Dividend paying stocks....

[Afishegg]

I'm thinking about getting my wife into dividend paying stocks (with interest rates so low), I have a few choices. My question is do any of you have dividend paying stocks? Do you have any insight or recomendations?

Here are the choices I am thinking about.

General Electric -GE ($18.79)

Arthur Daniel Midland -ADM ($30.08)

ATT&T ($26.61)

Lowes ($25.08)

I am thinking about getting my wife a gift of about $2K of each of these stocks each. What do you think?

[WorkFE]

Fish,

I know of several on here that own individual stocks. All of those I own, for dividend purpose, are old school heavy weights that produce consistently. AT&T, GE and Lowes fall into that category and I own.
I take shots at newcomers on occassion but normally not for dividends. In pop a profit and out. Win more than I lose but the risk is greater.

GL

[Nate]

GE Annual Div = $0.56
Yield 3.06%

ADM Annual Div = $0.60
Yield 1.97%

AT&T Annual Div = $1.72
Yield 5.80%

Lowes Annual Div = $0.44
Yield 1.75%

Im not quite sure what the yield is, but from the little I've read and seen lately...
NextEra Energy - NEE ($52.23) Annual Div = $2.00
Yield 3.83%
Conoco Phillips - COP ($68.24) Annual Div $2.20
Yield 3.22%
Lockheed Martin - LMT ($69.87) Annual Div $3.00
Yield 4.29

AT&T looks good.
I would think Birch may be one to ask.

[Bullitt]

Just buy DVY (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DVY). Don't bother with trying to build a portfolio full of stocks.

[Birchtree]

With a portfolio full of stinky stocks you have the potential for capital gains - dividend increases are gravy. I'm currently buying stocks to enhance my revenue streams.

[James48843]

I'm thinking about getting my wife into dividend paying stocks (with interest rates so low), I have a few choices. My question is do any of you have dividend paying stocks? Do you have any insight or recomendations?

Here are the choices I am thinking about.

General Electric -GE ($18.79)

Arthur Daniel Midland -ADM ($30.08)

ATT&T ($26.61)

Lowes ($25.08)

I am thinking about getting my wife a gift of about $2K of each of these stocks each. What do you think?

If you buy them for me, I promise to do the laundry for six months, and I can cook too.

[ocean]

I submitted Form TSP-77 to transfer my TSP to an IRA account last week, and hope it will be completed in the next 30 days or so as someone on the board here had mentioned. I will then invest the entire amount into some selected stocks and ETFs which it will pay out dividends. I am looking for companies that continue to grow and pay decent dividends.

Here are the first 10 candidates that I had identified and will be purchased when the fund is transferred.

1. ABT – 3.8% (annual dividend)
2. AGG – 3.54%
3. CVX – 3.2%
4. ED – 4.4%
5. HYG – 8.68%
6. IEF – 2.98%
7. JNJ – 3.5%
8. KO – 2.7%
9. MCD – 2.8%
10. MO – 5.8%

The combined average yields will be about 4.1% as of today. My plan is to continue to build this portfolio and reinvest dividends back into the stocks and ETFs until sometime in the future that I need the dividends to supplement as my monthly income. I hope this plan will work out.

Ocean

[KevinD]

If the value of the stock price goes down...does that mean the dividend also goes down?

In other words, is the dividend a percent of the value of the stock or is it a fixed amount?

TIA!

[Mista_Magee]

I submitted Form TSP-77 to transfer my TSP to an IRA account last week, and hope it will be completed in the next 30 days or so as someone on the board here had mentioned. I will then invest the entire amount into some selected stocks and ETFs which it will pay out dividends. I am looking for companies that continue to grow and pay decent dividends.

Here are the first 10 candidates that I had identified and will be purchased when the fund is transferred.

1. ABT – 3.8% (annual dividend)
2. AGG – 3.54%
3. CVX – 3.2%
4. ED – 4.4%
5. HYG – 8.68%
6. IEF – 2.98%
7. JNJ – 3.5%
8. KO – 2.7%
9. MCD – 2.8%
10. MO – 5.8%

The combined average yields will be about 4.1% as of today. My plan is to continue to build this portfolio and reinvest dividends back into the stocks and ETFs until sometime in the future that I need the dividends to supplement as my monthly income. I hope this plan will work out.

