SEATTLE'S ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT FINALLY GONE

Finally.   After nearly 2 decades of arguing what to do, voting on it, watching the drama with boring the replacement tunnel, it's finally gone.   The last piece of the 60 year old double-decker freeway was finally demolished over the past weekend.

The last section on 9/21/19

For 60 years, the Seattle waterfront was blocked from the rest of the downtown neighborhood with this crumbling, noise and view polluting relic of a bygone era.  Look.

Eyesore viaduct.

1951.  Right before the viaduct was built.  Look at the space.

More than a handful of fuddy duddies spent the past 5 years predicting some type of apocalyptic carmageddon once it was closed.  I heard that downtown will be totally gridlocked, I-5 will be gridlocked even more than before, and the new tunnel will be a death trap and flood in an earthquake.  Nope.  Traffic in downtown is no worse. I-5 is about the same. And to boot,  travel time on the new 99 tunnel  to north Seattle is just a fraction of what it took on the late viaduct.

I will admit it did have a great view of the Puget Sound and Olympic range when stuck in the nightmare commute....  I will never forget the smell of the fish and chips wafting up when going by the waterfront.

I hated this drive.

And now we have a brand new tunnel.  Yes there will be tolls.  But at least you don't have to fear the viaduct pancaking in a quake. 

And the waterfront is WIDE OPEN.  No more shadows and the constant drone of cars going by over your head. It's surely going to evolve into one of the premiere spots in town for both locals and tourists.

For memories, my kid filmed the last trip on the viaduct on the last morning it was open.
Enjoy.

PSYCHIC TV - GODSTAR DOUBLE SINGLE

One of the more interesting releases of the early 80's is this single by Psychic TV in 1984.  Psychic TV was formed in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge when the extreme performance art group Throbbing Gristle split up.

Psychic TV is a tough band to pin down.  They have morphed over the years from industrial noise to psychedelic to nightmarish techno to acid house.  Basically all following Genesis P-Orridge's (now Genesis Breyer P-Orridge) tastes throughout the years.

This one, from the psychedelic era, is an ode to Brian Jones, the late Rolling Stone guitarist.  It has a guitar riff quite similar to Brown Sugar (even though that was 2 years after Brian had passed).

Found this at a garage sale this summer.  This is the limited edition 2x7" with a gatefold sleeve.  The B-sides are a Godstar remix, "Discopravity" and "Yes It's The B Side", the latter two being more experimental and ethereal.

Here's a YouTube clip of the music video.




A real catchy tune.  Psychic TV did not keep this style, as they went off the industrial house seriously crazy sounding performance art.

Beginning in 2003, Genesis and his partner Lady Jane Breyer began the "Pandorgeny Project" in 2003, where they began to perform surgical alterations to both of their bodies in order to become a single pandrogenous being named "Breyer P-Orrige".  they received breast implants, cheek and chin implants, eye and nose jobs, and hormone therapy until Lady Jane passed away with stomach cancer in 2007.

The changes have continued so Genesis looks like this...

Enjoy

DUMPING ANH AFTER DIV CUT

It was just a matter of time.  In the back of my head, I knew I was going to have to dump Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp (ANH).  

I had purchased this Mortgage REIT back in June of 2014 when I was first starting to divsersify into dividend earning stock.  I had stars in my eyes...

ANH is one of the REITs that manages a leveraged portfolio of residential mortgage-back securities and loans.  I should have stopped there..  but no.

The over 10% dividend rate was too tempting to avoid when you are a rookie and look to grow the portfolio.  It was earning $0.15 per share and it was an easy $150 dollars every three months.

Things were ok until their growth stopped and began shrinking in 2017.  In Q2 of 2018 they cut the dividend from 15 cents to 14.  I did not sell.  I still made over $140.   Then in Q4 of 2018, they dropped to 13 cents.  Then 11 cents in Q2 of this year.  Now they announced a 10 cent dividend, a 9.1% cut.

This dividend cut resulted in a $45.48 cut in my annual dividend.  NOT ACCEPTABLE.  With the dividend increases this month from Verizon and Microsoft and others, I am still down $23.55.  

NOT ACCEPTABLE.   

The dividend cut is making us unhappy

This is a family site or I would spew out profanity like a drunken sailor... I am f'ing doing it in my mind..

Enough.  I learned my lesson.  These high yielding REITs will eventually bring grief the moment the economy begins hitting road bumps.   

I knew that this was not a dividend grower. But I ceded to my financial hedonism.   I bought this, NLY, and AGNC.    Both NLY and AGNC cut their dividend over the past year and I cut my position of each by around 75%.   I am so pissed.

