November EOM Update

Total dividends received was: $336.74. This is 1760.44% over my November 2014 dividends received of $18.10. 

Charts

Purchases:

Taxable:

• initiate position in OZRK @54.15 per share
• initiate position in NVDA @31.12 per share
• initiate position in POT @19.68 per share
• initiate position in BBL @24.60 per share
• initiate position in RDSB @50.49 per share
• add to LCI

401k:

• no stock purchases, only added to target date fund 

Loyal 3:

• added to HSY

October EOM Update

Oops I've been traveling for work and failed to do an update. So here it is. Better late than never.

Total dividends received was: $193.16. This is 838.58% over my October 2014  dividends received of $20.58. Like I mentioned in last month's update I started this DGI journey 2nd half of 2014 so I'll receive less giant % differences starting in January 2016. Also not sure if I've mentioned it before or lately but I have exceeded my 2015 goal of $1500.00 in dividends.  I've set a pretty aggressive target for 2016 ($3600.00) so we'll see how I do.

Charts

Purchases:

Taxable:

• added to CAT @65.53 per share
• initiate position in LCI @46.60 per share
• initiate position in SBNY @142.3999 per share
• initiate position in WMT @60.065 per share

401k:

• no stock purchases, only added to target date fund 

Loyal 3:

• added to KO
• added to KHC
• bought FDC @16.00 per share (speculative - no plans to add more)
• bought WMT @59.00 per share

WMT Purchase

While I'm not a fan of Walmart personally, I like deals.  So I bought

12 shares @$60.73 in my taxable account  (10/14/15) and  8.4746 shares @$59.00 in my Loyal 3 account (10/16/15).

This adds $40.13 to my yearly forward dividend income.

September EOM Update

Another month down. Like everyone else the portfolios are in the red which is no fun but it did open up the possibility for buying opportunities and I took a few during the downturn. I actually wish I had more cash to deploy, everything I like is on sale.

Total dividends received was: $234.72. This is 4904.69% over my September 2014  dividends received of $4.69. This isnt super interesting as I started the DGI journey late in 2014 but I'm excited to finally start having data to compare against and I'm excited to compare 2015 to 2016.

Charts:

Purchases:

Taxable:

• added to XOM @72.55 per share
• added to TEF @13.75 per share
• initiate position in IDV @28.69 per share
• initiate position in EMR @47.10 per share
• initiate position in CAT @73.90 per share

401k:

• bought OHI @33.20 per share

Loyal 3:

• added to TGT 
• added to UL
• added to KO

August EOM Update

Another month down. Like everyone else the portfolios are in the red which is no fun but it did open up the possibility for buying opportunities and I took a few during the downturn. I actually wish I had more cash to deploy, everything I like is on sale.

Total dividends received was: $300.74 -this was the first month I received over $300 in dividends. I'm not counting July with the Kraft special payment. I'm officially over my goal for the year this month which is awesome since we have another quarter to go.

Charts:

Purchases:

Taxable:

• added to KO @38.17 per share
• added to BMO @50.77 per share
• added to WPK @23.40 per share
• initiate position in GSK @44.05 per share
• sold BBL at a loss - not happy about the emotional decision :-/ 
• considering a reentry due to dividend yield but have to wait the 30days to not have a wash sale, plus i had buyers remorse since i bought it hence the sale. dunno. thoughts?

401k:

• initiate position in STAG @19.39 per share

Loyal 3:

• added to DIS 
• added to HSY
• added to INTC
• added to BUD
• added to FTR

Reading: I have a lot of DGI type blogs in the feed but my favorite reads this month are:

http://theconservativeincomeinvestor.com/2015/08/28/2207/

and

http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/2015/09/the-value-of-dividend-growth-in.html

http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/2015/08/a-dividend-portfolio-for-early-retirees.html

Thanks for reading

-CG

Keeping Your Eye On The Prize

Before last year I never really had a budget.  Starting in 2014 I started using YNAB.

