My Financial Independence Journey » Archive
Portfolio Status: March 2013
Continuing with my goal of financial transparency, I’m posting my portfolio as it is at the beginning of March of 2013. Under the portfolio tab above is where I am keeping a more or less current list of my positions. The below is where my portfolio stands as of March 1, 2013. 2013 Portfolio Value as of: January 1st: $91,567.06 February 1st: $95,514.53 March 1st: $99,743.57 I purchased one new stock this month, 28 shares of LMT. That, combined with the recent bull market means that my portfolio has increased in value by over $4,000. In terms of dividends, I pulled in $265.11 in February of 2013. 2013 Monthly Dividends: January: $164.00 February: $265.11 One of my major goals for this year and next year is to substantially increase my emergency fund so that it can cover one full year’s worth … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investment portfolio
A Brief Primer on Dividend Growth Stocks Part 1: What are they and how do they make money?
In the opinion of this humble blogger, dividend growth investing is a great way to build wealth over time. Dividend growth investing is a branch of value investing, that focuses on buying shares of companies with a consistent history of raising dividends. As I was putting together the initial content for this blog, it dawned on me that readers green to the idea of financial independence, dividend growth investing, or investing in general might be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Dividend Stock Analysis
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is the largest global provider of payroll outsourcing services and has over 570,000 clients worldwide. ADP also provides outsourcing services for human resources, tax filing, and benefits administration. ADP is divided into two main business segments, 1) employer services which focuses on payroll, human resource, benefits administration, time and attendance, and tax filing and reporting services. 2) Dealer services which focuses on transaction systems, data products and professional services to automobile … Read entire article »
Filed under: Stock Analysis
Weekend One Off: Thrift Shop
What happened to the link love? I’m finishing up a week of business travel, so I’m lucky that I even had time to reply to comments on my own blog, let alone read others. But fear not! The love will return next week and may even be supersized if I do get some time to peruse personal finance blogs while getting my science on. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Weekend one off
Identifying the Core Psychological Aspects of Your Life
I’ve mentioned in passing that life can be divided into three distinct spheres, the material (needs), the psychological (wants), and the social. Each sphere contains certain core elements that are central to our ability to live happy productive lives. I’ve already talked about how to identify the core material aspects (aka: needs) of your life. Today, I want to focus on the core psychological needs of your life, otherwise known as wants. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reflections
All About the Emergency Fund
The emergency fund is an incredibly boring but absolutely critical part of your financial strategy. Basically it’s a pile of cash, just sitting there. Waiting for something bad to happen to you so that it can jump in and save the day! Like a superhero, but with less spandex. Those of us seeking early financial independence or early retirement should pay particular attention to their emergency funds. As should those of individuals who make a living … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing, Reflections
Recent Buy – Lockheed Martin (LMT)
As part of my commitment to keep my readers up to date on my portfolio, I write up short posts describing my transactions. Recently, I purchased 28 shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT). … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investment portfolio
McDonald’s Corp (MCD) Dividend Stock Analysis
McDonald’s Corp (MCD) is the largest fast food company in the world with over 33,700 restaurants in 119 countries. McDonald’s US sales amounted to about $32 billion last year. However, if you have ever managed to get out of your house and drive around a bit, you have noticed that the US is saturated with McDonald’s. Over the last two decades the primary source of growth for McDonald’s has been global. Last year, about 57% … Read entire article »
Filed under: Stock Analysis
Blog Update: February 2013
With two months of blogging behind me, it’s time to review the blog’s progress. February was a great month for this blog, with some nice increases in traffic. As usual, I’ll try to make this blog update post short, so that I can focus my time on writing actual content. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blog Update
Weekend Link Love: New Theme Edition
Another week has passed us by and blogosphere has provided us with still more articles worth reading. If you’re a relatively astute reader, you might have noticed the new theme. I decided to move the blog to real hosting. I still have some more tweaks to make, but hopefully all the major parts of the blog are working. Enjow. Just a personal note: For the next week and a half I’m going to be involved in some hardcore travel for my job. Bloggers, if you don’t see me commenting on your blogs, it’s not because I don’t love you, it’s because I’m up to my eyeballs in work related travel. I’ll still be making an effort to reply to comments on this blog, but things might be slow. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Link Love
