Picture Perfect Memorial Day

Such a picture perfect day here in New England (after a cold and rainy Saturday and Sunday).  I decided to actually take a picture off the back deck... just to share.

Bought a new bike yesterday, hope to have time to go take a ride with my daughter.  Also have a Memorial Day Parade to watch.  Hopefully a BBQ as well.

Listening right now to Songza which I really enjoy.  For some reason I like it more than Pandora, I think it is because if you really like a playlist, you can listen to it again.  Also, it asks what sort of mood you are in and gives suggestions.

Not thinking too much today about investing.  Here are my current expected annual dividends along with my expectation of a 5.3% yield:

Stock	Shares	Ann Dividend / Share	Yield	Projected Dividend	Sector	Worth
AAPL	213	$      12.20	2.7%	2,602	Consumer	94,923
ABR	5,867	$        0.48	6.8%	2,816	Real Estate	41,246
AOD	13,224	$        0.32	7.7%	4,285	Hybrid	55,938
CIM	20,000	$        0.36	11.4%	7,200	Real Estate	63,200
CSCO	4,328	$        0.68	2.9%	2,943	Tech	101,834
CSQ	5,629	$        0.84	7.8%	4,728	Hybrid	60,848
FCX	2,060	$        1.25	4.1%	2,575	Resources	62,619
INTC	1,996	$        0.90	3.8%	1,796	Tech	47,744
NEM	1,408	$        1.40	4.4%	1,972	Resources	45,021
O	565	$        2.17	4.4%	1,225	Services	28,048
OIBAX	3,972	$        0.29	4.5%	1,152	Bond	25,781
PGR	2,118	$        0.41	1.6%	869	Insurance	54,677
PRE	540	$        2.56	2.9%	1,381	Insurance	47,806
RIG	1,250	$        2.24	4.3%	2,800	Services	65,075
STO	1,640	$        1.16	5.1%	1,904	Resources	37,322
TC-PT	5,500	$        1.60	8.7%	8,800	Resources	101,461
Total			5.3%	49,048

Here are my expected upcoming dividends.

Stock	Shares	x Date	Div/Share	Est New Shares	Amount
RIG	1,250	5/29/13	$         0.56	13.0	700
OIBAX	3,972	5/30/13	$         0.02	12.0	79
O	565	5/30/13	$         0.18	2.0	102
LPS	843	6/4/13	$         0.10	2.0	84
CSQ	5,629	6/8/13	$         0.07	36.0	394
NEM	1,408	6/11/13	$         0.35	15.0	493
WU	1,585	6/13/13	$         0.13	12.0	198
VIAB	407	6/13/13	$         0.28	1.0	114
AOD	13,224	6/21/13	$         0.03	84.0	357
CIM	20,000	6/27/13	$         0.09	569.0	1,800
NSU	5,576	6/27/13	$         0.07	114.0	390

As I get closer to retirement, I appreciate more and more that income stream.  $4,700 (with my multiplier) between now and June 27th.  Sweet.  As I mentioned, I am not reinvesting everything right now as the market feels a bit extended. (Also, it is getting to be a bit of a paperwork disaster at tax time).  But many of these are still turned on (AOD, CSQ, OIBAX and O).

MFI

I am proud of myself for being extremely disciplined thus far with my re-booted MFI strategy.  I am more at peace this time and I think it helps me (mentally) for it only to be a proportion of my portfolio (before it was a much larger percentage).  I have (at times) been tempted to sell NSU, UIS and CA; but a key idea of MFI is to be more mechanical and less emotional.  I am also thrilled that it seems to be getting traction again.  I now just need to overcome some of my natural biases against hairy stocks; like I simply could not pull the trigger on ESI at the start of May and it is now up about 50%.  And I wrote a year ago how I wanted to embrace the dividend stocks on the list as I knew they had done better than the broader list, but thought most were poor buys.  I was so wrong.  I think one of the hardest part about investing is know what has been "priced in".  A stock may have some stinky facts, but if they are all priced in; then any good news can really send the stock rocketing.  Of course I can think of many instances where I thought the bad news was priced in and then found out it wasn't.

One last picture.  the front yard this time.  It IS a picture perfect Memorial Day!