Wednesday, November 27, 2019

BEING REALISTIC ABOUT BUDGETING

For the past 9 years I have been using Mint to follow my accounts, track spending and budgeting.  Gathered tons of great info and discovered some patterns.

I would budget to pt some sense of balance into my life and save up a bit for my investment activities.   I based by budget amounts on annual averages.

One thing I have always noticed is some of the categories always blew up in my face.  One is the "kids" category.  That's all of the stuff I get for my daughter...clothing....books...toys...after school activities...field trips...gymnastics....stuff like that.

I keep trying to control the costs.  But every single month I exceeded my budget. 

Fact of the matter is, costs go up.

Not just inflation, but also increased costs as she grows up.  She's 9 now and surely has more (and more expensive) activities than she had at age 3.

For example, her gymnastics class averages to $25 per session.  And then there's the uniform.   That's an extra $100.

She loves gymnastics.  She's good at it too.  I would never deny her this opportunity for accomplishment and happiness.

Same goes with books and her flute class (got to rent the flute..)   And her Halloween costume that she has had her mind on for months.  She saved her allowance for most of it, but I did the good dad thing and upgraded it so she could feel real proud about her costume.

Here she is as Audrey from The Descendants.....

Audrey and some blogger escorting her for Trick or Treating.

Another category is groceries.  Especially during the holidays and with the goal of healthy eating.  After spending my coll


ege years

It makes no sense to sacrifice health by avoiding the more expensive groceries - fresh veggies, fish, lean meats, and fruit.  Longevity means I get to have time with my dividend results.

Living on pizza slices, fast food burgers,  and Ramen cups would only result being unhealthy once I made my FI/RE goals.  That's idiotic.


23" pizza.  Courtesy of Italian Family Pizza in Seattle.  Real real good.

I mean look at this pizza.  It was so large, I had to move the passenger seat all the way up to fit in the  flat back seat.  $30 and it lasted days.   But it was not healthy eating.   My weight ballooned.

It was idiotic.   So  is eating wild salmon and lobster every day....  But there is a balance.


I do my best at being cost effective, but healthy eating for 3 in Seattle is about $150 per week.   Seattle has the highest grocery costs in the US (including Honolulu!!! - really).
Roasted thighs are a winner at home

Thighs are semi affordable in this town.

Things like this will extend your life, but it's not free..

This salad is mega healthy and is priced that way.   In the summer I grow my own tomatoes, onions, dill, and fennell.  But it only saves my $ for the summer months.

I budgeted $400 per month, but always blew up the budget.  I had to be honest with myself and realized that I was near $600 per month.

Once I did, I often came in at around $560 to $625 per month.

Huge sense of relief AND allowed me to work on lowering costs in other categories.  Areas like "online subscriptions" and "streaming TV" costs. 

I cut those costs and have not missed a thing.


The thought of working on cutting costs is just not realistic in some categories.

sometimes you have to be honest and budget much more than you originally imagine.

I can still try to spend less, but understanding the reality of certain costs means I know I will spend that money in that category and not elsewhere.

The end result is a victory!

It's a huge weight off my chest no longer stressing to make it under budget for the month.  Instead of trying and always failing at meeting that budget, succeed in hitting it on target and work on other areas of the budget that I can actually impact.

It's jut about being honest and prioritizing the important things in life. 

Once you face reality about certain costs, proper budgeting and saving in areas where you can actually succeed will bring a sense of satisfaction you will appreciate

Cheers!


Sunday, November 24, 2019

DECEMBER STOCK WATCH LIST


The stock market is a fluid thing.  What seems like a great value one moment can seem overpriced the next. 

Been doing some research on my watch list.  Looked around quite a bit at many of the other dividend growth bloggers and took in their info and excuses as to why "Company ABC is the one to buy at this time!!"

In fact, many of my purchases over the past 5 years has been a result of seeing a pattern of recommendations by these bloggers and narrowing it down to one or two. 

I do have a watch list that lists companies that pass my screening threshold.  You could call that my "master list" from which I pick the ones that I eventually buy from.  The list does fluctuate, but I tend to follow it for a couple months at a time before re-screening.

From that current list, I revisit my screener and see what stands out.  Here's what I want to see:
- P/E under 20
- PEG ratio under 2
- Dividend growth of over 10% over the past 5 years
- A dividend yield over 2%

Here's the three that I seem to like for the upcoming month...

Please note that these are


ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES  (RCL)


Coming in at $119.13 this weekend, that's a nice fall off from this year's high close of $130.89.

It's rice to earnings ratio is at 12.99, which is well below my 19 limit.  Even nicer is that is is well below the industry P/E average of 25.90.

Their EPS growth is at 31.95% with a projection of another 11% in the coming year.  Combine that with a PEG ratio at 1.27, their growth is not overpriced.