Ocean

Thanks for posting this info. Which investment firm did you choose? I recently did the same thing except I chose monthly transfers and opened the IRA with Vanguard. Once TSP receives the TSP-77 the transfer should be completed within 30 days, more like two weeks. You will receive a message on your TSP account on line on the day the transfer is complete. It takes about 8 days after transfer before I receive a message from Vanguard that the funds have been received, then there is another 3 or 4 day wait before the funds are availabe for trading. I am gradually converting the IRA into a Roth IRA. So far, I have: SLV, IAU, CSX, VHT, VDE and AAPL. I was maintaining until last week when the market plunged. At this time, I don't want to know how far down I went. ABT, JNJ and MO are on my list for the future.

So far, my transfers are always made when the market is at it's lowest point and while I am waiting for the funds to become available in my account with Vanguard, the market goes up 5 - 8%. That's an automatic loss unless one can manage to hold off until the market goes down again. It always does after I have invested my funds. How far into the future do you think you might wait before you use your dividend income to live on? Does one pick and choose which investments they want to receive the dividends from or does one have to choose all or none? I would think picking and choosing would be a tough decision to make. This is a decision I will have to make at some point if I am ever to enjoy some of my TSP. Keep us posted on your moves and activity in the future.

Birchtree, if you read this, at what point do you plan to use your dividend income? Do you know the answer to the question I posed above? By the time I use mine, I don't expect to have acquired very many shares. Looking a two to three years out. Thanks.

[ocean]

Kevin,

The dividend would normally stay the same even the stock price dropped for a long period of time (months or years) for most quality stocks. So it would benefit for dollar-cost averaging (DCA) with dividend reinvested on the underline stock.

Mista,

Thanks for the useful info on the TSP transfer. I have an account with Schwab. The commission fee is $8.95 per trade and they have dividend reinvest feature without additional cost. To answer your question, I will not touch the dividend income for another 3 years until my wife retires at that time from her current job.

For long term investment, I finally realized that DCA with dividend reinvested would be the best way to go (echo with Birch) but no margin play. IMO, there is really no particular entry point for long term dividend reinvest strategy. The key point is how you pick your stocks. However, for seasonality, the months of Nov and Dec which stocks normally would go up, particularly in the pre-election year. I would start buying in October this year if I could.

For DCA to work, dividend payout stock is a must. As for stocks selection, I would definitely look for companies that pay dividend and continue to grow. Here are the categories:

1. Cyclical: ABT, JNJ, KO, MCD and MO
2. Utility/Energy/Oil: CVX and ED
3. ETF bond funds: AGG, IEF and HYG

This is how I constructed my core positions posted previously and I think it would be a good mixed which covered cyclical, utility/energy and bond equivalent ETFs.

The forth category that I like is REIT. REIT tends to pay higher dividend with less growth because most of the earnings are allocated for dividend payout. But it will be a good addition when your portfolio becomes larger and you want more diversification. One stock that I like is NLY and it pays 13.7% as of today.

Ocean

[Birchtree]

The nice touch about dividend reinvestment is that it repeats every three months and the income will increase as more stock is purchased. September is one of my big months with around 75 dividend payments - 15 are due on 9/30. I was planning to use my dividends to make a mortgage payment on a lake house. I'm now on the come back trail again - so I'll have to wait awhile before using the income for lifestyle.

[ocean]

Just checked my TSP account, my partial withdrawal was disbursed on Oct 5 and it will take about 10 business days for the check to be sent to my IRA account. I already created a buy list and once the check gets clear, I will setup my income portfolio and let it run.

My buy list includes ABT, AGG, CVX, ED, IEF, JNJ, KO, MCD, MO and PFF. The combined average yields is about 4% and I think this is good enough to get started.

My remaining balance from the TSP account will be switched to C fund and hope to catch the year-end rally from this point.

Ocean

[ocean]

My IRA account just received the transferred check from TSP and I was able to place some stocks purchased today. I will complete my buy list in the next few days. After that I will sit back to watch this portfolio to grow and collect dividends at the same time. The whole process of transferring from TSP to IRA account took about 3 weeks and I am glad that I don't need to wait that long.

Ocean

[bmneveu]

My buy list includes ABT, AGG, CVX, ED, IEF, JNJ, KO, MCD, MO and PFF. The combined average yields is about 4% and I think this is good enough to get started.

I personally own KO and believe now is a great time to buy. It made a new 52-week high recently, currently in an attractive dip, low volatility, doesn't move with all the political/world news very much.

