My weekly Stock watch list (7/11) and my stock activities

I did not post my list last week because I didn't see any updates.

This week I sold some of shares of WIN to realize my 36% profit. I bought WIN in the beginning of February 2014 in my IRA account.
I decided to follow this way because I have a very conservative mother, who doesn't believe in stock market at all. So I want to show her that stock market can work. Plus this way I can build my portfolio faster. I will sell my dividend stocks if I reach more than 35% earnings (dividends not included in this calculation) and stocks are trading close to 52 weeks highest at that moment. Then I will reinvest this money into a different dividend stock, which is selling close to 52 weeks lows. I already know some dividends stocks will never go to my "to be sold list".

After selling WIN I bought DRI@44.28. I know everybody does not like DRI right now. But even with all negativity around this stock, analyst 1 year target price is $50. Plus 4.6% dividends gives some safety cushion. Their profit declined but they pay dividends since 1995. The company got rid of Red Lobster and trying to revamp all existing restaurants. From my own observation: all DRI restaurants in our area are booming and we just got a new one - LongHorn Steakhouse. Teenager girls and lots of women love Olive Garden. My son and his dad already reported that steaks at LongHorn Steakhouse were amazing.

Here are some articles on DRI

Will Darden Restaurants' (DRI) New Plan To Revamp Olive Garden Help Its Stock? TheStreet rates DRI as a Hold, but most of the time they say this about any stock which

Is a Turnaround Finally Starting to Happen at Olive Garden? Motley Fool thinks turnaround is starting for DRI

Zacks' Bear Of The Day: Darden Zacks doesn't like DRI at all

I was going to buy CAG - Conagra foods but I missed their 52 lowest and Analyst estimates are equal to what stock is trading for. I still might buy some shares of CAG

My watching list for upcoming week

Stock	Name, description	price as 7/11	Dividend Yield
CAG	ConAgra Foods inc	$30.59	3.10%
ARI	Apollo Commercial Real Estate	$16.50	9.50%
RCII	Rent-a-Center inc	$25.88	3.20%
ROST	Ross Stores	$65.80	1.20%
DRI	Darden Restaurant group	$44.44	4.40%

* If I move stock to this list, it means there was a price drop or current price is somewhere in the middle.

I do not buy stocks at their highest prices. I might miss some good stocks but I prefer to sit and wait.

If I have a stock on my list, it means I like something about this stock. If I buy one of these stocks, it does not mean I plan to keep them forever. I might sell them if their price would go up a lot and I feel it's time to sell.

I love Sales on my regular shopping sprees and I use this strategy for my stock shopping... :)

Read my post about ARI  here, ROST here.

I added RCII - Rent-A-Center inc. to my watching list. Their profits are down and they are trading close to their 52 low. It's a growing company. They "generally offer high quality 

durable products such as major consumer electronics, appliances, computers, and furniture and 

accessories under flexible rental purchase agreements that typically allow the customer to 

obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period. These 

rental purchase agreements are designed to appeal to a wide variety of customers by allowing 

them to obtain merchandise that they might otherwise be unable to obtain due to insufficient 

cash resources or a lack of access to credit."

Plus they offer their products for businesses as well to people on temporary assignments. They are expanding in Mexico, which is unprofitable right now.

For me it is a weird market, but considering lots of people's behavior as "want to have better things even if they can't afford it", this company lets them have what they want for a small monthly fee. I  see the future for this company and want to watch this stock. They started paying dividends in 2010.  P/E 12.61.

My complete Watch List of Dividends Stocks here. I update this watch list at least once a month.

Please share your thoughts and watch lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

Why I prefer to use credit cards...

In 2008 I wrote why I use credit cards here. Back then I had just two credit cards.

I still use Discover for most of my purchases as well as most of my online shopping. Usually they have 1% on most purchases and 5% on certain purchases which vary from month to month. With online shopping you can earn up to 20%. I pay my balance in full every month, so I never pay any fees.

Last year I earned $650 in different gift cards. So far this year I have gotten $300 worth of gift cards.
I usually get Lowes gift cards for my gardening. Starbucks for my daughter's Starbucks coffee addiction. Macy's, TJ Max, Bath and Body Work and Old Navy for shopping sprays and gifts.

