Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) Purchased on 11/28/2016

In November I sold a stock from this portfolio for the first time.  CSX Corporation (CSX) had had a significant price increase in the year that I owned it, and so I sold, and used some of the proceeds to make a new investment.  I sold CSX for about $34.  Today the price is closer to $48.  (Ouch!  If I held on for the big move up, I would have been better off.  But I am looking forward, focusing on growing the dividend payments to $560 per month on average by the end of 2035.)

The stock I purchased soon after my sale was Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH), which was looking really good at the time.  The price was near a two-year low.  The stock had spent the last few months with a P/E ratio under 15, a place where CAH has recently move back up above again.  I think CAH remains an excellent stock to hold going forward.

CAH has enjoyed a significant price increase in the short three months that I have held it.  The dividend has not been raised since I purchased it, but I expect that that will happen within the next few months.

Intel Corporation (INTC) Purchased on 8/15/2016

When I decided to set up my "nonPension" portfolio, I intended to split my approximately $21,000 into forty-two $500 bits and invest in 42 stocks.  But since I was not able to invest exactly $500 each time, I knew there would be a possibility that I might invest in more or less than 42 companies, and it turns out that that happened.  In August, I invested in my forty-third company:  Intel Corporation (INTC).

In recent years, INTC has been a little bit iffy on its dividend increase policy.  After a number of years without an increase, INTC increased the dividend in early 2016, and I thought maybe it would be a good idea to invest, hoping that the upward trend would continue.  In January 2017 I was disappointed by the fact that INTC did not increase the dividend as I was expecting for it do.

INTC has had a moderate increase in its price since my purchase.  The stock was comfortably in the "green zone" when I bought in last summer, and it continues to be in the green zone now.

Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN) Dividend Increase Announced on February 15, 2017

Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN) increased its dividend earlier this month, announcing that the next payment would be 16% higher than the last one.  Thanks to that large increase and thanks to dividend reinvestment, my next payment from WYN will be about 18% higher than the first one, and that is over a period of just about six months.  In addition to the dividend increase, WYN has undergone a moderate price increase in the time I have owned it.

Wyndam Worldwide owns a lot of brands, including Dolce, whose hotels and resorts are featured here:   http://bit.ly/2mubRG7.

Kohl's Corporation (KSS) Dividend Increase Announced on February 23, 2017

Kohl's Corporation (KSS) has announced a 10% dividend increase.  When you take into consideration both the dividend reinvestment and the recent dividend increase, my next dividend payment will be about 14% higher than my first one.  That appears to be a significant increase over a period of less than a year, but it is likely amplified by the high current dividend yield which results from the depressed stock price, which likely is a result of the uncertainty in the retail market overall at this time.

Will KSS and other retailers eventually wither away thanks to Amazon and other disruptive forces?  That is an important question if I continue to hold KSS.  For now, Kohl's Corporation appears to be making gradual innovations to stay relevant, as you can see here:  http://bit.ly/2lA4TAh.

Eaton Corp. (ETN) Dividend Increase Announced on February 22, 2017

Eaton Corp. (ETN) opted not to raise its dividend for the first payment of 2016, waiting until the May payment to raise it.  This year, ETN announced an increase with its first payment.  So the chart above makes it look like there is an early increase, but really the company is just getting back on the schedule it has had for the past few years.

The 2/22/2017 announcement of a 5% increase means that my next dividend payment will be about 13% higher than my first payment, which is also 13% higher on an annualized basis.  Although it appears that ETN may be well on its way to provide far more than its fair share of payments starting in 2035, that may be a little bit of a stretch, since the two dividends increases have occurred so close to each other.  Unless the raises become more significant in the future, ETN may lag others in my "nonPension" portfolio.

What in the world does Eaton Corp. do?  Details can be found in the video found at this link:  http://bit.ly/2mcsl6A.

The GEO Group Inc (GEO) Dividend Increase Announced on February 6, 2017

Better late than never!  If things had happened the way I expected, The GEO Group Inc (GEO) would have declared a dividend increase in October 2016.  But things don't always happen the way we expect.  So GEO declared a dividend increase on 2/6/2017 instead.

