Freedom Fund Update – May 2011

May has arrived and I have updated my Freedom Fund in the portfolio page. I have made several important and helpful changes to the way my portfolio is laid out. One of my main goals with this blog is to provide as much transparency and as much information as I can give in this journey to financial independence that I’m sharing with the world.

I have added several columns, including one for “Shares” which shows exactly how many shares of each listed company I own. This makes it very easy for you to see how much of each individual company I have a vested interest in. I can’t be any more transparent than that!

Another column I have added is for “Market Value”. This shows the market value of each holding, as of the date I posted the update, which for this month is the morning of May 1, 2011. This is before market open, so these numbers will change by the day and throughout the course of the month. Market Value is mainly for illustrative purposes and gives you a rough idea of the amount of money each individual investment is worth.

The final column I have added is “Yield” which corresponds to the current yield of the company listed in the appropriate and matching column. This, again, is for illustrative purposes and this amount will fluctuate throughout the course of the month as share prices go up and go down. Checking a company’s current information on any number of fiance sites, including Google Finance or Yahoo! Finance will give you the current yield as of that moment.

I think that these changes will be helpful, overall. I have also added a little color to the spreadsheet to make it easier on the eyes. I’m very happy with the changes and additions, and I hope you enjoy the work I put into it.

As for changes to the Freedom Fund’s value and holdings, I did make a couple of recent buys, reflecting additions to current holdings in Procter and Gamble and Harleysville Group. These recent buys are now reflected in the current holdings of the Freedom Fund.

The current value of the Freedom Fund now stands at $32,107.73, which is a nice improvement from the last published value of $28.845.28. The added value reflects my recent purchases, dividends received and increases in market value of current holdings. I still own shares of 15 companies, which reflects no change from the last update.

Overall, the portfolio is right about where I want it. I’m happy with my selected holdings and I’m very excited about where things are going. I have no immediate plans to sell any positions as I am a long-term buy-and-hold investor. Some of my holdings reflect cyclical commodities (namely oil), but as long as the dividends continue to be raised I like staying put. Of all positions, I’m watching TOT and SYY the most. I’ve stated before that TOT is not a dividend-grower and SYY has some investors concerned about future growth.

I hope you enjoy the additions to the Portfolio page and enjoy reading my progress with the Freedom Fund. As always, I wish all my readers the best with their individual and respective portfolios!

Thanks for reading.