Now with this cut, I am out.   And since AGNC and NLY are never going to grow and most likely will cut their dividend, I am seriously considering selling all three and purchasing some shares that offer a more modest rate, but will grow.  If I cut all three out of my life, I will be down $1,238 annually in dividends.  Dividends that will never grow. And growth is the name of the game.

The growth stocks will have a lower rate, but at least I will be increasing the annual amount without these hits.   I got some thinking to do

What's your take?

Any recommendations on buying at this moment?

CALCULATING COST PER HOUR

While browsing through my regular group of bloggers, I came across a piece at the great  Dividend Diplomats  that totally blew my mind.  

Dividend Diplomats have some of the most thorough articles when it comes to dividend growth investing and I could not recommend them more if you are looking to get into this ultimate side hustle.

So by calculating your costs or any income you are earning by dividing that amount by the total hours in a year (8,760), you can see how much you are spending or earning per hour.

Please check out the link below

The Living Cost Per Hour Calculation – Fun Game to Financial Freedom

 What a fun game!

This blew my mind.........

This blew my mind when it comes to dividend income.  My annual dividend income is at $15,829.30 at this moment.   Divide that by 8760, and....

I am earning $1.81 per hour - JUST FOR BEING ALIVE.  Mind blown...

To temper the adolescent excitement I felt, I calculated some more of my earnings and spending to see where I am at in the goal of reaching financial independence.  

DIVIDENDS               $15,829.30 = $1.81/hr

NET INCOME            $67,683.23 = $7.73/hr

TOTAL SPENDING   $75,097.66 = $8.57/hr

My dividends are paying for 21.08% of my spending.   

Good thing is my regular bills (phone, electric, water, tv, internet,  car insurance, home insurance, car tabs) add up to $15,399.48 per year, just $1.76 / hr.    

My dividends cover that!!!  Boo-ya.

The rest of the spending is for food and travel, and kid stuff.   This year I did incur some costly one time charges for car repair and care of my mother, so I think I can lower the $75K in spending in the coming year by a solid $10K.

What makes this a great is that with each stock purchase and dividend increase, I can see the 21% ratio increase.  Of course my goal is passing 100%.   But to get to where I am in 5 years is not too shabby.  I do not expect it to take another 20 years to reach that goal since I got the snowball rolling.

So where are you at?

CHICKENWIZARD - MY MUSICAL ALTER-EGO. IS IT A SIDE HUSTLE?

The term "side hustle" is the NEW catch all praise for any sort of activity that generates a second source of income.  It can be any type of thing like:

• Selling your schtuff on eBay 

• driving for Uber or Lyft
• delivering pizza
• Airbnb the unused room you fill with shit.
• making soap
• making candles
• a part time job at a fast food place
• mystery shopping
• crossing guard
• babysitting
• selling your hair (I can never do this...)

And others I better not even mention.... for I may offend drug dealing online adult chat performers...  ..Oops...

Do you have one?  what is it?

I'm not sure if you can call what I do a side hustle.  It's more of a hobby.

It's super easy to find me.

Just look up Chickenwizard.. duh.  What else would it be?  

I make music and have 3 albums out there on iTunes and Spotify.

My second album "She Loves Chickenwizard"

I love using pictures of me in distress

 A single from that album "I Am Wendy"

 My latest release: The (Mis)Adventures of Uncle Zodiac.

If you would like to ditch your frugal FIRE lifestyle for a moment, feel free to pad my side hustle...:)


iTunes link to Chickenwizard

I'm not a virtuoso..

This "side hustle" has cost me about $500 so far.  It costs about $100 to distribute an album on CD Baby.  I may have produced one while on sale ($49.95). Maybe    The software was $200 I believe.  

And there is the lifelong collection of guitars and  early 80's keyboards.  But that was all pre-FIRE times.  But I would never ever sell my guitars.   As a lefty, you just hang onto them since you may never see it again.  So that is in the thousands.  Let's just not go there.

As a fun thing to do, I have created over 150 songs of various styles.  Most suck.  But it's fun to make.

Someday my daughter will be able to look me up

So my "side hustle" has earned me a whopping $41.

Most of those earnings came from YouTube licencing.  Someone used one of my tracks as their vlog background music and generated tens of thousands of plays.

So is this a side hustle?    If one of my songs hits and gets a million plays it would be.  But is it now?

