Message from the dark side there is

I still have holdings at my 2 internet banks I can't move for different of reasons. I mostly log on to these banks to move my dividends to Nordea so I get the foreign tax back immediately, when it comes to taxes I have very strong principles.

My funds are smaller in one of the banks so my activity isn't so extensive, maybe 8-10 times per year. For natural reasons I logged on today.

They also have some new features. One of them was a movie called "2018 in numbers". I DO know better but curiosity got the upper hand over me.

Just let us say that I am slightly depressed now. The upside is that this feature will hopefully be a much better treat next year end.

Unwanted e-mails

We pay for an insurance with a children's hospital if an accident or illness occurred. That is one of those rare things you pay for and hope you never have to use.

One of my banks has a service I am not so fond of. Every time a stock goes 10% or more below my purchase price I get an e-mail notifying me.

I both want and not want it at the same time. Lately I have gotten a lot of e-mails...

Young master Dewlar grieves

The offspring read the headline in one of the newspapers that Toys'R'Us has gone bankrupt. Apparently children doesn't play anymore, a sad thought to think. My guess is that they do play, but people only uses the stores as a showroom/playroom, not as a store.

We bought a lot of toys, LEGO, at this specific store this year for Christmas. What hit us was all the people visiting the store but how little bags with gifts that left the store. 90% of all the visitors were there with their kids playing with the toys, like a play break from other errands.

I am guessing Toys'R'Us had the most visitors of all stores in the mall, but the smallest sales.

The year end result is in

Although it is not the 12.31 yet the result is in. The family first portfolio by the year end is set in stone. I wish I had a pie chart of it by 12.31.2017 to compare it with.

The upside is that I will have it by 2019. It will be fun to, hopefully, see have the different pies changes from year to year.

I prevailed over my dividend forecast with 3.5%. I had expected a bigger percentage due to my reinvesting almost all of my dividends and saving an amount of my salary every month.

Since this is my first year were I keep on eye on this kind of things it will be very interesting to compare next year end with this.

Below is a pie chart of the Family first portfolio per 12.28.2018

Click to enlarge

I am happy happy happy

I finally had my money credited to my account. It's almost fantastic how it can take from the 21st to the 28th of December 2018 to move money between accounts within the SAME bank. It have be some kind of record.

When I emailed the bank and asked were my money are, I gave them all the information they needed with accounts numbers and dates. It took them more than a day to answer and all I got was, quote "your money is on our account ready to be invested" unquote. Not a single word how this could have happened.

Due to this I missed out of some really good purchases, however I have decided not to let that bug me.

I bought ARR. Their yield have gone up and combined with a weaker US dollar it feels to me like a good buy. My quota of ARR is not full yet, I still have some stocks left to buy.

I am very happy to have made a purchase.

You can't make this up

You must think that I am exaggerating about my bank, NORDEA. Unluckily that is not the case.

Imagine my disappointment when I logged on this morning just to find out that all my accounts with my shareholdings were completely blank. NOT A SINGLE STOCK OR CENT was displayed. All numbers said 0!!

Apparently I am not the only one. Many people are angry at Nordea today. All I can do for the moment is pray that Nordea fixes this before the market closes. AND that I don't miss this window of opportunity.

I am starting to feel that this service considering fast tax refund Nordea offers isn't worth the headache.

Today is the day

Today at 9 a.m. GMT I will hopefully have my money available for purchases. Nevertheless, I have to wait until 2:30 p.m. GMT until the market opens.

For the moment I starting to go towards more "safer" stocks as MAIN, MO, T etcetera. Their share price combined with an increased yield has made them price-worthy. My list with 60 "safer" stocks has really improved recently. Usually I am more of a risk taker. The hope for a big win has always tempted me.

It's strange that I like to take risks at the stock market, IRL I never take any unnecessary risks. I play it safe. My husband on the other hand is a completely different story.

It should be a two way street

I find myself not able to truly enjoy paradise. The regressed market has me seeing buying opportunities. I am getting more impatient with every hour.

Although I KNOW, due to the holiday, the money transfers I set in motion on the 21st won't be in my account earlier than the 27th I can't hold myself from logging on.