EDIT: KO is also posting earning next week which should give it a nice boost! :)

[ocean]

KO definitely is on my buy list and its continued growth of dividend is very attractive. Berkshire Hathaway owns 8.7% of the stock with 200 million shares. Can't go wrong with it.

[Mista_Magee]

My IRA account just received the transferred check from TSP and I was able to place some stocks purchased today. I will complete my buy list in the next few days. After that I will sit back to watch this portfolio to grow and collect dividends at the same time. The whole process of transferring from TSP to IRA account took about 3 weeks and I am glad that I don't need to wait that long.

Ocean

At least you didn't have to wait another 3 days for your brokerage to make sure the TSP check was good. My funds are unavailabe for trading for at least 3 days unless I speak to a "live" person to place the trade.

[Afishegg]

Can someone give me an idea of how much we are talking about when we talk about "dividends"? I am interested in this subject but according to my own understanding dividends are usually very low maybe tens of dollars or less for a few thousand dollars worth of shares. Say I pick 5 dividend paying stocks and buy 5k$ worth of each for a total of 25k$ portfolio to start off, what would each dividend payment on each individual stock look like. I'm just curious because I really am thinking about doing this soon.

[RealMoneyIssues]

...unless I speak to a "live" person to place the trade.
Ouch, if I did that my trade would cost $50 instead of $8 online...

[Mista_Magee]

Ouch, if I did that my trade would cost $50 instead of $8 online...

The first 20 trades in a year are $7, doesn't matter if online or "live" person. After 20 trades even online it's something like $30. For much larger accounts, the cost goes down.

[Scout333]

what would each dividend payment on each individual stock look like. I'm just curious because I really am thinking about doing this soon. Fish, Every stock is different. Some pay no dividends, some pay low yields, some pay higher. No guarantees they will continue paying what they have in the past. Generally, the higher the yields the higher the risk. Suggest doing a little research. Advisers such as the Motley Fool usually will list their top ten dividend paying stocks. Utility stocks such as Southern Company, etc. usually pay in the 4-5% range and are fairly consistent in good times and bad. Probably wouldn't want to put all your eggs in one industry basket. When you get more comfortable with your investing you may want to look at REITS such as Annaly Cap. (NLY) which is paying around 15% right now but is a higher risk investment because it is very interest sensitive. Also, a lot of dividend paying companies have dividend reinvestment plans which purchase additional shares at no or very low fees. Good Investing!

[Scout333]

Fish, Try this list from MF. http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2010/12/23/the-best-dividend-stocks-of-2011.aspx

[ocean]

Fish,

The key point for dividend play is to reinvest the dividend back into the same stock every time it pays dividend. There is no commission for dividend stock purchase for most participating brokerage firms. You will see the difference down the road even when you start out small. I believe this is how it works for Birchtree's oceanic account. Scout gave you a very good link related to this area.

Mista,

I have Schwab and commission is $8.95 per trade and they have Schwab bank for fee checking and free (rebate) ATM withdrawal from any bank. I'm pretty happy with their service.

Ocean

[ocean]

I just finished buying all the stocks from my buy list for my IRA account. Here are 12 positions out of the 32 stocks in my portfolio:

ABT, AGG, COP, CVX, ED, IEF, JNJ, KO, MCD, MO, MSFT, and NLY. The entire portfolio will generate combined returns of about 4.5% annually and all dividends will be reinvested.

Also, I will write some call options to generate extra income from stocks such as MSFT. One good thing about MSFT is that it has weekly options so I can keep writing out-of-money (OTM) calls every week if it falls in the right price range. If MSFT drops below my purchase price, I just sit there and collect my 3% dividend annually.

BTW, I just requested Schwab to activate my option feature for my IRA account and I hope it works as planned.

Ocean

[tsptalk]

BTW, I just requested Schwab to activate my option feature for my IRA account and I hope it works as planned.

I have avoided options in my IRA, but I wish they would allow margin in IRA's, just so we could short stocks. I don't know if this is a NASD thing or if it's just Scottrade that doesn't allow it.

Good luck!

[ocean]

Schwab allows options for IRA account. I intend to use cover call options for now and may be spread options down the road. Interactive Broker allows margin for IRA but the gains/profits on margin IRA may be difficult to by-pass IRS.

[tsptalk]

I have avoided options in my IRA, but I wish they would allow margin in IRA's, just so we could short stocks. I don't know if this is a NASD thing or if it's just Scottrade that doesn't allow it.

