Weekend Reading – May 9, 2015

happyweekendAnother weekend is upon us. How has your week been?

It’s been business as usual for me. I spent the first couple of days this past week just kind of getting caught up and getting my bearings back after the whirlwind trip to Omaha to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) shareholders meeting.

Unfortunately, I’ve also had to contend with a pretty nasty head cold over the last few days. It’s been slowing me down a bit, but I’m still just rocking along over here. As I’ve mentioned a few times in the recent past, I feel more motivated, productive, and inspired than ever. No cold can possibly compete with that.

To aid in the fight against this thing I spent a little time this past Friday afternoon at Siesta Key Beach. It was a little warmer and crowded than I would have liked, but still incredibly beautiful.

Siesta

So that was my view this past Friday afternoon.

It’s funny. My view on Friday afternoons used to be a service drive full of people that seemingly didn’t really want to see me and a garage full of technicians that seemingly didn’t want to really fix cars. And of course there was my desk – a prison of sorts. My how much life can change.

Our plans for today involve heading to Outback for dinner since Claudia received a gift card for the restaurant a couple weeks back from her co-workers in celebration of our exchanging rings and vows. And then we’re going to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron afterward. Not only do I really want to see the movie, but I’m happy to contribute to the bottom line for Walt Disney Co. (DIS) as a shareholder!

So this date is actually Claudia’s present for my birthday, which is coming up this week. She asked me what I wanted and I told her to use that gift card for a free dinner and then take me to a movie. I’m a cheap date.

We’ll see, though. There’s that off chance we won’t be feeling up to it since it seems like my head cold is quite contagious – Claudia’s feeling its wrath right now.

Either way, I’ve got some great content planned for the rest of the month. I’m going to be updating you all on some recent stock purchases I made as well as my savings rate for April (the best this year thus far). And I’m going to take a look at what life looks like one year after quitting my full-time job in the auto industry (my last day at the dealership was May 13th last year).

In the meanwhile, I hope you all have an excellent weekend. I’ve included some reading material to help that process along. 

These 39 Dividend Growth Stocks Go Ex-Dividend Next Week
Here’s a list of 39 dividend growth stocks that all go ex-dividend next week. In order to collect the next scheduled dividend from any stock, you have to own or buy that particular stock at least one business day before its ex-dividend date. So you get to see which stocks are set to go ex-dividend next week (do you own any?). I also highlighted one stock specifically and took a look at it to see if there’s an opportunity here.

Dividends could offer shelter in stormy markets
Fortune examined dividend growth stocks – via the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index – and concluded that they not only smashed the broader market since 1999, but have also provided more growing income as well. In addition, they tend to fare better during bear markets. Can you have your cake and eat it, too?

Since the beginning of 1999, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index—made up of companies that have increased their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years—has returned 314%, more than double the broader market. (Even with dividends excluded, they trounce the S&P 500.)

‘Nuff said.

Dividend Update – April 2015
JC pulled down some serious dividend income for April. The beginning of the month is when you see a lot of dividend income updates as many investors continue to track their progress toward financial independence. You can also see some dividend income updates by DivHut, Dividend Hustler, No More Waffles, My Dividend Pipeline, Retire Before Dad, Captain Dividend, and Roadmap2Retire.

Discount Diva: Frugal mom busts myths about money
When speaking about the myth that frugal people don’t have any fun, this was the response:

Frugal people have more fun than people who aren’t careful spenders. And not just the “isn’t it so fun not being harassed by collections agencies?” kind of fun. It’s the fun that comes from not being a slave to a job you hate, from being able to afford vacations because you didn’t blow your money on stupid things, and from having the financial freedom to do the things you love because you finally understand how to harness your finances.

Amen.

I’d Strongly Consider This Stock Right Now
More than 50 consecutive years of dividend increases doesn’t just materialize out of thin air. Only a high-quality business can do that and continue doing that, and this is one of the best around.

The Shocking Truth About Share Buybacks
The truth isn’t really all that shocking at all. This article was extremely verbose and robust, but it really comes down to this:

The rules and principles of only investing when valuation is sound equally apply to the corporation as they do to individual investors. If it’s a bad idea for us to invest in a stock at a high valuation, it’s also a bad idea for the company to behave that way.

Investors oftentimes make concepts much more difficult than they need to be, with buybacks being a great example. Buying back stock is neither virtuous nor nefarious at its core, but rather just a tool whose efficiency varies based on the situation. Simple as that.

This Time It’s Different for Investors? No—and Yes
WSJ gives the bear and bull case for the current market. A good read, all in all. The article may pull up a paywall, but a search for the article’s title can work around that.