The dividend yield is currently at 2.62% and has been growing at a 21.06% clip over the past 5 years.  Not too shabby! Add to that a payout ratio of only 34%, there still is quite a bit of room to grow in this area.  They should have their next Ex-Dividend sometime in mid December.

This stock seems like a good bet at this time.

AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL (AMP)

AMP is riding high right now, but what solid company isn't?  Currently they are trading at $159.77, pretty much their high water mark of the year, but well off the $182 they hit back in January of 2018.

A P/E ratio of 11.14.  Their industry average is 17.37.  Also I like their PEG ratio at an even 1, which they are failry valued at this point.

Their dividend pays at a 2.43% clip.  A payout ratio of only 27.4% and a growth rate of 10.83 over the past 5 years.  Unfortunately I also missed out on their Ex-Dividend of 11/1.


PENSKE AUTOMOTIVE GROUP  (PAG)

Even though PAG is close ($51.09) to its 52 week high of $52.51, I still feel they are a good value.  Their P/E ratio is at a 9.78, well under their industry average of 23.95.

Their dividend pays at a 3.21% clip and has grown 14.32% over the past 5 years.

What makes them interesting is that they have been raising their dividend by .01 per share EVERY QUARTER for over 8 years! It's easy to know what to expect, especially when their payout ratio is still at 31.72%. I just missed their Ex-Div date of 11/7, but I do want to give them a shot, even though their earnings have not been as expected over the past year.

I like them, but they do come in 3st....



 Others that I have been eyeballing are Lockheed Martin (LMT), Principal Financial Group (PFG), and Netapp Inc (NTAP).    In fact NTAP may supplant Penske within this month since their dividend growth and value is impressive.

Thoughts?

Friday, November 22, 2019

PORTFOLIO UPDATE


As of 11/22/19.

Just touching $400K.  Been making quite a few purchases recently.  shaded yields are the ones 4% and over.   Like to get those if they are a good value and have been raising their dividend.


I'm still working on the formatting of this soon so you can see it all....
The green  shaded yields are the ones at 4% and over for dividend yield. 
The blue shaded boxes are a distant remnant of when this spreadsheet was striped...pardon..