It bugs me that when I buy something with my bankcard here in Thailand the purchase is almost immediately shown of my bank account. However, if I transfer money between 2 banks within the same country it disappears for days if it's a holiday.

Next year is going to be very interesting considering my tax refunds. I really hope that this will speed up my longtime goal. Otherwise it will not be worth the mental breakdowns I have had and the ones I know I will have in the future doing business with Nordea.

Thought I'd lose weight not money

I stood on the scale expecting to have lost weight during my sickness. That wasn't the case. Instead I had lost a lot of money this week.

It wasn't funny to log on and see what the US market had done to my portfolio. It feels like the Grinch didn't steal Christmas this year, instead he took my investments.

The upside is that the yield has increased on several on my stocks. In the same second Nordea has put my money into my account I am buying.

My hospitalizing undid any Christmas shopping on my behalf, that made me and my husband priority the offsprings presents. This is the first time ever we haven't bought any gifts to one another, and we have been together for 24 years.

I am sheering for investing the money instead of buying gifts since the stock market has decreased so much. My husband isn't on the same page... yet. I want to take back want the the Grinch took!

Time will tell who wins.

Apparently both I and Nordea has been sick

This vacation could have gotten a better start. I somehow manage to get a very unwelcome guest - THE FLU!

Our journey had 3 legs and we managed to have 3 delays. When we arrived at Bangkok, 2 out of 5 suitcases were missing, it took more than 50 hours before all luggage were appointed for. On top of this I got sick within 12 hours of arriving to the hotel. I got so sick that I was hospitalized with a fever of 102.6 Fahrenheit.

Although my husband told them that I am allergic to a lot of medication, and Thailand being Thailand, they gave me a lot of medicine in my IV. It made me threw up for more than 24 hours.

A week later I still have a cough but feeling much better otherwise.

My imagination of laying in a sun-bed preparing my Christmas shopping went out the window.

It seems like our new bank has the flu too. I managed to move money from my internet bank on the 21st of December. However, my new bank has not been able to do their thing yet. That means my money has been in cyberspace for 3 days by now. I am guessing it will take them until the 27th before I can invest this money.

Since Nordea moved to Finland, I really want to wish the Finnish people good luck.

I wish you all, even Nordea, a MERRY CHRISTMAS

Still enjoying Hong Kong International Airport

Our flight from London was late so we wasn't sure if we were to make our connection to Bangkok. Imagine our joy when we got off almost first and met a man with sign saying our names. "Thank God we thought now we will make it!" We were very grateful for him showing us the fastest way, but that wasn't the case.

He was very calm and polite. He made several excuses and took us the fastest way to the connection desk were he very efficient rebooked our tickets to a much later flight. Giving us the new boarding cards he happily informed us that we now had a lot of time to enjoy the local food. These extra 6 hours is very hard on me. There is a lot of temptations here in Hong Kong.

Thank God the absolutely gorgeous rucksack from Chanel was sold out in the color black. Due to tax free it would have been a good purchase.

Only 2 more hours to go...

It's like giving birth...

...moving money to Nordea.

You will never know for sure when you will have your money ready for action. Like a childbirth, you never know when the job is done. It can be done under 6 hours, or over 48 hours. However, your happiness is just as huge both times. Also, once you begin there is no way of stopping it.

It's like taking a pregnancy test when you log on the bank to see if there is any cash ready to make the journey to Nordea.

Once again I have been waiting for money transfered for another bank. Once again I have missed a window of opportunity.

I can't wait

The 22nd of December is payment day of 50% of this month dividend. It is very unlikely that I manage to reinvest in a stock that gives me dividend before the year end. We will be in Bangkok by the 22nd, so I will most likely receive the cash the 23rd local time.

Another variable making stuff harder is that I need to move the money between banks, therefore I will lose another day.

Not a single stock on my list that has ex-dividend date after the 23rd and payment date before the 31st December.

I'm more than curious to see the actual outcome compared to my estimated dividend of the year. I roughly calculated that my investments consists of 70% reinvested dividends and 30% new savings.

I will have the exact percentage by the 1st of January 2019, you can long for different things different days...

Much wants more

January is here in less than 3 weeks, thank God. According to me January is the best month of the year.