If you don't have Discover card yet - here some advertising for you! :) Become a @Discover cardmember and you’ll get $50 Cashback Bonus with your 1st purchase within 3 mos. Click here

My second card is MileagePlus Master Card. I do not use this card much anymore. I only pay my electric bill with this card. It slowly accumulates some points. When I opened this card, I've got bonus points and I use it a lot. So way back before Discover card I accumulated enough points to pay for my mom's round air ticket to Russia. I believe now I have enough points for one USA travel ticket.

My third card is Kroger 123 rewards card. I use this card only for shopping at Kroger and for gasoline at Kroger gas station. It gives me a great discounts on gasoline, accumulates rewards points and very valuable coupons which are tailored to my purchases.

Last year I opened 3 cards with retailers.

Kohls. Kohls runs lots of promotions, such as $10/25, $10/50 or even $10/10 coupons, send bunch of extra coupons and I get extra 15-30% as a card member.

Victoria Secret. I mostly shop at VS when they have a good promotions. As an angel card member you get more coupons and promotions. So many more free panties and discounted bras. :)

Palais Royal. I was shopping at Palais Royal because they keep sending their $10/25 coupons and then one day when I found lots of stuff I liked, the cashier signed me up for the card for extra discounts.

As I mentioned early all my cards have no fees and I pay balance on each card in full. I use my cards very wisely. I am looking for another card to add, so I can utilize 5% offerings and earn more points.
By using various credit cards, I keep my balances low and it's actually good for my overall credit score.

Also I usually carry only one or two credit cards with me, keeping the rest at home. I plan my shopping trips and only take certain cards with me when I plan to use it.

You have to have self control and discipline in order to use credit card rewards without paying any fees or overspending.

June Progress

June was a busy month. Kids were out of school for summer.
I discontinued working on one of my projects, so it decreased my cash inflow. I wrote why I did it here.

I did not buy as many stocks as I planned. I added a new stock to my portfolio - PG. I increased number of shares of ARCP.

I did not sell any of my non dividends stocks.

Since I just started seriously investing into dividends stocks only recently, it was my first month when I received more than $100 in dividends. $126.98, almost $127. It's progress for me. :)
My dividend paying stocks were: FTR, ARCP, RYN, PEP, UN, WU, MAT, EXPE, CNP.

This month I've got a $50 bonus from Sharebuilder for putting 5k into Roth IRA in the beginning of the year.

I earned an interest of $28.

I earned $56 in points on my Discover card. I use credit cards to pay for all purchases and some bills in order to get points. I pay my balance in full every month. I got $100 Lowes card for my previous points on my Discover card (I paid $90 in points). I use this card toward my gardening projects. I count new points balance toward my passive income because it is free money.

So my total financial passive income for the month of June $261

At this moment my goal is to have $1k in passive income from dividends and other financial institutions.

My Weekly Stock Watch List (6/29)

I hope upcoming week I finally will be able to purchase some stocks and maybe sell some of non dividends stocks.

Here is my watch list for upcoming week*.

Stock	Name, description	price as 6/28	Dividend Yield
CAG	ConAgra Foods inc	$29.63	3.10%
ARI	Apollo Commercial Real Estate	$16.40	9.50%
PG	Procter & Gamble	$79.02	3.20%
TGT	Target	$58.12	3.00%
ROST	Ross Stores	$65.80	1.20%
DRI	Darden Restaurant group	$46.66	4.40%
VLO	Valero Energy Corp	$51.57	1.70%
CHMG	Chemung Financial Corp	$29.15	3.60%
SNH	Senior Housing Properties Trust	$24.21	6.40%

* If I move stock to this list, it means there was a price drop or current price is somewhere in the middle.

I do not buy stocks at their highest prices. I might miss some good stocks but I prefer to sit and wait.

If I have a stock on my list, it means I like something about this stock. If I buy one of these stocks, it does not mean I plan to keep them forever. I might sell them if their price would go up a lot and I feel it's time to sell.

I love Sales on my regular shopping sprays and I use this strategy for my stock shopping... :)

CAG - ConAgra Food. I wrote about this stock here.
Read about ARI and PG here, ROST here.
VLO here. I think Valero is still not in my sale category but I want to watch this stock for now.
SNH here,

I added CHMG - Chemung Financial Corp to my watch list because this stock is trading close to 52 weeks lows. This company provides various banking, financing, fiduciary, and other financial services primary in New York. It is paying dividends since 2000. All financial statements looks ok to me.

My complete Watch List of Dividends Stocks here. I update this watch list at least once a month.

Please share your thoughts and watch lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

Time to add petroleum refiners to watch list or buy now?

