Best working environment so far

Another month-end and another compilation of the holdings.

This month the acquisitions have been almost non-existent. Only a very few at Nordea who do not affect the chart at all.

Being able to sit on the balcony overlooking the Atlantic and do these compilations is fantastic. Having a better working environment is hardly possible.

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I need help!

How the offspring has come across this information is still unclear but that he has received ammunition for a long time to come is crystal clear.

As a 16 year old young man and his teammate won $3 million playing Fortnite, my life as a parent has become a bit more difficult in one aspect. The offspring which has limited playing time when it quotes "You can't live playing computer games" final quote.

There are several reasons why we have chosen to limit his playing time. We think that in addition to the obvious as school work, it is also important to exercise, meet friends in real life and play and so on.

How to reset my position is still unclear.

Expectations vs reality

It feels like the snowball effect has completely run out. From experiencing a rapid increase, it has lately felt as if nothing is happening.

Of course, my savings increase, but not according to my expectations. To try to understand this, I created a document that shows the percentage increase in different portfolio sizes in relation to annual savings.

The penny dropped as I made the document.

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More money to come

Even though July is almost over, I'm still waiting for some payouts from ARR, NRZ and OCCI.

The number nerd in me loves to compile the dividends that have been generated so far this year. Now it's more exciting than ever after I was able to update my document with Matts encoding.

Being able to match expected dividends according to my Google Sheets compared to Google Finance in real time is absolutely fantastic. I can directly take into account changes in dividends.

I'm already looking forward to next year when I will be able to make sharp reconciliations every month.

A new security

I have found a new security, PNNT, which I purchased a small monitoring amount in.

Unfortunately, all the securities I buy must be listed in my beloved Google Sheets document. Currently, I am up to 78 securities. One disadvantage I knew about when I bought the security is that the payment month is July. My absolute strongest month.

My list will be longer than Santa Claus list.

You reap what you sow

Last year we stayed at the Conrad hotel. A hotel that suited me and my husband perfectly. Unfortunately, there was not many families with children, so young master Dewlar became a little bored.

This year I and my husband decided to take one for the team and chose Hilton hotel instead were we noted last year had a lot of more families with children.

After 5 minutes in the pool, YMD says "Who chose the hotel?" whereupon I say we chose this for him so he might find a friend.

YMD says "Mom, look around. There are more than 50 kids in the pool right now, 10 of these pee right now. I'm not this kind of a kid!"

Then he resolutely gets out of the pool and asks to go up to the hotel room to shower. How to bring him down to the pool area again will be tomorrow's exciting task.

We have 2 weeks in this hotel ...

Immediate satisfaction

Investing requires courage, patience and time to read in on different companies. Even if you do the work thoroughly, there is nothing that guarantees success.

Shopping requires considerably less preparatory work. To buy something nice I have longed for is a great satisfaction.

I prefer a good shopping day than a bear day on the stock exchange every day of the week.

Got back some faith in myself

Being on vacation is liberating in more ways than one. One of the ways is that cash is a matter of course over here.

In Sweden (almost) everyone claims with a foolish insistence that cash will soon be a memory only. Some claim as soon as within a couple of years.

I have always questioned this, especially considering all the tourists. It is on such occasions that I get glances like "yes yes little friend, you will understand one beautiful day".

Here are signs with the text "we only take cash" instead.

The feeling of being right is amazing.

I should know better

In another life more than 30 years ago, I was invited to a sales meeting on timeshares.

I was just under 20, and followed happily and spent an entire day trying to get out of there. I and my husband have serious thoughts on buying an apartment abroad, preferably with rental options.

The day before yesterday when we checked into our hotel, a well-established hotel chain, we were offered to attend a 90 minute meeting where we would get a fantastic offer for us.

If it is the heat or that we have been on vacation for too long I can not answer but we accepted yes.

After almost 3 hours we were almost completely ready to buy the concept. In order not to put ourselves in debt, we would sell part of our shareholding.

I didn't feel really safe and we asked for 24 hours to think. After much back and forth they accepted this.

We sat back in the taxi back to the hotel and googled the concept. After just a few google searches, we chose to call and say no.

I really should know better, especially with my background.

When someone is offering you a deal that seems too good to be true, it usually is.

When your house is on fire

Speaking of Scandinavian banks.Yesterday, Kindred share fell sharply on the Swedish stock exchange.

One of the major shareholders in the share is Nordea via two of its funds, with about 5% in each fund.

Today Nordea came out with a purchase recommendation for Kindred.

Although I am for damage control this seems almost desperate.

Minor acquisitions

Finally, Nordnet has posted my dividends. Although I do not have the intention to invest them, it is always nice to have them in the account.

Nordea, which is considerably faster with the payouts, has paid out more dividends. The amounts are, however, considerably lower as the holdings are considerably smaller, so far.

I reinvested the dividends at Nordea in WPG and ORCC.

Ignorance costs

My gardening skills are extremely limited. That we live in an apartment downtown is no coincidence.