Not only because of my birthday at the end of the month, but also due to my dividends. It is absolutely wonderful to start of the new year with a lot of cash to invest.

I am well aware that December is one of my lowest cashflow months when it comes to dividends.

However, after I received at lot of unexpected money this month I have become obsessed. I logon a various times a day to see if there is more "gifts".

Several days has gone by now and I haven't obtained a dime and it bugs me.

Ho ho ho

It was with great joy I found out that PDI pays out an extra $0.5 and PCI $0.35.

Combined with the money I got from one of my banks I got a real unexpected stack of money.

This pleasant situation tempts me not only to invest in gifts for my family, it also makes me think of a present for myself.

I have had my eyes on a new handbag for a couple of months now.

It is so easy to find excuses for buying shoes and bags. I truly wish my better self-discipline was better.

Not all of us had a great last night

I had a marvellous last night. My spouse lit the fireplace, I made some hot chocolate and we sat us in the sofa ready to make some serious purchases. I logged on and began my shopping. It's a great feeling to invest. Buying stocks is like shopping to me.

My dear old husband didn't have the same cuddly feeling. Picture his surprise when he logged on and couldn't find his money.

Due to this tax refund thing we move money from our other banks to this specific bank that pays out the tax immediately. This bank, named Nordea, is not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to internet banking. To be honest it is the worst bank we have ever had.

This is not the first time money "disappears". The longest time money has been missing without Nordea knowing where in cyber space the money is are just over 48 hours.

The upside is that sooner or later the money always reappears. This time it took 26 hours, so he missed ARR. I, on the other side made $0.29 on every stock I bought.

This stock market fall is pleasant for the moment

Due to my early Christmas gift from one of my banks I intend to use this stock fall to the max.

Tonight after my son has gone to sleep I going to have my husband start the tiled fireplace, curl up in the sofa, have a hot chocolate and spend some money.

On account of the recently turbulence at the market I hope to make several good purchases. Time will tell. I haven't made my mind up yet on which stock I'm aiming for.

Santa came early this year

Imagine my surprise when I logged on to one of my banks and saw that they had corrected a lot of previous errors. I am 48 years old and this is the first time a bank has corrected errors without me asking first.

Although this is my money that I should have gotten months ago, it still feels like I have been given a Christmas present. Funny how that works.

I wrote some days ago that I will not save any money this month. However, it seems like I will be able to both have the cake and eat it.

This month investments

I am going to invest big in Christmas presents this month. I have no intentions on holding back. I love every thing with Christmas, the trees, the gifts, the food and spending time with loved ones. Not necessarily in that order.

I have always loved Christmas, even more since I had my son. Traditions are very important.

I am not afraid to say that I love to get presents, not only give. Especially when the package is a small red box, like the one from Cartier.

Hopefully I will not need to use my dividends, but if I have to it won't be a problem.

Another ugly attribute of mine - ENVY

There is blogs that I read. Some of the bloggers seems to compete on who that can save most of their salary.

I have mixed feelings towards that lifestyle. In one way I envy people that are able to save 50-60% of their net salary.

I'm a very competitive person, so when I set my mind to something I go "all in". I know that I could save up to more than 50% of my income. However, I'm afraid that I would not be able to stop when I have reached my goal.

The result would be me saving all my money until I die, probably to the offspring's great joy. My competitive side makes it hard to keep a balance between saving and spending.

That is the main reason I envy people with this skill.

Santa Claus is in trouble

The young master Dewlar read the headline in the newspaper that his favorite store, Toys'r'Us, is having some difficulties.

Since Santa only gives each child one toy and rest is provided by moms, dads, grandparents etc, he was concern that Santa was to be affected by this. "Is Santa supposed to provide more than one gift for each child and is he able to do this due to lack of time?"

I had to promise him that I am going to help Santa by buying extra gifts this year, especially from Toys'r'Us.

First I was warm at heart for his concern for Santa. But when I cooled off after my joyfulness it became clear that he fooled me. I KNOW that he doesn't believe in Santa any longer but I was so glad hear about his concern for Santa that I lost my grip.

This devilish little child is obviously smarter than I...