If You Own Utility Stocks, Consider Selling The Overvalued Ones - Part 1 - Seeking Alpha: Recently, I've come across several discussions by dividend growth investors as to whether the utility sector is overvalued or not today. Therefore, I decided to look into the sector's relative valuation as a whole to see what I could find. The only way to efficiently conduct this kind of research is to rely on a broad statistical array utilizing traditional valuation metrics.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Important Metrics For Dividend Growth Investors - Seeking Alpha
Important Metrics For Dividend Growth Investors - Seeking Alpha: Here is a selection of metrics that are particularly significant to dividend growth investors. Each investor has his/her own approach, so some of these may be less important to particular individuals than they are to me. On the other hand, I'm sure this list is missing some items that are extremely important to other individuals. So consider this a starter kit. In my own stock analysis, I use more metrics and factors than are discussed here.
Monday, July 23, 2012
35 Ways To Save Money | Boomer & Echo
35 Ways To Save Money
We all know there are plenty of ways to save money, but some things are so obvious you can classify them as common sense rather than smart spending. Drinking tap water and avoiding fast food certainly fall into that category.
Other ways to save money just don’t seem worthwhile. Making your own deodorant or toothpaste will only save you a few pennies and isn’t worth the time.
My wife and I went through all the different ways we save money on everything from housing and insurance to investing and shopping. Hopefully you find these more useful than the ubiquitous latte factor.
Here are 35 ways to save money:
1. We took out a variable rate mortgage on our house at prime minus 0.80, which means the interest rate on our mortgage is an ultra-low 2.20%.
2. Before we negotiated our low mortgage rate, we shopped around using a comparison tool like Rate Supermarket to make sure our bank gave us the best rate.
3. We avoided CMHC mortgage insurance fees by saving over 20% for our down payment. This meant waiting to buy our dream home for 18 months while we saved our money, but it was worth it.
4. We turned down the mortgage life insurance product offered by our bank, instead opting for much cheaper term life insurance.
5. We increased our mortgage payments by $800 a month to lower our amortization to less than 15 years. We’ll save thousands in interest by paying off our mortgage early.
6. I reduced my trading costs from $29 to $9.99 by combining accounts with one brokerage to reach the $50,000 minimum assets threshold.
7. I make sure that my trading costs are no more than 1% of the total stock purchase. For example, since a trade costs $9.99, I’ll make sure to buy more than $1,000 worth of stock.
8. I use low cost index funds like TD e-Series instead of high MER equity mutual funds. The MER on TD’s Canadian Index e-Series is 0.33% compared to TD’s Canadian Equity mutual fund at 2.18%.
9. When I worked in the private sector I took advantage of my employer match for RRSP contributions, which worked out to a 50% return.
10. We use a cash back credit card for our everyday spending and recurring bill payments. We earned over $500 by using the MBNA Smart Cash MasterCard last year.
11. We use a no fee chequing account at ING Direct for payroll, debit purchases and online bill payments that can’t be put on a credit card.
12. We keep a minimum balance of $1,500 in our TD chequing account to avoid bank fees.
13. We ditched our landline in 2009 and saved nearly $40 a month.
14. We regularly call our satellite TV and internet provider to ask for discounts. Wesaved more than $300 on our cable and internet bills with this strategy.
15. I negotiated with my employer to pay for my cell phone bill, saving me $60 to $90 a month.
16. We go to the library every 3-4 weeks to get books and the latest DVD’s and Blue-Ray’s for free.
17. We took the floating rate, rather than the fixed rate option for our natural gas plan – a smart move with natural gas prices at historic lows.
18. We use e-post to manage and track our bills online, which helps us pay our bills on time and avoid late fees.
19. We shop at Costco and buy in bulk for the groceries and other items we use frequently to save on the overall price per unit.
20. We make our own home cleaning products for simple wipe-downs and disinfecting using vinegar, water and rubbing alcohol.
21. We try to cook extra for supper so we have leftovers for the next night, or at least for lunch the next day.
22. The cost of beef and chicken keeps going up. We started eating a meatless dish at least once a week to save money on groceries.
23. I come home for lunch as much as possible and brown bag my lunch when the weather is bad or I have a busy day planned and can’t get away from work.
24. We save money on gas because we bought our house close to where I work. Our fuel expenses are between $100 and $150 a month.
25. We reduce our gas costs even further by redeeming Air Miles for fuel gift cards from Shell.
26. We’ve avoided upgrading our 2nd vehicle, which is a 14 year-old Hyundai Elantra that still gets me to work and back whenever my wife needs our main vehicle.
27. We dropped collision coverage on our 2nd vehicle to save on auto insurancepremiums.
28. We increased the deductible on our insurance coverage to lower our premiums.
29. We bundle our home and car insurance to take advantage of the multi-product discount.
30. We save money shopping online using Great Canadian Rebates, where you can earn cash back on your spending.
31. I regularly look for online coupons and promo codes when shopping online. I had to buy a new battery for my Dell laptop and a quick search for Dell promo codes saved me $15.
32. We signed up for free samples from Pampers and Huggies before our daughter was born.
33. We also use Proctor & Gamble’s Brand Saver site to get coupons for diapers and wipes.
34. We try and reduce the clutter on items we don’t need (or use) any more by selling stuff on Kijiji.
35. I avoid buying the extended warranty coverage on electronics and other big ticket items. Our credit card automatically doubles the manufacturer’s warranty.
