Bought: APD, GPC, HCN, HCP, TGT, XOM

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.  Life has been extremely hectic for me with work and family responsibilities.  March was a month with lots of great buying opportunities, and as such, I capitalized on those opportunities to invest in many different companies.

Below are the companies I purchased for the month of March:

Monthly Report: February 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of February 28, 2017:

Bought: APD, D, OHI

The stock market continues to be very interesting these past couple of months.  Some days, it's up a lot; other days, it's down a lot.  My plan is to continue investing every month, although there are times where I struggle whether to hoard up cash until there's a huge pullback so I can buy good quality stocks at huge discounts.  But the opportunity cost could be that the stock market does not have a huge dip anytime soon, and my money would just be sitting there earning pretty much nothing and getting eaten away by inflation.

Thankfully, I found a few companies in the month of February that I decided to purchase:

Sold On Loyal3: WMT

I am in the process of selling off my positions in Loyal3 since I'm not completely comfortable with their beneficiary designation process.  Loyal3 doesn't have any beneficiary forms to fill out so you would have to have your executor contact them to make arrangements.  This is something I'm not 100% comfortable with, especially since I don't want my children to have to deal with administrative headaches when it's my time to leave this earth.  I'm probably way too young to even be considering these things, but I just want to get all my ducks in order so that everything is all set in place for my children in case something were to happen to me or my wife (God forbid).  Estate planning is something I'll need to familiarize myself more with as I get older to ensure that my children get as much as possible without any complications.

Monthly Report: January 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of January 31, 2017:

Bought: CL, MMM, VFC, WMT

With the start of a new year, I've decided to kick it off by investing very aggressively in the first month.  There were several companies that had a slight pullback, and I was able to invest more capital in said companies.  It makes me glad that I can put money to work for me and start the compounding process sooner.

Without further ado, below is a summary of my recent purchases for the month of January:

Sold On Loyal3: AXP, DPS, DNKN, HAS, K, KHC, MAT, MCD, PEP, TGT, UL, YUM

I recently decided to consolidate all my brokerage accounts into one to simplify.  As a result, I am planning on closing out all my positions in Loyal3 over time at a gain.  If any stocks in Loyal3 have an unrealized loss on the books, I will not sell them until they are at a gain.  I still believe that Loyal3 is a great way for beginners to invest since there are no commissions and you can invest with as little as $10.  I also like that you can purchase partial shares based on the capital you invest with.  However, I want to eventually exit out of Loyal3 since I want to consolidate all my accounts and also for beneficiary reasons.  Loyal3 doesn't have a beneficiary form for you to fill out so you would need to have your estate executor coordinate with the people at Loyal3.  There were a few days where I tried calling the phone number, but it wouldn't let me leave a voicemail and I had to contact them via email.  This makes me uneasy, especially from an estate planning perspective.  Thus, I have made the decision to eventually exit out of Loyal3 once all my stocks are at a gain.