The market has increased substantially for the month of March. We are re-surging from the depths earlier this year. This is problematic for me though. Although most will cheer at a rising market, I am unhappy that I cannot purchase those companies at their once more affordable prices. Since I did not have the cash available when the market was low, I was not able to take advantage of the low prices. It is comical how fast the general feel about the market can change in a few weeks. Everybody was doom and gloom crying recession 2 months ago but everyone is a cheerleader right now.
At the moment I hold 41 companies in my portfolio. My investment philosophy is simple. Buy companies that are high quality with consistent history of steadily increasing earnings and steadily increasing dividends. The companies that follow these characteristics usually provide services we use everyday and are considered Staples, Utilities, or Healthcare companies. As a result, I hold a larger number of these types of companies due to them fitting my screening criteria.
| Name | Ticker | Sector | Value | Weight | Divies | Yield | S&P Fin | VL Fin | VL Safety |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | Health | $9,726.54 | 4.98% | $267.24 | 2.7475% | AAA | A++ | 1 |
| PepsiCo | PEP | Staples | $6,840.97 | 3.50% | $185.23 | 2.7077% | A | A++ | 1 |
| Visa Inc | V | Financial | $6,222.70 | 3.19% | $44.91 | 0.7217% | A+ | A++ | 1 |
| Exxon Mobil Corp | XOM | Energy | $4,574.67 | 2.34% | $161.02 | 3.5198% | AAA | A++ | 1 |
| The Coca-Cola Co | KO | Staples | $4,531.22 | 2.32% | $135.46 | 2.9895% | AA | A++ | 1 |
| Procter & Gamble Co | PG | Staples | $3,930.42 | 2.01% | $124.69 | 3.1725% | AA- | A++ | 1 |
| 3M Co | MMM | Industrial | $3,892.58 | 1.99% | $103.16 | 2.6503% | AA- | A++ | 1 |
| Kimberly-Clark | KMB | Staples | $2,996.47 | 1.53% | $80.96 | 2.7019% | A | A++ | 1 |
| Colgate-Palmolive Co | CL | Staples | $2,482.60 | 1.27% | $54.39 | 2.1910% | AA- | A++ | 1 |
| Abbott Laboratories | ABT | Health | $2,126.62 | 1.09% | $52.42 | 2.4650% | A+ | A++ | 1 |
| Nestlé | NSRGY | Staples | $1,132.36 | 0.58% | $35.33 | 3.1200% | AA | A++ | 1 |
| Altria Group Inc | MO | Staples | $11,928.34 | 6.11% | $427.50 | 3.5839% | BBB+ | B+ | 2 |
| Realty Income Corp | O | REIT | $9,669.11 | 4.95% | $371.23 | 3.8394% | BBB+ | A | 2 |
| Philip Morris International Inc | PM | Staples | $9,375.20 | 4.80% | $383.47 | 4.0902% | A | B++ | 2 |
| General Mills, Inc. | GIS | Staples | $7,567.10 | 3.88% | $214.34 | 2.8325% | BBB+ | A+ | 1 |
| Dominion Resources, Inc | D | Utilities | $6,987.19 | 3.58% | $259.51 | 3.7140% | A- | B++ | 2 |
| Church & Dwight | CHD | Staples | $5,350.99 | 2.74% | $81.09 | 1.5155% | BBB+ | A+ | 1 |
| AT&T Inc | T | Telecom | $4,838.90 | 2.48% | $237.92 | 4.9168% | BBB+ | A++ | 1 |
| Kraft Heinz Co | KHC | Staples | $4,159.47 | 2.13% | $120.98 | 2.9084% | BBB- | A | 2 |
| McCormick & Company | MKC | Staples | $4,102.72 | 2.10% | $70.19 | 1.7109% | A- | A+ | 1 |
| Reynolds American Inc | RAI | Staples | $3,949.19 | 2.02% | $131.82 | 3.3380% | BBB- | A | 2 |
| Novo Nordisk | NVO | Health | $3,708.95 | 1.90% | $64.81 | 1.7474% | AA- | A++ | 2 |
| Becton Dickinson and Co | BDX | Health | $2,850.97 | 1.46% | $49.04 | 1.7200% | BBB+ | A++ | 1 |
| Southern Co | SO | Utilities | $2,753.25 | 1.41% | $115.56 | 4.1973% | A- | A | 2 |
| NextEra Energy Inc | NEE | Utilities | $1,753.50 | 0.90% | $51.40 | 2.9315% | A- | A | 2 |
| Air Products & Chemicals, Inc | APD | Materials | $1,293.62 | 0.66% | $28.84 | 2.2297% | A | A+ | 1 |
| Anheuser Busch Inbev | BUD | Staples | $666.46 | 0.34% | $18.14 | 2.7218% | A- | A++ | 1 |