Due to US Commerce Department let two companies Pioneer Natural Resources and Enterprise Product Partners to export condensate to foreign market most other petroleum refiners are sinking today.

Valero(VLO) is down 9.56%

Western Refining (WNR) is down 7.48%

Marathon Petroleum (MPC ) is down 6.93%

Phillips 66 (PSX) is down 4.58%

Here some data for dividends investors.

Company	Price 6/25	52 weeks low/high	Dividend Yield	PE	Dividend payments
VLO	50.68	33/59.69	1.7	9.52	since 1998
WNR	37.66	25.62/45	2.5	13.19	since 2006 (no dividends in 2009, 2010, 2011)
PSX	81.11	54.8/87	2.3	12.68	since 2012
MPC	80.38	61/97	1.9	15.64	since 2011

Thestreet thinks that Valero is a BUY now. Read here.

Barrons believes that Valero (VLO) and Western Refining (WNR) are still good to buy. Read here

Out of refiners list I like VLO the most. What do you think? Is this time to add Refiners to watch list or to buy now?

SNH - Senior Housing Properties - added to my watch list

I was reading my fellow investors blogs and noticed this stock on My Dividend Pipeline watch list.

SNH - Senior Housing Properties.

What I like/dislike about this stock

1. it's a REIT and gives a nice yield of 6.5%.

2. This company owns Senior Housing Properties all around the USA. It means to me that it has a potential or should I say some security of investing, because of many Baby Boomers getting older and requiring additional care. I scan through pictures on the website and facilities look nice. I like that they have properties all around the country, so if one region is not doing well, the other one can pick it up.

3. The stock is trading in the middle of 52 weeks range $24.25 ($20.70 - $27.42). But I would probably watch this stock for now, because I see it is trading above 1 year target. Personally I don't like when stock is trading above 1 year target. I don't feel like it is a bargain.

4. Here is an article on Seeking Alpha about SNH. Brad Thomas suggests not to buy this stock. Mostly because it looks like SNH depends more than 70% on one tenant - Five Star. I share his concerns on this one. He also noticed an interesting relationship of one insider (Portnoy Barry) in both companies SNH and FVE. I am not sure if it is good or bad. Well, overall article sounds very persuasive. I might look into other Senior Housing Properties as well, but I still will add this stock to my watch list.

What do you think about this stock? Please share your thoughts.

Life priorities... when it makes sense to earn and save less even if you can do more.

A while back I wrote about my own experience of how to earn money while following your heart. You can read it here.

So back in May I started working on a full time project, which was not in my passion zone but acceptable. I thought it would give me extra money to invest and achieve my goals faster. Well, first it turned out the project length was extended from 8 weeks to 16 weeks. I had to negotiate it to 13 weeks because I have another project right after this one.

I knew from the beginning that I didn't like this project much. It was not the kind of job I was passionate about. I did not feel like I fit in there. The drive turned out longer than I expected. I still had to visit with my regular clients. So my work weeks were close to 50 hours. I had to stop studying for my CPA test because I did not have much time left.  I spent less time with kids. I cooked less, so we would eat out more. I started feeling unhappy, stressed and tired. In June when school was over and I began thinking that I had to leave this project to stop neglecting my kids and my own life. But then I would think, "Oh I probably overreacting, money is good, I might be able to work another couple of weeks"...

We are planing but God deciding for us... Last week my usually super healthy and strong son came back from a week away camp and started having trouble breathing. It was scary. I had to take him to ER. We finished at the hospital for another two days because it turned out he had pneumonia. He is home and much better now. Will I come back to my project? Absolutely not. I think it was a sign from God that I have to remember most important things for me: health, kids, family, happiness... No money can buy this. I had chosen it before but then got caught in the non stop chase for money.

Last two days when we were back from the hospital, we could slow down and relax. We watched movies together. I cooked healthy food. We went for short walks. I was finally able to work in my little garden.
I start thinking about studying for CPA test again and finally finish decluttering and organizing the house. Now I am looking forward to enjoy more summer days with kids.

I know I will be busy with my audit project soon but this is a job I like to do. It makes me grow in my field. I plan for this job in advance. I enjoy working with my teammates. They appreciate me and even let me work from home some days when we are in town.

I still have my year around part time clients and I am blessed to have my other passive incomes inflows which helps me to live my life slowly but happily.

So I got my lesson again. I can't be a full time working mom. Even if my kids are teens. They still need me.
There are super women in this world, who can do it all. I guess I am not the one of them, but I have no regrets... :)

My Weekly Stock Watch List (6/21)

I did not buy or sell any stocks this week but I discovered a new stock I would like to add to my portfolio -
CAG - ConAgra Food. I wrote about this stock here.

