Dividend Reads for the weekend

Wow… that was a BAD week… or should I say a bad two weeks! I came back from vacation on March 2^nd, fully energized with my brain ready to explode with plenty of ideas. Then, two days later, I found my two feet in two inches of water in my fully finished basement. Needless to say that I’ve spent more time in my basement than on my computer since then!

But I’m finally back and this is behind me. After all, I just wrote a post about perseverance! In the good news department, my portfolio is still showing +10% after almost three month on the market beating by far both US and Canadian market. I also kept working out and I now weight 180lbs (from 198 lbs on Jan 1^st). I’m now looking to pass the psychological bar of 180lbs next week and head toward 170lbs before summer. I never weighted less than 175lbs in the past ten years so it is pretty exciting!

Before I left for vacation, I started 6 Days to Dividend Growth Investing. This is a series of 6 articles to help you start your portfolio. I hope you enjoy the series so far!

Here’s what I read this week:

 

Dividend Engineer bought Chevron (CVX). I got rid of CVX last year but it was more because I thought I could make more money with other plays than I didn’t like CVX. Right now, CVX pays a 4% dividend yield, that’s pretty neat!

Dividend Growth Journey bought Disney (DIS). If investors could only stop looking at the dividend yield and look at the big picture, they would understand that DIS is one of the best pick right now. Disney is up by 219% since the past 5 years and the trend is just a direct line to the sky. I’m rarely that optimistic for a stock, but this one is different.

Dividend life lists 7 consumer stocks. I discovered Diageo (DEO). They sell famous alcoholic spirit brand such as Smirnoff, Johnny Walker, Baileys and Guinness. Great diversification (both product wise and geographic), great dividend yield (over 3%) but not cheap (PE closed to 25).

Dividend Growth Investor looks at Air Products & Chemicals (APD). It was probably a good buy at one point in time but right now, dividend yield is low and PE ratio is high. Not sure there is growth to come for this company.  The easy money has been made last year with this one.

Dividend Mantra bought more of ScotiaBank (BNS). Good pick, but I can tell you in advance that I just sold my position in BNS to buy something else. More on that in the upcoming weeks… hehehe.

Dividend Diplomats (Lanny) has a cigarette problems… within his holding! I don’t think I would hold any company in this sector ever. I think there are plenty of other industries that can do well so I don’t have to buy share from a company I would never buy any products!

Dividend Elephant discusses the joy and burden of living in a central European country. I’ve spent 7 months in Europe and visited his country (Austria) where I fell in love with Salzburg (this is where I bought my wife’s engagement ring!). It brought up some great memories!

Passive Income Pursuit writes about plans for financial independence. I’ve been working very hard on mine so this post definitely resonated with me. He seems he is stuck with a similar dilemma: keeping a demanding but well paid job or dropping his paycheck and gain more free time.

Finally, I’ve also found a new site for Canadian Reits news along with a filter. It’s called Reit Report.

A Special Mention To….

Dividend Developer compares Franklin Resources (BEN) vs T. Rowe Price (TROW). He definitely wrote a monster post to compare both companies. If you are looking to buy a financial stock in the US, this is the post to read this weekend!

 

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