Thanks to dividend reinvestment and thanks to the recent approximately 8% dividend increase, my payment later this month will be 10% higher than my first payment.  As a nice bonus, GEO's price appreciation since I made my purchase has been quite significant.  Currently, GEO is on track to contribute more than its fair share of the $560 per month that I hope to collect in dividends beginning in December 2035.

In addition to GEO's primary business model, the company's website describes other services they provide, including rehabilitation services as well as electronic monitoring.  Details can be found here:  http://bit.ly/2kAsYtE.

The GEO Group Inc (GEO) Purchased 8/8/2016

My forty-second investment in my "nonPension" portfolio was also my second investment in a REIT.  I was hesitant to invest in The GEO Group Inc (GEO), since part of their their business model involves running private prisons.  I have a personal inner conflict when it comes to incarceration.  Whereas I think the idea of a safe society is a good one, I feel that we incarcerate more individuals in this country than we should, and many of those individuals who should be incarcerated are held too long.

Placing my personal beliefs aside, I decided that logically speaking, the policies of the federal government and the individual states will likely include an increase rather than a decrease in prison populations over the near future.  So I invested in GEO in August 2016.  And then, just days after my purchase, the price of GEO fell sharply after the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not be renewing contracts with private prison companies going forward.

The lowest I noticed the price fall resulted in about a 40% paper loss.  I did some extra research on GEO, and determined that if what I read was true, the business model for GEO would not be severely affected over time, and determined further that the market price movement after the DOJ decision was an overreaction.  I stood firm on the investment, and since then, the price of GEO recuperated, kept climbing, and recently was at or near new highs.

My investment in GEO has so far resulted in a very nice increase in price.  Although I anticipated a dividend increase in late 2016, that did not come to fruition, but there has been a dividend increase early in 2017.  Given the current high dividend yield that GEO provides, and given the significant dividend increase that was recently announced, this investment will provide far more than its fair share of the average monthly income needed in this portfolio, assuming that current trends continue over the next nineteen years.

Although GEO's price movement has been dizzying over the past few months, profits appear to be stable.  Although I would likely not invest any more in GEO at this time, I anticipate that I will hold it for the foreseeable future as long as business conditions remain the same going forward.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) Dividend Increase Announced on February 7, 2017

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) announced a dividend increase on 2/7/2016, the first time since I purchased the stock for my "nonPension" portfolio.  Thanks to the dividend increase and thanks to the dividend reinvestment, my next payment will be 12% higher than my first payment.  If this trend contines through 2035, then GILD will do its share of the work toward funding my $560 per month dividend payment goal during my retirement.  The price of the stock has fallen since my purchase of the stock.

GILD focuses a lot of its energy on liver diseases.  Some details on the work they are doing can be found in this video:  http://bit.ly/2m9HKUj.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) Purchased 8/1/2016

In 2014, I sold my Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) stake in another account after its value had more than tripled over a number of years, and as I was in the process of transitioning many of my non-dividend growth stocks out of my retirement savings.  The stock went on to continue rising, but later GILD started paying a dividend, and the price started to fall.

I felt like I was getting a pretty good deal on GILD when I purchased it last summer, but it turns out that I would have gotten a better deal if I had waited to purchase it today.  As a matter of fact, the price of the stock is now less than where I sold it three years ago.

As GILD profits are expected to decline over the next few years, the investment is problematic for me, but I am focusing on the potential for dividend growth, which the company has demonstrated  its commitment to with a significant increase recently.  If that continues, I believe that GILD will be a great investment going forward, and I may consider purchasing more in the future.

For now, my loss of capital in my investment in GILD is pretty significant.  But stock prices move up and down based on market conditions, and the value of the stock still is low compared to its potential future profits, over the next few years at least.

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) Purchased on 7/25/2016

Not long after I purchased some Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) shares for my "nonPension" portfolio, the unauthorized account scandal was uncovered, causing the share price to fall.  Some investors said they would never trust WFC again.  I held onto my investment, the price rose, and now the price is at or near an all time high.