I won't go so far as to say it changed my life but establishing an amount of money to spend each month for a category and then watching that allocation get adjusted multiple times per month has really helped me.  I really don't like seeing when I spend over my allocation (because I manually enter all my transactions) and the YNAB method puts it squarely in your face so you can be really aware that you went over.

Couple this with Loyal3 where I get to send any money for the month I didn't use there to buy more stock == double win.  This year I've been able to see and track my net worth grow and even though everyone's portfolios took massive hits this month, my net worth increased. It's really a good feeling.

Net worth tracking since May 14 via YNAB

July EOM Wrapup

Survived another month!

July was especially fun with the unexpected KRFT payment. I was going to be on the bubble to reach my $1500 yearly goal but now I'll far exceed it.

Charts

Purchases

Loyal3
-Normal buys
BUD
DIS
KO
UL
INTC

-Took a speculative position in FTR. I mostly took the position due to dividend yield and that i can buy it commission free and DRIP via Loyal3. Its also nearing all time lows. I don't insist on waiting for a bottom but this one was near lows so figured I'd take the purchase.

FTR

Taxable

Canadian Banks are/were on sale due to a rate cut announced in  July. So i purchased:
BNS
RY
BMO

Ford  (F) was cheap, so I added some additional shares

I also averaged down on :
IPPLF
EBGUF

Lastly,  a speculative position on CSD http://guggenheiminvestments.com/products/etf/csd  CSD is a spin off ETF and allows me some exposure to companies i wouldn't want to buy individually or too difficult (for me) to track.

Of course all the above (with the exception of F) is in the red with how the market is :-/ I'll keep looking for opportunities when sectors are on sale.

I've updated the portfolio spreadsheet Google doc.

June EOM Wrapup

yeah i'm behind...bunch of kids...summer break...

I received $143.22 in Dividend payments

Charts:

Loyal 3 purchases:

I buy what's in the red each month to average down.

HSY
KO

Taxable:

BBL is mining exposure (UK), TEF and TU are foreign telcos, XOM, IPLF, EBGUF are US and Canadian Energy.

BBL      Yield: 6.37%
TEF       Yield: 5.91%
TU         Yield: 3.89%
XOM     Yield: 3.52%
IPPLF    Yield: 4.93%
EBGUF  Yield 4.33%

I've updated the shared portfolio spreadsheet to reflect the additions.

May EOM Wrap Up

May EOM Wrap Up

May was my biggest dividend payout to date at: $161.60 :-)

Charts:

Dividends by Month

2015 Dividend Goal Progress

Purchases:

I had a side hustle pay out some money plus an equity grant so I made some purchases in taxable accounts

This month I bought:

F @$15.53  for a starter position.  Weekly chart is looking pretty weak so I'd be willing to add more in the 14.00-14.50 area. 

Some reasons for the purchase: 

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12993172/4/8-recession-proof-stocks-to-prepare-your-portfolio-for-the-next-cycle.html?startIndex=0 and 3.92% dividend yield.

WBK @$25.64 for some foreign (AUS) financial exposure. Weekly chart is looking weak (you'll detect a trend here) Looking to buy more below $25.00. Did miss the ex-dividend date though :-(

Reasons:
One of the four big banks in Australia, but the only one on NYSE and 5.72% dividend yield. I want to continue to get more foreign exposure although I will probably primarily do this via PID or IDV


HSY @$93.37 in my Loyal3 account  I would love for it to get back down to $90/91 area and i'll buy more.

Reasons: 

chocolate!

NVDA @$20.54 

Reasons:
I'm bullish on NVDA for long term with their attempt to become the NFLX of gaming.  Its also a tech company that at least pays a little (1.53%) to own it.


PG @$80.28

Reasons:  it was $8 dollars cheaper than i bought it for my IRA back in Dec/Jan.  Its on sale at the moment.  Weekly chart is looking weak though. I plan to add more between $75-$78. 3.34% dividend yield.

JNJ @$100.91  

Reasons: I own it, like it, its 6 dollars cheaper than I own it in my IRA.  Looks like it found its bottom around 98 for the time being. 2.97% dividend yield.

