Recent Buy - Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI)

Hi Everyone,

The buys keep coming!  It's been a real busy start to the year and things are not slowing down.  I just got a raise at work, my wife is getting a new job that could potentially earn us a fair bit more money and we recently paid off the last of my student loans.  With all this movement with regards to our finances, we are still saving a good bit of money to invest and hopefully we'll be able to up our investing a bit more!  With this purchase, my wife and I have put a total of around $20,000 to work since the beginning of 2015.  My goal of investing roughly $40,000 is within sight! To think that we are half way to our total is a great feeling since we are just 3 months into the year.   The market continues to stay at elevated levels but there was some recent weakness in REIT's because of the anticipation of rising interest rates.  Well, the Fed did not raise the rates but it gave us an opportunity to buy at lower prices.  With that being said, my next purchase was Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) so without further adieu...

Free at Last!

Hi Everyone,

It's a big day for me today.  I no longer have any student loans!!  Way back in 2009 I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology and with my 8 X 11 piece of paper, I had roughly $25,000 in student loan debt.  At the time, I had two loans.  One was around $8,000 with a high interest rate of about 5.50% and the other was about $17,000 and an interest rate of 2.25%.

SMART Goals - Update on 2015 goals

Hi Everyone,

While at work today, my employer sent out a corporate email stating that our performance review meetings are coming up.  Performance reviews are basically a way for the company to tell you what you are worth to them.  Every year it is the same thing.  My supervisor and his boss call me into their office and we go over what I have accomplished in the past year and what my goals are for this coming year.  Normally, I would not be writing a post about this but the corporate email that was sent asked us to create SMART goals that give them a well-defined perspective of what we want for our future.

Dividend Income - February 2015 Update

Hi Everyone,

It's that time again when I get to post about a favorite topic of mine, dividends!  I hope this post inspires other investors out there to start saving and investing as soon as they can.  The power you feel knowing that you are richer than you were yesterday and you didn't have to work for it is a wonderful feeling.  With that being said, lets get down to the numbers:

Having some fun in Austin!

Hi Everyone,

One of my goals this year was to save as much as possible but to live life.  My wife and I have a goal of traveling as much as possible before we have kids.  A few reasons for this:  1. It will be cheaper.  2.  We have more free time/flexibility.  3.  It's simpler.  Therefore, we took a trip to Austin, Texas and had some fun!  Read on to find out how it went...

Go TROW Go!

What a day!

I had three companies increase their dividends today.

Kimberly Clark raised the dividend to $0.88 which was good for a 4.8% increase.

Lorillard raised the dividend to $0.66 which was good for a 7.3% increase.

And the granddaddy of them all!

T. Rowe Price raised the dividend to $0.52 which was good for an 18% increase!

Not only that, but T. Rowe Price will also be paying out a special $2.00 dividend in April.

I own 25 shares of T. Rowe Price so that special dividend alone will add $50 to my yearly dividend total that I was not expecting to receive whatsoever!  The $0.08 raise will add an additional $8.00 to my yearly total as well.

The magic of dividend growth investing is at work and this post proves how awesome this journey can be!

Recent Buy - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Hi Everyone,

Finally, my last purchase with funds left over from last year.  I'm having mixed emotions thinking about writing this post.  I'm thrilled to add more income to the portfolio but I'm fresh out of extra capital to invest at the moment which is a bit saddening. With this purchase, my wife and I have put a total of around $18,000 to work since the beginning of 2015.  My goal of investing roughly $40,000 is within sight! To think that we are almost half way to our total is a great feeling.  I was also able to add most of this capital before the companies started paying out their 2015 dividends so our portfolio/income goals are much better off. I thought of holding out until the market pulled back in order to invest that much capital but I just couldn't do it.  I'm not a fan of sitting on capital for too long at this point in my life.  Plus, after watching the market continue to make new high after new high while the so called "experts" have been calling for a pullback for 4 years I figure screw it, get my money working for me!  With that being said, my next purchase was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) so without further adieu...

