My Financial Independence Journey » Archive
Weekend Link Love: Pathogenic microorganisms edition
This weekend link love is brought to you by whichever pathogenic microorganism has been attempting to set up shop in my respiratory system this week. Nothing quite like coughing so hard that your abs start to hurt. I have a strict policy when it comes to harboring microorganisms. Pay rent or get out. No freeloaders. Now if I could just find a way to get my cats and plants to pay rent, I’d be set. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Link Love
A Primer on Margin Accounts
Recently, I got my brokerage account upgraded to a margin account. So I though that this would be a good time to talk about what margin accounts are, how they work, and some of the benefits and risks involved. I also wanted to discuss my thoughts on how to get the most out of a margin account. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
A Brief Primer on Options: Part 2 (Reading an options table, opening and closing options)
Previously, in part 1 of our options primer we discussed what options are and why you might want to use them. Now it’s time that we move onto part 2, where we’ll focus on how to read an options listing and how to go about selling cash-secured puts and covered calls. We’ll also cover how to escape from an option that you no longer want and remind you once again of the risks of dabbling … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
Lorillard (LO) Dividend Stock Analysis
Lorillard (LO) is the third largest US tobacco company and the largest marketer of menthol cigarettes. Lorillard does not cell cigarettes directly to consumers, but rather sells them to distributors who resell them. Lorillard has around 500 distributors who in turn service around 400,000 accounts. Lorillard’s cigarette brands include Newport, Kent, True, Maverick, and Old Gold. The Newport brand is the second biggest selling cigarette brand in the US, and the best selling menthol brand. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Stock Analysis
Blog Update: March 2013
With three months of blogging behind me, it’s time to review the blog’s progress. March was a pretty solid month for the blog. Overall, I people seem to be very satisfied with the new layout. 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: MFIJ blog
Weekend Link Love: People really love the duck edition
This weekend link love is brought to you by a duck. Each Monday I write up a dividend stock analysis. These get a couple of comments as they are a bit dry and not everyone who visits this site is into dividend growth investing (I’ll convert you all yet!). Last Monday I wrote about Aflac and a deluge of comments followed. I just about fell out of my chair wondering what happened. It appears that AFL is near universally loved. Who knew? It must be the duck mascot. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Link Love
Portfolio Status: April 2013
Continuing with my goal of financial transparency, I’m posting my portfolio as it is at the beginning of April of 2013. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investment portfolio
A Brief Primer on Options: Part 1 (What are options?)
I love options. I particularly love selling cash-secured put options. But the best place to start is the beginning. So for the purposes of this post, I’m going to walk us through the basics of options. What they are, how do they work, and why you might be interested in them. A word of caution before we begin. Options trading can become super complicated. The more complicated the trades, the more sophisticated you need to be … Read entire article »
Filed under: Investing
Aflac (AFL) Dividend Stock Analysis
Aflac (AFL) is an insurance company that sells voluntary supplementary insurance policies in the US and Japan. Sales in Japan account for approximately 77% of Aflac’s revenue, with the US pulling in the other 23%. In Japan, Aflac mainly sells a variety of health insurance (these cover areas not included in the national health insurance), life insurance, and annuity products. These products are sold at over 90% of the banks, and at over 1000 post … Read entire article »
Filed under: Stock Analysis