Normal Loyal 3 purchases for May:
K, KO, DPS  

Reasons: I buy whatever is red on my tracking chart for that month to average down.

Things I wish I knew in my 20's

Continuing on from my first post on things I wish I knew when I started working are things I wish I knew in my 20's.

At this point I was getting a steady paycheck and was in the military. Some topics I really had no clue about include:

1. The key to saving is living on less than you make.

To anyone that practices any sort of frugality you know this one already but I think it is lost on the majority of people in their 20's.  Now to be fair I had several bosses that told me to live on my previous salary and save the difference. I mostly heeded this advice but banked the cash only to piss it away on other things later.  Plus I was mostly brought up to equate stuff with caring/love. So buy all the things!

To be fair its suuuuuuuper difficult at that time in your life not to blow all your money on stuff.  Going out with friends, traveling, eating out, you can finally afford a nice-ish car, etc.  Happy to hear advice on how you bypass this stage to pass on to the little ones.

Either way, its true, the key to saving is living on less than you make.

http://www.successwithmoney.com/live-on-less-than-you-make/
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/rule-1-spend-less-than-you-earn/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/01/raising-a-family-on-under-2000-per-year/

The part that's missing in that advice is to properly do something with that extra money. I touched on this in the previous post about wishing I knew something...anything...about retirement accounts but understanding the power of compounding is also key.  After a brief stint with FirstCommand where I was sold high load funds and life insurance I didn't need I eventually did end up with a Roth IRA in an S&P fund.  Unfortunately I put the financial education journey on pause there and really didn't pick it back up for 10+ years.

2. Avoid credit card debt at all costs.

This should be obvious but sometimes it is not.  In college everyone is throwing credit cards at you. You need to strike a serious balance between building credit and buying crap you don't need or have money for on credit.  It took me many many YEARS to finally get out of credit card debt.

Credit Cards are a tool that can be used to build credit and earn reward but they must be used appropriately and not as a way to buy things you don't have money for.


3. Establishing a budget

What the heck is a budget?! The key to #1 and avoiding #2 is the budget. AKA why I can't have any fun :-)

To be serious though, I never could understand why I made OK money in my 20's (and now good money) but never had any. It wasn't until I started tracking where it all went that I had my answers.  The One-Page Financial Plan by Carl Richards is an ok place to start. Its very simple, lay it out there and track the money just to see where it goes. Then go looking for things to cut out.  When I decided to try to meet with financial planners many of them asked if  I had a budget and the better ones would only see me after I had it to bring in with me :-)

 If you want some more ammo Dave Ramsey's books are ok as well.  Plus there are tons and tons of resources on this now on the interwebs.

I do this religiously now with YNAB. The manual part is what works for me but its ok to try a few tools to see what sticks and fills the need.


4. Understand Roth vs Traditional IRAs.

TLDR;
**Do the Roth until you make too much**

Reference: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/012203.asp

Where to put the money?

• No idea:  Target Date Funds via low fee mutal funds or ETFs
• Some idea: Proper mix of domestic, foreign stocks and bonds via low fee ETFs
• Lots of ideas: ETFs and dividend growth stocks (see below)

Also understand lower the management fees the better:

Reference: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/why-fees-matter/

5. If employers do any sort of matching, make sure you contribute enough to get that match no matter what.

You want that free money to accumulate as much as you can for as long as you can.

Relevant blog posts:
http://blog.mint.com/saving/goodbye-college-hello-future-why-retirement-savings-matters-in-your-20s-051215
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/5-retirement-savings-ideas-for-young-people-1.aspx
http://www.kiplinger.com/article/saving/T063-C006-S001-10-financial-commandments-for-your-20s.html
https://www.millersmoney.com/money-weekly/free-money-for-your-401k

6. Understand dividend growth investing or at least the buy and hold mentality.

-Learn basic stock analysis

-Learn what a trend is and wether a stock is in an uptrend and downtrend
-Learn about timeframes and how we care about Daily..really more  Weekly/ Monthly charts when it comes to investing.
-Learn about the Dividend Aristocrats and its ok to devote a portion of saving/investing to these Dividend Growth stocks
-Read A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing by Burton G. Malkiel
-Read The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. by Benjamin Graham

Motif rebalances & creation of a new Motif

For end of April and May I did some motif rebalancing and created a new Motif.

