Watch List: Archer Daniels Midland Co.

ADM is in the major diversified food industry. It provides transport, storage, and production of agricultural items in the United States and a portion internationally. In addition to the creation of vegetable oils, partially refined oils, and other nutrition products, ADM also operates fertilizer facilities and has a stake in the production of bio products with their corn processing segment. The company also dabbles in crop insurance and brokerage services.

Mind Over Mr. Market

Mr. Market, the alter ego of the stock market that decides that some days he wants to move in a thoughtful and meaningful way and on other days crash, burn, and send hell raging through your portfolio. Regardless of what Mr. Market decides to do, it appears to control a certain part of many people's psyche in the wrong direction when he decides to go on his rampage. Due to this control, we need to learn to master our own minds so that we end up running the show rather than him controlling the scene.

What really drives our brains when Mr. Market shows up? There are a multitude of factors. The most important is that we're trained from a very young age that if something works, do more of it to make sure it still feels good. If on the other hand, you place your hand on a hot stove and it hurts, you immediately remember not to put your hand on the hot stove. It only takes once to remember to not place your hand on a

Dividend Income: February

Where or where did the month of February go? It seems like just yesterday that I was posting the ending results for January but here we are at the annual post for February dividend income already. Without further delay, let's get started.

February 2016 Dividends:

YUM - YUM Brands - $3.22

Total dividend income for February: $3.22
Total dividend income for 2016: $36.52


Stock purchases for the month of February:

2/3/2016 - EMR - Emerson Electric - 16 shares at $45.65/share


All in all, February was a slow month for dividend income but at least it came with the acquisition of a great company, EMR. This means that even though the portfolio is still not at the stage where it necessarily brings in a giant snow ball of wealth, as long as I continue to add to it, the snow ball inevitably becomes bigger and then yields more returns in the following years. This should be and always will be the most important thing to dividend investors such as myself. The short term is something that we cannot be too concerned about. We should instead keep our eyes on the long haul and focus on creating a small piece of a giant masterpiece that is yet to come. Every journey starts with the first step and these are some of my first steps.

Moving forward I want to continue investing in companies that meet the exact criteria of my past analysis on the stocks I already own. The process has worked so far and if it works, why reinvent the wheel? This should ensure continued success in companies that are not short term bets but instead are meant to be seen in the portfolio for many years to come. In the short term, I would like to set my eyes on adding an auto stock or a bank stock to the portfolio. These sectors appear to be down right now given the awkward movement of oil prices and that means that they come at a well deserved discount.

Thanks for reading,
Dividend Monster

Watch List: Kinder Morgan

If you’re like a large handful of investors right now, you’re probably asking yourself if it’s a good idea to load some of your cash into Kinder Morgan. The stock that was only recently trading for more than double its current value finds itself at an impasse as it has now plummeted to a measly $17.71/share over a few short months. This presents a chance for dividend growth investors because even though they slashed the high dividend payment to only 2.88% now, it is now trading at a huge discount. Also, the big man Mr. Buffett decided to load his eggs into their basket at the discount price. You’d almost think that the stock was being sold at Walmart on rollback!

Dividend Increase: WMT

Oh what a wonderful year it has been for the Cookie Jar so far and this month is no different. Although the market has recently seen some volatility, WMT again decided for the 43rd consecutive year to raise its dividends and guess who owns a nice little piece of WMT? We do! This means that without us lifting even the smallest amount of our fingers, we’ve effectively seen a raise from a great company that still shows support for its investors. Although the company itself has seem some slowing over the most recent years, they still show that they are a dividend paying contender.

Aim for a Catalyst Stock

I believe that one of the most important things to do when looking for stock to invest in is to specifically try to eye the market for a catalyst stock. By this I mean to say that I watch and listen to the news and whenever I hear or read that a company that was once known and loved has suddenly come under fire for some reason or another, that's enough reason to start looking into the company as a potential investment. The human brain wants to lead you to believe otherwise and the media just eats it up. After all, at the core of everyone is a little beast that loves to start or watch drama unfold.

