JUNE 2020 GOAL UPDATE

Another month.  Now, lets add a national crisis that needs to be taken seriously on top of a pandemic.
2020 is a rough year.  Covid-19, racial conflicts, turning a blind eye to it for far too long and getting a overdue protest, riots, and looting. 

What's next?  An asteroid?  Ebola?  Zombie apocalypse?   2020 can't end soon enough.

At least work is picking up and my family is safe at home.Still going out and enjoying the bike rides and walks.  I love the new norm in that sense.

Took a day trip out to Twanoh State Park out on the Olympic Peninsula.  The beach consists of mainly oyster shells.  Millions and millions of oysters.  The place is dripping with crab, mussels, and starfish of all types.   Totally amazing.  It's a 70 mile drive around Puget Sound from my home.

As you can see, we socially distanced very easily and  the girl has an amazing new hair color job..

My wife and dog in the distance

Back in December, I posted some lofty goals for 2020.   Both financial and personal.

In the past I would claim some NewYears resolutions, but would just forget about them or feel it is too late to achieve after a month or so.  I would put them off and put them off and not have anyone or anything to keep me on track.

Posting them on this blog forces me to stay true to my word.

Here are my goals and the progress as of the end of April

FINANCIAL

GOAL	AMOUNT	SO FAR	REMAINING	%
$5,000 to Fidelity	$‎ 5,000.00	$‎ 2,000.00	$‎ 3,000.00	40.00%
Save $16K for bills	$‎ 16,000.00	$‎ 7,100.00	$‎ 8,900.00	44.38%
BBBY	$‎ 270.14	$‎ 280.32	$‎ (10.18)	103.77%
COST	$‎ 1,395.80	$‎ 1,522.07	$‎ (126.27)	109.05%
HD	$‎ 754.01	$‎ 712.08	$‎ 41.93	94.44%
SBUX	$‎ 172.63	$‎ 175.19	$‎ (2.56)	101.48%
T	$‎ 3,006.81	$‎ 3,021.30	$‎ (14.49)	100.48%
TGT	$‎ 4,085.92	$‎ 830.19	$‎ 3,255.73	20.32%
	$‎ 30,685.31	$‎ 15,641.15	$‎ 15,044.16	50.97%

Added to TGT this month and stashed more into my savings. It may take a hit this month though.  Have a much needed tree cut down coming up.

PERSONAL PROGRESS:

1. Take a spring road trip.  Yellowstone would be ideal.  NOPE.  AND CANCELLING A HAWAII TRIP IN AUGUST.  REPLACING IT WITH A TRIP TO CRATER LAKE AND THE REDWOOD FOREST IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, THEN HEADING UP THE OREGON COAST.  AHHHH.

2. Exercise more.   I was doing well until my right knee and left achilles acted up.  Fell out of routine.  TAKING SIMPLE BIKE RIDES AND GOING ON NICE WALKS WITH MY RAINBOW HAIRED KID.

ALKI

3. Drop about 20 lbs.   STILL DOWN ONLY 6.  I LOVE FOOD.  

4. Drink more green tea. HITTIN' IT

5. Sell off some of my record collection.   It was a long term goal to sell eventually.  Well, I have run out of room.  I think I would rather sell than keep some of the ones I rarely listen to.  TAKING A BREAK FROM THIS UNTIL THE MARKET PICKS UP

6. Improve piano skills and improve guitar skills. FELL INTO A RABBIT HOLE WITH MY LOGIC APP AND A KEYBOARD.  ALSO, GOT A BOUZOUKI TO START FIGURING OUT.  OPA!


7. Blog more. NO COMMENT...

8. Enjoy more oysters like these.  WE PICKED UP 2 DOZEN FAT BASTARDS AT HTHE TAYLOR SHELLFISH FARMS IN SHELTON ON OUR DAY TRIP.  LAST WEEKEND, WE PICKED UP 3 DOZEN PACIFICS TO BBQ AND SHUCK.  I AM ADDICTED TO OYSTERS


SEE YOU SOON!

FEBRUARY 2020 BUYS

Ahh, shopping.  All my life I have loved shopping.   Now that I am semi responsible, I now shop for stocks to buy.  It provides me a source of passive income and a sense of accomplishment knowing I am one day closer to being financially independent. 

February was a strange month.  We started with a major challenge finding stocks of value, to seeing the market tank from Coronavirus fears.   I also made a great looking bacon burger with cheese sauce..

Most all of my buying was in the earlier part of the month, so I did not have much to spend when the bargains were available.  Oh well. 

I spent $1,734 for the shares below.  The purchases added $51.20 to my annual dividend income.  That's a 2.9% return on average.  Along with dividend increases, I gained $171.06 in annual income. 

Here's what I got.....