I sat and talked to a friend about different investments. She had invested heavily into a company that sells lighting for plants. As cannabis cultivation becomes legal in more and more places, she saw a future for this market. I myself lived in the delusion that crops live and thrive outdoors with the sun as a light source.

I really had to make an effort not to expose my ignorance.

Whether we like it or not

Being CFO, or any other managerial position, means that you are being paid to be available all the times.

Technology has facilitated this considerably. Virtually all companies today have cloud services, such as e-mail, mobile switch phones, bank accounts as apps, invoices as PDF documents etcetera.

I was already working during the fax machine palmy days. The first thing I had to do when I arrived at the hotel was to fax the hotel's fax number along with my room number to the office.

I even made manual payments that I put in envelopes that my grandmother (the only one I trusted) posted on the dates I had written on the envelopes at the post office.

Although it was more complicated before, I was more free then. I have found out that it is easier for the office to call me than to write a fax.

I'm guessing he has hidden intentions

Since Scandinavia is a smaller economic area, all major events in each country are highlighted in the other countries.

A short while ago, Swedbank, one of Sweden's major commercial banks suspected of money laundering earlier in the spring, received a new chairman, Goran Persson prior prime minister and party leader for the Social Democrats.

One of the first measures he made was to lower the bank's previous very high dividend. I assume he wants to keep the money in the bank in order to raise his own fee.

Socialism in its purest form.

Business not as usual

Since we are on vacation and I prefer to spend time with my family on the beach, I have not logged into any of my bank accounts recently. I had high expectations when I logged into my accounts to see my big payouts.

Guess my surprise when Nordnet had not credited any dividends to the account but charged it for foreign withholding tax. Instead of increasing my cash, they had reduced them. Under normal circumstances, they first credit the dividend and then charge foreign tax.

Maybe it was a summer intern who pressed the wrong button.

I am consistent in my shilly-shally

A new security has been added to my list, ORCC. I bought a small monitoring post of 10 shares, as I feel I don't have much knowledge about the company yet. I need to get a deeper knowledge of the company before I buy larger posts.

I bought the shares on Thursday, which was the company's first trading day on the stock exchange. Instead, I have to work on accepting that I enjoy putting the money into work. I really hope that "buy over time" is the best option in the long run. To embrace any future bear market has not gone so well for me.

Life lies

Sometimes you try to present yourself as a "better" person than you really are.

I have heard people in grocery stores say that "strawberries and cottage cheese are the best combo." Or in the toy store when parents tell their children "just for this time."

The same applies to me when I say "it does not disturb me very much because it is weekend now" when my entire holdings at Nordea are completely deleted and I cannot do business at all.

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger

I logged in to my Nordea account and found it completely empty, again. It is exactly 82 days since it last happened, as I am aware of.

It's times like these I'm grateful that I'm not a day trader who makes my living by trading. Lastly, it took more than 3 days for Nordea to fix the error.

Printing my holdings on paper and storing them in a safe place is a must as a Nordea customer. If this can happen, anything can happen.

In order to be a customer of Nordea, one must have a strong mind.

Be careful what you wish for

I have wished for a lower dollar rate throughout the spring and summer.

Now that my absolute best payout period, mid-July until end-July, is going to start the dollar goes down. To my great bother.

The best case scenario had been a huge high dollar up to the beginning of August, and then to go down to a low level.

Now the "fall" of the dollar came a little too early.

I can't be pleased, apparently.

Taking enough space is an art form

I am brought up to keep a low profile and not to make much fuss about me. This is a difficult task when you have a very outgoing personality.

Before I got the offspring I was always in the office first. When I went to work it was just me and the newspaper bids. They felt a little frightened by me because I was trying to make a conversation with them. At that level it is.

My son has inherited this personal trait. He can also talk to anybody at any time. Thankfully, his school encourages these qualities.

Unfortunately, however, I have to hold him back a little. Society is not appreciating people who take too much space. It is a fine balancing act.

I compromised

This month's dividends have so far given me some small amounts.

Since I currently have 2 goals that collide with each other, the solution was that I compromised with myself. All dividends at Nordnet were left untouched while Nordea's dividend was invested.

The choice fell on ARR and MRCC. The reason for ARR is that I lack only 75 shares before the holding in this securities is full.

MRCC pays out in July, October, January and April and these months' dividends must be increased. The downside to this purchase is that I just missed the July payment.

To go one's own way

If you listen to my husband then I am not known to listen to others or it is only him I do not listen to.

Given my alleged reputation, I can't do wrong. Either I listen to my surroundings and refrain from investing at the moment, or I go my own way and invest everything except the cash funds that are earmarked for the payment of the holiday.

Regardless, I have difficult decision-making concerns right now.

Another unwelcome cash withdrawal

At the end of August/September, the largest of all the holiday pay bill will be paid.

Since July is a very large dividend month, all dividends must remain as liquid funds to avoid having to sell holdings in order to make that payment.

Many predict that we are facing a coming stock market fall in the autumn/winter. It is perhaps the intention that I should embrace the possibly future bear market and gather cash.

