A Whole Lotta (Sh)Love(ling)

Been shoveling and snow-blowing for most of the day.  I measured in a bunch of spots, and I'd say we had 27 or 28 inches.  It is pretty clear I do not need to hit the treadmill today.  I did walk up the street (after I carved a path).  A couple houses down there was a snow plow working on a driveway.  It was stuck and they were shoveling the plow out.

But things should start getting back to normal.  New England does know how to handle snow.  And it looks like we will get a breather for at least a few days.

The good news is that this snow will actually give me the incentive to go skiing.  I am on business trips over the next two weeks (New York and Switzerland); but maybe I will take a day off and hit the slopes near the end of February.

Here is a table showing how my stocks that I held at the start of the year have performed:

Stock	Start Price	Current	Dividend	Change
uis	$           17.30	$      24.43	$                -	41.2%
MPC	$           63.00	$      81.43	$                -	29.3%
HFC	$           46.55	$      56.26	$                -	20.9%
SLCA	$           16.73	$      20.08	$                -	20.0%
GNW	$              7.51	$        8.80	$                -	17.2%
KFY	$           15.86	$      17.85	$                -	12.5%
PGR	$           21.10	$      23.44	$           0.28	12.4%
VIAB	$           52.74	$      59.28	$                -	12.4%
JPM	$           43.97	$      48.63	$           0.30	11.3%
KMF	$           28.79	$      31.84	$                -	10.6%
PRE	$           80.49	$      88.76	$                -	10.3%
ABC	$           43.18	$      46.89	$                -	8.6%
DLB	$           29.33	$      31.74	$                -	8.2%
O	$           40.21	$      43.20	$           0.18	7.9%
WU	$           13.61	$      14.66	$                -	7.7%
CSCO	$           19.65	$      21.16	$                -	7.7%
CSQ	$              9.81	$      10.48	$           0.08	7.6%
SAI	$           11.32	$      12.02	$           0.12	7.2%
JQC	$              9.65	$      10.19	$           0.07	6.3%
FCX	$           34.20	$      35.64	$           0.31	5.1%
glre	$           23.08	$      24.26	$                -	5.1%
STO	$           25.04	$      26.31	$                -	5.1%
FSC	$           10.42	$      10.85	$           0.10	5.0%
LPS	$           24.62	$      25.40	$                -	3.2%
MSFT	$           26.71	$      27.55	$                -	3.1%
INTC	$           20.62	$      21.00	$           0.23	2.9%
BHK	$           14.90	$      15.33	$                -	2.9%
OIBAX	$              6.58	$        6.57	$                -	-0.2%
PVD	$         104.00	$    101.85	$                -	-2.1%
NSU	$              4.28	$        4.01	$                -	-6.3%
VIVHY	$           22.81	$      21.02	$                -	-7.8%
SD	$              6.35	$        5.79	$                -	-8.8%
AAPL	$         532.17	$    474.98	$           2.65	-10.2%

Luckily, the one stock I completely sold was SD (at $6.89).  Though at $5.79 they are starting to look interesting again.

Here are the stocks I have bought in 2013 that I currently own:

Stock	Start Price	Current	Dividend	Change
CIM	$              2.67	$        3.06	$                -	16.8%
AOD	$              3.90	$        4.04	$                -	4.2%
GTAT	$              3.53	$        3.20	$                -	-12.1%

Finally, this upcoming week is the week of the dividend for me. I think I have nine stocks going x-dividend in the next 7 days.  And including my mystery multiplier, that works out to a snappy $1,752.  Some people call the stock market a "casino".  But at the end, it is really about owning quality companies.  If you own dividend stocks and actually hang around to collect the dividends, it feels a lot more like ownership.  And by reinvesting these dividends, a year from now I will be collecting about $1,840!  Ah, I see a nice beach some where for my retirement... maybe sooner rather than later if we keep having these blizzards!