Scottrade

Recent Buys

So I’m on vacation, but I’m not dead. Before I go out and swim for a bit, I decided I’d execute some orders (sounds so much cooler than it is) on the stocks I’d been comparing/eyeing this weekend. As usual, I will preface this by saying I am new to this whole thing and if there were a gradient from completely green to Warren Buffett, I would be firmly in the green still.

That being said, I actually did my own analysis on the stocks I did purchase today, albeit nothing too deep or intensive. For example, I’m not to the point where I’m using P/E to determine whether I should invest. I’m sure I’ll get to that point, but for the moment I’m not going out on any crazy limbs by establishing myself with these companies. I’m keeping it simple.

So far, I’m using these metrics (which could be absolutely terrible, I’m sure) which I took largely from David Fish’s CCC list:

  • Reasonable dividend payout (2 – 5% yield)
  • Long history of increased dividends
  • An upward trajectory in stock price over the past 5 years

Feel free to point out my terrible strategy. I am completely open to learning — that’s what this whole thing is about. For now, I’ll get into which stocks I bought!

Realty Income Corp (O)

Realty Income Corporation

I’m sure many of you are quite familiar with this one. I read that it is described as the “Monthly Dividend Company” on its Wikipedia article. Honestly, I didn’t even comprehend that this was a REIT stock until after I purchased it. But hey, it looks strong to me. The company was founded in 1969 and was recently added to the S&P 500. It’s had 22 years of consecutive dividend growth and its current dividend yield is at 4.85% from what I can tell. I bought in at $47.12 with 10 shares. This was my second out of three commission-free trades on Scottrade (yay!).

Target Corporation (TGT)

Target Corporation

Last of my commission-free trades was Target. While I do own Walmart stock, it’s Target my family visits 4-5 times per week. Like Diet Coke, we have a personal stake in the success of this company and based on how it’s done previously, it seems like it will keep going strong for years to come, so by that measure I had no qualms going forward. It’s been around for over 100 years now and is also included in the S&P 500! Although I read that Target Corp’s dividend growth wasn’t so hot in recent years, it has still continued to climb over the last 32 years. The dividend yield is presently 2.46%, which is good enough for me. I bought 6 shares at $84.48.

This brings my total number of stocks owned up to seven (7) for a stock portfolio currently worth about $3,450.00.

First Stock Purchase: Coca-Cola (KO)

Coca Cola It’s official! I have purchased my first stock ever!

After going over all the fine advice offered in my last post (thanks so much, guys), I’ve decided to go with 10 shares of Coca-Cola Company.

Honestly, it was a huge help reading the Coca Cola (KO) Dividend Stock Analysis post from Div4Son. While I’m getting my own analysis sheets going, it definitely helps to have friends!

Jason from Islands of Investing also gave me a great link to dig into PE ratio to remove some of the mystery from that term, so I also appreciated that.

Oh, and to give a few details, I bought just 10 shares of KO at 41.1599 ($411.60). Combined with the $7 trading fee, it cost me $418.60. Man, I can see how that starts to add up. Still, it’s better than the $20/trade I’d have to pay with Vanguard after the honeymoon period is over.

What an exciting day! And, of course, it went way more smoothly than I thought it would.

Now I’m looking into what to purchase next, but apparently there are only certain hours where trades can happen (I tried buying some Union Pacific stock as well). I’ll wait to see what the price looks like in the morning and perhaps give that a shot then.

Thanks for all the help, guys. I’ll update once I figure out what to buy next!

Update: After buying 5 shares each of UNP, WMT and MMM (in that order), I just created a Portfolio page like all you fancy people!