determine if ACTION needs to be taken.

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Dividend Impact of a Potential Acquisition for Norfolk Southern (NSC) Shareholders

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One of the reasons why I love investing in dividend growth companies is that management has many tolls at their disposal to generate value for their shareholders.   The easiest manner is to announce a share buyback program or a dividend increase, which have minimal impact on the operations of the companies.  However, if management is looking for a larger splash, they can always spin-off a business unit, merge two companies out of no-where (See Kraft) or even sell the company to the highest bidder.   All of these scenarios have different impacts for us dividend growth investors.  Today, I wanted to take a look at one of the rumors that has been floating around for the last couple of weeks and analyze how the move would impact my forward dividend income.  Let’s dove into these Norfolk Southern (NSC) buyout rumors.

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Bert’s October Watch List

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Typically Lanny and I post a combined watch list; however, in October, we are changing the format slightly for a variety of reasons.   In this article, I am going to discuss the two stocks that I am watching closely, especially considering the fact that I have a little extra capital to deploy.  The waters have seemed to calm down after the turbulent September and it is difficult to find as many great discounts since the stock market had a mini recovery from the crazy downturn.  Let’s take a look at my October Watch List!

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Lanny’s September Income & Expense Summary

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September is officially in the books after a quick review of the income & expense breakdown for the month.  It was another fun overall month, busy with work, travel, clients and other activities.  I wonder if I still am achieving the 60% savings challenge?  Only one way to find out, let;s check out my income & expense summary for September!

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Bert’s September Dividend Income Summary

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September was a crazy month and it flew by.  It felt like every day Lanny and I were either receiving a dividend, purchasing a stock, or watching for a dividend increase announcement.  There was just a ton going on.  September was also huge for me since I was able to knock out my first 2015 goal:  Investing $15,000 in “New Capital” in 2015.  With the recent downturn, I have felt as compelled as ever to maintain a low cash balance to purchase some great discounted dividend growth stocks.   Now that the month is over, I can finally breathe and take a step back to assess my monthly dividend income and compare the total to prior periods.  Let’s see the results for September.

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Lanny’s September Dividend Income

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September… ah September.  The leaves are changing and so did my dividend income for the month.  It’s a wonderful quarter end, which for me and most investors – typically means a larger than normal month of dividend income to our portfolio.  Most of the big blue chip companies pay on the calendar quarter end and I own quite a bit that does so.  As the leaves change color and the temperature begins to cool in Ohio, our portfolios heat up with checks coming into our mailbox from all of the wonderful companies that we own.  Now… to the numbers!

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Goal Accomplished: Investing $15,000 in “New” Capital

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I’m excited!  I haven’t written one of these articles in a long time and it feels great to be back in the game.  My last purchase of Emerson Electric was significant for a few reasons.  There is the obvious significance that I now have a cost basis over $3,000 for an individual stock for the first time.   It is a powerhouse position in my portfolio and will be a great foundation stock in my portfolio for many years to come.  But more importantly, this last purchase helped me accomplish/defeat on of my 2015 investing goals!   Let’s see which goal I conquered and how I was able to do so in the first nine months of the year.goals Continue reading →