My current plan, 2017 April

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This is a day of sorrow, this is the day when Sweden got targeted in a terror attack.
I do not have words, got the information around 1530 when I was leaving work. Apparently a truck rammed a busy shopping street (walking street) and. 15 hurt and 4 dead as we speak.
Svd published a lot of pictures that tell stories.

Currently following the events unfold on live TV.

My biggest fear is that this will boost the racist trolls that are taking over in Sweden. There are extremists in every society, country, political wing and religion. Don't fight refugees, fight extremism.
I do hope that the Swedish government acts in a calm way.

As this is my planned 'My current plan' I have to do this update as well as during my lunch break (3 hours before the attack) I followed my original plan and bought more shares in my favorite candy shop. This time the buy was boosted by this years dividend payouts. The dividend payout was 3 times more then last year. A good result but it is dimmed by today's events and I really do not want to think about economics today.

My thoughts are with the families of the victims of the attack. Be strong!
Be sure to follow #openstockholm on twitter where people are helping each other, actually genuine caring. Warms my hearth.

Be strong!

How to read an Annual Report part 2: Dividend

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This is part of my series on The Annual Report. Please read the other posts for other perspectives on the matter:

How to read an Annual Report part 1: Management
How to read an Annual Report part 2: Dividend

Introduction

So, we have had a look at the management teams of the companies and what to look at there. The question is still, how do we differentiate long term, solid companies from junk companies in an easy way that doesn't require a lot of time. The answer might be dividends. Lets look at the details.

Companies that don't pay divided

The are numerous reasons for a company not to pay out any dividends, maybe they are in an expansion phase, researching a new product, acquiring businesses etc.  This is all well and good, the question we should ask as long term investors is:

Is the management team creating more value for us by keeping the cash in the books instead of paying it out in dividends?

For me, to answer this question would take too long to analyse and research. I.e. going back in reports and looking at the returns over a longer period of time. And that is basically the one reason why I don't invest in them.
Other reasons why I keep away is because when my money making machine build phase is over, I would like to be able to live on the returns. If the companies I own don't pay out dividends I would have to sell my shares, bit by bit to be able to make a living and that just feels wrong.

Companies that pay dividend

So, we have now filtered out a big chunk of companies that don't pay dividends. Lets look at the ones that do.
For a company to be able to pay a dividend it requires that it must have a revenue stream that is higher than the cost of operations. The management team must be confident that they will be able to continue with operations even after the dividend is paid. To be able to pay dividends, year after year the companies must adapt to all sorts of challenges that the world throws at them, from financial crisis to acquisitions. Everything the company does, must pay itself. The company can't afford to throw away money.

So, companies that pay dividend are good. How do we know that they will continue to do so? As with mutual funds, we can't predict the future by looking at past performance. There is always a risk. But dividend companies have one thing that stands out: Shareholders don't tend to like them if they mess with the dividend policy.
And that is why so many companies make an extraordinary effort to pay the dividend. If they don't do it one year, it sends out strong signals that things are not in order and many larger institutional owners tend to sell when it happens, making the share drop.

If the company has paid dividends for a decade, we should be interested.

Companies that raise dividend

So dividend payers are great companies, but what makes companies stand out even more from the competition? Companies that raise their dividend year after year. To be able to raise a dividend year after year, the operations must be optimized. And just like with the dividend payout itself, shareholders tend to not like it if a company changes its dividend payout plan and doesn't raise it for one year.
There is even a name for companies that have raised their dividends for 25 consecutive years, they are called Dividend Aristocrats.  Its a thing, it is part of the company's image. The company is a dividend raiser and most of them are quite proud of that and it takes something out of the ordinary to change that. For example the financial crisis in 2009, the list of S&P500 Aristocrats dropped 10 companies. From 52 to 42. Keep in mind that the whole financial sector was on the edge of collapse and still 42 companies managed to raise their payouts to shareholders. If you reinvested that cash during that year, you got a lot of shares for a bargain as the markets plummeted at the same time. I feel that I can trust a dividend raiser, they go the extra mile.

Conclusions

Of course there are companies that for various reasons stop or change their dividend payouts. Maybe that should be the signal for you to go somewhere else instead of the quarterly noise with missed expectations. If the company is still able to raise its dividend even after a 'failure', it is still a great company to own and most likely things will sort themselves out.

I'm not that into numbers as you might have noticed on this blog, I'm happy to leave them out most of the time. But one thing that should be kept in mind when looking at companies that pay dividend is that if you re-invest the dividend payout, and the payout is higher each year. You will get some awesome compounding effects on your investment. The numbers go crazy after some years. I'll let you find the numbers on google yourself. :)

A great place to start searching for dividend paying companies: The DRiP Investing Resource Center
They have lists for various markets, US, Canada, UK and Sweden to name a few.


Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

My Current Plan, 2016 October

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As I've hinted in previous posts, I don't follow the diversified investing strategy or invest in index funds myself. I still think that that is the best risk averse way to invest, perfect for your retirement plan or when you are saving for your kids and most of all when you do not want to put any real time into it.

That being said... I have too much time..

So, after reading a lot on the subject. Going through Graham, Buffet and numerous books that I don't remember the names of, that could be the subject of another post I devised my own strategy.
So lets go through the overall ideas that influenced me to form my own plan.

There is no one way to wealth, everyone do it in their own way

Some preach diversification, others are into value investing and then again others only want dividend payers. Buy only companies that are cheaper than the money they have in the bank, or buy into big well proven companies that are stable. Buy and hold or Buy and sell?