WFC was in the "green zone" when I bought it, and it is in the green zone now, too.

Since I bought in to WFC, the company has not announced a dividend increase, but the dividend yield at the tiem of my purchase was over 3%, which was not too bad.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) Dividend Increase Announced on February 16, 2017

Better late than never!   Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) declared a dividend in November 2015, but allowed the dividend payment to stay the same for five quarters, including November 2016.  On 2/16/2017, the payment was increased again.

Thanks to dividend reinvestment and thanks to the dividend increase, the upcoming payment from PRU will be 11% higher than the first payment I received, which also works out to an 11% annualized increase.  And while I have held PRU, the overall value of the investment has increased significantly.

For those who do not believe in building their own "nonPension", PRU is one of many companies that offer annuities to their customers, and details on that can be found here:  http://bit.ly/2kY4hWp

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) Dividend Increase Announced on January 12, 2017

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) has declared its second dividend increase since I purchased it last summer.  The most recent increase on 1/12/2017 was about 2%.  Thanks to the dividend increases and dividend reinvestment, my dividend payment on 2/15/2017 will be about  7% higher than my first payment, and that works out to about 15% on an annualized basis.  While my payments have gone up, the value of my investment has declined slightly.

OHI focuses on investments in assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities.  You can find out more about what they do at their website at this link:  http://www.omegahealthcare.com/

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) Purchased on 7/18/2016

Before the summer of 2016, I had never invested in a REIT.  When I made my first investment in a REIT in this "nonPension" portfolio, I decided to go with a healthcare REIT:  Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI).

Since my purchase, the value of the investment has declined somewhat, but the dividend payment has been raised twice.  OHI currently has a habit of raising the dividend by a small amount every quarter.

In the event that OHI continues raising its dividend in a similar pattern going forward, and in the event that the price relative to earnings stays in the same range, this investment will do much more than its fair share of contributing toward my $560 per month income goal starting in late 2035.

Carnival Corporation (CCL) Purchased on 7/11/2016

The price of Carnival Corporation (CCL) shares has increased considerably since my purchase of the stock last summer.  So far, CCL has not announced a dividend increase, however.

After spending about four years in overvalued territory, the stock dipped below the orange line for a brief period of time in 2016, so I added it to my "nonPension" portfolio.  Since then, the price has moved back above the orange line, making me grateful that I picked a good time to purchase it.  CCL profits are expected to rise steeply over the next few years, so it is a stock that I intend to hold going forward, assuming all else stays the same.

Whirlpool Corporation (WHR) Purchased on 7/5/2016

Whirlpool Corporation (WHR) has a history of spending the majority of its time with a P/E ratio under 15.  It peaked out from above the orange line in the F.A.S.T. Graph in 2007 and 2015, and less barely so at other times in the past 10 years.  The stock moved back to the "green zone" before I bought it last year, and it is still there.

WHR has not rewarded me with a dividend increase yet, but it has been paying me a dollar every three months for each of the shares that I bought.  The price of the stock has not moved by much.  Profits are expected to increase nicely over the next few years.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Purchased on 6/27/2016

The price of Apple Inc. (AAPL) spent most of 2014 rising rapidly until reaching prices above $130, and the stock was split around the time the price was near $100.  Soon, a gradual decline in price occurred, and for a short period of time in 2016, the price was below $100 again. Today the price is near record highs.

At the time I purchased AAPL, it was safe in the "green zone", so I added it to my "nonPension" portfolio.  AAPL has a history over the past decade of taking a breather every few years before running higher, and this time around seems to have followed the pattern.  Since my purchase, the stock has appreciated nicely.

As of now, there has not been a divided increase since my purchase of APPL.  

Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN) Purchased on 6/20/16

Will Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN) declare a higher dividend by the end of the month like they did last February?  The answer will be determined in good time.  As I wait to find out, I can be enjoy the nice run-up in price that it has experienced so far.

