Dividend Growth Stocks

Money in the Trough – March Dividend Stock Purchases – 2020

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If you’re reading this then you already know March has been a pretty rough month for investors.  Wow!  Who would have thought that the world was about to explode with Covid-19?  I sure didn’t.

Anyway, I went a little crazy mustering up all the cash I could early on this month (might have been a little early… like 25% early) and putting it to work.

But, we are finally seeing the kind of values dividend growth investors have been waiting for… if you still have any cash left to invest.

I do have good news… the corona virus will not end the world.  It may add some serious short term pain, but we will come out of this.  Be smart, don’t go to China, Italy, Iran or Spain and lick doorknobs.  Don’t panic sell.  And don’t stop investing what you can… there are values a plenty.  Try and take a contrarian view and look at this panic as opportunities to buy stocks at a 25, 30, 35, 40% sale!

Below are the dividend stocks I’ve purchased so far this month.  I keep a running log of every dividend stock I buy which can be viewed in the dividend growth stock purchases section.

So far, I’ve put almost $9,000 to work with an average yield of 3.98%.  I’ve added almost $357 of yearly forward dividend income this month!

The $F, $KR and $XOM purchases were made via DRIP.

New Buys - March 2020

My dividend portfolio has been updated with these buys.

All additional purchases made this March will be posted on this page.  I try to invest $2,500 – $4,000 every month. Although last month, I poked myself in the eyes a few times and I invested a little over $18,500!

I'm a dividend growth investor who is aiming to retire early in 4 years at the age of 45. My goal is to live off the income my dividend portfolio and rental property produce exclusively and leave the corporate rat race. I hope you will join me in this journey!

8 Comments

    • Blake

      Yeah, whoops! Should have waited a bit longer. Ford, Delta and Boeing have all suspended. I think it makes sense for them right now. Might as well get all the bad news out at one time and then give a lot of good news later to get stocks moving back up. I’m going to hold onto all three right now and wait and see.

      We are seeing some good news slowly trickle out with treatments and possible cures. The company that developed the treatment for Ebola says they are using the same tech to develop a treatment for Covid-19. China is opening back up, South Korea got a handle on it.

      I personally know 2 people suspected with it now (no confirmation tests available in the small city of Atlanta but one was given the malaria drug) – cough, runny nose, don’t feel well, but they are fine and feeling better! I’m praying that we see some much lower mortality rates percentages once we get more tests and confirmed cases. Crazy times, but they will go back to normal!

  1. Glad to finally see a post from you!

    May be a silly question, but why are you being charged commissions? At this point virtually every brokerage is $0 commissions.

    • Blake

      Hi Haris! Yeah, I’m still around. Just been taking a (inopportune) HUGE step towards financial independence which has been taking up a lot of time. The commissions are pretty much free but Interactive Brokers still charges a small commission on purchases. You’re right, I can probably remove that column from future reports… commissions aren’t a concern like they were a few years ago!

  2. Hey Blake . Love your site, it really got me heavily invested in a dividend strategy. Two questions for you:

    1. Are you more interested in averaging down your current positions or opening up new positions for companies you feel are “at a discount” right now. Perhaps both?
    2. Interested in why you chose SCHD and not VYM? I don’t think either is wrong but VYM has a bigger yield and Vanguard is usually the gold standard in ETFs/Mutual funds.

    Thanks and keep up the good work!

    Ted

    • Blake

      Hi Ted, thanks for the message!

      I am very interested in averaging down on my current positions. Unfortunately, or maybe I should say – an ill-timed purchase of a new home and some big buying earlier this year has tied up all my cash. IF I had cash in my investment accounts, I would be adding to the big boys like HD, DIS, MSFT, V, MA, COST, O among many others.

      As for SCHD, I have my ROTHs with Schwab and I’ve owned their dividend ETF forever (also, it used to be free to trade back before everything was commission free). I use SCHD during times like this when I don’t have a lot of cash to invest and just want to put a little money to work. I set limit orders and let them hit if they hit. Honestly, I like VYM better as it is significantly more diversified than SCHD.

      Thank you for the comment and the kind words!

      • Thanks for your reply. I can’t reply to your reply of my original comment.

        Any thoughts on companies cutting dividends at the moment? My goals are entirely long term, so a 3-9 months of no dividend from some of my portfolio (luckily nothing has been cut yet) doesn’t concern me too much, but I am wondering your thoughts.

        • Blake

          Hi Ted!

          Yeah, dividend cuts stink.

          Glad to hear you’ve come away unscathed so far. I’ve had a few dividend suspensions but, nothing traumatic. I’m “okay” with the suspensions I’ve received. These are awfully unusual times and I can’t fault boards for being cautious (or not having the cash flow to cover dividend payments). $BA is a big one for me but this is the very purpose for great diversification in our portfolios – to avoid being hurt too badly during unusual times like these. Oil is obviously the biggest risk at the moment, but I’ve already “filled up” the portfolio in that sector.

          Values abound and perhaps even better values later… banks have been particularly hard hit.

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