After our net worth updates last year, a few people have expressed interest in our stock portfolio. Despite the fact that I really dislike anything related to market stats since it gives me a headache, I thought I could at least disclose where my awesome hubby is squirreling away our money. Here are the current stocks we are investing in, their dividend yield, and what Mr. BFS said about them:
Bristol Myers Squibb Co (BMY) – 5.12% Yield – “Good drug company that pays a nice dividend.”
Conoco Phillips (COP) – 3.28% Yield – “With the price of oil fluctuating, other companies were spending a lot of money to find new things but COP decided to wait to see what would happen. In the meantime, they are slowing growing their dividend payout too.”
The Dow Chemical Co (DOW) – 1.72% Yield – He thought it was a great price at the time.
Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) – 5.54% Yield – “It’s a Houston energy company that pays a nice dividend.”
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FSUMF) – 0% Yield – FSUMF mines iron. Mr. BFS thought that sense iron is useful in the making of steel, and steel is needed right now, this was a good deal.
General Electric Co (GE) – 3.04% Yield – “Great price at the time with a decent dividend payout.”
Intel Corp (INTC) – 3.48% Yield – “Good yield and a solid company.”
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – 3.45% Yield – “Bought it at a steal and great payouts.”
McDonald’s Corp (MCD) – 3.28% Yield – He also bought it at a steal and likes the payout.
Oneok Partners Limited Partnership (OKS) – 5.72% Yield – “Great dividends and was very undervalued at the time.”
PepsiCo Inc (PEP) – 2.89% Yield – “Great price at the time and they recently aquired Dr. Pepper bottlers to help with efficiency.”
Sysco Corporation (SYY) – 3.43% Yield - “This was an economic play.” Mr. BFS figured that everybody needs food.
AT&T Inc (T) – 5.96% Yield – He said they have a great yield and are a huge, solid company.
Thompson Creek Metals Co Inc (TC) – 0% Yield – We invested in Thompson Creek since it’s one of the largest miners of an ore nick-named “Molly”, which is used inthe refining of steel. Since China is going through an industrial revolution, Mr. BFS thought that this would do really well too.
So there you go. My 401(k) is in the Vanguard 2035 target date mutual fund, our Roth IRA is in the Fidelity 2040 target date mutual fund, and our Scottrade account is spread out between the ones above. We even have some mlp investments…
What are you investing in lately?
**This post is not to be used as a suggestion for investments. This is simply what we own. Make up your own mind, thanks!**
Nice portfolio Crystal! McDonalds has always been solid, and looks like it will continue to rise this year. Johnson & Johnson is a well-established company as well and I would expect consistency there.
Your may want to add Ford (F) to your portfolio as well. They are currently undervalued and have always been in a great financial position. Plus, who doesn’t love the Fusion!?
We own:
QQQQ –Nasdaq ETF
DIA — Dow Bluechips ETF
VFINX — Vanguard S&P 500 Index
EFA — Emerging Markets Index
Our IRAs are in 100% Fidelity Spartan index funds (fees):
20% Bonds FIBIX (0.20)
40% Largish Cap FSTMX (0.10) I’m choosing this total market index over the S&P 500 FUSEX because my IRAs are almost but not quite 100% in domestic large cap Indexes and ETFs, so this tilts a little more towards small/midcap.
20% Foreign FSIIX (0.20)
20% Small-Mid Cap FSEMX (0.10)
Looks like you guys really like those dividend stocks. You may want to consider owning a REIT; they can have up to a 20% yield. I own AGNC and love that dividend payment every quarter!
My portfolio is fairly boring. In my 401k
40% in a S&P 500 index, 13% in a small cap fund, 12% in a mid cap fund, 25% in an international fund and 10% in a stable value fund. Our non-qualified portfolio is in Vanguards S&P 500 ETF. I’m just getting a critical mass in that, so I’ll probably add an international ETF to it soon.
Very impressed with your stock picks Crystal! A good mix of MLPs to boot! Gotta love dividends! Do you cash out dividends or re-invest them?
Looks like your hubby did a good job investing in individual stocks. I’m kind of squirming over the two mining ones, though. I know we use steel for building materials, but mining just makes me want to hurl (environmentally speaking.)
Looks like you’re doing pretty well!
I agree with @LifeandMyFinances about Ford. I bought it when the market was down at just under $2.00 a share. Now it’s over $17 a share. Not to shabby.
I also think Sirius Radio will do good in the future. Right now it’s $1.58/share. They have them in Lexus, VW, Ford, all car makers are putting in Sirius Radio. Thoughts?
Your husband loves the dividends! So do I! I know he hated the teacher post but he may like reading up on the dividend aristocrats and the dividend portfolio I put together with it.