3 Things Warren Buffett Says He Will Never Do
This article highlights some of the key points that Buffett brought up at the recent AGM. I especially like the point about not worrying about macroeconomics. I get questions all the time about interest rates, the Fed, the dollar, and what’s happening halfway across the world. I’m with Buffett in that I just don’t worry about that stuff. I focus on what I can control. Period. WSJ also put together a solid article on some key takeaways. And another good recap on some important messages from the meeting can be found here.

Forget Buffett the investor. Follow Buffett the manager
Another great piece by Fortune. For some reason, Buffett’s managerial brilliance isn’t really discussed often, nor is it readily copied. Makes it no less wonderful or successful, nonetheless.

A Philadelphia journalist went undercover as an Uber driver — here’s how much she made
Think you can make it rich as an Uber driver? Think again. I enjoyed reading this, as I’ve often thought about what an Uber driver might make. Seems like an incredibly easy and fun way to make some side money. But perhaps it’s not the path to riches that others might make it out to be.

Investing: Time for a no-bond portfolio?
If that’s the question, the answer is yes. At least for me it is. This article proposes cash as a bond substitute. That might work for some, but it depends on your income needs and opportunities at hand. I prefer cash flow to cash, however.

Report shows that vice can pay, at least when investing
Vice pays, but make sure that you’re okay with the ethics there.

How to retire in your 30s: save most of your money and rethink your core values
A great article featuring some of the prominent bloggers in this space. As I’ve said many times now, retiring early is simple, but not easy. The key concepts aren’t that difficult to understand, but it’s sometimes hard to make those good decisions day after day, year after year. But the rewards are well worth the hard work, in my view.

Full Disclosure: Long DIS.

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: gubgib/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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40 Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention, Jason. Some great reads here and I will be sure to check out some of the articles, Ive missed over the week. Have a great wknd.

    Your note about going to the movies and contributing to Disney’s bottom line sounds like what I like to do too 🙂 When we go to movies, I take comfort in the fact that I am spending money at a theatre company I own (Cineplex) and more often than not – is on a location run by the largest retail REIT in Canada – RioCan – again a shareholder there 🙂

    R2R

  2. Mantra,

    Talk about a different view… I happened to take a day off on Friday (my first day off since December) and it was incredible. I had to watch a tough game at the Quicken Loans arena, as our cavs lost to the Bulls on a buzzer beater (our arena hosted a watch party, for free!).

    I’m pumped for your birthday date with Claudia, sounds perfect in my mind – free dinner, and hope you both spend less than $20 for the movie tix – nothing better than if you do something and then it happens to support a stock you own!

    Excited to see your month of savings and what your book on Amazon was able to provide, that’s what I’m very curious to ready as writing a book has always been a forward looking goal of mine. Pumped to read.

    Thanks Mantra, enjoy the night and happy early Bday!

    -Lanny

  3. Enjoy the dinner! I love Outback. They serve the draft beer in frosted mugs usually, which I’m a big fan of. Oh yeah and the steak… that’s good too.

    Sorry about the head cold, but not as much since you rubbed in your amazing location with the beach photos 🙂

  4. R2R,

    Couldn’t agree more! I hate spending money, but I mind it just a little less when that money is being spent on products and/or services that I directly benefit from as a shareholder. 🙂

    Movies are tough to spend money on because you know the DVD is going to be $1 or whatever a few months down the line, but we tend to pick four or five movies every year we really want to see at the theater. This is one of them.

    Have a great weekend!

    Cheers.

  5. Lanny,

    Oh, man. Sorry to hear the Cavs lost, but I’m sure that was an amazing experience. And surely a lot better than being at the office. 🙂

    I think the savings rate will be strong for the next few months. I’m super excited about that. The car sale will be a tailwind, the overall income remains very strong, and some temporary expenses are dropping off. I won’t see any royalties from the book until June or July, but that’ll just be icing on what’s already a really delicious cake.

    Thanks for dropping by. Hope you have a great weekend over there!

    Best wishes.

  6. FF,

    Ha! I know what you mean. Tough to feel sorry for me. No doubt about it. I surely don’t. 🙂

    We’re 50/50 on going. I think Claudia is feeling even worse than me. Maybe it’s just going to be a pizza night.

    Thanks for dropping in. Enjoy your weekend!

    Cheers.