Here is my watch list for upcoming week*.

Stock	Name, description	price as 6/21	Dividend Yield
CAG	ConAgra Foods inc	$28.81	3.10%
ARI	Apollo Commercial Real Estate	$16.65	9.50%
PG	Procter & Gamble	$79.93	3.20%
TGT	Target	$58.29	3.00%
ROST	Ross Stores	$67.94	1.20%
DRI	Darden Restaurant group	$47.58	4.40%

* If I move stock to this list, it means there was a price drop or current price is somewhere in the middle.

I do not buy stocks at their highest prices. I might miss some good stocks but I prefer to sit and wait.

If I have a stock on my list, it means I like something about this stock. If I buy one of these stocks, it does not mean I plan to keep them forever. I might sell them if their price would go up a lot and I feel it's time to sell.

I love Sales on my regular shopping sprays and I use this strategy for my stock shopping... :)

Read my post about ARI and PG here, ROST here.

I added DRI Darden Restaurant group back to my watch list. Their profit declined but they pay dividends since 1995.  I know how everybody in our area loves Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. So if stock prices would go down more, I might consider buying this stock.

My complete Watch List of Dividends Stocks here. I update this watch list at least once a month.

Please share your thoughts and watch lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

This Week in my Little Garden

It's a hot weather here in Texas now. Plus we are on restricted water schedule because our city is doing some repairs. Not much new going on in my garden, but plants are still blooming.

Girls just love it pink! :)

It looks like our grape is producing this year! We will see how it will taste.

I picked up more squash but have no idea that to do with it because it turned too hard. 

Finally we have first hibiscus flowers.

And a cheerful Sunflower! :)

This white rose is a new addition I bought this spring and it smells really good!

Black Eye Susan keeps generously blooming

My favorite Knock out Roses produce more blooms every week

Feng Shui for Health, Wealth and Happiness

I am a big fan of Feng Shui for years. I arrange my furniture and enhance special areas in my house. I even did not buy some houses, just because they had features which were not good according to feng shui books.

Some people think that feng shui is some voodoo thing. I believe that if it might change your life for better, why not try?



I read lots and lots of books about feng shui. Out of all I found most useful two books: "The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui" by Gill Hale and "The Illustrated encyclopedia of Feng Shui" by Lilian Too.

As in any part of my life I made my simple ways of following feng shui.

In general I try to declutter and clean as much as possible. So it creates positive flow of energy.

I calculated Kua numbers for each member of my family and make sure our beds and desks located in auspicious positions. You can calculate your Kua number here.

I try to avoid "poison arrows". You can easily figure them out. Just make sure there are no sharpy edges pointing to you while you are asleep or toward the entrance to your house. There are different ways to "deactivate" these arrows - with plants, mirrors, windchimes, screens or walls.

I use compass method. I place symbols of good fortune in order to energize areas and help to increase good fortune for all of us.

I created my own list of different symbols and arrange my stuff like decorations, pictures, etc around the house according to feng shui.

Compass direction	Element		Enhancers
South	Fire	Reputation	light, fireplace, burn candles, wood, red color, phoenix, horse
North	Water		water, black and blue color, aquarium with fish, earth elements, tortoise, painting of water
East	Big Wood	place of sons	big pieces of wood furniture, trees, green dragon, green color, plants, water elements
West	Metal		gold, silver, pot of gold, coins, metal things, cranes
South East	Small Wood	place of daughters	water elements, plants, green color
South West	Big Earth	Mother/Marriage and Romance corner	large decorative urns and water vessels, pots, crystals (amethyst, quartz), ceramic teapots and vases, bright light, picture of mountain or mare, candles, symbols of love, mandarin ducks, horse, fire, stones, all from the ground, globes, matching pairs, happy couples pictures, metal, wood, peonies, peaches, flowers, hearts. NO water
North East	Small Earth	Education and Scholarships	decorative urns, crystals, ceramic teapots, vase, water, earth, wood, mountains, books
North West	Big Metal	Most important corner, place of family breadwinner - Father	earth or metal elements, gold, silver, coins, mountain, globe, metal wind chime, chinese coins, 3 leg toad, horse, grand chair. NO Fire, NO to much light, NO red, NO water.

This is a very short on feng shui but if you are interested purchase or borrow a book from a library and start your own journey.