Interesting choices! I share several of your choices individually and through mutual funds.
@LifeAndMyFinances and David Hunter, we actually owned Ford but sold it when it tripled, lol. We bought at $2 and sold around $6 or $7 if I remember correctly…
@Nicole, I am totally showing your portfolio to hubby tonight. Thanks for sharing!
@Kevin, I’ll suggest those to him as well!
@MikeS, boring is great if you like it!
@MoneyCone, we have our dividends deposited into our Scottrade account and then my husband uses them when they build up to buy more stock. He likes having complete control over how many shares he owns…
@Little House, sorry you’re gagging. We own a Prius if that counts for something…
@David Hunter, Sirius sounds good to me, I’ll see what Mr. BFS says when I ask tonight.
@Evan, he’s over the teacher post grudge, lol. He thinks it was wrong but you are okay.
What’s the link to your dividend portfolio post?
@krantcents, woot for easy mutual funds, lol.
@Crystal: Buying Ford at $2 and selling for $6-7 is great! You never know what the market is going to do. Ford could have went to ZERO.
Right now most of our portfolio is index funds, we bought a few in 2008/2009 for which I have not seen what their current rate is
don’t want to, actually. I bought citi (when it was pennies), Intel, J&J, Amgen and ATT. I have not looked at what the value is for them now. Hopefully they have gone up, I should check it.
I am like Suba, we have a lot of index funds. I am dabbling in some dividend stocks now though. I know JNJ was stock around 55-57 for awhile, it is good to see it at 60 now. I considered AT&T recently, but didn’t like the price. I am sure you got it much cheaper than when I was looking at it though.
Very interesting, and thanks for sharing!
I own a few of these myself. I like the large cap dividend paying stocks too.
DOW was really low for a while… I was really tempted to buy some but chickened out, too bad their share price rose like a rocket!
I’ve also been dancing around BMY, but haven’t taken the plunge yet on that one.
I do have some MCD though, and it’s been nice and consistent…
Like thousandaire, I have REITS too (NLY, AGNC, O, etc) but once the fed raises the interest rate (eventually they will!), the dividend will start to fall, so I don’t know if I’ll be in them for much longer.
BIDU was very nice to me too (a 10 bagger), but just recently I dropped out of that stock now. My nose started to bleed because the stock price was soooo high…
You have a very sensible, solid portfolio! kudos to the both of you!
I have a whole bunch of posts but you can direct him:
http://www.myjourneytomillions.com/articles/tag/perpetual-income-machine/
Nice collection of yield stocks! I’m also mostly invested in funds and ETF now. My few individual stocks are growth stocks like Amazon, Activision and Rosetta stone.
Crystal, you know I like the squirreling away money reference! I’ve seen one in a prior post as well:)
As for me, it’s been all about index funds and some managed funds as well. No individual stocks at this point – take that back, one which has rebounded after a prolonged slump. But almost all mutual funds when it comes to any stock investments.
For now, anyway:)
Very nice set of equities. OneOK partners, Enterprise and Thompson Creek. Mr. BFS has done well.
@David, thanks for making me feel better!
@Suba, have you looked yet?
@Everyday Tips, no problem, I love sharing! And hubby said he got AT&T at a low point in early 2009.
@jim, cool beans!
@Money Reasons, we got DOW in the low 20s about a year ago. Thanks for the kudos!
@Evan, thanks. I’m forwarding that to him.
@retireby40, I really like Amazon…I should look into that.
@Squirrelers, I like that phrase a lot.
I’m a big fan of mutual funds too…
@101 Centavos, I’ll let him know you said so…he was kind of worried about the response he was going to get…
Nice choice on the investment of your 401k funds! Have you thought about switching out of a target date retirement fund and investment different amounts in bond and stock funds, according to the asset allocation you choose? I hear that way, it allows you to have more control
@My Personal Finance Journey, although I don’t have as much control, I also can’t screw up the diversification. I like the way the funds automatically readjust to less risk each year I get closer to retirement. If I ever log in and disagree with their allocations, I’ll cash out and invest on my own. Until then, our Scottrade account is run by us and that’s enough control for me, lol.
Sounds like a good policy Crystal! I always tell my friends that it’s better to do the Target Retirement funds than to not be investing at all for retirement! Keep up the good work!
@My Personal Finance Journey, thanks!
Thanks for submitting this to this month’s Carnival of Passive Investing! I just checked out your Target Retirement funds on Vanguard and Fidelity’s websites. Nice choices!
We got out of Sysco and J&J this week. We are still holding our 1.70 Ford. There are a lot of good companies out there. We continue to love our Apple and Caterpillar! Happy investing!
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