RIPE FOR INVESTING | Page 2 of 15 | Sharing my Investing Journey through Dividend Investing, Stocks, Passive Income, and more

MAY Dividend Report

On June 2, 2020

In Bonds, Consumer Staples, Dividend Investing, Index Investing, Investments, Recession Proof, Retail Sector, stocks, Swing Trading, Value Investing

Here are my DIVIDENDS for the month of May. If you’d like to compare to last month, here you go:

APRIL DIVIDEND REPORT

First up is my BROKERAGE account, here they are:

Putnam Municipal Income Closed End Fund paid me 0.13 cents. Ha, if you haven’t seen my post before, I bought into this over a year ago and completely sold out of my position BEFORE the crash. Now I’m diving back into this one with small doses. This is free from Federal Taxes and pays over a 5% yield, so great for the brokerage account. Now I just have to get that percentage up there.

General Mills-The very first individual stock I ever bough. It paid me $16.66. I LOVE General Mills, it’s still looking good and have no plans to EVER sell this stock

Ennis paid me $29.48. This is one of my heavier positions in my portfolio. I actually sold just a little bit of Ennis this month, so that amount will most likely be less next time. I just felt like I was overweight in the stock and wanted to take some of the gains off the table to put to use elsewhere.

Eaton Vance is one of my absolute FAVORITE Dividend stocks. It paid me $23.63. This DIVIDEND ARISTOCRAT is a great addition to any portfolio; it has dividends, growth and presents a great value opportunity at these prices.

Westrock-It paid me $10.60. Westrock recently slashed their dividend so we can expect smaller payouts like this from them for awhile.

These brings the total up to $80.50 in my BROKERAGE account.

Now a quick look at my Traditional IRA:

Lowes paid me $1.65. I swing trade Lowe’s so this is not a permanent dividend.

IEF (Intermediate Bond Fund) paid me .64 cents

My cash account threw me .01 cents, haha.

So a very small total of only $2.30 in my IRA. Keep in mind that dividends are not really the focus of my IRA (or brokerage for that matter), so some months will be extremely small amounts.

Going forward into June, I had some money I took out of the market to pay about $1000 extra on my car loan. So, I will be getting a little bit less dividends in the following months. However, this will be short-lived and I’ll be back on the income/cash flow train again shortly, headed up.

Thanks for tuning in and as always-I’m NOT a financial advisor; I am simply sharing my journey here.

My GROWTH stocks are destroying my DIVIDEND stocks!!

By Jody

On May 18, 2020

In Consumer Staples, Dividend Investing, Growth Stocks, Index Investing, Investments, Recession Proof, stocks, Value Investing

Here is my latest youtube video where I detail how my GROWTH stocks are killing my DIVIDEND stocks. How are your dividend stocks fairing in this Coronavirus Correction? I’ve had THREE Dividend cuts and that sure hasn’t helped things

My top performers continue to be Fortinet, Netflix, and General Mills.

I am up over 30% in each of these. I’m up almost 40% in Fortinet in a super short time (only 2 months!). General Mills I’m up in because I bought it starting Christmas Eve of 2018 and by the time I count the dividends I’ve gotten, my total return is over 40% on this stock. Netflix continues to outperform; I just hope that price appreciation continues.

In this video, I also detail why I am buying ITOT and QQQ over NOBL and DGRO. In summary, a basic Total Market ETF outperformed ETF’s that focused specifically on Dividends. Focusing on dividends led to increased risks and a weaker performance. One line often touted by Dividend investors is “Dividend Investing performs better during bear markets, it is safer.” However, what this correction is proving is that it is NOT necessarily safer. Currently over 33 companies have cut their dividend. Imagine relying on that dividend during retirement? Not good!

I am continuing to buy QQQ and ITOT a little bit each week. I also plan on increasing positions in Marten Transports, Chewy, Eaton Vance, and perhaps Mcgrath Rentcorp. I think these stocks still present incredible growth opportunities and I’m thinking LONG-TERM here.

As usual, I will repeat the old mantra, timing the market is difficult. I think there is nothing wrong with sitting on the sidelines for a bit, but I want to get that money working for me as quick as possible.

What have I been buying?

By Jody

On May 3, 2020

In Dividend Investing, Growth Stocks, Index Investing, Investments, Retail Sector, stocks, Value Investing

Unlike many investors, I continue to buy, even as the market climbs up against all odds. I figure I can’t time the market perfectly so why not? I was able to sell a lot at the very top and avoided a HUGE loss in my IRA, so, back in I go. I am buying small portions but consistently, March 13th was the day I re-entered.

I am looking for a new SWING TRADE opportunity this month, but for now, purchasing long-term plays in the Tech, Consumer Staples, Materials, and Financial sectors. Here are my picks:

1)Mcgrath Rentcorp-I just got a dividend from them and decided to reinvest that money back into Mcgrath. I really like this company; it just had a great earnings report. An EPS of .81 vs .75 a year ago, 129.45 million in revenue vs. 122.01 million a year ago. As you can see this company continues to grow. I also believe even during the Coronavirus episode, Mcgrath is fairly well positioned to weather the storm with it’s modular building and storage segments

2)MimeCast-I buy just a little Mimecast here and there. It’s not a huge position for me as I believe it’s a bit more risky. MIME is an email security company. It’s European exposure will of course be a problem during the next two quarters. However, long-term I don’t think anyone does email security quite as well as them and the stock has been beaten down for awhile (even before the virus!)

