Dividend Income - May 2018

Hi Everyone!

The months keep rolling by and here we are half way through June and I'm just getting to Mays report! 

Sorry for the delay as its been a busy few weeks.  Our boy is changing so fast and all the milestones you hear about are here one day and on to the next one the following day.  His new thing - crawling!! He is not going very far yet - say 2 feet - but he has just started to figure out that he has to move his hands forward when he moves his knees forward.  For a week he would scoot his knees forward and then face plant LOL. 

He has had Dada down for about a month but just recently started saying Mama!  You have never seen a happier woman then when their child starts saying Mama for the first time.  It is amazing to see my wife's face light up with happiness when a Mama comes out!

He is truly the joy in our life right now and yes it was a long journey of infertility and making the decision to adopt but it was worth it! 

I cannot wait to see what the future holds when we add Baby #2 - wait WHAT - Yes, thats correct!

Our sons birth parents are pregnant again with a full biological sibling and have asked us to adopt this child as well.  Of course we said yes! 

Money is extremely tight right now - we even started a fundraiser to help with expenses - so naturally stock purchases are very few and far between. 

I have moved around some money - selling some stocks and buying mainly just CVS so those purchases will be reflected in some added dividend income but otherwise, no big buying sprees recently or for the foreseeable future.

The 401K continues to be maxed out - my wife knows how important it is to me to solidify a solid retirement - even if we are not able to retire early any longer.  However, the 401K does not pay dividends except for the FTSE fund or a surprise distribution from one of the others.

A big decision last January was to pay off our mortgage.  Financially, with the large stock market gains from late 2016 to now, it was not the best decision but, without paying off the mortgage, we could not afford to continue to max out the 401K.  Our mortgage ran about 1300 a month.  I just recently determined that we are behind by around $30,000 if we were to sell all of those original holdings right now to pay off the mortgage. 

This was an eye opening experience to see just how powerful compounding returns are.  Granted, if the stock market had fallen by the same amount over the past year, we wouldn't have been able to pay off the mortgage at all but hindsight is 20/20.  I am warming up to the idea that it was not a terrible decision - less stress and sleeping better at night because I do not have that lingering bill each month is a blessing.  Next time, I'll be sure to make a more prudent decision on paying off big ticket items.

That enough rambling for now - here is May's report:

UVE    $14.64     - And they just raised the dividend!!!
CVS    $14.00     - This will increase substantially next report!
BTI     $25.18
SKT    $32.35
OHI    $335.43    - And what a rally since the lows - Might trim position if it hits $35 this time
O        $40.64 
ABT   $4.32        - Sold to buy CVS after a 60% gain
MM    $0.82

Total:  $467.38

A stellar month!  $94 more than this time last year, $42 more than last quarter!

Hope you all had a great May!

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