Thanks for reading.

CAG - ConAgra Food - added to my watch list

Today I was scanning through "Most active Market Movers" and noticed CAG - ConAgra Food.

What I like about this stock:

1. The company carries well known and loved by many brands. Some examples are:
Frozen food : Healthy Choice, Marie Callender's, Kids Cuisine, Bertolli, PF Chung, Banquet.
Can food: Rotel, Chef Boyardee, Ranch Style Beans, Hunts
Snacks: Orville, Act II, Swiss Miss, Reddi Wip, Peter Pen, Slim Jim, David, Crunch and Munch.

2. The Bank of America downgraded this stock to "underperform", but TheStreet ratings team thinks the stock is "Buy" now and I agree with them. Read article here. I think this company will find a way to improve their earning,

3. It is trading close to their lowest of 52 weeks average - $29.42
52 Weeks range $28.09 - $37.28.

4. Dividends yield is 3.10%. The company pays dividends since 1984 and slowly increase them.

After reviewing their profile, financial statements and listening to one of the Earning conference calls I added this stock to my watch list and plan to acquire some shares soon.

What do you think about this stock?

Please share your opinion.

My Weekly Stock Watch List (6/15)

This week I finally was able to buy some stocks.

I bought more of ARCP@11.98 and also PG@79.83.

I wrote about ARCP here. I am kind of concerned that they are selling 76 shopping centers. Read article here. On the other side I believe that they might have a good plan for acquiring new properties.

Here is my watch list for upcoming week*.

Stock	Name, description	price as 5/31	Dividend Yield
ARI	Apollo Commercial Real Estate	$16.68	9.50%
SBSI	Southside Bank	$27.33	3.30%
PG	Procter & Gamble	$79.64	3.20%
ARCP	American Realty Capital Properties, Inc.	$11.96	8.00%
TGT	Target	$57.23	3.00%
ROST	Ross Stores	$67.12	1.20%

* If I move stock to this list, it means there was a price drop or current price is somewhere in the middle.

I do not buy stocks at their highest prices. I might miss some good stocks but I prefer to sit and wait.

If I have a stock on my list, it means I like something about this stock. If I buy one of these stocks, it does not mean I plan to keep them forever. I might sell them if their price would go up a lot and I feel it's time to sell.

I love Sales on my regular shopping sprays and I use this strategy for my stock shopping... :)

At this moment on my most wanted list is ARI because I really like dividend yield. This stock looks pretty safe to me but I am waiting to see if the price will go down a little.

I am happy that I finally was able to buy PG.

Read my previous post about ARI and PG last week here. ROST and SBSI here.

I probably will not be able to buy any stocks following week because I spent my play money on a new dishwasher, grill and also had to prepay homeowner and home warranty insurance. But I might sell some of my non dividends stocks and buy dividends stocks. I will keep you updated.

My complete Watch List of Dividends Stocks here. I update this watch list at least once a month.

Please share your thoughts and watch lists.

Thanks for stopping by!

This week in my little Garden

The weather is getting hotter and hotter but plants keep flowering.

Here are some new blooms for this week.

Crape Myrtle pleases us with non stop pink flowers.

Beautiful and fragrant rose is an eye catcher

Two different types of marigolds, which we grew from seeds.

and daisies

I might start using daisies for small cut flowers bouquets.

The Meyer Lemon is blooming again. Maybe this time it will produce more fruit.

In our vegetable garden we picked more squash, but I had to give it to my friend since my kids said "no more squash"... :)

Basil and parsley (not ont he pic) are ready to add flavor to our Italian recipes.

and this girl just trying to stay cool on a hot day...

Have a great week.

My Weekly Stock Watch List (6/8)

I was very busy and did not have a chance to buy any stocks this week. I was planning to buy on Friday but my internet stopped working and I decided that it was a sign not to buy this week.

Here is my watch list for upcoming week*.

Stock	Name, description	price as 5/31	Dividend Yield
ARI	Apollo Commercial Real Estate	$16.97	9.60%
SBSI	Southside Bank	$26.92	3.30%
PG	Procter & Gamble	$80.03	3.20%
ARCP	American Realty Capital Properties, Inc.	$12.38	8.00%
TGT	Target	$57.68	3.00%
ROST	Ross Stores	$69.08	1.20%

This week list consists mostly same stocks.

This Week in my Little Garden

Here is what's going on in our little garden this week... :)

We had lots of rain, so all the plants are happy and growing very fast.