Ticker	Date	QTY	Price	Total	DIV INC / Yr	YIELD
HD	02/05/20	3	$237.3615	$712.08	$16.32	2.31%
TGT	02/11/20	3	$115.7024	$347.11	$7.92	2.26%
BBBY	02/11/20	1	$14.7161	$14.72	$0.68	4.76%
IPG	02/24/20	4	$23.8969	$95.59	$4.08	4.18%
WU	02/24/20	4	$25.1750	$100.70	$3.60	3.49%
MCBC	02/24/20	10	$10.5400	$105.40	$3.20	2.99%
MS	02/24/20	2	$49.7760	$99.55	$2.80	2.67%
BOH	02/24/20	1	$87.0900	$87.09	$2.68	3.00%
DK	2/28/20	8	$21.5521	$172.42	$9.92	6.09%
TOTALS				$1,734.66	$51.20	2.95%

I mainly focused on making purchases in the companies I spent money at.  That's part of my goal I posted about earlier back in August.  Get back what I spent... I want to make my purchasing power go further...

That's why I got shares in AT&T, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Home Depot.  I will continue this as the year goes on, but will balance it out with other purchases. 

I did start some positions in companies that I have had an eye on for a while:    All grow dividends at a good clip and are undervalued at this time.

IPG (Interpublic Group) is a media is a worldwide advertising and marketing company.  Their dividend is over 4% and raided it by 16% over the past 5 years.  I needed more exposure in this sector.

WU (Western Union) is the well known payment services company.  Their dividend has been rising at a 12.47% clip over the past 5 years and have a 36% payout ratio.  Room to grow.

MCBC (Macatawa Bank Corp) is a 27 branch Michigan Bank that has been growing its dividend at a 31.95% clip over the past 5 years and its payout ratio is still in the low 30% range.  Lots of room to grow!

MS (Morgan Stanley) came on my radar after it took a huge dip when it purchased E-Trade this month.  It became a great bargain and has solid numbers.  Over the past 5 years, it has grown it's dividend 28.47%.  Wow.

BOH (Bank of Hawaii) is another one at a great value with a P/E of 13.  I love everything Hawaiian...

DK (Delek Holdings) is a small cap downstream energy company that pays a huge dividend.  They refine gasoline, has some pipelines, and run 279 convenience stores in Texas and New Mexico.  They sell gas as 7-11 and Alon brand names.  Their P/E was at a bit over 5 and I could not resist.

JAN 2020 GOAL UPDATE

Last month, I posted some lofty goals for my 2020.   Here's the link.  Financial and personal These stock purchases are the share buys to match my 2019 spending

This month FLEW by, but I did work on my goals, both personal, and financial.  And had some fun in the meantime.  Took the kid to the Seattle Aquarium and Great Wheel.

Here's the view of Downtown Seattle from the Great Wheel on January 18th.

Seattle Great Wheel looking East.

This is looking at Pike Place Market and the Belltown neighborhood. Seattle waterfront at 175'.

Seattle Waterfront from Great Wheel at 175 feet.

Back to the goals.
So far, so good...  kind of on pace to succeed.  Other than AAPL, which is the Herculean goal of my year..

Financial progress:

GOAL	AMIOUNT	SO FAR	REMAINING	%
$5,000 to Fidelity	$‎ 5,000.00	$‎ 600.00	$‎ 4,400.00	12.00%
Save $16K for bills	$‎ 16,000.00	$‎ 1,500.00	$‎ 14,500.00	9.38%
AAPL (+ iTunes)	$‎ 9,695.46	$‎ 0.00	$‎ 9,695.46	0.00%
BBBY	$‎ 270.14	$‎ 265.60	$‎ 4.54	98.32%
COST	$‎ 1,395.80	$‎ 0.00	$‎ 1,395.80	0.00%
HD	$‎ 754.01	$‎ 0.00	$‎ 754.01	0.00%
SBUX	$‎ 172.63	$‎ 175.19	$‎ (2.56)	101.48%
T	$‎ 3,006.81	$‎ 858.37	$‎ 2,148.44	28.55%
TGT	$‎ 4,085.92	$‎ 0.00	$‎ 4,085.92	0.00%
	$‎ 40,380.77	$‎ 3,199.16	$‎ 37,181.61	7.92%

I am PINK with satisfaction for fulfilling the Starbucks goal.

Personal progress:

1. Take a spring road trip.  Yellowstone would be ideal.  STILL PLANNING THIS.  NOT CONFIDENT THOUGH

2. Exercise more.   I was doing well until my right knee and left achilles acted up.  Fell out of routine.  LOL.  NEXT.

3. Drop about 20 lbs.  5 LB DOWN SO FAR

4. Drink more green tea. ACTUALLY AM DOING WELL.  LOTS OF WHITE TEA TOO

5. Sell off some of my record collection.   It was a long term goal to sell eventually.  Well, I have run out of room.  I think I would rather sell than keep some of the ones I rarely listen to.  GOT A FEW SOLD.  WILL POST ABOUT THE SIDE HUSTLE MID MONTH

6. Improve piano skills and improve guitar skills. LOL.  NEXT.

7. Blog more. FAIL.  5 IS NOT ENOUGH.  MUST POST MORE ABOUT MUSIC SINCE THAT IS LOTS OF MY FREE TIME

8. Enjoy more oysters like these.  YES!  HAD THEM TWICE IN JANUARY!

Difference between try and triumph is 

a little umph

How cheesy is that!