Dividend Reads for the Weekend

It has been a rough two weeks for me. Nothing really special happens but I started to feel the weight of the big train I decided to push forward since January; working out 4 times a week, working 60-70hrs per week; coaching my son at soccer 3 times a week, being part of 2 fund raising committee (one for school and one for poor children in my city), etc.

So far, I’ve way ahead in each goal I’ve fixed in the beginning of the year. But over the past two weeks, I’ve slowed down; I just couldn’t keep up. I’m taking this weekend off as I won’t do much in order to gain back some energy and be ready to kick some butts next week! Still, I was able to write a few good articles;

Finding the Right Stock in the Current Market

What I Hope my Kids Will Learn From me About Money

Caterpillar (CAT) – The Right Timing to Buy Tonkas!

Interesting Reads:

Lanny bought Dow Chemical (DOW), a classic dividend stock. The company is showing strong dividend growth, but revenues and EPS trends are not exactly following the same line. Overall, I think it’s a good buy.

Dividend Engineering analyzes Fastenal (FAST). Since 2005, the dividend growth is steady and pretty strong while the payout ratio remains between 60 and 50% which is not too bad. However, I don’t agree with DE discount rate, I think it’s too small to correctly value a company. He uses 3.5%; let me know what you think!

I really enjoyed Robb’s post about the battle between your present and future self. There are terrible dilemmas between spending now or saving and enjoy your money later. I’ve been on both sides of the fence and decided another way: just live today as I want to live in the next 50 years. I decided to cancel the “retirement” concept off my mind and approach life differently.

Dividend Quest made a list of 5 advantages of dividend investing. I particularly like the picture at the start of the post (I love the beard!) and the last advantage that is empowerment!

Dividend Vet bought Costco. Yield is low and valuation is a bit high for my taste. However, the company is clearly gaining more leadership year after year. It’s hard to find deals these days!

Dividend Growth Investor shares a great table about saving early and powering compounding interest. I think we should quit a few math modules in class and replace it with such materials. If we could teach the power of saving and the power of compounding interest to all kids, we would live in a rich world in 40 years!

Dividend Mantra discusses asset allocation model for dividend stock. I almost agree with him on all point (besides adding techno stocks! Hahaha!). I think we can’t ignore companies like AAPL, MSFT, INTL, IBM, etc. They are full of cash and paying generous dividend.

Martin brings a quick stock pick polls. Interesting list of stocks, I’ve picked Chevron (CVX) as like taking some risk once in a while 😉

Finally, DivGro bought Macquarie Infrastructure Company (MIC). PE ratio is very low and the company recently started to increase its dividend after suspending it in 2009 when the construction market was going sideways. Pretty interesting company that I will have to take a second look in the future! Great found anyway!

And a Special Mention To…

Leo Babauta from Zen Habits (yeah… not linked to investing at all!) for this great post on changing things in your life. He writes about how amazing it is to feel determined to make changes in your life but how it is so easy to let this feeling fade away. He gives some of his tricks to quit an existing habit or add a good one to your life. I went through this process over the Holidays where I decided I would work out and lose weight in a serious matter. Almost 6 months later, I still work out 3 or 4 times a week, I now run 7km in 33 minutes and I lost 20 pounds (right in time for summer!). Without knowing about this post, I used almost all his tricks:

Make a commitment

Set up a daily session

Create unforgettable reminders

Be accountable

Give yourself an event (I’m running a 9k trail + 10k run in three weeks!)

Enjoy each step

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