Weekend Reading – September 21, 2014

happyweekendSo I’m spending this weekend over on the west side of Michigan, getting some quality time in with my sister and her husband. Always great to see family, catch up, and goof around with each other. Plus, we’ve eaten some great food!

I’m currently reading through the financial statements on a tiny company that I’m interested in investing in. This would be one of the riskiest investments I’ve taken on due to its extremely small size, but it has an excellent history thus far. Excited to share the details on that this coming week, whether or not I buy a piece of the business.

Thank you all for your continued support of the site. I truly enjoy writing about frugality, dividends, stocks, financial independence, and investing. But I couldn’t do it without you readers. So I offer my utmost appreciation. I’ll be back with some great new content over the next day or so.

In the meanwhile, I’ve compiled a short list of articles I recently read and enjoyed. I hope you all enjoy reading them as well. 

This Mans Job: Make Bill Gates Richer
This was a very interesting piece on WSJ about Michael Larson, who runs Bill Gates’s investment empire. Most of his focus is concentrated on Cascade Investment LLC, where the bulk of Gates’s personal fortune is held. A very interesting piece, and it appears he’s quite bullish on Deere & Co. (DE), which is a company I’ve also been recently investing in.

These 22 Dividend Growth Stocks Go Ex-Dividend Next Week
I wrote this piece for Daily Trade Alert. Every week, we go over a list of dividend growth stocks that go ex-dividend the following week, and then I discuss one particular stock in-depth. Check it out!

These 7 Dividend Growers Just Announced Dividend Hikes
Who doesn’t love more money? Especially when it comes your way via no more work on your part. Well, that’s just one thing I love about being a dividend growth investor. Check out this list of dividend growth stocks that just recently increased their respective dividends.

This Stock Could Pay You Steady, Rising, Monthly Cash
This was the third article I wrote for DTA this past week. Took a good look at one particular real estate investment trust that pays monthly dividends, and has raised its dividend for the last 20 consecutive years.

First Dividend Income
We all have to start somewhere! And No More Waffles has started with $11.34 from McDonald’s Corporation (MCD). That’s just the start of something much greater, I’m sure. I still remember receiving my first dividend way back in 2010. It was a wonderful feeling, and I still generally feel just as elated with every new dividend that hits my account to this day.

How I Make Money Online
If you’re wondering  how some of the bigger blogs out there make moolah, J. Money shared his secrets here with this post. Dividends are but one source of income, but there are obviously many. I used to make the bulk of my income via a day job at a luxury car dealership where I pulled 50-hour workweeks, but I have since given that up in the pursuit of a dream of writing for a living. Some good information in this post for anyone else looking to do the same.

Wal-Mart: The Time To Buy Is When No One Likes A Quality Dividend Company
Dividend Growth Investor, via Seeking Alpha, penned this solid analysis on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT). I concur with his conclusion; the company is attractively valued and will likely still be massively profitable over the next decade and beyond, but substantial annual growth above 6-7% looking forward is probably unlikely due to its already massive size.

Now Is The Time To Maintain A Tactical Approach To Buying Blue Chip REITs
Brad Thomas, a regular contributor over at Seeking Alpha, is a prolific writer when it comes to REITs. He shared some of his knowledge recently with a number of blue chip REITs, some of which appear attractively valued. He also penned another recent article specifically discussing REITs that pay monthly.

How a Wall Street Felon Stayed in This Mansion
Prepare to be amazed, bewildered, and astonished. Probably angry as well.

My Travels – Italy and 10 Frugal Travel Tips
Tawcan shared some amazing pictures from his trip to Italy. Travel is something I definitely want to partake in once I’m financially independent, but I’m living vicariously through others in the meantime. Awesome pictures.

Fluff Piece
You want more pictures of awesome faraway lands that you’ve never been to? Well, I have you covered! Steve shared some spectacular shots of everywhere from Hawaii to Africa. Jealous yet?

