How I Invested $3000

By | May 3, 2017

About a month ago, I asked how to invest $3000. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put it all in one stock, or spread it out amongst various stocks. My initial thought process was to dump it all in Realty Income or perhaps a split of Realty Income and AT&T, two of my cheapest stocks with the highest yield. The thinking being that it would be cool to get Realty Income, as a monthly paying dividend stock, to pay me enough dividends in the month to purchase one share of the same stock.

However, I got some great suggestions. The $3000 was the money I got back from my tax refund. Now, this is my report on  how I invested that $3000.

Life Happened

John Lennon once said that life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. When, he was right. Although I planned to invest the full $3000, because of unexpected expenses, I was able to invest only $2200 into my dividend portfolio. I needn’t give the full details. But, to give you an example, I don’t have a vehicle right now, but needed transportation to go to work for a few days. So, I had to rent a car, which cost about $200. I had a utility bill that was more expensive than I thought. Plus, if I am to be honest, I squandered a few of the money of frivolous things. But, when all was said and done, I had $2200.

By the way, that is the exact reason I hate having money sit in my account. I know myself and if I have easy access to that money, it’s going to get spent. Although I’m aggressively saving towards my goal of financial independence, I still find ways to waste money. I almost feel guilty. Of course, life is short and a long life isn’t guaranteed. Therefore, spending money on enjoyment and pleasurable things right now is a good thing. But, there’s no reason why I needed to spend $40 ordering dominos pizza for lunch two days in a row. Especially since my motorcycle is in the repair shop and it’s going to cost about $430 to fix and service my bike and I haven’t paid for that yet.

HRL – New Addition

I added Hormel Food Corp (HRL) to my dividend portfolio. I bought 9.644 worth of shares at a price of $34.74 per share. HRL will produce $6.56 in annual dividend income. I’ve been considering HRL for some time now and finally decided to purchase the stock. To learn more about HRL, check out the Dividend Aristocrats in Focus article on HRL by Sure Dividend.  HRL is in the consumer staples industry, a dividend aristocrat and is reasonably priced at about $35 per share. The only thing I don’t like is the low yield of less than 2%. Now that I’ve added HRL to the portfolio, I have to find the next few stocks that I like.

Division of Shares

For the remaining funds, I decided to invest a little into each stock. Although I really liked Realty Income and was contemplating funding just that one stock, it’s not really good to put all your eggs in one basket. Although the amount I was dealing with was a relatively small number ($3000), I wanted to invest using sound principles. That way, when I do have a larger amount to invest, I will also be doing so with sound principles.

That being said, there was no rhyme or reason as to the amount of money I chose to allocate to each stock. I was somewhat randomized, with a biased towards the cheaper stocks with higher yields such as Realty Income and AT&T. The result is the portfolio you see right now with annual dividends exceeding $140!!!

Annual Dividends Exceeds $140

You didn’t misread that. My annual dividends is currently sitting at $142.94. I am making about $11 a month in dividends. Hahahahahaha!!! That’s enough to take me to Starbucks and McDonalds. What’s even more exciting is that my goal for this year was to make $200 in annual dividends. My goal last year was to make $100 and I didn’t reach that goal. It’s only May and I am well on my way to reaching my goal of $200 in annual dividends. Based on other bonuses I expect to receive from work, I fully expect to reach that goal. It’s very exciting!

What do you think of my portfolio and how did I do investing the $3000, which actually turned out to be $2200?

13 thoughts on “How I Invested $3000

  1. Project2035

    Nice to see fellow dividend investor/beginner. Good luck with your goals. I have my first goal to get 500EUR annual dividends 🙂 At the moment just above 300EUR. Nice graphic 🙂

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Awesome. Good luck with your goals as well. I love the dividend community. Thanks for commenting and don’t be a stranger.

      Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Stefan. Slow and steady wins the race. Maybe that should be my mantra for this site. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

      Reply
  2. DivHut

    Life will always throw us those curve balls every now and then. The key is to remain focused, get back on track and don’t get bogged down by any setback. Like the HRL pick up. It’s a new position in my portfolio too. While it’s a solid dividend grower for many, many years I just felt compelled to buy because my wife buys gallons of Skippy PB and knowing that we’re not getting anything back from all those purchases made me decide to initiate a position. I also like their commercials.

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      It’s good to buy what you know. I personally wish Starbucks met my buying criteria because I spend way too much money there. I might just buy the stock just because.

      Reply
  3. Andrew Thomas

    Each and every investment are creating the value about who you are correct?
    Anyway, a great article posted. I think some of my friends need to see this. It’s worth able to share it.

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Well, it’s definitely creating value in the companies I like and have chosen to invest in. What’s great is that investing is personal so the stocks and companies that work for me might work for different people. Regardless though, a well-diversified portfolio of strong companies that grow their dividends over time can be beneficial to anyone, including a small investor such as myself. Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
  4. Stockles

    Awesome! So glad that you see you getting closer to FI. And your buys are perfect too. O is a safe REIT stock, HRL will give you much more dividend in time once the growth starts kicking in, and AT&T is a great bet on more data-usage. Nice man. You will reach $200 for sure =)

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Yea, definitely feel I can reach $200 this year. This question isn’t if, but how high will I get!

      Reply

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