Dividend Stocks, Lunch Experiment Update #5

Not much has happened since my last Dividend Stocks, Lunch Experiment #4 update, at least from a dividend yield perspective!

For a background on how I’m going this experiment and why it’s free, click this article: A Lunch Experminent

Actually the weekly dividend amount I get for lunch dropped a bit because ANH dropped their dividend payout amount, again (they have done so for the last few quarters). 

On the gains/losses in stock values, EVEP continues to tear up the market by now appreciating up to 60%!  I wish I had more in this stock and less in ANH.  The newest stock purchase, CIM, has performed very well and I’m fairly happy with it.

I made the purchase in CIM over 3 months ago, and over a year ago for ANH and EVEP!  I don’t know if I would buy that same stocks today…

Here is the latest numbers from my spreadsheet:

           
  Stock Name Anworth EV Energy Chimera  
  Stock Ticket ANH EVEP CIM  
  # of Shares 260 45 600  
  Orig. Price $7.84 $23.25 $4.01  
  Curr. Price $7.01 $37.46 $4.10  
  Orig Cost $2,038.14 $1,046.25 $2,404.80  
  Curr. Value $1,822.60 $1,685.70 $2,460.00  
  Annual Yield 13.12% 8.08% 17.56%  
  Quart. Dividend $59.80 $34.07 $108.00  
      Total  Dividends $807.48  
      52 weeks 52  
      Dividends / week $15.53  
           
      Total Gain in    
      Stock Increase $479.11  
           
      % Change 8.73%  
           
           
      Amt owed to me: $1,726  
           

 

I borrowed $2,000 from myself to purchase CIM, but it’s been whittled down to $1,726.

Other than the money I borrowed from myself (which at this point I could easily pay back by selling the stocks I have in the experiment), I don’t have any other money contributed to this experiment, so that means that it’s like free money! 

So how did money get into the fund?

By skipping on going out to eat with friends at work, I was able to fund this experiment with lunch money!  So I took my lunch money from myself (lol).

So, in my eyes, the money in this experiment is literally just play money, because it would have been money that I would have wasted by going out to eat with my friends at work everyday (which they still do, by the way!).

I’m now at the point where I can go out with friends at work at least twice a week.  And since I telecommute once a week, I’m really able to go out with friends half of the days that I’m at work!

Not bad considering it hasn’t been a full year that I’ve run the experiment yet!  Nov 12, 2010 will have been 1 year of doing this experiment!

What do you think?  Is it crazy that I”m in such high yield risky stocks? 

 

Related:

Lunch Budget Experiment Update

 

Hurray!Woo Hoo

This past friday, I’ve accumulated my first $1,000 by cutting back on my lunch expenses…

Now , I’m looking at stocks that will pay at least a 5% dividend (and preferable around 6 or 7%).  After the fourth quarter passes (I get my first dividend after the fourth quarter), I’ll be able to go out to lunch 1 extra day each month.   Then after 25 more days, I’ll have another $1,000.  After I have $2,000 dollars invested in dividend yielding stocks,  I’ll be able go out ever other week.  After another year passes, I’ll have enought money saved up to go out and entire extra day per week.  That’s all I need, going out 3 time a week is plenty.  If I keep the experiment up past 2 year, I’ll just keep saving the money in the lunch fund.

I’m kind of excited about this, I’ve always wanted to have a dividend fund like this since I was 19 years old.  Of course, I’m not considering taxes, but I’m hoping that if I get a 6% or 7%, that will make up for my lack of tracking the tax.

Lunch Savings to date:

Savings from int. rate: 5%
Lunch Budget
Amt Cumultive Yearly Monthly Weekly
6/5/2009 40 40 2.00 0.17 $0.04
6/12/2009 40 80 4.00 0.33 $0.08
6/19/2009 40 120 6.00 0.50 $0.12
6/26/2009 40 160 8.00 0.67 $0.15
7/3/2009 40 200 10.00 0.83 $0.19
7/10/2009 40 240 12.00 1.00 $0.23
7/17/2009 40 280 14.00 1.17 $0.27
7/24/2009 40 320 16.00 1.33 $0.31
7/31/2009 40 360 18.00 1.50 $0.35
8/7/2009 40 400 20.00 1.67 $0.38
8/14/2009 40 440 22.00 1.83 $0.42
8/21/2009 40 480 24.00 2.00 $0.46
8/28/2009 40 520 26.00 2.17 $0.50
9/4/2009 40 560 28.00 2.33 $0.54
9/11/2009 40 600 30.00 2.50 $0.58
9/18/2009 40 640 32.00 2.67 $0.62
9/25/2009 40 680 34.00 2.83 $0.65
10/2/2009 40 720 36.00 3.00 $0.69
10/9/2009 40 760 38.00 3.17 $0.73
10/16/2009 40 800 40.00 3.33 $0.77
10/23/2009 40 840 42.00 3.50 $0.81
10/30/2009 40 880 44.00 3.67 $0.85
11/6/2009 40 920 46.00 3.83 $0.88
11/13/2009 40 960 48.00 4.00 $0.92
11/22/2009 40 1000 50.00 4.17 $0.96

 

For those of you who might not have seen the earlier post about my Lunch Budget Experiment (I called it an Adult Allowance Experiment for the initial post), this is what I”m doing:

I’m cutting $40 out of my weekly lunch expenses by packing cheap (but still health) lunches.  Then after the savings amount hit over $1,000 dollars, I taking the money saved and investing it into a stock that pays a dividend.  I then use the dividend money to pay for the lunches I use to pay directly out of pocket.  IMHO, the beauty of this is I don’t actually carve extra money from my earned income to pay for lunch.  I’m just spend the dividend money I would have spent on lunch anyway.  So after the first 2 years, I get a free weekly lunch via the dividend payments.

The next dividend producing funds that I’ll try to start are:

  • Christmas fund.
  • Home Improvements fund.
  • Kids Allowance fund
  • Vacation fund (this will be a hybrid approach, because it would take too long).

I would like to include a Car fund, but I don’t think I can build up a dividend producing fund quick enough…

 

Tell me what you think, and do you have any suggestions?  Do you think I should stick to the experiment for 2 or  more years?

-MR

Related Posts:

Paying An Adult Allowance

Lunch Budget Experiment #2 – Buying the Stock