Why Travel Makes You Grow
Most apt here, David shared his thoughts on travel. His quote near the end: “That might be the biggest of the many revelations this trip gave me: that I have finally built a life that I don’t want to get away from.” To build a life that generates a craving to return to it anytime you find yourself away is a life that we should all strive for. That’s exactly the kind of life I’ve been busy building over the last four years.

Net Worth Update – August 2014
JC had just a killer month, which is par for the course for him. That’s what combining a very high income with a very high savings rate will do. Bravo!

It Only Takes $10,400 to be Richer Than Most Millennials
Don’t have a net worth like JC’s? Feel underwhelmed with your progress? Take a look at this article and I think you’ll perk right up. It’s sad to see what it takes to be wealthier than half of the others in your particular age group or education level. Those of us who blog or follow blogs on personal finance sometimes get lost in our own progress and success, and forget that a lot of other people out there struggle with money. It’s personally inspiring to me to know that there is a huge audience out there that I haven’t reached yet, which gives me motivation to keep writing.

The Buyback Annoyance
Roadmap2Retire wrote an interesting take on share buybacks, and why he feels they’re not an effective use of a company’s cash flow. I provided a counterargument in the comment section; however, I would prefer most companies balance the cash flow they return to shareholders via more dividends and higher dividend growth, and less net buybacks.

One Thing America Really Has Going For It!
Bryan wrote a thought-provoking post on immigration, and how it can be a tremendous asset for the US looking out over the next generation and beyond. I think immigration, when legal, is a fantastic counterbalance to the shifting demographics in this country.

Full Disclosure: Long DE, MCD, and WMT.

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: gubgib/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Similar Posts

48 Comments

  1. Thanks for the WE reading list, Jason. Some nice article there. DE looks compelling. I did not pull the trigger yet though. The cyclical nature makes me shy. I believe a lot can be gained with playing a cyclical. The trick is to understand the cycles very well.
    Enjoy your weekend with the family.

  2. Thanks you for including me in this great list, Jason!

    The best part about receiving my first dividend is not the actual dividend, but the support of the community it’s been getting me. That’s what really drives me forward in trying to reach my goals.

    Enjoy your time with the family!
    NMW

  3. Thanks for the mention Jason. I hoped the piece on demographics/immigration would spur some discussion. On a separate note, yesterday was the first morning in 5 months we had a cool breeze. It still made the mid 80s and we hit the dog beach in Dunedin, but I can’t wait for fall. Have a great week
    -Bryan

  4. Thanks for the mention, Jason. You raised some great counter arguments and very good points – and I enjoyed that discussion. Great list of articles…thanks for curating them.

    Hope you are having a good weekend.
    R2R

  5. I appreciate the articles. It’s always great to have list of quality information. It was discouraging to read about the low networth of milliennals However, I can remember what life was like in my 20s and 30s. I never really got serious about saving until 40 and realized I was behind. It certainly makes the case to promote more financial education for the younger generation. Your blog should be required reading for people trying to change their financial situation. Thanks!

  6. “How a Wall Street Felon Stayed in This Mansion”

    That was an interesting video. They must have an excellent group of lawyers to come up the that financial structural of asset protection..

  7. Hi DM,

    My wife and I fairly recently (within about 1 year) started saving/investing for ourselves too, in part because I was inspiring by your blog–just wanted to say thanks, and I hope that we can show as much progress as you have in a few years!

    I’m writing now because I had a question for you: Have you had any experience using lending club? Its promise of highly diversified junk bonds with mostly attractive yields is appealing to me, but I haven’t read anything about it other than lending-club-specific blogs, which may have a “survivor bias”.

    Also, love the links to the travel posts!

    Thanks,
    Charles

  8. Jos,

    Thanks! Definitely having a nice weekend. 🙂

    I can understand your hesitation with DE. I had one for quite a while, watching it drop and drop. I finally became comfortable with it once I remembered that I’m holding for the next 30 or 40 years, which makes the cycle today almost meaningless.