THE KNICKERBOCKERS. A BEATLES-SOUND-ALIKE

One of the more legendary one hit wonder garage bands of the 60's were The Knickerbockers.  Their clame to fame was being a Beatles-sound-alike.  At least for one song..

"Lies" was often mistaken as a Beatles song and there is no song I know of in this era that sounds so close to John Lennon.

Found this "Lies" LP at an antique mall in Eastern Washington a few years ago in a $5 bin.  Nice score..

Here's a clip of "Lies"

I bet  John Lennon thought they were wankers..    I'm not so sure about holding the sax and playing air guitar on it either..

They made it up to #20 in 1965 with "Lies".  It's a somewhat ironic title being it sounded so much like The Beatles with John Lennon on lead vocals.   Part of their demise was that their label, Challenge Records, was unable to distribute their follow up single.  That really puts a break on success.

The Lies album was released on the coat-tails of their hit single.  This was  to be the last album recorded before their disbanding in 1970.  BTW, nothing else on the album has the Beatles sound alike quality.

A STARTING GUIDE TO DIVIDEND GROWTH INVESTING

Are you one who is looking to begin investing in dividend growth stock?   Buying pieces of companies that have a long track record of raising their dividend, this increasing your return rate moving forward.

Yes, do some thinking..

Starting up a dividend growth investment portfolio can be a daunting task.
Where do I start?
Where do I do reasearch?
What broker do I use?
What do I do with market fluctuations?

OMG I AM SO SCARED.....
Calm down Becky...

Let me try to help you through this bit by bit.  It's not nearly as scary as it seems. 

Once you get the ball rolling, it becomes a real fun side hustle.  And with some determination, it can go from a side hustle to a main source if income.  That main source of income can result in financial independence and and escape from the 9 to 5 life. 

THE FOLLOWING  IS IN NO WAY AN OFFICIAL ADVOCACY OF ANYTHING OR ANY COMPANY.   THIS IS ONLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES.  YOUR INVESTING IS YOUR DEAL, YOUR GAINS, AND YOUR LOSSES.  OK?  ..OK!  

So what do I do first?

• Open a brokerage account.  You may already have one for a 401K.  Feel free to use that.   Here are some thing to consider when picking a brokerage:
• Fees.  Does the broker charge per trade? How much?  Is it worth the services provided?   Some online brokers are free of charge, like Robinhood.  Others have a fee per purchase or sale, such as TD Ameritrade, Merrill, and E-Trade at $6.95 per transaction and Fidelity and Charles Schwab at $4.95.   A downside to Robinhood is they provide no research.

• Where do I research?:  
• You'd be benefited by having a broker that provides easy to read data that can be understood by a beginner.  I am heavily into looking at the data: dividend history, financials, expert recommendations, etc.    I first began with E-Trade and found it a bit clunky.  Then my employer had aN employee ownership program through Fidelity.  I found the research super easy to understand.  I then cashed out my shares at E-Trade and exclusively use Fidelity ever since.  I do have a Robnhood account, but am not a fan of having zero research.   
• I also like some online sites that analyze stocks, like FAST Graphs or Y Charts.  Many of them do charge a membership fee.   I used to be a member of a few of them, but found my brokerage my preferred  research center and cancelled all my memberships.
• A great free website I do reccomend is "The DRiP Investing Resource Center".   You can see a myriad of Excel that list out companies that are "Dividend Champions" (companies that have increased the dividend for 25+ years.)  These spreadsheets are highly detailed ad offer much more info than I could ever know.  But at least it is a starting point to find a list of companies.

• Make a list of companies.
• Do some screening of what you are looking for.  Here's are the things I seek out when looking for a company to invest in
1. Rate of dividend increases.  Look at the 5 year rate of increase. Look for a payout increase that beats the rate of inflation.  If it is quite low, then they are not really a dividend growth company....
2. Payout ratio:   How much of their net income goes to the dividend.  This is a big marker for dividend sustainability.  Look for companies that are under 60% or so.  If they are up near 100%, they may cut the dividend.
3. P/E ratio:  What is their value?  The lower the P/E ratio, the better rate the dividend will be.  It is the ratio of a company stock price to the company earnings per share. Each industry is different.  If the P/E ratio is high, the company may be overvalued.  You could see the price drop (and see the dividend rate go up as the price drops..)  It's a way of looking for value.  I look for those with a P/E under 20 (or once that is at the very least lower than the industry average.

• Got a list of companies.  Now What?
• Take the list you have and see which company is a bargain at this point.  Try to steer clear of ones that have just hit an all time high.  Prices ebb and flow, and with some time you will see which ones are undervalued.  At this point, you may want to see which ones the experts recommend at that perticular time.