WYN was in the green zone when I bought it last June and it still is now, potentially making it a good candidate to buy more of in the near future.

HP Inc. (HPQ) Purchased on 6./13/2016

So far, HP Inc. (HPQ) has been a great investment in my "nonPension" portfolio with a significant increase in price as well as a respectable increase in the dividend a payment.

HPQ has spent almost a full decade in the undervalued "green zone", so I might have purchased it at a good time, when the price had a good possibility of eventually moving back to fair value.  But of course, you might say the same for someone who purchased the stock back in 2010 when the price was more than triple what it is now. So there appears to be an unusual amount of risk in HPQ that is not represented in the graph.

The most recent decline in income and price is the result of a big part of the business being broken off during the formation of a separate company.  Since the time of the break-up, the stock price has moved up nicely.

Phillips 66 (PSX) Purchased on 6/6/2016

It is just a coincidence that I purchased Phillips 66 (PSX) on June 6 last year.  I never noticed all of the sixes lined up so nicely until today.

Since my purchase, the price of the stock has fallen back slightly, so I would have been able to get a better deal today than I did when I bought it.  There has not been a dividend increase since my purchase.

When I look at the F.A.S.T. Graph for PSX, I wonder why I made the purchase at the time I did.  Profits appear to have been moving downward at the time of my purchase , and the stock appears to have be overvalued now, although the price has not risen.  If this graph were available to me today, I would be hesitant to make the purchase I made last year.

Although I do not have any screenshots of the company's or stock's performance data or notes to look back at, my suspicion is that PSX's future looked nicer in June 2016 than it appears in February 2017.  I dug up some information online and found that there was a reduction in earnings in September 2016, so that appears to account for at least some of the downward sloping orange line above for the 2016 calendar year.

With hindsight, I think that maybe my investment in PSX was a mistake, because I may not have understood the business and its risks as much as I should have.  I will monitor the stock more than before going forward, and consider swapping it out for another investment sometime in 2017.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) Dividend Increase Announced on February 7, 2017

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) has declared its second dividend increase since I purchased the stock.  Due to dividend reinvestment and due to the two increases, including the 7% increase on 2/7/2017, my next dividend payment will be 18% higher than my first one, which translates into an annualized growth rate of about 15%.  Additionally, there has been a moderate increase in the price of  ADM shares in the time that I have owned them.

An overview of ADM's supply chain can be found in this video:  http://bit.ly/2ljzH6U.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG) Dividend Increase Announced on February 2, 2017

Thanks to dividend reinvestment and a 4% dividend increase on 2/2/2017, my quarterly dividend payments from Harley-Davidson, Inc. (HOG) have increased by 7%  since my first dividend payment about one year ago.  In addition, there has been a significant run-up in the stock price of my HOG investment.

The stock price of HOG has experienced a lot of ups and downs through the years.  In addition, the company itself has experienced a lot of ups and downs.  The article at this link was written 20 years ago:  http://bit.ly/2kA06OY.

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Purchased on 5/31/2016

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) has spent significant periods of time in the "green zone" starting in 2002, 2005, and 2008.  VZ moved to undervalued territory again in late 2014, and it has stayed there since.  

I bought the stock at a time when the average monthly dividend payment worked out to about $1.88.  Now I am receiving a monthly average of about $1.99 thanks to a small dividend increase and dividend reinvestment.  

Since my purchase, the price has fallen to an even better value.  VZ is a steady dividend grower, but the dividend grows slowly.  

But who knows?  Perhaps the dividend growth rate will improve over time, since the dividend payout rate has improved over the last few years.  In 2011 and 2012, the dividend ate up over 90% of earnings each year.  Since then, dividend payouts have grown more slowly than profits have, so the payout ratio is less than 60%.  

The payout ratio has not been under 50% any time this century, so perhaps we will see dividend growth going forward that is more in line with earnings growth.  If earnings over the next few years are better than expected, we could see more significant dividend growth rates.