| Mastercard Inc | MA | Financial | $4,520.39 | 2.31% | $35.83 | 0.7927% | A | A++ | 2 |
| Verizon Communications Inc | VZ | Telecom | $3,590.81 | 1.84% | $150.25 | 4.1844% | BBB+ | A++ | 1 |
| Chevron Corporation | CVX | Energy | $2,195.90 | 1.12% | $99.71 | 4.5406% | AA | A++ | 1 |
| HCP, Inc | HCP | REIT | $2,151.58 | 1.10% | $151.75 | 7.0531% | BBB+ | B++ | 3 |
| Praxair, Inc | PX | Materials | $2,022.78 | 1.04% | $52.66 | 2.6033% | A | A | 1 |
| McDonald's Corporation | MCD | Discret | $2,014.80 | 1.03% | $56.47 | 2.8027% | BBB+ | A++ | 1 |
| AbbVie Inc | ABBV | Health | $1,846.47 | 0.95% | $73.32 | 3.9707% | A | A | 2 |
| United Technologies Co | UTX | Industrial | $1,830.20 | 0.94% | $46.87 | 2.5608% | A- | A++ | 1 |
| CVS Health Corp | CVS | Health | $1,434.03 | 0.73% | $23.26 | 1.6218% | BBB+ | A+ | 1 |
| Xcel Energy Inc | XEL | Utilities | $768.04 | 0.39% | $24.91 | 3.2427% | A- | A | 1 |
| Ross Stores Inc | ROST | Discret | $3,759.60 | 1.93% | $34.62 | 0.9209% | A- | A | 2 |
| Apple Inc | AAPL | Tech | $2,474.46 | 1.27% | $46.79 | 1.8911% | AA+ | A++ | 2 |
| TJX Companies Inc | TJX | Discret | $2,430.73 | 1.24% | $25.92 | 1.0663% | A+ | A++ | 1 |
| Starbucks Corporation | SBUX | Discret | $2,354.31 | 1.21% | $30.87 | 1.3110% | A- | A++ | 1 |
| Misc | Type | ……….. | Partial Totals | Weight | Yrly Dividends | Avg Yield | …..832 | …..9 | …..82 |
| Equity | Stocks | $162,806.19 | 83.37% | $4,723.89 | 2.9015% | ||||
| Liquid | US Dollars | $29,528.52 | 15.12% | ||||||
| Non-Liquid | Assets | $2,935.20 | 1.50% | ||||||
| . | .. | … | Equity + Misc | Weight | …..2 | ….. | …..222 | …..2222 | …..223 |
| Total | $195,269.91 | 100.00% |
My largest companies are now MO, JNJ, O, PM, GIS. My portfolio is almost reaching the $200k mark. Some of my positions are starting to spill over $10k, an exciting point. I used to think $2k was a lot for a position when I started but that is the value of my smaller positions now. My perception of money has also changed in the last few years. When I started I gave a lot of emphasis over $1k and $2k trades, but now such transactions are less important to me until I start moving to amounts in the $10k mark. This is probably due to my tendency to look at everything in a total net worth percentage point of view.
My dividend income is rather low compared to the amount of asset I have, but I am finding it difficult to find stocks with dividends above 3% that are worthy of buying. It is tough when interest rates are so low. I will continue to stick with my philosophy though, that is to buy high quality with consistent earnings and consistent dividends. A lot of companies over 3% of yield do not meet that criteria and may be yield traps. I would rather hold a lower 2.5% yield than a risky company at 5% yield.
I am heavily weighted in Staples, cash, and healthcare this month. I want my 3 largest positions to be in Staples, Healthcare, and Utilities. My cash positions will stay large unless I find a good opportunity to enter on the various high quality companies on my watchlist. Since the market is at an all time high I see no rush to enter right now.
I am currently on track of hitting my 1 million dollar net worth goal. Below is a graph indicating my weekly progress since I started with goal lines into the future. You can see how a larger asset portfolio can really do a lot of work during the good times from the results in the last few weeks. A 10% rise in a $200,000 portfolio is around $20,000 and such market gyrations have been happening frequently in the last few months. My assets have been growing steadily primarily from my contributions and I hope in the future my portfolio can do a lot of the heavy lifting by itself without me contributing.