• Bought shares.  Now what?
• HANG ONTO THEM.  This is why you are doing this....Dividend growth investing is a long term deal.  It's buy and hold.  The few times I sold shares are when the company cut the dividend dramatically and was no longer worth owning. 
• Buy more shares of more companies.  Do not put all your eggs in one basket.  when I first began, I spent all my money on one company, AT&T.  Big dividend, what could go wrong?   Well, when the price drops, it makes a huge impact. Not on the dividend, but the portfolio value.  I soon learned to spread out and diversify.  The more companies, you own, the larger the moat you have around you, and the more cushioned you are from a company going tits up.  For example, if you own 25 different companies and one fails, you only lost out on 1/25th of your portfolio.   I am up to 92 companies.   At this point, I do not care how high or low a company goes (a long as it keeps the dividend).  
• Collect Dividends.   Collect enough to buy more from your watch list or your portfolio. the more you save at one time, the less impact any fees have to your cost basis.  

If I were to start all over doing this thing, these are the 10 companies I would start with.  Once again, this is not a professional endorsement.  This is merely what I would do.   I do have positions in these companies.

1. AT&T  (T) - you can't beat a 5.77% dividend.  Their growth does not beat inflation, but the rate is so damn big...
2. Proctor & Gamble (PG) - another company not going anywhere..
3. Realty Income (O) - they pay a monthly dividend.
4. Aflac (AFL) - 37 consecutive years of increasing the dividend.
5. McDonald's (MCD) - 43 years of increasing dividends!
6. Coca Cola (KO) - 57 consecutive years with increased dividends
7. Boeing (BA) - solid company not going anywhere
8. Microsoft (MSFT) - also not going anywhere.
9. Apple (AAPL) - They are overdue for a massive dividend increase.  (My hunch)
10. Disney (DIS) - How can you turn down Star Wars?!

After that, I would look into energy companies and financials (like Bank of America).

Remember, time is your friend.  The longer you have, the more it will increase.  Just be patient and become a share hoarder.  

It may start quite small, but as they increase, you will see it begin to snowball.  I went from $28K to having over $375K in 5 years.  Yes, it took some regular cash contributions, but the little snowball has gotten quite huge.

Any comments or questions?

AUGUST 2019 DIVIDEND INCREASES AND BUYS

August was a great month for dividend increases for my portfolio.     Only 4 increases, but a couple were over 10%.

American States Water (AWR) increased their dividend from $0.28 to $0.31, a 10.9% increase.  The annual dividend went from $27.50 to $30.50, a $3.00 increase.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) increased their dividend from C$0.87 to C$0.90, a 3.5% increase.  The annual dividend went from $219.24 to $226.80.  A $7.56  increase.

Canadian Imperial Bank (CM) raised their dividend 3% from C$1.40 to C$1.44.   This increased my annual dividend from $246.40 to $253.44.  That's a $7.04 increase.

Cummins Inc (CMI) raised their dividend a nice 15% from $1.14 to $1.31.   This increased my dividend from $136.80 to $157.32.  A sweet $20.52 annual increase.

In total, I gained $38.12 in my annual dividend just by merely holding on to the shares in these companies.  So I celebrated by eating at the Rainbow Drive in in Honolulu.   Here's a rainbow over The Rainbow...

The legendary Rainbow Drive-In in Waikiki.

Next month I expect a nice handful of increases from the likes of McDonald's, Microsoft, Verizon, and hopefully more.

In the world of buys, I only made one purchase.  I picked up 3 shares of Raytheon (RTN) at $182.94 for a total of $548.82.   This increased my annual dividend by $2.82.

I am sitting on most of my dividends from this past month and am heading into by biggest moth of each quarter in terms of divided payments.  I plan on going shopping and will update you with them as I make the purchases.

AUGUST 2019 DIVIDENDS

I reached a milestone this month.  My August dividends broke the $1,000 threshold.   

This being the low month of each quarter, I had been focusing on increasing this month's divided income to sort of balance it out with the other two months.   The purchases I made over the past 3 months really made a difference.  Last year, I was at $955.00, for a 5% growth.