  7. I’m curious why there are no timber companies in your portfolio. Dividend yields are pretty good.

    And searching ‘timber’ on your blog brings back no results. 🙂

  8. ” as well as my savings rate for April (the best this year thus far). ”

    W00t! Gratz on a banner month. I did pretty well in April as well. Now that I’m FIRE, I usually end up with the same checking account balance each month I started with but I’m about 800 dollars higher this time. I am strongly considering upping my stake in NEA by 500 as a result.

  9. CK,

    “Dividend yields are pretty good.”

    Yield is definitely not an indicator of quality, and perhaps actually the opposite of such. I’d be careful looking at yield first.

    I’ve never run across a timber company that exhibited impressive fundamentals, growing underlying operational metrics, and a lengthy track record of increasing dividends. If you know of one, I’d be grateful for the recommendation. 🙂

    Take care!

  10. FV,

    Nice job over there. I’d be quite pleased with saving 0% in financial independence, especially early on. But it’d be great to be in a position where you’re still actively saving money even without working any longer. And that’s one thing I like about dividend growth investing – the margin of safety between passive income and expenses should grow over time if dividend growth exceeds inflation. That would also allow one the opportunity to spend a bit more without a problem and/or engage in some type of philanthropy.

    Hope you’re having a great weekend!

    Cheers.

  11. Thanks for the mention. I hate getting head colds but im sure theyre a lot easier to deal with while sitting on a beach.

    Happy birthday! And I hope you have a great weekend.

  12. DM,
    Dinner and a movie is always a nice night out. I don’t do that much these days, but happy to see others consuming Disney products!

    Thanks for the mention and enjoy the weekend.
    -RBD

  13. Thanks for sharing the list of weekend reads. I found a few I still need to read. Hopefully, life and dad duties will allow me to have some free time this weekend to read those I haven’t already come across.

    Enjoy your weekend my friend. AFFJ

  14. Jason,

    Happy Birthday in the upcoming week. I hope you and Claudia can kick the cold and do some proper celebrating. If not, there’s always next week. That’s the advantage of not having your schedule set by your employer 🙂

  15. Thank you very much for the DivHut mention. Hope you feel better fast. Nothing like some fresh sea air to clear the head. Enjoy the weekend, movie, Outback and just plain old fashioned me time. After all, time is what we are all trying to enjoy more of.

  16. Dear DM,

    In recent years, I had an opportunity to work at the after market division of an car manufacturer as a business process consultant. I visited dealers several times and I found that service managers were under a high pressure because thay were accountable for so many different KPIs. Therefore, I think that I can understand what your Friday was like in the past.

    Have a great weekend.

  17. Hey Jason. Thanks for including me. Wow, I can’t believe it’s almost one year for you on May 13th. WHat the? Wow time sure goes fast. I can’t believe it. Thank you for always being so discipline and an open book for all of us readers. I just wanna say thanks a lot. You keep it up and I’ll be travelling alongside you pretty much forever. i fricken love Dividends. Cheers to you 2 and have fun.

  18. JC,

    Thanks so much. Siesta Key definitely has this weird healing effect… 🙂

    Hope you have a great weekend as well. And hope everything is all good with the family!

    Cheers.

  19. RBD,

    Ha! I’m with you. Always happy to see Disney products being consumed, even if it’s by me every once in a while. 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by!

    Best regards.

  20. AFFJ,

    I imagine dad duties are some of the best duties around. Enjoy that time with the family. That’s why many us are doing this in the first place. 🙂

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Cheers.

  21. Mike,

    Indeed! We ended up staying in tonight because Claudia is feeling pretty under the weather, but knowing that we can jam out next weekend is nice. I used to hate going anywhere on the weekends because I was also so tired… so I wanted to just stay in and kind of get my energy back. But now I can’t wait to get out of the house. Funny how life changes. 🙂

    Have a great weekend!

    Best wishes.

  22. DH,

    Absolutely. The money is for the time it can buy. We ended up staying in tonight, but it’s also nice just to have the time to do that without having to worry about a missed opportunity. We have a lot more time these days than ever before.

    Thanks for dropping in!

    Cheers.

  23. DS,

    So you had a chance to see the inside of that industry for yourself. Yeah, it’s really stressful. The pressure was on all the time. I don’t miss that job for even one second.

    Hope you have a great weekend as well yourself!

    Take care.

  24. DH,

    The time sure flies by, doesn’t it? I think that phenomenon – time passing by before you know it – is why it’s so incredibly important to take control of your finances and thus your time. You want to own it and slow it down a bit.

    Thanks for all the support. It’s a truly wonderful journey we’re on!

    Best regards.

  25. I can’t really tell from the picture…how clear blue is the water at that beach? I had a job offer a little while back in the Tampa area but I had to decline as the company did not offer a relocation package.