First up was:

 

Only change here was to add BUD to the Motif.

Up next is my betting on the future Motif, which I think is all red at the moment :-/

I rebalanced this Motif to add a bunch of solar companies. I really liked the Tesla powerwall announcement and it spurred me to look into some of the other solars.  I plan to dollar cost average this Motif over the next few quarters until it hits full position and then I'll just wait and see what happens. This is a long term bet portfolio and I think I've mentioned that I'm willing to ride this one out and really have no plans to sell anything in the portfolio (for now).

 

If you are curious as to which solars and why, here you go:

TSLA (why cars + batteries)
SCTY (why walmart partnership)
SUNE (why Kohls partnership)
FSLR (why Apple partnership)
SPWR (why warren buffet involvement && J&J + many others)
VSLR (why up on the year)
CSIQ (why up on the year)

Lastly with some cash back from uncle Sam I created a simple credit card companies motif consisting of V, MA, AXP, and DFS.  Long term I don't see the world doing better with credit card debt (meaning I think we will continue to pile it on) so I think they are a good buy and hold opportunity.

 

April EOM Update

Total dividend income for April was: $109.68.

It is pretty fun to watch these grow since Jan's income was 35.79 (mostly because i had missed the ex-dividend date on most of the purchases when i rolled over the old 401k).

Excel skillz chart:

This month I took refund money and added money to my two Motif's see:
http://hackyourfinances.blogspot.com/2015/04/march-update-2.html

The majority of the cash went to the one that is performing well vs my "bets" one but I'll continue to add to that one until it reaches my max position/bet size. I'm still bullish on 3D printing long term.  I may also rebalance to add in some solar stocks, still thinking about it.

I also made contributions in my Loyal3 portfolio to:

DIS
UL
KO

For the most part Loyal3 doesn't dividend reinvest, but did for KRFT. I just take any dividends and add it to the next purchase i make.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Things I wish I knew when I started getting a paycheck

Things I wish I knew when I started getting a paycheck

1. I wish I knew retirement accounts existed and the power of compounding && time doing its magic

My first entrance into any sort of investing was in my military days with First Command (http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/First-Command-Reviews-E37701.htm). In retrospect it was better than nothing but if you do some Googling it wasn't a great service. They put you in high load mutual funds and sell whole life insurance (which i really didnt need with Army Life insurance). I got half the message that they were less than optimal advisors but decided "it was too hard" or "I didn't have time" to learn a better way to invest my money. I ended up purchasing a S&P 500 Roth IRA  but not putting nearly enough  in (aka the max every year).

What I plan to do about for my kids:
I've already started trying to educate my oldest on investing with her Motif. I also **plan** to initially fund her IRA once she starts working as well as do more education on the power of compounding. I should have some good ammo by that point with my own retirement accounts plus this blog. Hurray for fancy graphs and mad excel skillz.


2. I wish I knew that even saving $100 a month or per paycheck would have probably made me a millionaire now.

I started working at 14, so over the course of my life so far there were tons of opportunity to bank cash into an IRA for the future but I didn't.  I have little to show for it except for maybe some hazy  memories of nights out on the town.   There are many many resources on compounding both in IRA and with dividend growth investing. Here is one that is a decent example:  http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-power-of-compound-interest-2014-7 and another http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/02/the-extraordinary-power-of-compound-interest/


What i plan to do about for my kids:
See above

3. I wish I knew/understood that buying stuff is really a waste of money.  Most of my life I spent every dollar I made mostly on stuff i didn't need instead of stashing it away.  This is mostly a result of upbringing and my parents views on money.

What I plan to do about for my kids:
Education when we are shopping, reminding grandparents to not equal love with **stuff**, tell stories about my shitty finance habits once they are old enough to understand better.