    Appreciate you stopping by. I hope you’re having as great a weekend as me.

    Best regards.

  9. WMF,

    I’m with you 100%. The community is really wonderful, and it has grown tremendously in the last few years since I started blogging. It’s a real asset for all of us within it, both bloggers and readers alike.

    Keep those dividends rolling!

    Cheers.

  10. Bryan,

    Oh, I like the way that sounds! I’m about 99% sure I’ll be moving back down there at the end of October, so I’m quite excited to be coming back at just the right time. Now I know how snowbirds feel. They’ve got a great system working. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

    Take care.

  11. EAW,

    Appreciate the kind words! I’m doing my best to spread the message. 🙂

    Glad you enjoyed the reading. The net worth figures are pretty unfortunate. People generally just don’t take finances seriously until it’s too late.

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

    Take care!

  12. Charles,

    I’ve been investing in Lending Club for about five and a half years from now, and have seen returns in excess of 10% for the entire duration of that investment period. While I have been fairly aggressive with my note selection, I have toned it down over the past year or so, and am still continuing to have great success.

    For someone starting out, I would recommend the following:

    1) Use a simple filter and Lending Club’s automatic investment tool. A sample simple filter can be found here: http://www.writeyourownreality.com/lending-club/simple-filters-for-investing-lending-club-prosper/
    2) Start with a minimum investment of no less than $2,500. This is for two reasons, the first is for diversification. With $2,500 you will be able to invest in 100 notes at $25 per note, immediately helping to spread your exposure to individual notes. The second reason is that this will enable you to use the automated investment tool mentioned in the previous step. In order to make peer to peer investing passive, automating your investing is imperative, otherwise you will be logging in at particular times of day trying to find notes.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

    My Lending Club information: http://www.writeyourownreality.com/lending-club/

  13. Great weekend reading list DM, and I’m glad to see that if DE is good enough for Bill Gates, than it is definitely good enough for me! I’m glad to have it in my portfolio!

    Enjoy the weekend with your family!

  14. Charles,

    Glad to hear you and your family have started down a path to better finances. Your future you will thank you. 🙂

    I haven’t used any P2P lending, so I can’t give you any information on it either way. I like the idea of it, and might eventually put a small portion of my net worth into something like that. I’m not sure if it can provide the type of long-term returns that high-quality stocks can simply because it’s still new and unproven. But it seems promising. If you decide to put some money to work there I would do plenty of research on it and start slow.

    Thanks for the support. I wish you guys the best of luck as you travel down this new path.

    Cheers.

  15. W2R,

    I’m with you. If it’s good enough for Gates, it’s good enough for me. 🙂

    Glad you enjoyed the reading. I hope you’re having an excellent weekend over there!!

    Best regards.

  16. Great weekend reading list – I’ve got tons added to my reading list now 😀

    Thanks for the inclusion, I feel honoured to be here!

  17. Hi, W2R. Thanks for the tips–I’ll be sure to check them out. I wonder if the added press exposure LC has been getting recently will push yields down.

  18. Thanks much, DM!

    That’s kind of where I’m at, too–it sounds attractive, but I haven’t been able to convince myself to put any real money down. I think you’re right about taking the time to do more research before pulling that trigger.

  19. Hi DM,

    Great stuff there, I always look forward to your weekend reading, there’s always something to learn from the links you post. Those articles are very in tune with what I have been looking at recently, I’m probably going to buy some healthcare REITS soon. I’m also quite happy to see another dividend investor being so positive on Walmart.

    Best,
    DividendVenture

  20. Thanks for the inclusion, there are really good articles here. It’s interesting to see that DE is on Bill Gates’ list of stocks.