I just confirmed that it is the IRS that prohibits margin in IRA accounts. Isn't that special. It seems overreaching for the IRS to be able tell us what we can and can't do in our own accounts. Shouldn't they (my ex-employer) just worry about collecting the taxes owed on the account?

Oh well. I guess we're stuck with this silly 3-day settlement rule to avoid "free rides". It's funny how we have the opposite problem in our TSP accounts:

In our TSP we can sell at any time. In an IRA you can buy any time, but you can only sell if you've held the position for 3 days - assuming you bought that position using the proceeds from a prior sale within 3 days.

So many obstacles, so little time. :)

[ocean]

That's why I didn't open the margin account with Interactive Brokerage (IB) even they offer it. As far as I know, this is the only brokerage firm that offers margin IRA and I believe IB is a British owned company. That may be the reason that no other US companies can offer it.

With the new IRA account, all my stocks will be dividend reinvested but I will pick a few stocks for covered call options to generate residual income. For example, today I wrote a covered call for MSFT with strike price at 28 for $.52 expiring on Nov 18. I have 2000 shares so I can write 20 calls to generate $1040 before commission. My average purchase cost was $27 which I bought yesterday with my new TSP transferred money so it would lower my purchase price to around $26.48. Also Nov 15 is an ex-dividend date for MSFT so I will collect another quarterly dividend pay out of $400. I will see how MSFT will do toward Nov 18.

BTW, I just created a margin account (non IRA) with Tradestation specifically for serious short term trading from this account and I guess this is how I will spend my time as retiree for now.

[Birchtree]

Welcome to the shark tank when you go on margin - remember your interest costs are tax deductable as an incentive to assume risk with your capital. With this current bull run you can most likely kiss your MSFT goodbye - someone will call it away - not worth the extra risk.

[ocean]

I heard about the danger of the margin account with margin calls and I will be dancing with the sharks on the big stage pretty soon. I will let you know how I do.

If MSFT gets call away on Nov 18, I am ok with that because I would have collected the $1040 option money, $400 dividend and $2000 profits (from $27 to $28). It is all done within about 36 days or so for returns of 6.3%. If MSFT doesn't hit $28 by then, I will write another call for December and I will just keep on writing it as long as I own the stock. Meanwhile, I will continue to collect $400 dividend each quarter and it is to be reinvested. It looks good on paper at least.

[Birchtree]

It would seem the whole of society has been focused on leveraging down - you and I are doing just the opposite. Interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time - and that's not my fault - but I'll certainly take advantage of the situation.

[alevin]

That's why I didn't open the margin account with Interactive Brokerage (IB) even they offer it. As far as I know, this is the only brokerage firm that offers margin IRA and I believe IB is a British owned company. That may be the reason that no other US companies can offer it.

With the new IRA account, all my stocks will be dividend reinvested but I will pick a few stocks for covered call options to generate residual income. For example, today I wrote a covered call for MSFT with strike price at 28 for $.52 expiring on Nov 18. I have 2000 shares so I can write 20 calls to generate $1040 before commission. My average purchase cost was $27 which I bought yesterday with my new TSP transferred money so it would lower my purchase price to around $26.48. Also Nov 15 is an ex-dividend date for MSFT so I will collect another quarterly dividend pay out of $400.

Thanks for the lesson on covered calls in IRA. wasn't sure that could be done. Taking notes for future reference-not ready now. Will be interested to hear your experience with IB, was looking at them with idea of having better access to foreign stocks, got the idea they are somehow more difficult to use than some of the others. After I learned Scottrade has reasonable access to foreign, I decided to go with them instead for new wading-pool venture (non-IRA-but using $ saved up so far for 2012 Roth).

[ocean]

It would seem the whole of society has been focused on leveraging down - you and I are doing just the opposite. Interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time - and that's not my fault - but I'll certainly take advantage of the situation.

Our strategies may be different, but the goal is the same. I am happy with average of 4% dividend income with growth of 3 - 4 % without margin in the IRA account. This way I would sleep better at night. With my non IRA margin account, I am not sure what I will do ... day trade, swing trade or position trade ... I will find out ...

[ocean]

Will be interested to hear your experience with IB, was looking at them with idea of having better access to foreign stocks, got the idea they are somehow more difficult to use than some of the others. After I learned Scottrade has reasonable access to foreign, I decided to go with them instead for new wading-pool venture (non-IRA-but using $ saved up so far for 2012 Roth).

