OCTOBER 2020 BUYS

I've been looking forward to writing this piece for the whole month.

My purchasing activity for October 2020 has been unforgettable.  

Why?

Well, this was the month I decided to divorce myself from Best Buy (BBY).  You can read all about that here: SOLD SHARES FOR ETHICAL REASONS.   

Long story short, they ripped me off selling me a broken TV and refusing to return it.   So I cashed out.  I refuse to be a part of a company that shows this kind of blatant disregard for its customer.

The resulting activity was huge increase in my annual dividend payout.  So much so, I closed out of another company (QCOM) that was not paying a fat dividend, took the profits and purchased shares that have a higher return. QCOM had performed well, but was only growing their dividend by 6% over 5 years.  That is not keeping up with inflation.

The final tally was that I invested a total of $662.60 new dollars and will earn an additional  $448.46 in dividends per year.  That's a 73.7% return!

How?  

My equity gain was over 100% for both BBY and QCOM.  BBY was only earning me 1.89% on the investment.  QCOM was earning only 2%.  Selling them cost me $374.60 per year in dividends.

With the finds from the sales and the additional $662.00 I put in, my new purchases will earn me $863.06, a 4.37% rate.   More than doubled my dividend income.

Take a look at the details....

You may have noticed that I sold some shares of HBAN.  That was a mistake.  I was intending to buy a bunch, and hit "sell" like the dumbass I am.  (made up for that later)

The only one I started a new position in was Orrstown Financial Services (ORRF).  Learned of them from a purchase by Lanny over at the dividend Diplomats.  Dividend Stock Purchase: Lanny’s September 2020 Summary

 Loved the look of this company, and decided to dip my toes in.

The other major purchases was a good sized chunk of Citibank (C), the Vanguard Exchange Traded Fund VYM, and of Macatawa Bank (MCBC), which I was longing to get more of with their low P/E at this time and a 4% yield.

What do you think?  Was it smart of me to cash out of QCOM and go shopping for higher dividends?  I feel good about it.