As you know by now I make a stock purchase every single month no matter what is going on in the world and despite the doom and gloom headlines. Perhaps I am naive or more of an optimist that we will get through these dark financial times somehow. Of course, it’s getting harder to simply invest with blinders on as more articles are being written about the demise of the U.S. dollar and clearly gold, silver and bitcoin highlight this potential fact as the dollar continues to weaken. Honestly, who the heck knows anymore? Wall street is partying like it’s 1999 while Main street suffers with high unemployment and ever increasing consumer prices. Banks are artificially propped up… massive amounts of cash printed out of thin air, Federal Reserve bank the scourge of modern finance some have you believe, fiat money backed by nothing. What gives??? While I am a firm believer in investing in stocks for the long haul and love dividend focused investing (despite cuts) I also believe in having assets well diversified. Stocks are great, but these days I believe hard assets like gold, silver, bitcoin and real estate are just as important. Without ranting too much further I’d like to share my July 2020 stock purchases. A little late with the post as DivHut has been giving me serious issues. I went super plain, minimal plugins and hope DivHut will remain secure. Geez, I just want to blog without dealing with malware redirects, DDOS, phishing and other hacks. OK… on to my July buys:
I have added to my taxable account 33.7610 shares at $29.61 for a total investment of $999.66 in AT&T Inc. (T). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in T now totals 97.1659 shares with a market value of $2,890.20.
I have added to my taxable account 4.9147 share at $203.47 for a total investment of $999.99 in Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in MSFT now totals 7.9201 shares with a market value of $1,653.56. I also hold 2.0054 shares in my ROTH account.
I have added to my taxable account 2.6189 shares at $381.82 for a total investment of $999.95 in Apple Inc. (AAPL). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in AAPL now totals 8.6350 shares with a market value of $3,975.88. I also hold 7.0161 shares in my ROTH account.
I have added to my taxable account 24.0853 share at $41.51 for a total investment of $999.78 in Altria Group, Inc. (MO). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in MO now totals 248.7205 shares with a market value of $10,610.39. I also hold 47.1363 shares in my ROTH account.
In total I have put $3,999.38 of fresh capital to work in July. Again, I have no idea about the immediate future but long term, and with a diversified portfolio, I feel I can weather our current economic storm. Of course, these days it seems that no portfolio is immune from those dreaded dividend cuts but by staying the course and continuing to invest and diversifying greatly mitigates any of the nastiness.
What do you think about my recent stock buys? Are you adding/ed anything in July/August or accumulating/sitting on cash? Please let me know below. I also shuttled several stocks in July that stopped paying dividends. Basically all spin offs.
Hopefully my site will be trouble free going forward and I will be able to post in a timely manner.
Disclosure: Long all above
Keith,
I’m with you. Who knows what is going on in the market right now? I watch the market climb without the underlying fundamental data to support it. We are approaching pre-COVID stock prices; however, unemployment has tripled and the economy is limping. Meanwhile, the Fed’s balance sheet continues to balloon. Fascinating, fascinating stuff right here!
In regards to your purchases. Excellent companies. T under $30 was one of my go to stocks. I freaking loved it. THe other 3 companies are fantastic names as well. Enjoy the extra dividends my friend!
Bert
Dividend Diplomats recently posted…Best Credit Card Stock to Buy: Visa, Mastercard, AmEx & Discover
Hi DD,
Something definitely doesn’t smell right with the market behaving as it is. This is why I mentioned the importance of having real hard assets too. I need to beef up my dividends going forward. After GE, KHC, BP, WFC, YUMC, KTB, WELL, VTR and anyone else I forgot to mention I need those raises and fresh capital to be put to work.
Great companies during this situation.
Hi KD,
Well MSFT and AAPL are sitting on tons of cash so that helps weather the storm and others are are still safe higher yielding plays. Thanks for commenting.
Solid picks there.
I sold off some ETFs that I was not happy with, performance wise. Made a few bucks and put it back into single stocks: T, MO, ADM etc. to capture the relatively low costs.
I typically like energy/utility and was wanting to buy some more XOM but saw the article about them cutting the employ match in order save on costs. I get it, the company as a whole survival etc but it irked me so, I went a different direction. We’ll see how it goes.
I would have liked to have gone and bought several others on my watch-list but I think, looking back, it was good to hold out. Even with the price per share doubling in most cases(from the covid lows), I think seeing how the political winds blow, could be advantageous.
Either way, with some cash sitting there and added divi’s coming in, I believe Im in a good spot to capture whats coming either way.
Hi whiskey,
I never went the ETF route since going DGI. I prefer my individual stocks and take the risks of potential dividend cuts as they come. Energy has taken it on the chin in 2020. It could be a nice comeback play in coming years as oil is still an important part of the world economy no matter how much progress renewable has made. Oil will be with us for decades to come as it slowly fades into the sunset. Keeping cash is never a bad idea either to take advantage of those inevitable drops. Thanks for commenting.
Hello Keith.
I’m Jay Yoon from South Korea.
I’ve worked in port industry since 2016. I’m just married and 31 years old.
Actually, I was not interested in stock market until 2019, but I’ve continuously read economic news to understand how the world are going on. I wanted to save money on back account for getting 1~2% interest. However, the situation became worse. The ratio of interest continues to decrease due to the economic downturn and the COVID-19.
For this reason, I’m become more interested in stock market especially dividend stock.
After reading your blog, I’m very impressive that you have invested for a long time and share what you’ve achieved for us.
I want you to advise for me how I start to invest dividend stock market.
These days, I read books about the way to invest written by Kostolanys, David Dreman, and Bodo Schäfer.
I want to get life without economic concern. Please share your experience of the beginning investment life. Below is my address.
E-mail : beermania6866@gmail.com
Thanks in advance
Best regards
Jay
Hi JY,
Thanks for your comment. I cannot give you any specific advice about investing but you are more than welcome to follow along my blog and read about my exploits. Every person is in a different situation and there is no single “best” method for investing. I can tell you that I like dividend investing because this style, even with cuts, offers one an opportunity to build up a passive income stream. Hope this helps.