I don't have IB account but just recently transferred most of my TSP fund to Schwab IRA account with cover options feature. The last 2 days I'd committed 100% in stocks on this account with combined average of 4.5% dividend and one covered call option with MSFT.

As for my non IRA margin account, I just sent a check to Traderstation for my day trade, swing trade and position trade purpose. Commission is $1 per 100 shares for the first 500 shares and $.006 each share thereafter. Not sure how well I would do with this account but I guess this is my on-the-job training as new equity trader and I will try my best.

[ocean]

In my IRA account:

I bought 20 puts options of MSFT at strike price of $27 for $.27 each ($540 in total) expiring Oct 21 (Friday) to protect my 2000 shares of MSFT because it is scheduled for earnings announcement tomorrow. Not sure if it is good or not, just want to protect it using about 1/2 of the premium from the covered options I sold earlier. (Rationale: Apple's unexpected poor earning announcement today and the stock drops about 5% as of now).

Abbott Labs announced to split the company into 2 this morning, the news was able to move the price more than $2. I sold 3 covered calls with strike price at $55 which I bought 380 shares at $52.56 last week for $1.12 expiring on Nov 19. So I locked in the profits about $300 for now.

[ocean]

MSFT is trading around $26.6 now which is below yesterday closed at around $27.13 . I took this chance to sell 10 puts at $.75 to cover the cost of my put options yesterday at $540 and leave 10 puts for hedging for the earnings announcement at the market close today.

[ocean]

In my IRA account:

MSFT earnings met the expectation and the stock did not drop dramatically after the market closed like AAPL earlier. My remaining 1/2 of protected put option is expiring today so I will close this position for whatever price that I could get today while I am still holding 2000 shares MSFT waiting for dividend payout on Nov 15.

In my non IRA account:

Today I will try to place some small calendar call options and bull put spread options orders in my day trade account. I know the basic option strategy such as covered calls and puts very well but I have to admit that I am new to the more advance options strategies such as spreads. The beauty of spreads is that the maximum gain and lost can be projected within a specific time and it is dynamic during the course of the contract duration. I believe there may be a year-end rally this year so I am bullish for the next two months at least. Here are two stocks that I am looking at for actions toward the bullish side.

1. MSFT - rationale: earnings announcement was fine and the stock price should be pretty stable near term
2. JPM - rationale: financial sector began to bounce back from the recent low. JPM in my opinion is the best in the sector so I will focus on this stock

Again, I am not a financial advisor or market analyst, this is only my own opinion and I just want to experiment some strategies that may work for me to generate profits as part of my on-the-training.

[ocean]

On my IRA account:

1. Sold my remaining MSFT Oct 22 put at $.2 shortly after open.
2. Retain covered call option on MSFT expiring on Nov 18 and long position on MSFT.
3. Sold covered calls on MO, PM 2 days ago
4. Sold covered calls this morning on CVX and MCD expiring on Nov 18 while the markets moved up today.

On my non IRA account, I established 2 small positions on:

1. Calendar spreads on MSFT
a. Bought 5 call expiring Jan 2013 at @ $25
b. Sold 5 call expiring on 18 Nov 2011 at $28
For debits of 5 x $3.72 = $1860 before commission

2. Calendar spreads on JPM
a. Bought 2 calls JMP expiring on Jan 2013 at $30
b. Sold 2 calls JMP expring on Nov 18 2011 at $35
For debits of 2 x $6.63 = $1326 before commission

The benefit of calendar spreads is to make profit on the near term leg and keep on selling the next near term contract when the near term leg expires while keeping the long term contract as a cushion. The maximum loss is the premium - the front leg contract sale plus commission. I will let you know how it goes as it develops.

[RealMoneyIssues]

Was this in English??? :p

[ocean]

Was this in English??? :p

I am glad you asked. I learned this from the book titled "No-Hyde Options Trading: Myths, Realities, and Strategies That Really Work" by Kerry Given. I bought it as an e-book version from Amazon about a month ago and now I am practicing what I learned from the book.

[ocean]

October is about to end and it's has been the best October for the stock markets since 4 decades ago and I am glad that I am fully invested in my IRA account after the transfer from TSP. Every indicator shows that the market is on the way up from this point (S&P closed above 200 MA, VIX closed below 25 etc). Come Nov 1 after my ETF bonds such as IEF, AGG and TIP Ex-dividend date, I will reallocate most of it with stocks like MCD, KO and CVX to anticipate the year-end rally into 2012. At the same time, I will write some covered calls with these stocks which I already own to earn some extra income along with average of 3% dividend.

