Keep investing little by little.

I believe the common man trying to make it in this world is just as good or even better than professional brokers at stock picking. Never lose confidence in your plan of action. Remain consistent in your decision to invest in sound dividend stocks! If there is a nasty pull back on one of your stocks, sell a percentage of your gains and purchase another dividend aristocrat! I hope you had a great investing day, as the Dow went up 254.71 points. Although it is important to track how your dividend paying stocks are performing on a weekly, if not daily basis, you should continue to think long term, invest little by little, and let your reinvested dividends compound year after year!

Darden Restaurants, Inc. - DRI

Other than McDonald's (MCD), refer to my prior blog post, Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) is my favorite full-service restaurant company. DRI operates over 1,800 restaurants in the United States and Canada. DRI offers a great selection of diversification within the fine dining sector. Unlike McDonald's they have the mid-level to high end dining experience down to a science. Click on each restaurant below to explore how diversified DRI really is.

Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52

I believe this stock will go higher as the economy continues to get better. People may not buy new houses or take luxurious vacations, however they will treat themselves to a succulent dinner at Olive Garden or Red Lobster. Have you ever visited an Olive Garden? It is always packed, especially on weekend nights, and you usually need to take a number and wait for a table. They are a fine dining conglomerate!

DRI pays a $0.43 cent dividend per quarter (current yield of 3.75%). They recently increased their quarterly dividend by $0.11 from $0.32 to $0.43.  As they continue to expand into other regions of the U.S. and into other countries I expect this stock to pop and stay there for years to come. Add this stock to your Roth IRA on Monday if possible. After watching this video below you can't sit there and tell me that Darden is not the best in class!

Hungry for some Darden stock yet? Feel free to comment below with your take on DRI.

Guru Focus Website

Wouldn't it be great to know what stocks a large percentage of Fortune 500 company big wigs and Investment Gurus are purchasing on a quarterly basis? Well here you go, click here.

Gurufocus provides a detailed listing of stocks which are being purchased by Warren Buffett, George Soros, John Paulson, T. Boone Pickens and many more high level executives and entrepreneurs. Gurufocus is an excellent resource to receive daily market insights from the best of the best. I believe there is no better way to become a great, high yielding dividend stock investor without researching when and why these billionaires took action!

Click here for a listing of Warren Buffett's most recent stock purchases/sales, as of June 30th, 2011.

Update: Stock Picks for the week of 8/21 to 8/27/11

As you can see below, each stock has performed very well during this shaky week. Sticking with high yielding, solid and profitable companies can out last even an economic downturn.

Stock Ticker     Quote @ 8/21/11     Quote @ 8/27/11         Net Gain
DD                   43.91                        46.09                            +2.18
EXC                 41.75                        42.01                            +0.26
JNJ                   63.14                        64.28                            +1.14
KO                   67.10                        68.50                            +1.40
PG                    60.96                        62.57                            +1.61
WM                  29.40                        32.34                           +2.94
WMT               52.30                        52.90                            +0.60
XOM               69.80                        72.64                            +2.84
CVX                93.29                        96.85                            +3.56
GIS                  35.81                        36.68                            +0.87
Grand Total                                                                         +17.40

Investing Formula for the Common Man

1. Ensure that your Dividend Stock Portfolio is held within a Roth IRA.
2. Setup an automatic transfer on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis from your checking or savings account to your broker (i.e. Sharebuilder, Fidelity).
3. Allow your broker account balance to grow throughout the month. Higher account balance = More stock purchasing power!
4. Setup an automatic trade with free dividend reinvestment during the last week of the month preferably with Sharebuilder (only $4.00 per automatic investment plan trade - basic program).
5. Continue to invest for 5 more months straight (6 months total) into a different high yielding, dividend aristocrat stock each month. (For example, JNJ, PG, DD, EXC, XOM, O, MCD)
6. Perform steps 2 through 5 for 6 more months into 6 different high yielding, dividend aristocrat stocks.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 5 using the original 6 stocks over the course of the next 6 months.

Your Dividend Stock Portfolio will be well diversified and 12 companies will be working for you! All paying you money on a monthly or quarterly basis! Each dividend payment will get you closer and closer to a stress free, easy living retirement. It's all about reinvesting your dividends and allowing them to compound for years. This formula will teach you how to become very disciplined with your stock selections and keep your risk profile low. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions that you may have.

AAPL will survive!

With the resignation of Steve Jobs at Apple I believe they will survive and the stock price will recoup any short term losses. AAPL is headed to over $400.00 per share within the next 10 months. Long term, expect AAPL to pay a special one time dividend or implement a quarterly dividend. They are cash cow and someday with become a dividend aristocrat. If you have any cash to throw at AAPL please do so tomorrow.