So there is no single path to riches.

There is no such thing as market timing.

At least not in the long run and I am in it for the long run.
This seems to be the least common denominator that everyone agrees on. Everyone meaning the authors and investors that have a horizon of a decade or five.
Graham didn't have to time the market as he basically bought the whole basket and then micromanaged that portfolio to see when things were ripe for harvest. Others buy at a nice price (not always the best) and hold the investment for a long period and see it grown.

What I look for

Management

Do I trust the management to drive the company forward into a money maker for me?

Dividend payout

I.e. a cash flow that can be re-invested. And when time comes, a cash flow that can substitute a full time job or 2. Best deal if it has a long term increased dividend strategy.

I can figure out how they make money

This is key. I don't want buy into a company if it is in a field that I don't know about. If it is unclear how the money gets created, then it is a no.

A Great Company

I don't want to go through the endless waves of small unknown companies that may become the next [insert any skyrocketing company here from your local financial news]. I want a boring old money maker with a well recognized brand that is out there and has 'always' been. Think Coca-cola.

Does not ask shareholders for a cash-in from time to time

Another no way. Steady long term business that is able to finance itself and pay a dividend.

Not my employer

I like my employer, I like working for them. But, a big but if.. If they go out of business and I loose my job, I don't want to loose my investment at the same time. Or the other way around. Just think about it. You see your investment go into ruins and the next day you get fired. Not an ideal situation. I don't buy my employer.

Is  better than the ones I already have?
If the proposed return of investment isn't better then from worst company I already own, then I might just as well buy more of the ones I know of.

When to I plan to sell

Never :)

But honestly, no.. I do not have an exit plan. I do have an emergency plan for when the

Management turns sour

As time goes by, the management team of a company change their members or the bigger shareholders want a change and it may turn out to be in a direction that I am not comfortable with. When trust is lost, that's when I might sell. Emergency plan, not an exit.

Until that happens, the market may do whatever it likes. If I trust my companies, then I'll hold on to them. Preferably for me would be if the market thinks the worst, as it just gives me an opportunity to buy more shares at a cheaper price.

So. That was a summary of the strategy that I follow. Currently holding 2 companies and buying more of them every month. Until something better comes up, I'll stick to those two.

Hope this gives some ideas to other people starting out in building their own future :)

Disclaimer. I am in no way an expert on capital management or investing. On this blog I only wish to share my findings, ideas and comments on current events and fields that interest me. I hope that my thoughts can entertain you. I expect that everyone reading take their time and do their own research before acting on anything read on this blog. Investing is not for everyone. E&OE.

Tips on finding extra income sources

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So far I have assumed that we have a fixed income from a day job to work with. When you start to get more interested and involved in investing you will soon notice that the investment potential of an ordinary paycheck is not that huge. How could we find additional streams of income that we can add to our investment?
Lets look at some options.

Reinvest your returns

This should be a no-brainer, during the build phase of your money machine you should reinvest everything. For funds, many of them do this automatically and you don't have to think about it. If you are investing in common stock of businesses then there is a chance that there is a dividend payout from time to time. You should add this sum to your next investment.
Over time, this approach together with your normal savings/investments should start to yield larger and larger return.

Start a business on the side.

If you have the know-how, why not monetize on it on your spare time? Register a small business and start doing extra jobs. Could be anything from photography and web-design to household chores.
If things go well, this could turn out to become your main business in the future. And until then, put all returns into your investment portfolio.

Garage sales

Sell off some stuff that you do not need anymore.
Advertise in a local newspaper and remember to figure out a pricing system that you want to follow on the big day.

• Make sure that you have a permit if it is required in your area.
• Bundle items. Lower valued items together with medium valued can boost the sell factor
• If you have more valuable items, try researching a little to figure out the price-tag that you can put on them. But expect that people will haggle about the price no matter what.
• Get extra change so that you don't stand there empty handed when someone hands you a large bill.
• Put on price labels that are easy to read.
• Use prices that match the change you have available at the start.
• Make sure there is enough parking place outside of your house. If you have advertised, there can be a real rush and its not fun to see potential customers go somewhere else. If 5-10 cars cant park then try finding an other location. 
• In the last 30 minutes, lower prices to get rid of the last things. You've already decided that you don't want it anymore, then turn it to a profit even if it is less than what you asked for in the beginning. 

In the end, if you feel that you have got the hang of the haggling business, you could try starting a side business. Buying items from other peoples garage sales and then selling at your own. Its quite a lot of work but a fun way to meet people.

Write

If you have knowledge of a subject, why not write about it?
For information on how to publish your own book, go to Writersdigest.com they have a large in-depth guide on the subject.

If you instead want to write smaller articles that maybe not suite as a book, try out blogging.
With the correct ad-placement you can turn it to a revenue stream as well. Key notes on blogging is to have a continuous publishing schedule to keep people coming back for more. This is something that I am not that good at. I tend to write a lot of articles and then have huge gaps until I get into writing mode again.
If you have your own hosting, try out wordpress. Their free service does not allow advertising (as they put their own ads into your blog). If you do not have your own hosting, then blogger is the way to go.
Also, make sure that you use high quality images that convey the subjects. Best are of course photos and images that you create on your own, but using one or two images from various free stock image sites can upgrade the quality feeling that you get at a glance.

Another way to monetize on articles is to sell them to magazines, try contacting a magazine that writes in the field that you want to write in. Put together a portfolio (could be your blog) and send them a question if you could write for them.


Good luck :)