3)Stanley Black & Decker-I must say SWK has been THE stock to buy for me the last month or so. I got in at a GREAT price with this company and I’m simply adding to my shares here. The company recently had an earnings report; the report was not as great as say Mcgrath’s, with some noticeable weakness; however, SWK has been around forever and I believe will continue to be. This is a long-term hold in my IRA account

4)Eaton Vance-EV will always be one of my favorite stocks. It’s a DIVIDEND ARISTOCRAT that’s increased it’s dividend for over 37 years. I add on any pullbacks.

5)ITOT-Not much to say here other than I’m a total market guy when it comes to ETF’s. I still have a little cash left in my account and just continue to buy consistently. I don’t want to be caught sitting on the sidelines while the S&P 500 runs back to 3000.

APRIL DIVIDEND REPORT

By Jody

On April 27, 2020

In Bonds, Dividend Investing, Investments, Materials Sector, REIT, Retail Sector, Value Investing

Here are my DIVIDENDS for the month of April:

1)Macy’s-I sold out of Macy’s a while back but for some reason I’m still getting dividends. Hey no arguments. Macy’s paid me $4.53

2)Eastman Chemicals paid me $33.00

3)Schneider Trucking paid me .91 cents

4)QQQ $1.45

So as you can see not a WHOLE LOT in Dividends this month in my Brokerage account. I go into the reasons behind that below.

Moving on to my IRA account, lots of REITS:

Medical Properties Trust-$26.46

Xenia Hotels $1.65

Ryman Hospitality $13.30.

Both XHR and RHP have suspended their dividends due to the Coronavirus environment; so this is probably the last dividend this year I’ll be getting from either of those companies.

IEF Bond Fund paid me .72 cents.

Mcgrath Rent Corp $4.62

This brings me to the following totals:

$39.89 in my Brokerage account

$46.75 in my IRA account

A COMBINED TOTAL of $86.64

Here is my latest DIVIDEND GRAPH since my initial investing. Once again, you will see that the amount of dividends paid has dropped considerably. This is because I sold some of the stocks paying dividends and I had one dividend get deferred (American Eagle outfitters).

Overall, I’m still happy to be getting the dividends even though they certainly have decreased. COVID-19 is an usual situation that most companies simply weren’t prepared for. Hopefully, these dividend cuts don’t last for a year.

Given that I’ve been concentrating more on growth/tech investing; I am not as concerned about the dividends at the moment. However, no one likes to see their dividends get cut. At the same time, whatever a company needs to do to make ends meet in this trying time. Far better they cut the dividend than go out of business.

Swing Trade Success

By Jody

On April 19, 2020

In Investments, Swing Trading

So, over the last month I’ve been doing more SWING TRADING.

What is SWING TRADING?

Swing trading is when you specifically buy a stock with the intention of selling it shortly thereafter. Hold times can be a few days to a few weeks.

Home Depot (in my IRA): I bought this 3/16 through 3/20 and sold on 3/24 for a 6.06% gain

Lowes: I bought on 4/1 and sold on 4/6 for a 8.77% gain

Smucker: I bought this on 3/17 and 3/27 and sold on 4/17 for a 9.7% gain

What sort of strategy do I use for Swing trading?

I only pick stocks I’d be happy holding long-term if I had to. This is just in case the trade turns bad short-term
I ideally want 5-10%; however, as the position size increased and duration is decreased, I am happy with 3%.
I look for support and resistance as well as past chart patterns. I am not much of a technical analysis guide. However, I do base my buying points on previous support levels. I choose when to sell based on prior resistance levels.
Some stocks are cyclical short-term and make good swing trading stocks. Some of these are Delta, Leggett & Platt, Kaiser Aluminum, and Mueller Water Products.
I don’t risk much so if things don’t go my way, I am not out much. At this point, if I can make $100 a month on swing trading I am happy. I prefer buying and holding longer-term ( a year or more). If I sense I can make 10%, I will risk say $500, with a $50 goal in mind. If the stock isn’t as volatile, I will use a larger position $800-$1000 and try for 3-5%.

Personally, I think a lot of LUCK is involved. I don’t have a system. I realize that is not the answer you want to hear, especially when so many people claim to have a system using technical analysis. No exact technical analysis stuff here, I can’t help you really make successful trades other than the small bit of advice I give above to increase your chances. I just look at stocks that I think are unfairly beaten down. Some I watch each week, so I see what I THINK are patterns in their movements, you get familiar with them over the course of a year and that can help as well. There is nothing scientific about it but I must say a bit of a gut feeling is involved after watching the same stocks for long periods of time.

Some stocks are easier to swing trade like Delta, the graph exhibits waves up and down over time. Simply buy when the wave is nearer to the bottom than the top and ride it up for a few percentage points. Kaiser Aluminum looks a lot like that as well. Leggett and Platt is another, very cyclical stocks over a period of months.