March Update #2

Total dividend income for march was: $131.06 :-)

I mentioned in the previous post I started a few Motif's. The first was a Dividend Motif based on services people use and Asset Management companies I think will do OK in the future.

 

The second was a bet on the future, mostly with 3d Stocks and NVDA. NVDA because they are working to become the NFLX for gaming and a few of the various 3D printing stocks because i think the service will become more important/profitable in the future as the technology progresses.

I'm prepared to lose all the cash I put into the bet on the future Motif.

 

I also continue to buy stocks with Loyal3.  This month I added to positions in:

Intel
Target
Unilever
Disney
Mattel
Kellogs
Kraft
Coca Cola
Dr. Pepper/Snapple

This is more than usual as I ended up with some additional capital to use.

Kraft I'm sure was a happy surprise for anyone that owned it with the Heinz/Kraft merger.  Not sure if I'll continue to add to the Mattel position.  High yield but the company isn't doing to great right now and frankly I'm unsure of its future prospects. If anyone has an opinion I'd be happy to read it.

March Update #1

March Update #1

I'll cover passive income in another post as the month isn't over, but there were enough updates to break it into two pieces and I know most people don't read really long blog posts anymore.

First, I've created a Hack Your Finances Facebook page.  There is now a Facebook link in the menu list.  If interested, you can check it out here:
https://www.facebook.com/hackyourfinances

Go ahead and give it a like if you use Facebook.  I've decided to post most of the [Shared] things there instead of muddying up the blog with them.  So unless its really really good you'll see the shared links on the Facebook page from now on.  I'm also in the process of setting up a twitter account for Hack Your Finances. To tweet out blog updates and shared links.

Second, based on this post:
http://hackyourfinances.blogspot.com/2015/03/getting-kids-interested-in-investing.html

I've started giving Motif a try.  First with a portfolio to get my daughter interested in investing.  I've also created a few additional Motifs. I made an all REIT one for fun but thus far do not intend to fund it because I don't feel like messing with that taxes. But it was fun to build and tweak it for max return or max dividend and to see how it compares to the S&P.

 

I'll post on the other Motifs I plan to fund a bit later... or if you are super curious comment below and it will motivate me to post about them sooner.  Initial impressions are that I like it. This is mostly because it gives you fundamental details about the stocks (PE, yield, charts, etc). My main gripe with Loyal3 thus far is the complete lack of any fundamental or technical analysis you can do on the site as well as no ability to see your cost basis as you buy shares month to month. I did it manually for March purchases but I dislike manually doing things that can be and should be automated.  I'll do the Loyal3 purchases in part 2 along with Motif purchases.

Third,
March has been an interesting month. I've watched the portfolio value change from 4 figures green to almost 4 figured red then back to green.  Volatile to say the least.  No real point other than acknowledgement that  i'm pot committed to the long play on this.


Thats all for now, thanks for reading.
-CG

Getting Kids Interested In Investing With Motif

Eyes On The Dollar had a fabulous post on getting kids interested in investing. It is available here:

http://eyesonthedollar.com/get-kids-excited-about-investing/

The TLDR of it was have the kids pick companies they know and have heard of and buy a Motif (referral link) with the stocks.

I've been slowly introducing my oldest to stock trading. Not wanting to be too pushy with it but enough to teach her things like basic stock patterns and what trends are and other basics.  I have far to many computer friends that can do amazing things with computers and code but are scared to tackle investing.

Anyway, we spent a few days talking about companies, how to find their tickers, how to look and see if the companies were in an uptrend or downtrend, and if they pay a dividend or not.  I ended up taking the companies we talked about  and scrubbing the ones that didn't pay a dividend. The result is the following motif:

 

Link in case the fancy iframe isn't working:
https://www.motifinvesting.com/motifs/stuff-faith-likes-pays-dividend-Lsj7mn67


We funded it with a bit of her savings account money and I plan to check the progress with her periodically and hopefully can spark an interest for later in life.  It was also fun for me as it gave me a reason to check out Motif. I plan to make a motif with some of the my "stocks to throw the dice on" and now that I can essentially buy them all for the price of one commission it seems like a good time.