Target Corporation (TGT) Purchased 5/23/2016

In the summer of 2003, I made my first individual stock purchase:  Target Corporation (TGT).  I purchased the stock at a price that was overvalued at around $38 a share.  Over the past fourteen years, earnings at TGT have grown by about 8% per year, but the stock price only grew by about 5% per year. That can be explained by the fact that I purchased the stock when it was overvalued, and now it is undervalued and in the "green zone".

The stock was also undervalued last spring when I bought more TGT.  The dividend rate at the time was over 3.2%, and the stock had a history of growing dividends.  As a matter of fact, the dividend had grown 8 times over the time period (although the business had not even grown by three times).

But the undervalued stock price helped me make the decision to purchase some more of the stock for my "nonPension" portfolio.  It turns out that I would have made a better decision to hold off on buying TGT now rather than then.  The dividend has risen since then and the price has fallen since then.  Now the yield is closer to 3.8%.

Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) Purchased on 5/16/2016

Less than a decade ago, Pfizer, Inc. (PFE) cut its dividend around the same time as it made a major acquisition.  Since then, quarterly dividend payments have increased by 2 cents every year, and earnings have grown at a snail's pace.  During that time period, the price of PFE has increased fast enough to double the P/E ratio.

For years before that acquisition was made, earnings were growing at a much faster rate, dividend payments were growing at a much faster rate, and the price of the stock was steadily moving downward.

What does the future hold?  Continued growth at a slow rate?  A move back to faster growth?  Negative growth?  It is hard to say.  For now, PFE appears to be moving forward, so it remains a solid investment for my "nonPension"  portfolio.

Currently I have a small paper loss in PFE investment, but the dividends are nice, and they have increased since I made the purchase.  At the time I made the purchase, the yield on PFE was over 3.6%.  Today, it is closer to 4%.  I will likely consider buying more in the future if conditions remain the same.

Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) Purchased May 9, 2016

Since I purchased Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) last May, a nice dividend increase was announced, which is good news.  Since I purchased LM, the price of the stock has moved up nicely as well.

But you can see by looking at the F,A,S,T, Graph that the stock has been trading in a fairly narrow price range in the undervalued "green zone" for the past year, even as earnings appear to be bottoming out and rising in the future.  In a way, this is a bit disappointing.  But imagine how much more disappointing it would have been if I had purchased LM one year earlier in the second half of 2015.

Right now it is time to remain patient, and enjoy the average $1.20 in dividend income per month coming from LM.

Corning Incorporated (GLW) Dividend Increase Announced on February 1, 2017

Corning Incorporated (GLW) management has committed to increasing dividend payments by at least 10% through 2019.  The stock has been a great investment for me in my "nonPension" so far.

Thanks to a dividend increase on 2/1/2016 of about 15% and thanks to dividend reinvestment, my quarterly dividend payments have increased by about 18% since my first dividend payment in March 2016.  Meanwhile, the value of my investment has increased significantly during the time I have held it.

GLW appears to be an excellent investment going forward.  One of the innovations at Corning is their Masterpix fine glass prints which, are photos printed directly onto glass.  I found information on the product here:  http://bit.ly/2jwOnTM.

Average monthly income January 31, 2017, up 0.2% month over month

At the age of 44, I left a job where deductions were made from my paycheck toward a pension plan, but I was not vested in the plan when I left the job, so I decided to place my contributions into an IRA and invest the funds in dividend growth stocks to try to receive an average monthly dividend income of $560 per month starting in December 2035 when I turn 65.

Based on dividend payment rates at the time, my average monthly income going forward at the beginning of last month was $66.40.  In order to grow that monthly rate to $560 in a little less than 19 years, the monthly rate needs to grow by a little less than 12% per year, or a little more than 0.9% per month.  Therefore the goal is to hit monthly payments going forward of $73.63 by December of this year.  If the same growth rate occurs steadily throughout the year, then I would need to it to grow to  $65.03 at this time.

The dividends in this portfolio are being reinvested directly into the stock the dividends are paid from.  Currently, the overall effect of dividend reinvestment and dividend increases is falling short of my 12% goal.  If I just take into consideration the most recent dividend increases within the past year for each stock, I can expect monthly average payments to increase by less than 10% per year, which comes from an average of 3% dividend payments and 6% dividend growth.

