Dividend Investing 8 - DRIP

DRIP, aka dividend reinvestment plans, offer some options and decisions for the dividend investor...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

There are enough pros and cons for both DRIP and cash dividends that I do not think there is a right or wrong choice, its personal preference.

For the Model Portfolio, once there is $250 of cash made a month I will probably turn DRIP off and take my dividends in the form of cash. That is the current size of each of my stock orders. This way I can roll my dividends back into my portfolio monthly but take advantage of the weakest of them. At this point in time where I am getting $10 a month it would take 2 years before I reinvest the first dividend and that is too much compound interest that I am losing.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Week 57

I hit a wide range of topics in this weeks update...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

Weekly Activity
$100 deposit into Investing
$111.38 deposit into Trading
$1.72 dividend from ERF


Model Portfolio Totals

Trading Account: $1,559.34
Estimated Monthly Income: $0
Max loss per trade (1% of account): $15.59
Portfolio stop (3% account): $46.77

Investing Account: $3,278.45
Estimated Monthly Income: $10.60 ($0.283 from DRIP)
Stock
     ABT: $0.76 ($0.006 from DRIP)
     AFL: $0.63
     WMT: $0.59 ($0.007 from DRIP)
Energy
     COP: $0.77 ($0.007 from DRIP)
     ERF: $1.79 ($0.097 from DRIP)
     PSX: $0.12
REITs
     O: $1.09 ($0.035 from DRIP)
BDCs
     TCAP: $2.01
Bonds
     JNK: $1.69 ($0.091 from DRIP)
     PCY: $1.15 ($0.040 from DRIP)
Maneuvering Cash: $1,050.11

Savings Account: $1,425
Emergency: $1,000
General/Car Fund: $125
Portfolio Protection
     Trading Account: $50
     Investing Account: $250


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

What to do with a "bad" investment 2

I wanted to share a little bit more on portfolio management...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

Protection. Safety. Risk control. Notice everything in the video was all about "What can go wrong with this investment? How could I be wrong with my theory that HGT is a good investment?" I want to be in a win win scenario.

So why not put everything into ERF if its so great in the first place and get even better yield? Why bother with diversification? This goes back to why I have done so much research on HGT and ERF and everything I listed in the video.... what if I am wrong? 5 bad events happened leading up to this point (Natural gas price drop, oil price drop, 3 different lawsuits). What if I am wrong a 6th time? Sure the odds are low but this isnt a video game where I can reload my save game and start over. I cannot afford to be wrong and suffer large penalties.

One thing I did not talk about in the video that does need to be mentioned.  I owned HGT for 19 months. I got $1.89 from each $20 share. That certainly helps on recouping some of the loss and taking some of the sting out of the drop. I got 9.5% of my original money back before the share price drops. I didn't have to sell to get that.



Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Calling it quits at Week 56

Everyone has to know their limitations...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

Ok I admit I had fun with the title. The Model Portfolio will go on. If anything my recent job instability is a reminder how important it is to get an alternate income stream for financial security.  Its kind of funny how people will say how risky the financial markets are, how its gambling. Yet they are going "all in" and letting their entire future ride on one dice roll.... that they will have a job next paycheck.


Weekly Activity
$100 deposit into Investing
$2.27 dividend from ABT
$1.10 dividend from O


Model Portfolio Totals

Trading Account: $1,447.96
Estimated Monthly Income: $0 (Not ready to trade until Phase 1 completed)
Max loss per trade (1% of account): $14.47
Portfolio stop (3% account): $43.41

Investing Account: $3,143.23
Estimated Monthly Income: $10.58 ($0.264 from DRIP)
Stock
     ABT: $0.76 ($0.006 from DRIP)
     AFL: $0.63
     WMT: $0.59 ($0.007 from DRIP)
Energy
     COP: $0.77 ($0.007 from DRIP)
     ERF: $1.77 ($0.078 from DRIP)
     PSX: $0.12
REITs
     O: $1.09 ($0.035 from DRIP)
BDCs
     TCAP: $2.01
Bonds
     JNK: $1.69 ($0.091 from DRIP)
     PCY: $1.15 ($0.040 from DRIP)
Maneuvering Cash: $950.11

Savings Account: $1,425
Emergency: $1,000
General/Car Fund: $125
Portfolio Protection
     Trading Account: $50
     Investing Account: $250



Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

What to do when you have a "bad" trade

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I placed the word bad in the title in quotes for the same reason I did it for the bad investing video. A losing trade where my account has a loss of money is not a bad trade it was a losing trade.
As traders we will have losses. We do our best to plan the trade and predict the market direction and we will be wrong. That can be calculated in. What can be controlled and needs to be controlled is making stupid choices that we know we shouldn't

While this trade was important and shouldn't be blown off as no big deal it also shouldn't be made more then it is. It was one bad trade. It was a learning experience which is what the demo account is for. You can be sure I will take this trade with me for quite awhile.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Week 55 Update

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I can recall back in September 2010 thinking how Greece is going to pull down the markets and getting cash heavy for it. Here we are nearly 2 years later and there are still concerns but no catastrophe (yet?). This should really be a surprise that it takes this long. We are going through the worst financial crisis in 80 years. It will take time to play out.


Weekly Activity
$100 deposit into Investing
$1.69 dividend from JNK


Model Portfolio Totals

Trading Account: $1,447.96
Estimated Monthly Income: $0 (Not ready to trade until Phase 1 completed)
Max loss per trade (1% of account): $14.47
Portfolio stop (3% account): $43.41

Investing Account: $3,126.17
Estimated Monthly Income: $10.57 ($0.254 from DRIP)
Stock
     ABT: $0.76
     AFL: $0.63
     WMT: $0.59 ($0.007 from DRIP)
Energy
     COP: $0.77 ($0.007 from DRIP)
     ERF: $1.77 ($0.078 from DRIP)
     PSX: $0.12
REITs
     O: $1.09 ($0.031 from DRIP)
BDCs
     TCAP: $2.01
Bonds
     JNK: $1.69 ($0.091 from DRIP)
     PCY: $1.15 ($0.04 from DRIP)
Maneuvering Cash: $850.11

Savings Account: $1,425
Emergency: $1,000
General/Car Fund: $125
Portfolio Protection
     Trading Account: $50
     Investing Account: $250



Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

What to do with a "bad" investment

So its time to talk about Enerplus (ERF)

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

As I mention in the video, its easy to sit back and say you will do something or that you won't care or be effected. There are plenty of books that we can read telling us to not give in to emotions.
Its an entirely different matter when you have money on the line.

So to answer the question.. what to do with a bad investment. Treat is as you did when you first entered it.
Why did you get into the position in the first place. Has that changed. Does selling now cause more harm then holding on.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Week 54 Update

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

One thing I forgot to mention, the 2 in a row tab on the spreadsheet will show errors in its formulas until a loss comes in due to how things are calculated.


Weekly Activity
$100 deposit into Trading


Model Portfolio Totals

Trading Account: $1,447.96
Estimated Monthly Income: $0 (Not ready to trade until Phase 1 completed)
Max loss per trade (1% of account): $14.47
Portfolio stop (3% account): $43.41

Investing Account: $3,039.26
Estimated Monthly Income: $10.56 ($0.243 from DRIP)
Stock
     ABT: $0.76
     AFL: $0.63
     WMT: $0.59 ($0.007 from DRIP)
Energy
     COP: $0.77 ($0.007 from DRIP)
     ERF: $1.77 ($0.078 from DRIP)
     PSX: $0.12
REITs
     O: $1.09 ($0.031 from DRIP)
BDCs
     TCAP: $2.01
Bonds
     JNK: $1.68 ($0.080 from DRIP)
     PCY: $1.15 ($0.035 from DRIP)
Maneuvering Cash: $750.11

Savings Account: $1,425
Emergency: $1,000
General/Car Fund: $125
Portfolio Protection
     Trading Account: $50
     Investing Account: $250



Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

The 2 in a row strategy

Going to start up a new forex experiment...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I sat down and reviewed the numbers from last month. As I mention in the video everything was kind of all over the place as far as strategy. I knew that it would as my main goal of last month was really just to start doing trades and practice. I ended up not liking that even though liking it wasn't the goal or point but we need to be comfortable with what we are doing. My eyes then turned back to the coin flip account.

In moving away from the coin flop idea to a more free form trading style I asked myself if perhaps I had discarded too much. I had kept the trailing stop/profit stop ratio but was there more. From that I came up with the 2 in a row idea.

My goal here is to see if I can get the stability and ease of automation with the coin flip but increase the accuracy. If it looks good I will use it with real money if its consistent. I'm not above doing that and admitting my own skills in trading need work. My long term goals are to make money, not sitting here thinking about how awesome I am... or in last month's case how I am not.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.