[Steel_Magnolia]

May I suggest another one? I'm looking hard at ORIT.

[ocean]

May I suggest another one? I'm looking hard at ORIT.

I think the financial sector will come back eventually and this is the time to start buying. The stock that I like is JPM which I don't own it now. JPM has market Cap of $141B with low valuations and it pays 2.7% dividend. Dividend can be reinvested which can be attractive for long term holding.

[ocean]

The markets dropped big the last two days and I took an opportunity to buy some JPM shares and wrote a covered call option. I just missed the dividend payout last month so I have to wait for 2 more months then.

[bmneveu]

KO has been great for me. Yields 2.7% and sticks to its fairly narrow trading range, which it is just about in the middle of right now. Currently at $67 and looks to be on its way up to finish the year around or above its 52 week high @ $72. An investment now could give 10% over 2 months.

I'm not a fan of the banks right now but I do have WFC in my portfolio for a few reasons that seemed to add up at the time that I bought it. I think buying just about anything in this dip will return a nice profit. I'll be looking at high beta stocks tonight and tomorrow morning for a strong swing back up.

[ocean]

Agreed with you. KO can be owned for a long time because it has a large presence outside of US as an international brand. This stock will continue to grow and payout steady increased dividend.

[Scout333]

SO going ex-dividend 11-3-2011

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11297198/1/southern-stock-to-go-ex-dividend-tomorrow-so.html

[ocean]

SO going ex-dividend 11-3-2011

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11297198/1/southern-stock-to-go-ex-dividend-tomorrow-so.html

Thanks Scout, I got SO in my portfolio.

[bmneveu]

WFC is also Ex-D today.

[bmneveu]

Looked up some REIT ETFs last night and found that a large amount had SPG as its top holding and PSA in the top 2-3. Gonna do some research on these guys today.

[Steel_Magnolia]

Looked up some REIT ETFs last night and found that a large amount had SPG as its top holding and PSA in the top 2-3. Gonna do some research on these guys today.

SPG would make me a little nervous from a dividend standpoint because it has actually had a negative 5% growth rate over the last 5 years. And the company's debt-to-equity ratio is almost 4 to 1. Anything over 1.5 isn't my cup of tea. However it's price growth rate over the last 3 years is 46%...not bad!

PSA looks interesting to me. Its 5 year dividend growth rate is almost 10%. It has no debt (!) and it's three year price growth rate is almost 30%. That's probably why Friday's closing price was $124.82. PSA looks like something I'm going to add to my own portfolio, so thanks for bringing it up, bmneveu!

My favorite dividend stock is probably MCD. I was glad to see it on ocean's core list too, because I have so much respect for his expertise.

[bmneveu]

No prob Steel! I came to similar conclusions on those two guys after quick skims. I have MCD in my prospects list but waiting for a pull back.

[Steel_Magnolia]

PSA looks interesting to me.... .
Oops. Just saw PSA's Price to Sales ratio and $12.30 is way to steep for me. I draw the line at about $3.

Edited to add: Except for MCD and KO. I'll stretch it to about $3.50 just for them. :D

[ocean]

My favorite dividend stock is probably MCD. I was glad to see it on ocean's core list too, because I have so much respect for his expertise.

Thanks Maggie, there are a lot of things that I am still learning specially in the stock markets.

I sold some portions of ETF bond funds such as AGG, IEF after the Nov 1 Ex-dividend date so I could collect the Nov dividend payout. After waiting for 3 days for settlement and now I have the cash to purchase additional stocks.

I am looking at either MCD or CVX. Both stocks are already in my portfolio and I would like to add more so I can write more call option contracts. These two stocks were able to sustain the wild market swings last week and that's why I like these stocks even more. If MCD could pull back a bit as bmneven mentioned, I will definitely go with MCD.

[alevin]

Thanks Maggie, there are a lot of things that I am still learning specially in the stock markets.

I am looking at either MCD or CVX. Both stocks are already in my portfolio and I would like to add more so I can write more call option contracts. These two stocks were able to sustain the wild market swings last week and that's why I like these stocks even more. If MCD could pull back a bit as bmneven mentioned, I will definitely go with MCD.

