Bert’s January Dividend Income Summary

The calendar has turned and we are off to the races in 2018.  It has busy month and our busy season has been intense.  But that hasn’t stopped us from closely monitoring our portfolios and the excitement that is happening in the stock market.   We all finished December strong and as a community 39 of us were able to receive of $30,000 of dividend income.  It was a record-setting month for a lot of us, including myself.  And now that 2018 has started, it is time to keep the momentum going.  With one month down, I thought it would be as good as a time as ever to publish my first dividend income summary of 2018.  Time to check out my January dividend income summary!

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Bert’s Recent Buy – Norwood Financial Group – NWFL

In his last purchase article, Lanny alluded to the fact that I may have purchased the same stock as his.  Well, Lanny was right and great minds think alike.  We have been talking about this purchase for several weeks and we finally just decided to buy it!  While my rationale may have been slightly different than Lanny’s, here is why I added to my stake in Norwood Financial (NWFL).

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

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

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

Small Dividend Increases from Big Companies This Year

As I sit here with the desire to “crank out” an article before the day starts (going for an 8 minute post) – it dawned on me that this year hasn’t been the “strongest” in terms of dividend increases for large companies that we all share, hold and love.  Some are even dividend aristocrats that increase their dividend year, after year, after year.  Some are big name companies that over the last 5 to 10 years have had large or more than the average dividend growth rates, say between 5 and 15% increases, vs the 0-5% increases from some of the others.  This has been a very different year for dividend investors as we navigate the playing field and start seeing action events from companies on their annual increases, which – we can’t blame them at all, given the facts displayed out below.  Let’s see what I’m talking about so far this year, with 5 examples of companies that haven’t provided that historical or thought of dividend increase year. Continue reading

Lanny’s August Income & Expense Summary

August is officially in the books after a quick review of the income & expense breakdown for the month.  It was probably the best overall month that I’ve had in a while, as I was home predominantly again for the period outside of just one week that was 2.50 hours away from home, plus a lot of fun activities happening during this time period.  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 August!

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Lanny’s August Dividend Income

August is already in the midst of wrapping up and I have tallied my dividend income total for the month.  Again, not a typically high month for me as a dividend income investor, but everything has been truly phenomenal and I am grateful for any dollar that I receive for efforts that I had placed in the past.  That’s what the journey is about, to start seeing the fruit from the seeds being planted, weeks, months and years ago.  August, thank you – let’s see what you brought in from the patch.

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