Watch List: Darden Restaurants

Have you ever been to Red Lobster? Does your mouth salivate at the very thought of those delicious cheddar biscuits? How about Olive Garden's bread sticks? Do you like those? Do you crave them? If the answer is yes and you also possibly enjoy Long Horn Steakhouse or Bahama Breeze, then maybe DRI is your next acquisition. Darden Restaurants owns and operates nearly 1,900 of these locations in the US and Canada and it is the next stock on our watch list to be reviewed.

Watch List: Lexmark International Inc.

If you work in any high rise office building or any corporate building for that matter, you’re probably familiar with either Cisco or Lexmark for their office products. Lexmark specializes in the creation and supply of office products such as color printers, cartridges, and other office solutions. The company was founded in the early nineties and is run out of their headquarters in Kentucky.

Essentials Tag

As you may have noticed, I've been posting some articles lately that appear to be aimed at a younger investing crowd. These articles are what I like to refer to as the essentials. I plan on continuing to post articles like these in the future to bring younger investors up to speed if up until this point they have been blindly throwing darts at stocks or completely ignoring investing. I post links to my blog on social media to try to pinpoint these young or potential investors to show them that investing is not as barred to them as they had previously thought.

With enough of these essentials, pretty much anyone should feel like they have a great hold on all the items they need in order to start actually understanding companies that they wish to invest in. Granted, as a dividend growth investor, my posts will be mostly aimed at pieces that I feel are important to dividend growth investors but there may be items outside of this realm that I feel also help us analyze companies of interest. 

With this being said, I have since tagged these posts appropriately under the tag "essentials" so that those who are interested can more easily find them. As a message to those who do not find a need for these types of posts, you can simply scroll past them or stay and read them while also noting other items within the subject in the comments that may be useful to young investors. I think this will greatly help those who so desperately need the help.

Stock trading should be something that we all try to understand as best we can and it should also be our job once we become seasoned investors to educate those who have not yet dipped into the trade. If we neglect to do so, we reject those who were likely very much like our past selves prior to obtaining thriving portfolios and the knowledge on how to obtain them. Whether or not you agree that it is our duty to provide this information is your own issue but I myself will be doing everything in my power to try to assist those who have questions and find even the slightest bit of interest in the subject and I hope that I am not alone. 

Thank you,

-Dividend Monster

EPS - Earnings Per Share

Yes, EPS means Earnings Per Share but what does it really mean? EPS is the portion of the profit of a company that is assigned to the share of the company that you are looking into. Basically, it's another good indicator of whether or not the company you're interested in is profitable.

Price to Earnings Ratio - P/E

In my last article, I reviewed the method I use to pick stocks for the Cookie Jar portfolio. One of these items was using the P/E ratio as a factor to determine whether a stock is worthy. Today I want to dive in deeper into P/E ratios: what they are, how to use them, and all in all breaking them down.

My Method of Evaluation

I think the question that I get most from readers is what method of evaluation I use to choose the select stocks that I feel really fit the mold for the Cookie Jar portfolio. After all, it should be the most important question for any dividend growth investor. What really matters to me? What do I hate most and try to avoid?

Make Money: Selling Clothes

When was the last time you looked in your closet? Were you a little disgusted by how out of control it looks? Do you have a huge load of clothes that no longer fit or that you never wear? If so, you’ll want to continue reading. I’ll be covering ways to make money by selling your new or used clothes.

Watch List: PepsiCo

Readers,

It may feel like I’m posting a little too much lately… so let’s keep that trend going! Today I’d like to review a company that we all know and I think most of us love. That’s right ladies and gentlemen. I’m talking about PepsiCo. Let’s dig in!

Watch List: GameStop

Good morning,

I hope everyone is doing well. Today I'd like to review a smaller company than usual to start a mix up of the monsters that are currently in the Cookie Jar portfolio. That being said, I've chosen an up and coming dividend contender to review for the watch list. Let's review GameStop.