Easy to get greedy

When I had much less money in the account I bought more luxury items (shoes and handbags) and above all, without a guilty conscience.

The bigger my money factory gets, the harder it becomes to spend money on unnecessary luxury products that I don't need.

One has always said that living in the present is an art form but I have discovered that even living according to FUEL (Abbreviations) becomes more difficult the more money you have. At least for me.

If this does not change, there can only be one winner, young master Dewlar.

Marinated in trust for the state

I am fascinated by people's almost 100% trust in the state for its handling of tax money.

There is hardly any other occasion where, without any thought, you give a sum of money on a regular basis without questioning how they are spent. Since tax money does not have a clear sender, it is almost like "nobody's" money.

There is nothing easier than shopping for someone else's money.

Lost hours of work

As a CFO, it can annoy me when staff are browsing their smartphones instead of working.

I have counted on the cost of our company if each employee is browsing 15 minutes a day instead of working. If I transfer this to whole communities, the amount becomes huge.

In addition to the gigantic cost, we have also become asocial. At almost every diner party there is always someone that sits with their phone.

I have read Steve Jobs's autobiography of his desire to influence the world, I suspect that it was not this change he wanted.

Life as a Nordea customer

That the bank fraud increases during summer must be cast in concrete. I guess there are several factors in collaboration that lead to this every summer.

It is at times like these that it is extra safe to be a customer of Nordea. If I can't easily withdraw money, a scammer should have even bigger problems.

Always look from the bright side of life...

The spouse is at risk without knowing about it

To be the best month of the year (so far) it is very short of dividends. Several days without dividends, extra deposits or acquisitions make me bored and frustrated.

With wedding invitations and upcoming holidays, there is no room for extra savings this month. In order for my husband not to suffer from an unforeseen PMS-like outbreak, is it best that some dividends are coming soon.

Miserable banking sites

Nordnet, which is one of my banks, has had serious problems during the days I have been off grid. Apparently, neither the site nor the app has worked.

Since I decided to leave the computer at home this mini-vacation, I was not affected this time. I know how extremely frustrating it is not to be able to trade when there are buying opportunities.

I take a bad day on the golf course over miserable bank sites every day of the week.

Been off grid

We went on a mini-vacation. I didn't bring any technology at all, either mobile phone, computer or tablet. The only technology we brought was mr Dewlar's mobile phone.

Instead of blogging, being on Twitter, logging in to Nordea or Nordnet, I have played golf. I haven't played this much in a very long time and it was great fun to play golf every day for 5 days.

It feels good to have invested time with the family. It feels less good to have lost to young master Dewlar in golf, he won every round.

A minor Catch-22 moment.

I want to get to the goal

They say that wealth can be measured in 4 different ways
- Financial wealth (money)
- Social wealth (status)
- Time wealth (freedom)
- Physical wealth (health)

When you reach the wealth, only one can decide. I haven't decided were my limit goes yet. Since I come from meager conditions I know that I want both belt and suspenders.

I hope I wake up one day and feel satisfied with my financial wealth.

Still happy

I know I'm a nerd but I can't help myself. Ever since I got my Google sheet to work with King: Matt's code, I can't keep from smiling. I can now use the time that I have previously spent updating changed dividends for other purposes.

I had also missed a couple of dividends so the consequence was that expected future dividends increased by $300 a year.

Yesterday was good day!

Matt is king

I am incredibly happy and grateful now. For a long time, I haven't been able to get my Google Sheets to update dividends.

I finally gave up and calculated the dividends manually. Since my list for the moment has 76 different securities, it is a lot of work if I want the numbers to be accurate.

Yesterday I found the solution. A man named Matt: King had written the code he uses in a forum, called Docs Editor Help at Google Support.

Thank you Matt for sharing, you're really the king!

The experiment part V

It can be a coincidence, but it feels as if Nordnet pays the dividend faster nowadays.

I got the dividend for OXLC already today and could reinvest it immediately.

The diagram below shows the ratio as of today.

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Pure happiness

After taking my 5 different factors into consideration, the choice of acquisition became easy. I bought GMPT. It is the only company with EX-DIV in the near future, more precisely tomorrow. It's not the biggest purchases I've ever made but small streams make great rivers.

The date night was perfect. Young master Dewlar got a portion with vanilla ice cream and liquid honey, all three of us sat together on the couch and googled on the conditions for the companies concerned.

The first money rain has come

Then came the month's first dividends, where MRCC and OXLC accounted for the largest payouts.

This evening, securities will be traded, which one is a bit uncertain yet. Probably CIM, DX, GPMT, NMFC or ORC. Our date night also includes the son during the summer since he can stay up a little longer in the evenings.

I love having my whole little family around me.

Watch out, money coming through

Then July is finally here, as I have waited. If I put my ear to the ground, I can almost hear and feel the vibrations from all the dividends that are coming.

Buying securities this month will be a great pleasure. Since January, April, July and October are my best dividend months, every third month will be the best ever. Anyway, until I have to pay the credit card bill for the summer holiday.

This may mean that the next time the dividend strikes ATH will be in January 2020.