Stock Recommendations: Potash Corp (POT) & Waste Management (WM)

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., stock ticker POT and Waste Management, stock ticker WM, are two of my all-time favorite stocks.

Even though Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT) only pays a 7 cent quarterly dividend this company is ready for any food shortages which may occur. What is needed in order for crops/plants to grow? Yes, water, but what else...... Fertilizer. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. is an integrated fertilizer and related industrial and feed products company. The Company owns and operates five potash mines in Saskatchewan and one in New Brunswick. Just think of how many countries are currently underdeveloped and how over the next century they will attempt to copy the United States middle class way of life. Also, as the world population grows more food will be needed. As the world’s leading potash producer, POT is responsible for about 20% of global potash capacity. That's huge!

Waste Management, Inc. (WM) is a provider of waste management services in North America. Its subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and disposal services. The Company is also a developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Each and every day WM collects the world's trash. Until the end of time, we will always need our trash picked up. WM has developed many ways to profit from our disposables. Ultimately, my one sole reason to own WM is their dividend yield and strongly believe WM is the type of company which will be around forever. WM currently pay a 34 cent quarterly dividend (4.23% yield). So they not only have brillant ideas about how to profit from collecting trash and using the landfill gas to create energy, but they pay you to own their stock.

I believe stocks like POT and WM provide stability in one's stock portfolio. You can sleep good at night knowing that you invested into companies which are linked to our every day way of life. We all need food to survive and for someone to pick up our junk!

Financial Earthquake

I was in my office at work today and it began to shake. The entire foundation of the building moved a foot or so to the left and everyone in the building ran out into the parking lot. I live on the east coast and am not used to this feeling, but it reaffirmed to me how I feel about life. At any point in your life and earthquake can shake up your world. Planning is everything. I realized the only plan we had was to run out of the building. Applying this theory to stock picks and retirement planning may seem silly, but when havoc hits the stock market or is dropping one must do more to plan and simply just not run out of the building or sell due to panic. Hold onto those stocks which you know are a security blanket to recessions, downturns or even catastrophic situations. Here are a few stocks which fit into this category:

MCD, JNJ, KO, PG, UL, WM

Today is a great day to get all aspects of your life in order. Financial. Spiritually. Family life. Life is too short and full of risk. Plan ahead and be thankful for each day that is given to you.

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP

No, that's not the sound of your leaky faucet or the rainstorm outside. DRIP pertaining to stock investing stands for Dividend Reinvestment Plan. DRIPs are offered by corporations which allow investors to reinvest their cash dividends by purchasing additional shares or fractional shares on the dividend payment date. I strongly suggest reinvesting your dividends rather than receiving cash payments. You may only receive a fractional share, however if you have 30 to 35 years to invest until you retire, trust me your money will end up working for you instead you working for money!

Most brokers allow you to setup automatic dividend reinvestments. If your broker does not allow you to reinvest your dividends it is worth your while to transfer your shares to one of the following Stock transfer companies (See links below). Review each listing to determine if any of the companies that you own stock in offer DRIPs or Direct Stock Purchase Plans. Most plans require that you already own at least one share of company stock and a minimum monthly investment. This is an easy way to avoid commission fees!

Computershare - All Plans
American Stock Transfer and Trust Company - All Plans

Great advice by Joshua Coffy

Here is a great video that I found on Youtube. This is not me, I repeat this is not me. Joshua Coffy offers great advice here...

Nice rally - Sell Tech

Now is the time to sell your tech stock. These stocks are not the best dividend payers to begin with but if you own names such as HP and Dell.. Get rid of them. The only notable tech stocks which are undervalued are Apple, stock ticker AAPL and Google, stock ticker GOOG. Remember, invest as much disposable income as you can into high quality companies. High yield, consistant dividend payers will keep your Roth IRA happy! Have a great day!

To invest or not to invest - United States Bank Stocks

It is all over the news lately that our economy is slowing down again. 62 banks have been shut down by the FDIC since January 1st, 2011. If you ask me this is the best time to invest in high quality, former dividend paying US bank stocks. Canada bank stocks have been pretty much unfazed by the latest recession cycle, however US bank stocks have taken a beating. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS).. the list goes on and on. US banks have halted their dividend payments or have reduced them to peanuts. Citigroup was selling at $53.30 on June 8th, 2007 and paying a .54 cent/share dividend. As of today the stock is selling at $26.77, post a 1 for 10 reverse stock split on May 9th, 2011, and currently paying a .01 cent/share quarterly dividend. Now is the time to act. These banks are well known names and although they were hit by the mortgage crisis/housing bubble of 2008, they are great long term investments. Do your due diligence, but ask yourself these two questions: Will I ever see another recession like the one in 2008 again in the next 100 years? Where will society go for bank loans when the economy finally stabilizes?