How will my goal be reached in the end if I am already not on track to reach it so early in the process?  Over time, my hope is that the stocks I have picked will as a group increase their payments at a higher rate than 6% in the long term.  In addition, investments that grow their dividends slowly and/or increase in price will be sold strategically to trade them out for stocks with higher dividends and/or higher dividend growth rates.

Here are the stocks in my portfolio that have higher dividend payments going forward due to changes in January:

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) raised its quarterly dividend from 61 cents to 62 cents..

Meanwhile, the following stocks are paying more going forward thanks to dividends paid in January that were reinvested:  EMN, HOG, HPQ, JCI, LM, M, OHI, and VIAB.

Overall, the average monthly dividend income increased by 12 cents to $66.52, an increase of  only 0.2%.  February might be a month where the average monthly dividend income will increase considerably, since 7 of the stocks in the portfolio could announce dividend increases in February as they did last year.

Ticker	Shares	Avg Monthly Dividends	One Year Ago	% Change
AAPL	5.052	$0.96	$0.88	9.62%
ABBV	9.341	$1.99	$1.77	12.28%
ADM	12.443	$1.24	$1.16	7.14%
ADNT	1.000	$0.00	$0.00
AMGN	3.058	$1.17	$1.02	15.00%
AMP	5.111	$1.28	$1.14	11.94%
BA	4.134	$1.96	$1.50	30.28%
BBY	16.368	$1.53	$1.25	21.74%
BG	9.165	$1.28	$1.16	10.53%
CAH	7.042	$1.05	$0.91	15.99%
CAT	7.283	$1.87	$1.87	0.00%
CCL	11.159	$1.30	$1.12	16.67%
CMI	5.172	$1.77	$1.68	5.13%
EAT	10.207	$1.16	$1.09	6.25%
EMN	7.187	$1.22	$1.10	10.87%
ETN	9.327	$1.77	$1.71	3.64%
GEO	15.328	$3.32	$3.32	0.00%
GILD	6.075	$0.95	$0.87	9.30%
GLW	27.667	$1.25	$1.11	12.50%
HOG	12.342	$1.44	$1.28	12.90%
HPQ	37.626	$1.66	$1.56	7.02%
INTC	14.166	$1.23	$1.23	0.00%
IP	13.520	$2.08	$1.98	5.11%
JCI	10.059	$0.84	$0.97	-13.79%
JPM	8.172	$1.31	$1.20	9.09%
KSS	11.381	$1.90	$1.71	11.11%
LM	16.349	$1.20	$1.09	10.00%
M	12.389	$1.56	$1.49	4.86%
MPC	16.395	$1.97	$1.75	12.50%
NGVT	2.000	$0.00	$0.00
OHI	15.555	$3.21	$3.16	1.64%
PFE	15.271	$1.63	$1.53	6.67%
PRU	6.213	$1.45	$1.45	0.00%
PSX	6.093	$1.28	$1.14	12.50%
QCOM	9.236	$1.63	$1.48	10.42%
R	10.252	$1.50	$1.40	7.32%
T	15.761	$2.57	$2.52	2.08%
TGT	7.116	$1.42	$1.33	7.14%
UNP	6.150	$1.24	$1.13	10.00%
VIAB	12.248	$0.82	$1.63	-50.00%
VZ	10.223	$1.97	$1.93	2.21%
WFC	10.146	$1.29	$1.27	1.33%
WHR	3.035	$1.01	$0.91	11.11%
WRK	15.391	$2.05	$1.92	6.67%
WYN	7.096	$1.18	$0.99	19.05%
TOTAL		$66.52	$62.70
Overall annual growth rate on dividend payments				6.10%
Overall dividend yield -- reinvested				3.12%
Approximate annual growth rate including reinvestment and increases				9.41%
Annual growth rate needed				11.98%
Behind goal rate by				-2.57%