8/1/2019	RTN	$9.43
8/1/2019	T	$102.00
8/1/2019	VZ	$46.39
8/2/2019	CBRL	$72.00
8/2/2019	CVS	$32.00
8/5/2019	CBRL	$31.20
8/9/2019	AGNC	$32.00
8/9/2019	CZNC	$40.77
8/12/2019	APD	$10.44
8/15/2019	AES	$31.80
8/15/2019	ABBV	$42.80
8/15/2019	AAPL	$30.80
8/15/2019	APLE	$40.90
8/15/2019	CL	$9.46
8/15/2019	HRL	$9.45
8/15/2019	MAIN	$20.50
8/15/2019	NNN	$40.17
8/15/2019	OHI	$99.00
8/15/2019	PG	$33.57
8/15/2019	O	$15.18
8/15/2019	SKT	$23.08
8/16/2019	CLX	$21.20
8/20/2019	CAT	$38.11
8/20/2019	WRK	$50.96
8/22/2019	PAYX	$40.30
8/23/2019	SBUX	$23.04
8/30/2019	WSM	$34.08
8/30/2019	CLDT	$21.45	$1002.08

VACATION RESET & HOW TO AFFORD IT

Been taking a break from blog entries as the family has been on a 10 day vacation in Hawaii.   Fun times indeed and a much needed break from the regular daily pattern of everything.

Part of being financially responsible is not getting into debt for vacation.  I had spent a year saving around $20 per day to not only buy the ticket, but also have cash for all 10 days there.  With room to spare.  The leftover will go back into the next vacation.   With all the points I earned on my Marriott Bonvoy Visa, a 4 day stay at Disneyland will be free other than the flight.  Hmm..!

Does this jive with the FIRE lifestyle?  Not really.  But when you count in fun and great memories, and the sheer joy my kid is having, it is more than worth it.  Life is more than being a cheapskate and saving up to retire early.  It's about enjoying life and not going broke doing sp.

I am a bit concerned about my tomato plants.  This was one of the best years in many and everything was just ripening.   They are being watered by grandma, but as I spied on it with my Ring camera, they are not getting the proper soaking they need in the hot weather.  Oh well.  Things wilt..

SIMPLE AND COMFORTING SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS RECIPE

We found some tasty looking sausages at the store. We sampled an Isernio's Parsley and Pecorino Chicken Sausage. Good enough to forget dinner plans, get 6 of them to roast with some peppers. And they're chicken so they only have 110 calories a sausage to boot.

Normally, I would slap 'em on the grill, blast them a for a bit and eat them with a bun. But I didn't want to stand out in the sun and I have no buns or patience and keep an eye on something that easily splits and dries up. But we have a few bell peppers. Perfect! I'll roast them up like I had in an Italian restaurant.

6 Italian Sausages
3 bell peppers cut into 1 inch strips
1 sweet onion thinly sliced
garlic clove or two
olive oil
oregano
salt and pepper
splash of white wine

Preheat your oven to 350.

Sprinkle peppers onion and garlic in a bowl with oregano, olive oil, and salt and pepper. 

Place peppers, onion, garlic in roasting pan and layer on top the sausages.  This helps the sausages to brown.  

Stick it in the oven.

 Roast for about an hour turning occasionally. If it's dry in the last 10 minutes, splash with a small bit of white wine.  That  adds that little bit of amazing sauce you can sop up with some crusty bread.

Arrange on a platter and serve.

This can be as satisfying as Thanksgiving dinner.  Really...

THE FREEWHEELIN' MARK ARM

There is nothing like the lead singer of Mudhoney covering Bob Dylan.

"The Freewheelin' Mark Arm" single (SUB POP 87)  was a one off solo effort by one of the fathers of grunge (I hate that term).  Recorded by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recordings.  This has never been released on CD or digital to my knowledge.

This camo out in November 1990, almost exactly one year before the release of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" destroyed the Seattle Sound (grunge?!?) for the fans in Seattle by becoming a worldwide smash hit.

The cover is a take off of Bob Dylan's "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" album.  The gas mask adds a nice touch..

Got this years ago at some Seattle record store for about $7.  It came in orange, red, green, purple, and black vinyl.

Side A is "Masters of War", a Bob Dylan cover.  It actually has a Velvet Underground kind of sound to it.  Great cover.

Side B is a an original.  To say the least..  "My Life With Rickets". Kind of a Bo Diddly meets the Seattle sound.   The lyrics of the first verse:

One morning in Amsterdam 
I punched a girl and ran
She turned into a man
And beat the shit out of me

Perfect.  Very Mark Arm.

Here's a you tube clip.   My Life With Rickets starts at 3:55.  Don't miss it..

joy

Enjoy!

UPDATED WATCH LIST

Updated the  WATCH LIST  today

Added quite a few new companies.

When it comes time to buy, I'll see what is the best value at the time.