-CG

[Shared] To DRIP or Not to DRIP

Excellent post on Dividend Dreams on DRIP vs not DRIP.  Worth the read.

http://dividenddreams.com/to-drip-or-not-to-drip/

I think most people in the Dividend Growth world do have most of their stuff to auto DRIP.

Mine is set to auto DRIP in the IRA (I'm a long way off from reaching monthly/yearly goals or having full positions in stocks in the portfolio).  Once those goals are met I'll probably turn off DRIP for selected stock that I have full positions in and use that money to add to other positions or new positions.

Loyal3 doesn't do DRIP I plan to use any dividend income there to purchase additional shares manually.

End of February Update

Update for Feb:

Opened a Loyal 3 account and established 9 positions. There is some overlap with the IRA. The portfolio page was updated to reflect the new positions. I plan to add to these positions every month.

1 purchase of STWD (REIT)  10 shares @24.50

More background here: http://divgro.blogspot.com/2015/02/recent-buy-starwood-property-trust-inc.html   The 10 shares should generate $19.20 of annual dividend income.


Dividend income for the month was: $140.28  Everything in the IRA is DRIP so it was all reinvested back into the stock that generated it.  I'll add that it is pretty exciting to get paid to just hold onto stocks.

Purchased a logo on Fiverr for 5 bucks. Its OK and better than I would have come up with, so it stays for now.

Thanks for reading

My Thoughts on Loyal3

With the IRA contributions maxed out for 2015 I had some additional capital I wanted to start deploying into a taxable account.

Looks like four options you have are:

1. A regular broker -- Numerous
2. Sharebuilder -- https://www.sharebuilder.com/
3. Loyal3  -- https://www.loyal3.com/
4. Motif -- https://www.motifinvesting.com/


Things to consider

Variety -- 1,2,4 have full variety.  Loyal3 have limited stocks to choose from.

Cost -- Obviously brokers cost various prices. My current broker is one of the more expensive for stock trades (I stick with them for platform and options prices). Sharebuilder is 6.95 per trade or 3.95 for automatic/reoccurring investments, Motif is 9.95 for up to 30 stock motif and 4.95 to make an additional trade or 9.95 to rebalance the whole portfolio.  Loyal3 no cost for trades.


Partial shares -- Sharebuilder and Loyal3 offer the ability to buy partial shares. Edit 3/22 Motif also allows you to buy partial shares inside of your motif.


From the title you can see that I went with Loyal3, mostly due to cost and the ability to buy partial shares. Variety is lacking but there are enough dividend stock to purchase to keep my capital busy for awhile.


Things I don't like about about Loyal3.

1.  It focuses solely on the companies and their logos/tickers.  Nowhere on the site can you see company fundamentals or charts to conduct technical analysis.

2. When they say its going to take a few days to make the trade. They are telling you the truth. It takes multiple days to officially buy the stock and multiple days when you want to sell one. It took about a week to sell a position and put the money into another one.

3. Its not clear to see your cost basis as you add shares.

4. No control over the price you purchase the stock. You get what you get once the transaction takes place.  If you are dollar cost averaging then you don't care as much but still in the no fun zone.

5. No options, thus no ability to sell covered calls on stocks you own. Not an issue for now but will be later once larger positions have been accumulated.

6. No Dividend Reinvestment (DRIP) you get the cash and can do what you want with it.


 I updated the portfolio tracker with the Loyal3 stocks I purchased.

February Reading List

2015 Goals are to read two books a month.  Here is February's Reading list

   

I read Steven Burns' New Trader, Rich Trader: How to Make Money in the Stock Marketlast year and liked it. So I decided to give his new one a shot.

The Tony Robbins book is a carryover from January.  So far its good. Nothing earth shattering thus far in the book if you are already into investing or living below your means (actually a new topic for me).  I plan to post back after I finish these both here and hopefully on Amazon if I have the time.

[Shared] Life decisions that secure your retirement from Get Rich Slowly

link: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2015/02/03/life-decisions-that-secure-your-retirement/

Great blog post on how their millionaire next door was able to achieve it.