Recent Buy - Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM)

Hi Everyone,

Another purchase is in the books!  Like I said in the last post, I put a good chunk of change to work in the past week.  The only way to get closer to the American Dividend Dream is to keep buying high quality companies and letting the portfolio compound for years to come.  With the market staying around all time highs I continue to look for companies that are attractively valued.  It gets harder and harder every day as the market keeps going up but I think I found a few good ones.  My next purchase was Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) so without further adieu...

Recent Buy - Dover Corp (DOV)

Hi Everyone,

February is half way over and I put quite a good bit of money to work in the past week.  The only way to get closer to the American Dividend Dream is to keep buying high quality companies and letting the portfolio compound for years to come.  Hopefully I was able to pick stocks that continue to do what they do - reward shareholders!  With the market staying around all time highs I continue to look for companies that are attractively valued.  It gets harder and harder every day as the market keeps going up but I think I found a few good ones.  First up, Dover Corp (DOV) so without further adieu...

401K Update - February 2015

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well.  I continue to embrace the blogging community and I continue to love it.  Just a quick post tonight about my 401K Portfolio.  I said that I would post about the 401K when big changes were made and I'm happy to say, BIG changes were made!  This past year my company changed the way we receive our company match.  It used to be we received up to a 6% company match.  Now, throughout the year we receive 3% company match and then a bonus of 2% at the end of the year.  Well, my 2% hit the account on Monday!  My portfolio now looks like this:

Dividend Income - January 2015 Update

Hi Everyone,

It's that time again when I get to post about a favorite topic of mine, dividends!  I hope this post inspires other investors out there to start saving and investing as soon as they can.  The power you feel knowing that you are richer than you were yesterday and you didn't have to work for it is a wonderful feeling.  With that being said, lets get down to the numbers:

Recent Buy - T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW)

Hi Everyone,

Once again, January continues to be a busy month in terms of buying companies for the American Dividend Dream portfolio.  I went through my portfolio and noticed that it was lacking an investment management company.  I looked around at a few different such companies and was about to pull the trigger but realized their earnings report was just around the corner.  As you can see from one of my recent purchases MSFT I should have waited until after the earnings report.  Lesson learned and a costly one at that but oh well, I try not to time the market that much and the cash I have is burning a hole in my pocket.  Had MSFT killed earnings, I could post how well that buy was. I waited until after the earnings report for TROW and liked what I saw so I bought it today,  Without further adieu...

Recent Buy - Travelers Companies Inc (TRV)

Hi Everyone,

January continues to be a busy month in terms of buying companies for the American Dividend Dream portfolio.  With the market staying around all time highs I continue to look for companies that are attractively valued.  With that being said, I found that the insurance businesses seem to be of decent value.  In particular, I found that Travelers was one of the cheapest around and has a 150 year history.  With decent value and great history, I figured I would pull the trigger.  My only exposure to insurance is Aflac right now and their business is heavily tied to Japan.  So without further adieu...

Being Called Stingy

Hi Everyone,

This is not a new idea, but one that resonates with me.  There are quite a few posts within this community talking about being frugal vs. stingy so add this one to the list.  Tonight, my wife and I went out for happy hour with a few friends of ours. While sitting at the table, one of my friends called me cheap.  I'm not exactly sure why I continue to be called cheap from this particular friend, but it produces a weird feeling that almost hurts when it is said.  So I want to talk about what could make someone cheap...

Goals for 2015

Hi Everyone,

Another day, another dollar.  Another year, another opportunity to reach the American Dividend Dream!  This is my first post with regards to setting goals but I believe these are necessary in helping to lay out a plan for the future.  Without planning, we could sway off the path and hurt our ability to reach freedom from the 9 - 5 job.  I believe goals need to be challenging, yet achievable.  If you continually set goals that are too extreme, you will continually disappoint yourself which could hinder your ability to keep going.  With that being said, lets look at my goals for 2015: