Monthly Income Update: November 2011

 

Daily Dividend Investor Update

 

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

 

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

 

Thanks!

 

Neil

Monthly Income Update: November 2011

The DDI Portfolio does it again!

41 companies spread over a multitude of sectors including Oil Production, Real Estate, Consumer Staples, Pharmaceuticals and Telecom produced a total income for the DDI portfolio of $509.24 in Noevember.

With the exception of the passive income stream from the incoming dividends, the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio was fairly quiet in November – recording only one new purchase. Near the beginning of November I added 10 shares of Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) to the portfolio using the available cash on hand.

November News

November is the second month of the quarter which means I’ll be comparing it’s results to May and August looking back.

The good news for November is that once again the DDI portfolio exceeded the $500 mark in passive dividend income, marking the second straight quarter for month #2 to make it’s quota.

However, November was not strong enough to add on to the fantastic gains we had back in August when the DDI portfolio topped out at $527.18.

There were two holdings that negatively affected the results this month. Cal Maine Foods (ticker: CALM) has a floating dividend policy that is tied to the company’s quarterly results, as such this quarter was down slightly from the previous quarter.

Also, income from Sabine Royalty Trust (ticker: SBR) was lower this month due to the recent pull-back in oil prices at the beginning of Fall.

With signs of the economy strengthening, I expect both of these holdings to perform better in the months ahead.

Monthly Income Update: October 2011

 

Daily Dividend Investor Update

 

To my loyal Daily Dividend Investor readers: Please note that I have migrated the site over to a managed server located at: www.dailydividendinvestor.com

 

I will continue to update this WordPress site with duplicate content for a few weeks,  but you may want to check in at my new hosted location for all the latest content. I am also using a better – easier to read theme that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for reading and following along and don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page!

 

Thanks!

 

Neil

Monthly Income Update: October 2011

Just like a diet or a workout routine, when I look back over the last few months I continue to be amazed by the progress that the DDI portfolio continues to make with only small adjustments here and there.

Not only has the NAV (net asset value) of the portfolio remained fairly stable, the dividend stream continues to increase.

Since October is the first month of the quarter I’m most interested in comparing the results this month to April and July, the previous “first” month reports.

To say that I’m pleased with the performance of the portfolio would be an understatement, as October brought in $448.85 in passive dividend income! Compare that with $408.74 in July and $398.38 in April for an increase of over 10% from previous quarters.

I believe that I am now only a few months away from reaching my goal of $500/month in passive income. Because many of the holdings within the portfolio often increase their payouts, it’s only a matter of time before I can completely check this goal off my list.

My BIG “why”?

My BIG “why”?

That’s the question, why?

Why build the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio?

Why seek passive income?

Why bother at all?

For me there are TWO answers:

1. Spending time on new business projects.

and

2. Spending time with my kids.

There is nothing wrong with a 9-5 job, I’ve had several of them and I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the work that I had. Whether it was working in a warehouse stocking shelves or configuring large computer networks for a Fortune 500 software company – I’ve always found work that I loved.

But the problem with a 9-5 job is that it means you are at the mercy of some else (your boss) when it comes to the allocation of your time.

For me, I get bored easily, wanting to constantly move from one challenge to the next. Most “jobs” don’t give you that flexibility – they prefer that you master a few tasks and repeat them again and again and again.

Earlier this month my wife and I decided to take the kids out of school for a couple of days for a quick road trip to San Diego. We spent 5 days together as a family, in the sunny SoCal weather enjoying Legoland, the San Diego Zoo and several local beaches, not to mention some of the best Mexican food around.

• I didn’t have to think about asking (permission) for time off.
• I didn’t have to worry about (not) getting paid.
• I didn’t have to constantly check emails and voicemails to make sure all was fine back at the office.

I spent my time focused on my family and enjoyed the time we had together.

Because we have the flexibility to go on trips like this when we want, we can avoid the peak travel times and the crowds that go with them. It makes for a lot less stressful trip!

The DDI portfolio is one of several passive income streams I’ve created and  it currently is the smallest in the size of income it generates for me. However, I expect to grow it consistently over the next few years. My ultimate goal would be for the DDI portfolio to generate $5000.00 /month in passive unmanaged income.

Right now the growth of the DDI portfolio is one of my main projects. I’m positive that over time, I will find newer more interesting projects – but if I build it with a firm foundation, I know that it will continue to serve me well for the long-term.

Eventually, it is an asset that I will pass along to my kids, and in turn perhaps it will someday help their kids as well – a legacy of sorts. For now I am enjoying the journey of continuing to build the DDI portfolio and am thankful that it is already providing support for my family to enjoy an occasional vacation and time together!

Monthly Income Update: September 2011

Monthly Income Update: September 2011

When I look back over each month to calculate the total income, I am always amazed that so many “small” deposits (most less than $15) can add up so quickly.

September was no different, with 47 total deposits the DDI portfolio generated passive income of $567.67. That works out be about 1.5 total cash deposits per day, averaged over the entire month and the largest cash deposit since I started tracking the DDI portfolio on the DailyDividendInvestor.com blog!

The best news of all, is that the DDI portfolio generated $1503.59 for the 3rd quarter of 2011, bringing the average monthly income stream to over $500 per month, effectively exceeding my #1 short term goal!

Monthly Income Update: August 2011

Monthly Income Update: August 2011

Well even though the market has been showing signs of falling apart, the DDI portfolio knocked it out of the park and surpassed my $500/month income goal in August coming in with passive income of $527.18!

If you remember back to my post in May (May and August are both month #2 in the quarter), the portfolio fell just short of the $500/month income goal with a respectable showing of $499.90.

I have to say that I am very happy with the results as this not only exceeds the goal for this month, but provides some much needed  income cushion to make up for July’s sub-$500 dividend stream!