Ticker
Shares
Current Price
Cost Basis
Current Value
Current Yield
Equity Gain
Total Return %
AAPL40$262.010$6,761.60$10,480.401.18%55.00%143.43%
ABBV40$86.520$4,032.98$3,460.805.46%-14.19%-8.68%
ADM85$42.820$4,035.54$3,639.703.27%-9.81%-6.64%
AES233$18.500$3,991.11$4,310.502.95%8.00%9.60%
AFL88$53.870$4,009.94$4,740.562.00%18.22%21.11%
AMGN18$227.820$3,348.73$4,100.762.55%22.46%25.71%
AMNF1597$3.480$4,032.09$5,557.562.86%37.83%45.33%
APD9$237.640$1,528.29$2,138.761.95%39.94%44.59%
APLE409$15.810$7,381.40$6,466.297.59%-12.40%-1.31%
AVA93$46.650$3,973.83$4,338.453.32%9.18%15.41%
AWR30$84.970$1,165.30$2,549.101.44%118.75%140.08%
BA25$366.440$3,903.09$9,161.002.24%134.71%147.90%
BAC134$32.840$4,022.97$4,400.562.19%9.39%10.70%
BBBY241$12.500$3,980.99$3,012.505.31%-24.33%-20.26%
BBL87$43.400$4,005.33$3,775.807.19%-5.73%0.05%
BBY69$72.210$2,388.73$4,982.492.77%108.58%126.20%
BNS63$57.290$3,963.01$3,609.274.81%-8.93%22.27%
C11$73.900$815.11$812.902.76%-0.27%0.04%
CAT37$143.360$3,888.86$5,304.322.87%36.40%44.50%
CB14$149.970$1,618.37$2,099.582.00%29.73%39.56%
CBRL24$155.600$3,906.47$3,734.403.34%-4.40%5.92%
CL22$66.750$1,563.98$1,468.502.58%-6.10%-0.24%
CLDT195$17.790$4,025.34$3,469.057.42%-13.82%-7.04%
CLX20$145.020$1,789.15$2,900.402.92%62.11%82.99%
CM44$86.590$4,025.70$3,809.965.09%-5.36%-1.78%
CMI30$180.820$3,848.37$5,424.602.90%40.96%48.69%
CNP127$24.540$3,732.58$3,116.584.70%-16.50%-13.19%
COST8$300.270$1,704.15$2,402.160.87%40.96%42.68%
CSCO77$44.840$3,988.86$3,452.683.12%-13.44%-12.53%
CVS64$74.940$4,000.75$4,796.162.67%19.88%23.08%
CVX38$118.770$4,064.93$4,513.264.01%11.03%21.24%
CZNC151$26.410$3,990.60$3,987.914.09%-0.07%3.00%
DAL68$55.310$3,962.81$3,761.082.91%-5.09%-4.40%
DFS55$82.920$4,020.77$4,560.602.12%13.43%15.87%
EAT76$43.490$3,162.97$3,305.243.50%4.50%7.23%
EMR34$73.560$1,588.86$2,501.042.72%57.41%73.93%
FLO190$21.540$3,993.95$4,092.603.53%2.47%7.95%
GM112$35.280$3,977.46$3,951.364.38%-0.66%6.11%
HD12$218.540$1,609.19$2,622.482.49%62.97%73.28%
HE150$43.750$3,989.57$6,562.502.93%64.49%95.69%
HRL45$42.720$1,798.45$1,922.401.97%6.89%9.46%
IBM28$133.840$3,945.54$3,747.524.84%-5.02%5.76%
IEX10$162.010$1,533.12$1,620.101.24%5.67%6.89%
INTC85$58.220$4,047.72$4,948.702.16%22.26%24.49%
JNJ35$136.440$4,017.76$4,775.402.79%18.86%27.35%
KMB37$133.360$4,039.88$4,934.323.09%22.14%26.70%
KO93$52.960$4,044.88$4,925.283.02%21.77%32.47%
LVS65$60.350$3,960.12$3,922.755.10%-0.94%17.31%
MAIN100$42.000$3,909.24$4,200.005.86%7.44%15.73%
MCD30$192.350$3,936.90$5,770.502.58%46.57%67.06%
MMM22$165.140$4,140.07$3,633.083.49%-12.25%-6.14%
MRK49$85.460$3,961.08$4,187.542.86%5.72%7.76%
MSFT34$149.480$3,987.28$5,082.321.36%27.46%28.67%
NKE46$92.160$3,937.72$4,239.361.06%7.66%8.17%
NNN78$55.600$3,800.60$4,336.803.71%14.11%18.83%
NWE61$70.860$3,948.14$4,322.463.32%9.48%12.98%
O67$76.500$3,997.77$5,125.503.56%28.21%36.95%
OHI150$41.000$4,999.33$6,150.006.54%23.02%97.33%
OMC52$77.950$3,961.24$4,053.403.34%2.33%5.06%
ORCL77$56.230$3,989.39$4,329.711.70%8.53%9.92%
ORI211$22.350$4,003.75$4,715.853.52%17.79%35.19%
PAYX65$84.960$3,972.32$5,522.402.92%39.02%47.10%
PEB40$24.960$1,531.35$998.405.95%-34.80%-29.84%
PEP50$133.910$4,412.60$6,695.502.85%51.74%71.32%
PFE55$37.740$1,729.45$2,075.703.82%20.02%50.37%
PG45$120.340$3,959.58$5,415.302.48%36.76%44.17%
PPL128$33.670$3,983.19$4,309.764.90%8.20%12.18%
PSX18$118.370$2,003.14$2,130.663.04%6.37%9.42%
QCOM73$85.110$4,021.78$6,213.032.74%54.48%61.62%
RTN21$215.810$4,121.85$4,532.011.75%9.95%11.31%
SBSI115$34.830$4,015.36$4,005.453.56%-0.25%4.64%
SBUX64$82.300$4,059.07$5,267.201.95%29.76%33.57%
SKT102$15.160$2,144.49$1,546.329.37%-27.89%-24.12%
SO82$62.680$4,042.95$5,139.763.96%27.13%31.50%
STOR136$40.250$3,986.50$5,474.003.46%37.31%43.01%
SYY63$79.220$3,993.87$4,990.862.27%24.96%29.03%
T200$37.600$6,319.56$7,520.005.43%19.00%196.89%
TD80$58.140$4,053.25$4,651.203.87%14.75%35.04%
TGT53$127.650$4,082.92$6,765.452.07%65.70%76.51%
TROW47$120.030$3,979.40$5,641.412.53%41.77%48.64%
TRV15$134.690$1,510.49$2,020.352.44%33.75%45.58%
TSN27$88.530$1,616.25$2,390.311.90%47.89%50.40%
TWO354$14.330$5,286.29$5,072.8211.17%-4.04%7.92%
UL55$58.190$2,429.50$3,200.453.10%31.73%47.11%
UPS37$119.520$4,021.61$4,422.243.21%9.96%12.21%
VTR66$57.490$3,997.55$3,794.345.51%-5.08%-0.80%
VZ87$59.610$4,623.87$5,186.074.13%12.16%68.86%
WHF1209$14.250$17,085.13$17,228.259.96%0.84%47.33%
WMT20$119.860$1,542.17$2,397.201.77%55.44%107.36%
WRK112$38.320$3,993.58$4,291.844.85%7.47%8.74%
WSM71$68.750$3,965.79$4,881.252.79%23.08%24.91%



Market Value$398,096.383.63%17.01%51.88%



Cash$54.59






Total$398,150.97P/L





Cash Available to Trade$54.59






COST BASIS$340,238.57