I've been looking at both, been on my watchlist awhile. Need to put more funds in the account before I can afford to buy either one. going into div-paying pm stocks and a couple other energy related div payers for the time being. made my list and calculations of shares affordable this morning. been sitting on sideline awhile, partially in, partially out. longterm Roth account mostly, won't be doing much trading in that account. getting harder to save $ for taxable account now they bumped up tsp contribution levels- close budget figuring required. Funding Roth and max TSP come first.

[Mista_Magee]

"made my list and calculations of shares affordable this morning."

Mind sharing your list? Thanks.

[alevin]

Mind sharing your list? Thanks.

Birch is the dividend king around here, I'm still toe in the water young sprout compared to him. My most of my current short list is built from recommendations from paid subscriptions so not really thinking its ok to share unless other publicly available commentators are mentioning or have recently done so.

Here's some that I am ok sharing at the moment, that I've scoped out from fundamentals and from news on FreeStockCharts or other public sources: HUN, OLN, X, RIO, BWP, MTW, AUY. most of these have met my goal for monthly slostoch and Wms %R. AUY is an exception, but looks good for other reasons-increased dividend recently, ADX indicator looks good (monthly), Wms %R doesn't look bad, monthly trend looks good, AUY has some of cheapest production costs among producers.

be sure and do due diligence, I'm no advisor.

[Birchtree]

I own four of your listed picks. Way to go.

[Warrenlm]

more freebie mining which four?

[Birchtree]

Most happy to oblige: HUN, OLN, BWP, MTW. I remember when MCD was selling at $18.
\

[Steel_Magnolia]

... I remember when MCD was selling at $18.
\
Wish I'd owned it back then. That would have been a sweet ride!

[Steel_Magnolia]

Got some divvies today so I used them and scraped up some more and bought PAA.

[Scout333]

Recent Motley Fool Top Ten dividend paying stocks in this market-

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/15/10-outstanding-dividend-stocks-to-buy-in-this-cra.aspx

[ocean]

My IRA portfolio is doing ok despite the recent market volatility. I have collected about $1000 dividend payout since mid October and the dividend was reinvested back into the stocks without commission.

I have closed all the covered options expiring tomorrow and roll it over to next month to collect more premium. So far it works as planned.

New covered options expiring next month are:

1. MSFT
2. MCD
3. CVX
4. PM
5. MO
6. JPM

[ocean]

As the markets continue to drop, my IRA account balance is approaching to my mid October entry level. Have to say that I had a good run and I will continue to hold. I will wait for the bounce back and dividend pay out going forward. I am still 100% in C fund in my small TSP account at the moment and will not plan to IFT until the end of December.

[ocean]

The markets ended with an incredible huge rebound at the end of November and I will take it anytime.

My November total dividend income in the IRA account is $1044 and the portfolio is up 2.8% since mid Oct.

Sold call options expiring on Dec 17 are:

1. CVX
2. KO
3. JPM
4. MCD
5. MO
6. MSFT
7. PM

Hope to accumulate more shares with dividend reinvested and will see how it goes.

[jimijr]

About 40% of my IRA is in corporate preferreds paying dividends. Spectrum Asset Management is under contract to RBC Wealth Management which controls my account. Spectrum has me in about a hundred different holdings which should aggregate to 6-7%, things like Arch Capital Group Ltd 7.875% Non-Cum Pfd Ser B Cpn 7.876% Dtd 05/17/06 Moody BAA3, Deutsch Bk Contingent Cap Tr V Tr 8.05% Perpetual Pfd Cpn 8.048% Dtd 05/01/08 Moody BAA2 S&P BBB, etc., etc.

Each company was selected beacuse its dividend had increased in each of the last five years.

[ocean]

About 40% of my IRA is in corporate preferreds paying dividends. Spectrum Asset Management is under contract to RBC Wealth Management which controls my account. Spectrum has me in about a hundred different holdings which should aggregate to 6-7%, things like Arch Capital Group Ltd 7.875% Non-Cum Pfd Ser B Cpn 7.876% Dtd 05/17/06 Moody BAA3, Deutsch Bk Contingent Cap Tr V Tr 8.05% Perpetual Pfd Cpn 8.048% Dtd 05/01/08 Moody BAA2 S&P BBB, etc., etc.

Each company was selected beacuse its dividend had increased in each of the last five years.


That's a very nice returns. I have a small position on the S&P US Preferred Stock ETF fund (PFF). It pays about 7% and dividend is paid the first day of each month. I hedge it with AGG and IEF bond funds and these two funds also pay monthly dividend. The average dividend of these three funds is about 4.5% and I am quite happy with this combination because it provides less volatility with decent monthly dividend.

