Weekdend Reading – February 22, 2013

2013 has gotten off to a bang for us dividend growth investors. No, I’m not talking about the epic run the broad market has had so far, as that only makes quality companies more expensive to purchase and hence impedes my ability to purchase shares in great businesses at attractive prices. Rather, I’m talking about some big dividend raises from some of our favorite holdings. One of the keys of dividend growth investing is the growth of the dividend of course. And with some big raises I recently wrote about, you can also count PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) for a 5.6% raise, The Coca-Cola Company (KO) with a dividend raise of 9.8% and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) with a monster raise of 18%!

Just quality companies with global operations continuing to reward loyal, long-term shareholders with bountiful dividends. These dividend raises just show how quickly one can grow their own dividend tree. Mine started off as a $5,000 seed back in early 2010. It has now grown into a $95,000 oak tree.

I sit here on Friday night, after a long 52-hour work week that drained me dry. I continue to become more and more motivated by the dividend growth investing strategy and the increasing dividends that have been coming my way. I love few things more in life than being a part-owner in 29 high quality companies that continue to grow their operations, earnings and dividends. I look forward to the day that I can wake up on a Monday morning and realize I don’t have to go to work, because the companies I’m investing in are working for me!

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

Getting Rich: from Zero to Hero in One Blog Post
Mr. Money Mustache just summed his entire blog up in one epic post that tells you exactly how to become wealthy. A great read.

Portfolio Reaches $4800 Annual Income
Compounding Income just reached a huge milestone here. He’s going to average at least $400 per month in passive income from here on out. That’s huge! The compounding machine is humming along very nicely! Great job!

Recent Buy: Power Financial Corp. PF Series S
The Dividend Ninja decided to recently sell some of is iShares bond ETF (CLF) and purchase in its stead 100 preferred shares of Power Financial Corp. Preferred shares are in interesting play and Ninja makes a great case here.

Personal Finance Stress Test
My Own Advisor decided to take a stress test for his personal finances and it looks like he did great. There are some areas I do wonderful in (being able to easily absorb a 50% pay cut), while others (having a will) I failed on. How did you do?

The Pitfalls of Ethical Investing
My Financial Independence Journey wrote a great article on why ethical investing can lead you to few, if any, opportunities due to the fact that no company is truly “ethical” in every sense of the word. Besides, what is ethical to you may be completely unethical to me, as this is all subjective. I don’t really over-complicate the issue because I know that all companies have unethical aspects to them and I choose to focus on the glass being half-full.

Dividend Stocks for Young Investors
Dividend Growth Investor reminded us that dividend growth stocks aren’t for older investors or retirees. I couldn’t agree more with this article. I was 27 when I first started investing and I chose to invest in high quality companies that have a long track record of paying, and raising, dividends.

Emerson Electric: Fair Price for 2013
Dividend Monk analyzed Emerson Electric (EMR) and concluded it’s fairly priced here, but with little margin of safety. I agree with him. I really like EMR long-term, but would have to see it fall 10%her or so before adding to my position.

Latest buy
Exponential Dividends decided to purchase shares in Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) recently. I also scooped up some shares in this high quality bank recently. This blogger is a 22-year old dividend growth investor and has already built a fairly impressive portfolio.

Recent Buy and an Unexpected Dividend Increase
Passive Income Pursuit initiated a position in Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) at a very attractive price. I really like VOD at these prices and favorably view the potential acquisition of Kabel Deutschland. However, I do remain a bit concerned over continued articles where the CEO of Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, opens up the possibility of selling its 45% stake in Verizon wireless. You can read the latest article here.

Can you be happy being frugal?
Financially Integrated recently talked about frugality, and the various levels at which certain amounts of frugality are tolerable. I personally find frugality a key part of my wealth building strategy, and view frugality no longer as a means to an end, but rather the end. I find happiness in the frugality, rather than just suffering through it to reach financial independence. I think becoming happy on less and realizing what truly matters in life is a key to personal fulfillment.

Top 10 Reasons I Like Dividend Growth Stocks
Dividend Growth Stock Investing laid out 10 great reasons to love dividend growth stock investing. You’ll hear no arguments from me! 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: Benoit Mahe

Similar Posts

14 Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention Dividend Mantra! I really appreciate it!

    I was really excited to see that huge increase from WMT recently. I certainly know they aren’t giving me these kinds of raises at work!

    Good luck and keep watering that oak tree!

  2. Larry,

    Great call there. O is one of those I wish I would have bought a while ago. I expect to have exposure to real estate at some point through either a REIT or real property.

    Take care.

Leave a Reply