  21. DV,

    Glad you enjoyed the roundup. 🙂

    I was actually looking at adding to my position in OHI recently after a pretty big drop, but I didn’t plan on it being a big position for me. I still remain a little leery over their heavy dependence on Medicare. But you have to like the healthcare REITs from the demographics angle.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Cheers.

  22. Tawcan,

    No problem at all!

    DE is a pretty substantial holding for them. I feel like I’m in pretty good company. 🙂

    Hope you’re having a pretty good weekend.

    Take care!

  23. Though many people seem to have reservations about investing in p2p, it’s actually one of the simplest assets to understand.

    Have you given any thought to what specifically makes you hesitant about p2p in the short/long term? Of course it likely will not match or exceed equities in the long term, but it does appear to have a valuable place for 5% of a portfolio.

  24. Hi Ravi,

    Yeah, my hesitance lies mostly in the feeling (not supported by any data I know of) that folks consolidating credit debt via an online p2p service would probably be most likely to default on that loan before others that represent physical objects they own (car payment, etc.).

    I’m sure the risks are priced in, but it still is a fear-point for me. I’m sure diversification greatly reduces the risk, but…

    I think I’ll give it another year or two to mature and then maybe put a few thousand down, but probably not more than that until I’ve got pretty considerable experience with it.

  25. Mrs. FW,

    Thanks for dropping in. Had a great weekend. Every day is a gift, right?

    Great photos, indeed. I hope to visit Italy one of these days. In the meanwhile, I’m living vicariously. 🙂

    Best wishes!

  26. A-G,

    AMNF. It’s a small food manufacturer, specializing in ready-made pasta sauces, frozen meatballs, and certain pasta meals. Really tiny company, but it looks like it’s being run very well.

    Cheers!

  27. Thanks for the shout on my “how I make money online” post. You know your audience well – been getting hundreds of clicks over 🙂 Here’s to making $$ online!

  28. J. Money,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Glad to share the post. I learned something as well. I hope to diversify my online income sources one day the way you have. Keep up the awesome work.

    Best regards.

  29. Jason – Thanks so much for the summary post. I miss these the weekends you don’t do them. Congrats as well on the move to Florida. Living in California, I am green with envy when I think of 0% state income tax. All dividends are taxed as ordinary income here.

  30. Tad,

    No problem at all! Hope you found some value here. 🙂

    Terribly sorry to hear about the taxation there! I understand CA can be pretty expensive when you combine the taxation and cost of living. But I guess it’s worth it if you love it there.

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  31. DGI,

    No problem at all!

    I enjoyed the piece on Larson. It seems he’s a fan of businesses with huge capital expenditures, which is a bit odd. Both DE and RSG are extremely capital-intensive, but both also have enviable economic moats. I was actually just taking a look at RSG. Gotta love the trash business, but I don’t think the stock is a good buy at this price.

    Best regards!

  32. They keep buying up RSG per recent filings. The business is very defensive, and will definitely be there in 20 years. I am considering more, but I agree the shares are at the very top end of the valuation scale.

    Some of Larson’s other hits like CNI and ECL have done really really really well.

    DE is a nice company, but I thing it is too cyclical for me. That being said, I think Larson has been bullish on it for 15 years.. So he has been through a lot longer than you or me 😉

    There are other articles on Larson, i think one was on CNN or Fortune. You should check it out.

  33. DGI,

    I’ll check that other article on Larson out!

    And I agree with his other picks. I took a look at ECL not long ago and liked what I saw. I’ve added it to my (lengthy) watch list. 🙂

    DE is definitely cycle, and they’ve had a long climb up over the last decade. So who knows what the next few years will look like. But I think if you’re in this name for the next 20 or 30 years the odds are great that it will be far more profitable and paying out far more dividends.

    Best wishes.

  34. Thanks so much for the mention. Lots of great articles to read through. I’ve been a bit absent the past week or so because it’s been non-stop coming and going and unfortunately it looks like this coming week will probably be more of the same. Hope you had a great weekend with your sister!

Leave a Reply