End of January updates

Wrap up for January

-initiated a postion in OHI @ 44.4599 and MKC @ 70.85

-add to PG @ 84.50 to average down

-GE DRIP 0.238 GE @ 24.3306


Musings:

Wow CAT. Really couldn't have gotten too much worse of an entry in retrospect. Thankfully its a long term hold.

Dividend income predictions, did notice that my dividend income predictions will be lower than I have on my spreadsheet. Why? spreadsheet assumes 4 dividend payments throughout the year which wont be the case for some of the stocks (or I added after ex-div date and).   Some of the positions I initiated this month were based on ex-dividend date.

Need to do more research/planning on determining Fair Value, this should help make entries and additions to the portfolio at a better price point. Thanks to DivHunt for the reminder. Still new to this.

       
         

CL on watch for a purchase

I bought a starter position in CL in January and almost the worst possible entry @$70.61. I'm looking to add, but i'm going to try to use a little trading knowledge and patience for a better entry for my 2nd buy.

On the daily chart is has broken the 200 SMA and the lower bollinger band.  The last resistance around that level was $66, so I'm now watching to see if that will act as support.  Next stop below that is $63.50 and $60.75.

Daily Chart

Weekly Chart

Below $66 i'm probably going to buy some PUTS to $63.50. The only thing that will (probably) prevent me from grabbing PUTS is earnings.  I'm no expert at all, but I've learned that stocks can go down on good earnings and up on crap earnings. It's such a big unknown. so we'll wait and see. Past earnings havent really given a good indication on if the stock gets a good pump or dump.  I'm also ok if it bounces and $66. Guess we'll set up some alerts and see. I'll post back on what I do.

IRA Purchase TD

added to my TD position today. Trying to get the remainder of my 2015 money to work and the stock is near 52 Week lows

bought 11@$42.13

Weights have been updated on the shared portfolio

IRA Purchase VOD, RY, GE

Bought 10 RY @ 62.3999

I want to slowly add some foreign exposure.  Historically Canadian banks have held up ok. So figured some exposure wouldn't hurt and the dividend yield is good (3.97%).  This adds $25.10 in passive dividend income.

Chart

The stock is looking weak right now but I guess i'm hoping its on sale.  Checking out a monthly chart most of the time the 50 SMA has held up as support. If we blow through that maybe i'll start to get worried.

On the weekly the 200 has held as support.

Will also be eyeing that $60 area for a swing trade if it holds.

other info

http://www.dividendgrowthinvestingandretirement.com/2013/07/the-great-canadian-banking-series-royal-bank-of-canada-dividend-stock-analysis-part-4-of-10/

There was also a more recent article on Canadian banks but i cant find it.

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Bought 15 VOD @ 34.86

In the theme of a little more foreign exposure I bought VOD.  This adds $16.50 in passive dividend income.

Chart

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I also added to my GE position as planned if it went under $24.

Bought 20 GE @ 23.7199

DRIP Purchase (KRFT)

Bought 0.21 KRFT @ 65.5547 via DRIP

This adds .46 to my yearly dividend income.

Drip Purchase (O)

Bought 0.088 O @ 52.4085 via DRIP  this adds $.19 to my yearly dividend income

[Shared] Dividend Growth Investing 101

worth a read if new to the concept of dividend growth investing.

http://www.thediv-net.com/2015/01/dividend-growth-investing-101.html

IRA Purchase COP

COP 10 shares @64.15

Entry position in another Energy stock.  This should add $29.20 to passive income stream.

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DRIP Purchase (CB)

Bought 0.049 CB @ 101.6596

This takes projected income from $20 to $20.10        

IRA Purchase HP, EMR, UTX, PFE

Took starter positions in HP, EMR, UTX, PFE today. Mostly because the last of my 2014 IRA money posted and I wanted to put it to work as quickly as possible.

15 HP @60.36

Why? Energy play and stock opened down 5%.  My uhoh was i wanted a ~$500 position which should have been 10 shares.  This is basically a $800 bet this company will survive the current energy shenanigans and be back to $100+ in 5-10 years.

