Simple Dividend Growth

Portfolio Activity

This is actually two weeks of portfolio activity as I was on vacation last weekend enjoying a great summer getaway in a cabin on Great Sacandaga Lake in NY. Over the last two weeks the bulk of my REIT stocks paid out to deliver a nice large payout.

Portfolio News - (In Case You Missed These Headlines)

AbbVie (ABBV)

• AbbVie Enhances Early Stage Oncology Pipeline with Acquisition of Mavupharma
• AbbVie Reports Second-Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Avangrid (AGR)

• AVANGRID Reports Second Quarter 2019 Earnings Results

Air Products (APD)

• Air Products Buys Back Air Separation Units and Supplies Industrial Gases to Shanxi Jinmei Huayu in China for Major Energy Project
• Air Products Reports Very Strong Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Results

Preferred Apartment Communities (APTS)

• Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Announces Acquisition of a "Class A" Office Tower in Raleigh, North Carolina

Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP)

• Brookfield Renewable Announces Results of Conversion Privilege of Series 3 Preference Shares

Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB)

• Bar Harbor Bankshares Reports Second Quarter Results

Camden Properties Trust (CPT)

• Camden Property Trust Announces Second Quarter 2019 Operating Results

First American Financial (FAF)

• First American Financial Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results

GATX Corp (GATX)

• GATX Corporation Reports 2019 Second-Quarter Results

Hasbro (HAS)

• Hasbro Reports Revenue and Operating Profit Growth for the Second Quarter 2019
• Hasbro’s Nerf and Play-Doh were big sellers on Amazon Prime Day

3M (MMM)

• 3M Reports Second-Quarter 2019 Results

Medical Properties Trust (MPW)

• Medical Properties Trust Announces Acquisition of 8 UK Hospitals for $434 Million
• Medical Properties Trust, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Marine Products (MPX)

• Marine Products Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Merck (MRK)

• Merck and Eisai Receive Third Breakthrough Therapy Designation from FDA for KEYTRUDA® plus LENVIMA® Combination Treatment

Microsoft (MSFT)

• Microsoft Cloud Powers Record Fourth Quarter Results

Newtek Business Services (NEWT)

• Newtek Business Services Corp. Prices a Public Offering of 5.75% Notes Due 2024

Pfizer (PFE)

• FDA APPROVES PFIZER’S BIOSIMILAR, RUXIENCE™ (RITUXIMAB-PVVR), FOR CERTAIN CANCERS AND AUTOIMMUNE CONDITIONS

Phillips 66 (PSX)

• Phillips 66 and Phillips 66 Partners Announce Elimination of Incentive Distribution Rights
• Phillips 66 Reports Second-Quarter Earnings of $1.4 Billion or $3.12 Per Share

AT&T (T)

• AT&T Reports Second-Quarter Results

T. Rowe Price (TROW)

• T. Rowe Price Group Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results

United Parcel Service (UPS)

• UPS Announces Innovative New Products And Services To Help Customers Grow And Succeed
• UPS Releases 2Q 2019 Earnings

Waste Management (WM)

• Waste Management Announces Second Quarter Earnings

Weyerhaeuser (WY)

• Weyerhaeuser Reports Second Quarter Results

Interesting Blog Posts or Articles

Blog Posts
Leaderboard: Monthly Dividend Income From The Blogging Community by Dividend Driven
Stockboard: What Stocks The Blogging Community Are Buying This Week by Dividend Driven

Articles - Comments: 0

Portfolio Activity

Portfolio News - (In Case You Missed These Headlines)

Armanino Foods of Distinction (AMNF)

• Armanino Foods of Distinction, Inc., Reports Highest Quarterly Net Sales and Earnings in Its History

Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB)

• Bar Harbor Bank acquires 8 bank branches in central Maine

Cummins (CMI)

• Cummins Raises Dividend 15%

General Mills (GIS)

• General Mills Details Fiscal 2020 Priorities at Company's Annual Investor Day

Garmin (GRMN)

• Garmin® expands availability of the retrofit G1000 NXi integrated flight deck
• Garmin® enters the freshwater trolling motor market with Force, unveils the industry’s most powerful, most efficient trolling motor

Iron Mountain (IRM)

• Iron Mountain Expands Data Services to Support Amazon Web Services

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

• Janssen Submits Application to U.S. FDA Seeking Approval of New DARZALEX® (daratumumab) Subcutaneous Formulation

Merck (MRK)

• FDA Accepts Merck’s Supplemental Biologics License Applications for KEYTRUDA® Six-Week Dosing Schedule for Melanoma and Multiple Other Indications

Pepsico (PEP)

• PepsiCo Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results

Qualcomm (QCOM)

• New Qualcomm 215 Mobile Platform Raises the Bar for Mass Market Devices

Ryder System (R)

• Ryder System Raises Dividend 3.7%

T. Rowe Price (TROW)

• [https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/t-rowe-price-group-reports-preliminary-month-end-assets-under-management-for-june-2019-2019-07-11?mod=mw_quote_news]

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)

• Walgreens and Kaléo Expand Retail Pharmacy Collaboration to Include AUVI-q 0.1 mg, the Only FDA-Approved Epinephrine Auto-Injector for Infants and Toddlers, 16.5 – 33 lbs
• Walgreens Boots Alliance Raises Dividend 3.98%