Money Saver: Auto Choice

Readers,

I know that we all know and love our cars/trucks/vans/motorcycles and we all love the freedom to go where ever we want, when we want, but we all need to take a serious look at how much we spend on that freedom. We need to do so because there is serious money to be saved on the table! I currently own a vehicle that would easily be placed into the luxury vehicle category. Prior to owning it, I had placed money aside that was meant to buy a beautiful, money saving, reliable, and common vehicle. Unfortunately, American consumerism got to me first.

Life: Date Your Wife

Readers,

I know that most of what I post here is related to my portfolio, the watch list, money making ideas, and other stock related items but I want to make sure that you all know that this blog is intended to serve a much bigger purpose. I hope for it to also log certain parts of my life so that I can remain mindful and hopefully it will serve the same for some of you. With that being said, I want to log a little bit about my life in the recent month and why I want to remind myself that it's important to continue to date your wife long after you're married.

Make Money: Uber/Lyft

Readers,

It's a beautiful morning here in chilly Nebraska as I write you all another installment of how to make money with a side gig. Today I'd like to discuss something that I both love and hate for so many reasons. I'd like to discuss the possibility of making money by driving with Uber or Lyft. Let's dig in, shall we?

Watch List: Honda Motors

Good morning,

I promised when I reviewed Ford Motor Company that I would be following up with a few other auto companies to see which one would rein supreme and I am a man of my word. Next up and the final of the big auto companies that pay dividends is Honda Motors. 

Let's begin:

Watch List: General Motors

Good morning,

Since yesterday was the day for a Ford Motor Company review, today will be a day dedicated to reviewing one of their competitors and another dividend paying company, General Motors. We'll review the company, their historical data, and then how it stacks up today. After the review is complete, I'll decide whether or not it earns a spot on the watch list. 

Let's get it on:

Watch List: Ford

Good morning readers,

Today I would like to dive into the Ford Motor Company (F) to see if they are worthy of being added to the watch list. Now that I've grabbed hold of EMR, I can turn my sights to the auto industry and try to pick up a stock from that area. In the coming days/week, I'll be reviewing a small handful of them and seeing which one or two will be a possible investment option.

Let's dig in:

New Layout

Readers,

If you've been watching the page for the last hour or so, you've seen how many different layout changes have occurred. I can be quite the perfectionist when it comes to things so I've been playing around with it. I have now saved the final changes and they shouldn't be changing again unless something comes up and I'm forced to change it. I would love to hear your feedback if there are any comments on it or if some part of it isn't working for any of you.

Thanks for understanding,

-DM

Recent Buy: Emerson Electric

Good morning,

This morning was a great morning because I finally got to cash in on EMR. If you've been reading my blog recently, you'd know that I have been keeping my eye on this company for some time now. Last night my budget finalized for January and I confirmed how much I could invest. Thankfully, the Mrs. and I did very well even though we did spend a bit of cash on the honeymoon that we went on for two weeks. This left a good reserve that was sizable enough to cash in on some stock for the month.

Make Money: Mover

Hello readers,

Today I’d like to discuss the possibility of becoming a mover in order to make some side money.

How to do it:

Let’s face the truth. In most of today’s communities, people are becoming more and more lazy. In addition to this, apartment and housing prices are constantly moving with the economy. This creates a need because you will always have a constant flow of traffic in regards to people moving into and out of homes/apartments. With the right combination of lazy people and the high cost of higher normal movers there comes the niche of becoming a mover. Whether you own a sizable vehicle of which to transport goods or not, you can make money off of this idea.

Watch List: Tupperware

Good morning,

On this glorious morning of February first, I'd like to review TUP - Tupperware.


Current Portfolio

Industrial:
GE - General Electric

Telecommunications:
T - AT&T

Consumer Staples:
WMT - Walmart

Consumer Discretionary:
GPS - Gap Inc.
YUM - Yum! Brands Inc.