10 EMR @60.41

Why? Partly this. But it was on my to buy list

20 PFE @31.65

Why? on my buy list

5 UTX @112.66

Why? want to slowly develop a position in the defense contractor space.

Those purchases put my projected dividend income in at $1319.50, which is above my $1250 goal. I will change the goal to $1500 as I have a few more dollars to purchase some additional things if the opportunity presents itself and i'm using yahoo finance API to pull in the dividend data and it seems behind what my broker shows.

DRIP Purchase (HDV)

1/02/2015  Bought 0.087 HDV @ 76.5371  via DRIP

This took annual dividend on this stock holding from $24.50 to $24.71   wwwwwwooooohooooo!

The public sheet hides the shares but the weight was updated

IRA Purchases CAT

Bought an additional 10 shares @87.78  of CAT as the stock approaches 52 week lows of 85.88 and because the ex-dividend date is coming up 1/15/2015.

The stock was listed as underweight yesterday/today (1/5/2015)  && reasoning TLDR; its profits related to selling equipment to the energy(oil/gas) sector.

This is  a long term hold and as its close to 52 week lows, I see it as a buying opportunity. Below 85 or closer to 80 i'll by another 10. A few years from now when this is back above 110 i'll be a happy guy.

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[Shared] 12 More Things People Who Make a Lot of Money Do

12 More Things People Who Make a Lot of Money Do

http://www.wisebread.com/12-more-things-people-who-make-a-lot-of-money-do

1. Skip TV (Especially Reality TV)

Corley found that 67% of wealthy people watch one hour or less of TV every day versus 23% of poor, who watch more. Further, only 6% of the wealthy watch reality TV.

2. Meditate

A Huffington Post article highlighted 10 wealthy people (including Oprah, Larry Brilliant, and Bill Ford) who all meditate daily to help them focus.

3. Exercise Regularly

Many studies tout the benefits of exercise to improve not only physical health, but also mental health. This is probably why 76% of the wealthy Corley studied exercise aerobically four days a week.

4. Invest Their Money

The Millionaire Next Door found that millionaires, on average, invest nearly 20% of their household income each year; with the majority investing at least 15%. And 79% of millionaires have at least one account with a brokerage company.

5. Keep Their Mouths Shut

People who make a lot of money don't gossip or say whatever pops into their head at that moment. Corley found that only 6% of wealthy say what's on their mind.

6. Wake Up Early

Are you best friends with your snooze button? If you want to act like a rich person, better start waking up early. Laura Vanderkam, author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast wrote in an article for Success.com that of 20 premier executives, 18 regularly woke up before 6 a.m.

7. Eat Healthy

People who make a lot of money don't just eat "well" in terms of high end restaurants, they also eat healthy food. Rich people, on average, eat less than 300 junk food calories per day, according to Corley.

8. Read (for Work or Pleasure)

Whether it's for work or pleasure, people who make a lot of money read, read, read.

Rich Habits highlights that 88% of wealthy read for 30 minutes or more each day for education/career and most of them (86%) state that they love to read.

9. Have a Nightly Ritual

Having a nightly ritual helps people who make a lot of money collect their thoughts, wind down, and prepare for the next day. 

10. Start Their Own Businesses

The Millionaire Next Door found that most millionaires are entrepreneurs who start their own businesses. It doesn't have to be a start-up technology company. Even owners of waste-removal services do quite well financially.

11. Keep a Running List of Tasks

If you make a lot of money you need to keep track of what you have to do. In fact, Corley found that 81% of the wealthy maintain a to-do list and actually manage to accomplish about 70% of their tasks each day.

12. Network

You don't make money in isolation, it takes getting out there and meeting other people. And 79% of wealthy network five hours or more each month according to Rich Habits.

If people who make a lot of money do these things, do they do them because they make a lot of money? Or do they make a lot of money because they do them? It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. But, many of the above require diligence, self-control, persistence, and hard work. So, chances are, if you have or develop these traits and do the same things people who make a lot of money do, you too will earn more.