I am not saying US bank stocks are the best place to invest, but the whole sector includes various growth stocks with the potential of dividend increases for many years to come.

UTH3ANV5USYB

Stock Picks for the week of 8/21 to 8/27/11

Pick one of these stocks for the upcoming week. Any one of these stocks always make a great addition to your Roth IRA. All have a dividend yield of over 2.69% which is a better rate of return than a 10 year US Treasury bonds. I will check back in next Saturday to determine how well or poor my picks performed. Happy Investing!

Current Quarterly Dividend/Yield         Current stock price as of 8/21/11
DD - .41 cents/3.75%                             $43.91
EXC - .52 cents/5.03%                           $41.75
JNJ - .57 cents/3.61%                             $63.14
KO - .47 cents/2.80%                             $67.10
PG - .52 cents/3.44%                              $60.96
WM - .34 cents/4.63%                            $29.40
WMT - .37 cents/2.79%                         $52.30
XOM - .47 cents/2.69%                         $69.80
CVX - .78 cents/3.34%                          $93.29
GIS - .31 cents/3.41%                            $35.81

Investing is similar to exercising.

If you decide to sit around and not exercise each day then the likelihood of getting out of shape will occur. If you decide not to save money for your future then you may be mentally stressed at a later date. It is great to go out to eat, don't get me wrong, but when you constantly spend money that you don't have or just because you have extra cash that is the best time to take a step back and prioritize your hard earned dollars. You must exercise you financial muscle to pay yourself first before Applebee's or Chili's. We all love a great time, but your future self will thank me.

ING Direct: Sharebuilder - The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

I rarely advertise a brokerage firm, however this one is just too good to be true. ING Direct's Sharebuilder has been a critical tool in beginning, developing, and maintaining my portfolio of dividend stocks. I will not go through all of the steps of setting up an account in detail, however open a free no money down Roth IRA, link your checking or savings account to the site, setup a weekly, key word weekly, Automatic Investment Plan, select either the Basic or Advantage Pricing Program (see below for details), select one stock per week to invest , set it then forget it. Do not deactivate your Automatic Savings Plan, only change which stock you invest each week. You will have quite a diverse collection of stocks in a Roth IRA with which you will not need to pay yearly dividend taxes! If I was too brief in my description of Sharebuilder please click on the link nearby and purchase the Sharebuilder Basic Investor Starter Kit. You will not regret it!

• Advantage Program
• $12 per month
• First 12 per month included;
  $1 per additional trade
• $7.95 per trade;
  market and limit orders
• $7.95 per online trade
  + $0.75 per contract
• 0.50% discount off
  basic pricing
• Premium stock research, plus real-time quotes when researching and trading

• Basic Program
• No Monthly Fee
• $4 per investment
• $9.95 per trade;
  market and limit orders
• $9.95 per online trade
  + $1.25 per contract
• No discount
• Stock reports from leading sources, plus real-time quotes when placing a trade            

Recommend Reading for the Beginning Investor

Compounding Returns Calculator

Just a quick note. This is the best Compounding Returns Calculator in the market. Simply type in your Money Invested, Rate of Return, and the Number of Years you intend to hold onto those funds. I use this calculator before investing into any stock. Enjoy!

www.dividend.com/tools/compounding-returns-calculator.php

Investing only $30.00 a month can make you rich!

This is not a blog where I pretend that I can make you rich. I can however provide you with simple, easy to follow instructions on how to make what money you have left after all bills are paid, kids are fed, etc. into a nice size income generating system. It is important to maximize each dollar that you earn and then make the money work for you. It is very easy to continue to spend your hard earned money on things you want so badly. For example, a new jacket, the latest watch or a new purse, however if you already have a similar item that isn't broken and does not need to be replaced, then don't buy a new item. Simply transfer those dollars from your checking or savings account into your brokerage account. If you saved only $1.00 per day for an entire month (i.e $30, $28, or $31.00) then purchase shares of stock on the 1st of each month you will be in great shape for the long term. You will learn to be not as quick or impulsive to buy new products and feel better knowing that you already have a plan in place.