  26. Jason,

    Hope that both get better.

    Nice reading, all these great articles from blogger show how much we are all “professional” in our quest to FI.

    Looking forward to see your last purchases…

    Cheers,

    RA50

  27. We used to subscribe to the Sunday Times over here in the UK. Then we realised that (a) it was making us want to buy stuff we didn’t need and and (b) what that money could make if invested. So we cancelled it several months ago. Your weekend reading posts now make up my Sunday papers in combination with some books I have on the go. I have a shopping list of shares right here I am scribbling as I read! Thanks DM.

  28. Great selection, Jason. Thanks for putting them together. Especially interesting was the power of dividend growers in bear markets and the article on share buybacks. I had not bumped into them before you highlighted them.

    I may put them on my own list next week.

    Thanks a lot. Have a great weekend.

  29. adam,

    My old iPhone 3G doesn’t take the best pictures. I thought this one actually came out kind of cool… like it’s purposely washed out. But the water is beautiful out there. Siesta Key Beach routinely wins awards for the quality of the sand and water.

    The Tampa area is nice, though quite busy. The traffic up that way is nuts. I couldn’t imagine commuting through there.

    Take care.

  30. RA50,

    I always try to put together a nice reading list. I think the two Fortune pieces are particularly worthwhile. 🙂

    Hope you’re having a great weekend!

    Best regards.

  31. Squodgy,

    Thanks for the kind words. I’m gad you value the weekend reading. These articles are more time consuming because there’s so much compiling and linking, but I enjoy sharing some high-quality content with you readers. 🙂

    The blog is free, so that just means more money in your pocket with which to invest!

    Best wishes.

  32. DD,

    Solid move there. One of the best companies in the world trading at a pretty fair valuation here. I don’t know what’s not to like. 🙂

    Glad to be a fellow shareholder here. And I’m glad to have it as my largest position.

    Cheers!

  33. DD,

    Yeah, I think the Fortune pieces were really great. The information on dividend growth stocks beating the broader market over longer periods of time is well-known, but those that just buy index funds would have you believe that the latter is the only way to make money.

    Hope you’re having a great weekend!

    Take care.

  34. Was wondering your thoughts on AHGP. I recently added this stock to my portfolio after doing a bit more research when I found it on David Fish’s CCC list. One has to love the dividend and the 10 years of increases, and the relatively attractive payout ratio. But my concern is the recent and continual bumps against it’s 52 week low price.
    Any thoughts here? I’m thinking of again adding more to the portfolio, as I just did in late April for $52.10, but now of course it’s well below that again. Your perspective would be fantastic.

    Thanks and Sincerely!

  35. Gary,

    Yeah, that’s really one of those calls where you ask yourself if you want to be in that business or not. I’m not sure about the future of coal in general. I know that you’ve got countries like China that will probably continue using a lot of the stuff for a while yet, but the long-term trends are away from it. And where’s the bottom? I don’t know. So I just don’t want to be holding the bag on that one. Could be a great play, but I have more confidence about other energy sources when looking out over the next, say, 10 years. There are so many great stocks out there, that I find it unnecessary to dabble in something that I’m not real confident about. Could be my loss, but I’m okay with that. Can’t win them all.

    Cheers!

  36. Siesta Key Beach… wow! 🙂 While you were there I was still dealing with paperworks, tax reports and so on in my 6 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet with no windows brown cubicle in front of my job computer… ahhh and I forgot the brown carpet. Lol I can’t wait to reach the time I can afford your kind of life. I wonder where I’ll be 5 years from now. It’s really an exciting journey.

    I’m glad to see that it works better than fine for you. To quit your day job was a great move for you. It’s no easy task for anyone but you made it an now look where it leaded you… to a better life in which you can afford a little time off at Siesta key beach whenever you feel like it man.

    Thanks Jason for sharing this. All these little moments that you share with us are inspiring and sometimes when I feel like I will never get there I think about you and what you’ve been able to do within a couple of years. I then remind that it’s possible. You did it.

    Be proud

    Take care

  37. Allan,

    You could be anywhere in five years. There’s so much potential out there for those willing to seize opportunities. I’m confident that you’ll one day look back at this time in your life and smile at how far you’ve come. 🙂

    Thanks for all the support. I do my best to inspire others to reach for their dreams because I really believe it’s possible for almost all of us to reach heights we never thought we could. I certainly never imagined being able to visit the beach on a Friday afternoon. That was the stuff dreams were made of. But dreams really do come true if you’re willing to believe and work hard!

    Best regards.

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