Weekend Reading – November 5, 2011

It’s our first weekend in November and the holiday season is just around the corner. Are you ready for it? Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and Christmas will be right behind it. I’ll be flying up to Michigan to see family in December for Christmas. I’m looking forward to it! The cost of the flight is going to throw my budget off a bit, but that’s alright. I’m very excited to see my family. Life is more than finances.

I hope all my readers out there are having a fantastic weekend. I had to work this morning, so my weekend started off a bit intense. Have fun this weekend! Life is short.

Here are some excellent articles from fellow dividend growth investors, frugalists and personal finance bloggers from the past week.

My Thoughts on the Abbott Split
Dividend Monk highlights his thoughts on the recently announced split of Abbott. I couldn’t agree more with his thoughts on this subject and I’d be perfectly happy with the status quo.

Microsoft: Potentially Great Addition to Your Dividend Portfolio
The Dividend Pig analyzes Microsoft (MSFT) and shows why it could be a good addition to a dividend growth portfolio. I’m a bit mixed on MSFT, as they still have a dominant software platform and a winner in the video game space, as well as lots (lots!) of cash on the books. On the other hand, they have been lacking in the ingenuity department lately and some of their recent moves (Skype) have left investors scratching their heads. They could be a nice addition to my tech holdings with INTC, as they do appear to be segueing into a dividend growth stock.

Stock Analysis: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
D4L analyzed MSFT over at The Div-Net. This continues with the MSFT theme. D4L appears bullish on MSFT and recently initiated a position with the company, according to his analysis. Maybe I need to keep a sharper eye on MSFT?

What’s Your Investing Horror Story?
The Dividend Guy discusses an investing horror story and asks readers to open up about theirs. Very interesting read! It’s great to read other people’s horror stories, because it makes you feel a bit better about your own mistakes. I’m lucky in that I haven’t made any huge investing errors yet. I guess I’d say my biggest mistake so far was not starting earlier!

Favourite Takeaways – The Elements of Investing (Part 2 of 3)
My Own Advisor discusses his favorite parts of The Elements of Investing-a book that focuses on index investing, not dividend investing. An interesting take on investing, but I much prefer dividend growth stocks as I like the steady, and rising, stream of dividends to fuel my investments (and one day my bills).

Why I Started Investing On My Own
Kanwal Sarai reveals reasons why he decided to cash in the mutual funds and invest on his own. I really like his assessment that “nobody cares more about your money than you do”. I completely concur, and it’s one of the main reasons I also invest on my own.

It’s All About the Numbers – Part 1: The Income Statement
Dividend Ninja allowed Henry over at PaperCroc a guest post which highlighted the income statement. This was a great post highlighting one of the most important financial statements that companies have. It’s absolutely imperative that a dividend growth investor reads and understands financial statements from any prospective investment.

Is Waste Management A “Wasteful” Investment?
Henry Le takes a quick look at Waste Management (WM) and concludes that this stock is not a buy for him right now. I tend to agree. I’ve looked at WM a few times now, and while the entry yield is very enticing, the declining revenue, EPS and FCF are all worrying. The debt load also leads more to be desired. I think WM has a great business (collecting trash will always be needed), but I see better fish in the sea right now.

Understanding Return on Equity
Dividends For The Long Run highlighted why understanding return on equity (ROE) is important, and how it can affect the total returns of your investments. This is a metric I need to look at more when analyzing companies.

Monthly Progress Review: October
Dividend Partisan reviews his dividend income from October. Partisan is experiencing a lot of growth with his dividends and I’m doing my best to keep up! Great job.

Five Stocks Building Future Yields
DGI discusses the advantages of pricing power, dividend sustainability and competitiveness that a company can have in producing steady, and rising, dividend streams to an investor. He then lists five companies that have dividend sustainability and pricing power that have allowed them to raise their dividends over many years.

Making money and keeping score
Jacob posted a cool article on why he continues to make money even though he’s financially independent. He has a great way of putting his thoughts down, and his reasons for not giving all his profit to charity are relevant.

Investing In What You Consume
TWC posted great reasons he invests in companies that produce products that he uses everyday. This is actually one of the ways I started investing. One day I started looking around my apartment and realized that the best companies I could possibly invest in all have products that I’m using everyday.

Thanks for reading.

Similar Posts

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention Mantra! This year went by quick. I can’t believe Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.

  2. Henry,

    No problem.

    This year has indeed went by quick. Time goes by so fast, unfortunately…and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. I can’t wait to slow my roll!

    Take care.

Leave a Reply