[jimijr]

There's page after page of that stuff. They take a cut and then it is only 40% of the total. Even so, looking at the TSP funds for the year it points up the limitations of the gov't system, which is why I transferred it.

[ocean]

My December total dividend income in the IRA account is $2,968. The month of March, June, September and December which I will receive the most dividend payout from my stock holding and the rest of the months will be relatively smaller.

My goal for 2012 is to position my mid 6-digit figure IRA portfolio for a 3-5% growth and at the same time to collect 4-4.5% dividend income and it would be equal to $20,000+ for the year.

Here are my current core holding:

ABT
BND
CVX
ED
JPM
KO
MCD
MSFT
PFF
PM

I also added one mutual fund to collect 4+ % dividend. I think it should be it for the time being in preparing the year of 2012.

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.

Ocean

[Birchtree]

There is nothing sweeter than a for sure revenue stream - and most dividends will be increased in 2012.

[ocean]

There is nothing sweeter than a for sure revenue stream - and most dividends will be increased in 2012.

Thanks Birch, I basically follow your footstep that you manage your oceanic portfolio without margin play. I understood the power of dividends and shares accumulation now and hope it will work for my portfolio.

[ocean]

My dividend income for Jan 2012 was $2150 from the IRA account and this account was established as the result of my TSP transferred in Oct 2011 when I retired. I am happy to see dividends keep coming in every month.

My core holdings are:

ABT
BND
CVX
ED
JPM
KO
MCD
MSFT
PFF
PM

Looking forward for February dividends while the major markets are still trending upward and I am still 100% in C fund in the TSP account.

Ocean

[MrJohnRoss]

Well done, Ocean.

[ocean]

Well done, Ocean.

Thanks MrJohnRoss

My dividend income for Feb 2012 was $1068 from the IRA account which was transferred from my TSP account. There were few stocks in my portfolio that recently had a nice run up such as JPM, MCD, MSFT and PM. These stocks will be in my core portfolio for a long time as dividend income and growth.

I am still holding 100% C fund in my TSP account as long as the chart still shows the up trend.

As for day trading with my cash account, I am still practicing different strategies and mostly in options trading. I had traded mostly in iron condor, vertical bull/bear credit/debit spreads, calendar spreads and butterfly options. The result was about even but I spent about $1000 in commission the last two months for these types of option trading. I will evaluate some more and determine if I should continue with these types of trading.

On the other hand, I found that one way of making some steady income is to sell naked put options with the stocks that you would like to own. I was able to generate about $2000 after commission since January by selling naked put options with the stocks that I would not mind owning it if it was assigned to me. No stocks were assigned to me thus far and I was able to let the options expire or purchase the options back with lower cost.

One woman has been doing this for the last 40 years and was able to generate good income and build up a large portfolio. Her site is:

http://www.fullyinformed.com

I would recommend this site for those who are interested in option trading for steady income.

Basically this is how I spent my retirement the last few months but I am enjoying it.

Ocean

[Bullitt]

I found that one way of making some steady income is to sell naked put options with the stocks that you would like to own. I was able to generate about $2000 after commission since January by selling naked put options with the stocks that I would not mind owning it if it was assigned to me.

I've seen many touting this as easy income when the bull raged, but I can't imagine this working out too well when the market dropped the way it did in March. Strategies like this exacerbated the sell off. People didn't have the cash on hand to buy back those puts they sold, and the broker just liquidated stock to cover.

[Bullitt]

Yes, the high flyers will help you outperform over the shorter 3 month time frames, but will require a lot of buying and selling and being right. For every AMZN there are thousands of busts. Invest in a good dividend stock or index and let it ride.

46733

[Bullitt]

XOM currently with a 10% yield, but the sustainability hinges on whether or not oil rebounds. Management reiterated the dividend in August, but that was around 8%. It is very likely the company cuts the dividend next quarter, but even a 50% cut it would still be a 5% yield. I would think a good bit of the selling since August (nearly every day has been down since) was from large funds who do not think the dividend is safe.

Definitely on the radar though.

[HeadNLice]

Here's a list if anyone wants monthly dividends:

ANGC
GAIN
SJR
GOOD
PBA
MAIN
O

If weekly, try these...

WMT
MO
WPC
CSCO
T
BX
AAPL
CAT
PFE
JNJ
AVY
LMT