If you invested $30 into LTC Properties, Inc, stock ticker LTC today that would provide you with 1.26 shares. LTC pays a monthly, key word monthly, dividend to all shareholders at 14 cents per share. If you never touched this one transaction for 30 years you would receive $58.80 in total dividends, almost doubling your money. This does not even include the amount of money you would receive if you reinvested those monthly dividends. At year 30 you would received $198.28 in total returns, based on an intial $30.00 investment at a 7.1% annual return rate (LTC's current annual dividend yield). $228.28 total ($30.00 + $198.28). That being said, imagine if you continued to buy $30.00 of LTC on a monthly basis.

Your growth potential is limitless if you view dividend stock investing from the common man perspective. Thank you for your time. Have a great Sunday!

Recommended Stock Websites

Listed below are my favorite stock related websites:

www.fool.com - The Greatest Website on the planet!
www.thestreet.com
www.seekingalpha.com - Brillant research
http://finance.yahoo.com - Message Boards keep you in the loop
www.cnbc.com - Fantastic articles
www.gurufocus.com - Follow what the big dogs buy/sell/hold
www.otcbb.com - Market Statistics

Get rich or die trying! Have a great day!

WeReward by IZEA

I have been using WeReward on my iphone for 3 months and am making a decent amount of dough. This is a great way to make money while visiting local restaurants, bars, supermarkets, etc. I strongly suggest downloading WeReward on your iphone or Android. Start checking in and taking pictures, then invest those dollars into high yielding dividend paying stocks! WeReward lets you earn cash rewards for taking pictures at places, trying products and downloading apps. You can signup to be part of my network below, thanks!

http://we.rw/u1HjS

ROTH IRA or the highway!

Why would you want to pay taxes on your dividends? Aren't we taxed enough!! If you want to continue to pay dividend taxes then continue to hold your stocks in an Individual taxable account. If not, open a Roth IRA ASAP! Transfer all of your stocks immediately into a Roth IRA. The benefit of moving dividend paying stocks from your taxable account to a Roth IRA is that you will no longer pay taxes on the dividends. There are huge advantages of Roth IRAs.. they let you contribute dollars you have already paid taxes on, but then withdraw the money in retirement tax free! Just think of cashing out when your in your 60s and no one can touch your dinero. Invest a few dollars each day of your life now while in your 20s, 30s and even 40s and then you'll be "living in the effin lap of luxury" - Method Man. Have a great rest of the weekend and keep investing!

Realty Income Corp - O

My grandfather always used to tell me "select companies with a great track record." Well, Pa, stock ticker O is the place to be.

42 year old publicly traded real estate company
Monthly dividend payer, not Quarterly
Owner of over 2,500 commercial properties in 49 states
$2.0 billion paid to shareholders
7.7% average annual dividend return
5.3% current dividend yield
93.2% dividend growth since 1994
62 total dividend increases

O is a consistant winner and very stable. They care about their stockholders as if they are family. If you intend on investing your hard earned dollars into the stock market you must seriously consider O. It's money in the bank!

McDonald's - MCD

While a large percentage of the nation has been to a McDonald's restaurant at least one time in their lives it is important to note that a larger percentage of the nation has not even once thought of investing in this burger joint. Everytime you wait in line at your local McDonald's keep in mind that if you took the money that you spent on a # 3 with a Sweet Tea or a 20 piece chicken mcnugget meal with honey mustard you could easily invest those dollars into stock symbol MCD. If you go to McDonald's at least 3 times a week for at least 1 meal of $6.99 you will spend $32,713.20 over the course of 30 years. If you invested that money today, 8/21/11, you could own 375.0223 shares of MCD. MCD pays a quarterly dividend of .61 cents per share. 375.0223 shares of MCD x .61 cents per share = $228.76 every three months. $228.76 x 4 times per year = $915.054412 x 30 years = $27,451.63 aka free money, excluding compound dividends if you chose to reinvest into MCD. I highly suggest that you get involved in the stock market even though it has flucuated alot since the Great Recession of 2008. Good luck and keep investing in your future!

Thoughts

Investing in dividend paying stocks is a secure way to make sure you will have supplemental income during your retirement years. Many financial planners swear that you need their expertise, but I will prove them wrong. Please continue to follow this blog. I will provide one dividend stock pick per month. I advise you to invest as much capital as you can now. Don't wait until your final working years to start planning for your retirement. Social Security will not be enough. Compound dividends are the way to go. Have a great rest of the weekend.

REITS - Dividend Stocks For Monthly Income

UHT, O, LTC, HCN, MPW, NHI, BDN, OHI, SNH, PCL... thank me later.