What are some of the ways you save money?
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Are Dividend Growth Stocks In A Bubble? - Seeking Alpha
Are Dividend Growth Stocks In A Bubble? - Seeking Alpha: Introduction and Background
There has been a spate of recent articles and comments stating or implying that dividend growth stocks are in a bubble. David Jackson, the founder and CEO of Seeking Alpha, stated the following in a recent comment.
I haven't found any other asset class [beside dividend growth stocks] where there are similar causes or indicators of potential overvaluation risk, specifically:
1. macro factors (interest rates, demographics, and tax rates),
2. a significant preponderance of positive articles on SA, with relatively few "challenging" articles,
3. high and rising interest from novice investors. (Please note: I'm *not* saying that all dividend investors are novices; there are many deeply experienced and sophisticated dividend investors.)
There has been a spate of recent articles and comments stating or implying that dividend growth stocks are in a bubble. David Jackson, the founder and CEO of Seeking Alpha, stated the following in a recent comment.
I haven't found any other asset class [beside dividend growth stocks] where there are similar causes or indicators of potential overvaluation risk, specifically:
1. macro factors (interest rates, demographics, and tax rates),
2. a significant preponderance of positive articles on SA, with relatively few "challenging" articles,
3. high and rising interest from novice investors. (Please note: I'm *not* saying that all dividend investors are novices; there are many deeply experienced and sophisticated dividend investors.)
Dividend Aristocrats Are Undervalued - Seeking Alpha
Dividend Aristocrats Are Undervalued - Seeking Alpha: Seeking Alpha is a great resource for the everyday investor in great part because of the open source nature of the information it offers. The Seeking Alpha site has only one agenda, and that is to help its readers become better prepared and smarter investors. David Jackson, Seeking Alpha's founder, recently directed readers to an article titled "New Highs, New Lows, Yield Greed" by David Merkel that he felt was important, and that subsequently generated a lively comment thread.
Often, the comment threads that a Seeking Alpha article instigates can be of greater value than the article itself. I feel that this was the case with the above-referenced article. The following excerpt from one of David Jackson's comments in the article corroborates my introductory remarks:
Often, the comment threads that a Seeking Alpha article instigates can be of greater value than the article itself. I feel that this was the case with the above-referenced article. The following excerpt from one of David Jackson's comments in the article corroborates my introductory remarks:
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Dividend Growth Portfolio: 2012 Mid-Year Update - Seeking Alpha
Dividend Growth Portfolio: 2012 Mid-Year Update - Seeking Alpha: My Dividend Growth Portfolio (DGP) is a public portfolio that I created to illustrate the principles of dividend growth investing. I report on it periodically so that people can see how one person (me) executes a dividend growth strategy and what its results are.
The DGP's main purpose is educational. Both myself and readers can learn from my good moves and mistakes. I use both hits and errors to tighten up the Dividend Growth Portfolio Strategy that I use to govern the portfolio. In addition to its educational goal, the DGP is an actual component of my retirement portfolio. It has my own real money in it.
The DGP's main purpose is educational. Both myself and readers can learn from my good moves and mistakes. I use both hits and errors to tighten up the Dividend Growth Portfolio Strategy that I use to govern the portfolio. In addition to its educational goal, the DGP is an actual component of my retirement portfolio. It has my own real money in it.
Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha
Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha: In the most recent installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) starting with Most Recent (Percentage) Increase and, last month, with stocks' Estimated Earnings Per Share Growth for the Next 5 Years.
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
This month, I decided to focus on measures of "fair value" and dividend yield (and growth). So I screened as follows:
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
This month, I decided to focus on measures of "fair value" and dividend yield (and growth). So I screened as follows:
Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha
Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha: In the most recent installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) starting with Most Recent (Percentage) Increase and, last month, with stocks' Estimated Earnings Per Share Growth for the Next 5 Years.
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
Dividend Champions Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha
Dividend Champions Smackdown XXVIII - Seeking Alpha: In the most recent installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) starting with Most Recent (Percentage) Increase and, last month, with stocks' Estimated Earnings Per Share Growth for the Next 5 Years.
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)
Monday, July 2, 2012
105 Dividend Champions For July 2012 - Seeking Alpha
105 Dividend Champions For July 2012 - Seeking Alpha: The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 6/29/12 and are available here. Note that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. "CCC" refers to the universe of Champions, Contenders, and Challengers.
With a Little Help from My Friends
June proved to be a surprising month, not only in terms of the number of promotions from one category to another, but also in terms of additions to the Dividend Champions "universe." The newest Champion - Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT) - was not expected to join that list until next year. On June 7, the company announced a modest half-cent increase in its quarterly rate, to 61.5� per share, prompting me to update its streak of increases from 23 to 24 years.
With a Little Help from My Friends
June proved to be a surprising month, not only in terms of the number of promotions from one category to another, but also in terms of additions to the Dividend Champions "universe." The newest Champion - Universal Health Realty Trust (UHT) - was not expected to join that list until next year. On June 7, the company announced a modest half-cent increase in its quarterly rate, to 61.5� per share, prompting me to update its streak of increases from 23 to 24 years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)