Williams-Sonoma (WSM)

• Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Announces Leadership Transition at the Williams Sonoma Brand

Interesting Blog Posts or Articles

Blog Posts
Leaderboard: Monthly Dividend Income From The Blogging Community by Dividend Driven
Stockboard: What Stocks The Blogging Community Are Buying This Week by Dividend Driven

Articles
Is Retirement Flawed
What to Do When You Inherit Your Parent’s House - Comments: 0

Brokerage Buy: 3M Company (MMM)

Purchase Price: $166.97/share
Increase in Forward Annual Div: $34
Inflation Beating Streak: 19 Years
Div Growth Streak: 61 Years
Yield: 3.45%
Payout Ratio: 61%
Most Recent Dividend Increase: 5.88% / Feb 2019

This is my second buy of 3M. As long as the stock stays in the $160's range I will continue to add to my position. - Comments: 0

Portfolio Activity

Portfolio News - (In Case You Missed These Headlines)

Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP)

• Brookfield Renewable Announces Commencement of Normal Course Issuer Bid for Preferred Units and Renewal of BRP Equity's Normal Course Issuer Bid for Preferred Shares
• Brookfield Renewable and KKR to Partner for a New Growth Stage in X-Elio
• Brookfield Renewable Announces Reset Dividend Rate on Series 3 Preference Shares
• Brookfield Renewable Announces Quarterly Dividend Rate on Its Series 2 Preference Shares

Garmin (GRMN)

• Garmin® achieves certification of the G5000 integrated flight deck in the Citation Excel/XLS

Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT)

• Hospitality Properties Trust Announces Closing of Sale of Common Shares of The RMR Group Inc.

Marine Products (MPX)

• Marine Products Corporation Announces Second Quarter 2019 Share Repurchases

Pfizer (PFE)

• PFIZER COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF THERACHON

Phillips 66 (PSX)

• Red Oak Pipeline Announces Supplemental Open Season
• Bridger Pipeline, Liberty Pipeline and Red Oak Pipeline Announce Supplemental Open Season

Interesting Blog Posts or Articles

Blog Posts
Leaderboard: Monthly Dividend Income From The Blogging Community by Dividend Driven
Stockboard: What Stocks The Blogging Community Are Buying This Week by Dividend Driven

Articles
A portfolio manager warns of 4 possible red flags in company proxy statements
Millennials who live with mom and dad will need $10,000 to move out - Comments: 0

In 2018 I turned 50 it marked a special event for me as it represented 35 years of earning income. I have been working since I was 16 years old which equates to 35 years of filing tax returns and paying the FICA or OASDI tax (social security) and never had a year of no earned income making this a huge moment for my Social Security benefit at retirement.

To better understand why I consider this such a major milestone you need to understand how your Social Security payment is determined. The Social Security Administration (SSA) calculates your payment based on what they refer to as the 35 year rule. From the SSA website here is the definition of the 35 year rule:

“Social Security calculates your average indexed monthly earnings during the 35 years in which you earned the most. We apply a formula to these earnings and arrive at your basic benefit, or “primary insurance amount.” This is how much you would receive at your full retirement age — 65 or older, depending on your date of birth.“

The interesting part of this calculation is it totals 35 years’ worth of index adjusted income and then divides that by 420 months (35 years) to determine your “Average Indexed Monthly Earnings” or AIME. Then SSA applies what they call AIME bend points (for text “AIME bend points” to determine what % of your AIME will be paid out as a benefit. The formula is never less than 420 months so if you have less than 35 years of income then those $0 earning years are used in your calculation. That’s 12 months of 0’s for every year of not working being factored in that 420 average!

My personal goal has always been to retire early at age 60 and collect my SSA benefit at age 65. Out of curiosity I calculated what my SSA benefit at 65 would have been I retired at different ages:

As you can see in the chart above the biggest increase in the monthly payout is from age 40 to age 50 and this is due to the fact that I have achieved earned income for all 35 years. You could argue that these are my highest paying years any why the big difference. However, if you look at the increase from age 50 to 60, those additional 10 years of higher pay would replace my 10 lowest years and it only resulted in a monthly increase of $255. So the big deciding factor is not having to average in any 0’s.

The FIRE movement has motivated many to retire in their 30’s & 40’s and I have to give them a lot of credit for having the discipline and courage for their achievement. For me though I have a tendency of visualizing risks and a desire to avoid them as much as possible. As I have gotten older I have definitely become more risk averse. Maybe it is age, experience or just plain fear but I simply do not like risk. When I see my SSA benefit is double what it would have been when I was 35 I feel that much more secure knowing I have a significant steady monthly income that can address any risks that I have not foreseen in my 60s or later years.

As a note, I am not condemning people that retire in their 30s or 40’s. Or that my approach is right or wrong. At the end of the day it is what I am comfortable with as it helps alleviate concerns I have about unknown risks. I have only recently been making a very good salary and saving at a higher rate (close to 25%). In theory my investment income at 60 will cover monthly expenses and support a mild inflation rate of less than 4%, but that is as far as it goes. The SSA benefit will allow me to have income to minimize unknown risks and to be a source of money to occasionally indulge in things outside my normal expenses or day to day activities. Regardless of your situation, when it comes to social security the 35 year rule is something everyone should be aware of and how it impacts you. - Comments: 0