Bought: Investors Real Estate Trust (ticker: IRET)

Looking for niche plays

In continuing to “top off” many of my existing positions I went ahead and added 75 shares of Investors Real Estate Trust (ticker: IRET) to the DDI portfolio today.

Investors Real Estate Trust is probably one REIT you’ve never heard of because it focuses on a very small niche, owning properties in Minnesota and North Dakota. Because of it’s geographic focus, it may be well situated to benefit from the recent economic boom that has been going on in North Dakota within the oil industry.

Risk / Reward

I tend to favor REITs when looking for companies to add to the DDI portfolio because of the fact that they own hard assets which makes it more difficult (but not impossible) for the book value of the company to fall to $ZERO. To be completely honest, owning this stock is all about yield which is currently right around the 7% mark. Adding these shares will increase the first month quarterly payout by $9.75.

As I’ve mentioned before, because most of my individual positions are less that $1000 in value and since the portfolio is on track to make $500/month (and growing) – I’m comfortable with the risk/reward scenario that investing in these shares offers.

Conservative Plays

I’ll look to add on to one of my more conservative holdings for my next investment in an effort to balance the overall risk of the DDI portfolio. Overall the DDI portfolio continues to perform as expected, delivering over $500/month in income in both month 1 and month 3.

With the continued downward pressure on share prices I may begin to add additional outside funds so that I can capitalize on depressed share prices when the market offers them to me. Mostly this will be a function of how well or poorly my other income sources perform in the coming weeks and months. Ideally I would like to build the DDI portfolio up to $250k in base value before leaving it on auto-pilot to become a true unmanned cash flow machine!

Did you enjoy this post?

If so, you might want to check out some of my other recent buys including:

Gladstone Investment Corp

Century Link

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Or sign up for my email alerts each time the Daily Dividend Investor is updated!

Bought: Disney (ticker: DIS) & Cherokee (ticker: CHKE)

• Think positive Think long-term
  

On day’s like today when the markets give you a head-fake, it’s sometimes hard to remain positive.

The morning started off on a positive note rising over 70 points but by day’s end there were more sellers than buyers – we would be going into this weekend on a losing day – down almost 180 points.

Fear not, I like to use days like this to look for bargains and I think I found a couple…

Monthly Income Update: July 2011

Monthly Income Update: July 2011

Since July is the first month of the quarter it’s a “slow” month for dividends and once again fell a little short of the $500/month target I’ve set for the DDI portfolio.

With that said, the portfolio picked up a bit of steam and brought in $408.74 for the month of July which is about a 2% increase over April’s results.

While you were out…

Remind me not take any more vacations!

When I left last week the DOW was sitting comfortably at 12,500 and here we are today looking at 11,866 at the close.  634 points or 5% in less than a week’s time!

The bright side (there’s always a bright side) is that we can start looking for some bargains.

Perhaps I’ll be able to pick up those shares of Caterpillar (ticker: CAT) that I spoke of a month ago. While we wait for the US government to finalize a debt ceiling deal, I’m guessing this is not the end of all the selling in this market – let the bargain hunting begin!

While you were out…

While I was out the DDI portfolio generated another $124.85 in income which brings my cash balance to just over $1000.00. I should be able to pick up 2 or 3 good new positions or possibly add to my existing positions.

New near-term goals

Now that I’m comfortable with the diversification of the portfolio I’m going to focus less on adding new positions and have decided to implement the following two short term goals:

• Begin “topping off” existing positions to reach even 100 share increments
• Focus on adding to higher yielding positions (primarily positions with 5% or greater yield)

By “topping off” existing positions I’m  setting up the portfolio to begin implementing a covered-call option strategy to increase monthly returns by selling option contracts.

In addition, by focusing on the higher yielding stocks I’m hoping to pump up the DDI portfolio’s overall return in the shorter term. With talk of a double-dip and possible weakening economy I’m taking a risk that these higher yielding plays may be more susceptible to dividend reductions should their revenues be adversely affected.

My take is that the average investor is still seeking out above average yields by investing in equities – specifically those in the 5-7% range. Why 5-7%? Primarily, because investors typically search for yields above 3% to beat inflation, while trying to maintain some sense of “safety” by staying below a percieved danger zone above 7%.

Do you enjoy following along as I build the Daily Dividend Investor portfolio? Take a moment and subscribe to my email notifications and you’ll get notified as I continue to work the portfolio. Don’t worry, I hate spam as much as you do and won’t sell or give away your info!

And remember, feel free to drop me a line anytime – I’d love to hear about your passive income journey!

Time for a mini-vacation at the lake…

Things are looking good!

The DDI portfolio is cruising right along generating passive income of  $283.89  month to date so far in July.

With about a month left of summer, before the kids have to go back to school, we’re going to take advantage of the great California weather and head on out to California’s Gold Country with a short stay at  New Melones Reservoir in Central California for a few days of boating, wake-boarding and tubing with our family and close friends.

Passive Income buys Time & Freedom

The DDI Portfolio builds steam like a train!

It’s time like these, that make me appreciate that I can take time off and know that I’ve still got a stream of income coming into to pay my bills.

Each day the DDI portfolio continues to grow the income stream, and is quickly approaching my target of paying out $500/month on a consistent basis.

Family time is something we highly value, so I figure now’s a good time to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor and take a few days off from managing my trading and income portfolios.

While catching some rays and enjoying an ice cold Blue Moon or Anchor Steam brew, I’m going to take some time to work on my 6 & 12 month life and business plans. Taking time out to recharge really helps to clear your mind and figure out what is most important in your life. I’m excited about coming back with a great action plan in had ready to roll.

But for now, let’s have some fun in the sun!