Self-fulfilling prophecy

All this talk about the stock market falling in the fall may actually make it fall.

If so, does it become a back to school sale or will it a super sale? The stock exchange does not always react logically.

Not everything is what it seems

There are several ways and reasons for hiding unemployment and the biggest practitioner is usually governments.

I suspect there can be an unforeseen, unexpected and unwanted alliance between big corporations and governments, staffing agencies. When a recession approaches, big corporations can easily cease hiring staff. They can then, without lying, say that they do not have to dismiss staff because everything is within natural departures.

Staffing agencies are really big databases with the resume. All of these CVs are people who are enrolled in staffing agencies, which in other words means that they are not in the statistics of unemployed.

Snowball effect

With 5 months left of the year, we have received a sum corresponding to 80% of the entire dividend last year.

Of these 5 months, only 1 month gives a larger payment. I guess we will have reached last year's dividend sum by the end of October. It should be a snowball effect in the coming years.

No more acquisitions this month

If the working environment was perfect during last month's end, it's the exact opposite right now.

When I go through the current holdings towards the end of last month, it is scary what few acquisitions it has become this month. A lousy dividend month in connection with a far too expensive holiday leaves no room for large acquisitions.

Still, I am grateful for the, albeit small, increase in holdings.

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Fortune rewards the bold

I continue my purchase of WPG. I am aware that it is a high risk company. That they lost a large tenant like Sears is a setback for the company.

The market is hesitant about how they will be able to rent out the large empty spaces. Personally, I think this will be positive in the end. The premises can be divided into smaller parts and updated and rented out for a higher revenue.

I jinxed it

My hope of a more normal week was shattered quickly last week.

First, young master Dewlar has had an ingrown toenail for several years that escalated during the holiday. It ended with an emergency surgery at the end of last week.

Add to that YMD left today on his first overnight school trip ever. This will be the first time in his 12-year life he will sleep away from us without it being with his any of his grandparents. As icing on the cake it is his birthday today.

On top of all this, 3 of our companies are balancing of the books now on Saturday.

Go figure

Despite my uncertainty, I increased my holdings in DX last night. There are several reasons for this purchase.

First and foremost, I lack a number of shares for the holding to reach an even hundred. There are several factors that will affect the market in the future, the US-China trade war, a coming recession and, above all, investor skepticism.

Personally, I think the latter is the biggest factor.

Insecure

Although both I and Mr Dewlar are determined in our conviction that buying dividend shares is the best thing for us, we become a little uncertain when it starts buzzing around the world.

We are old enough to have been through both banking crisis and recessions. We know that if you have the strength and time it pays to save over time. Despite this, we also hesitate and wonder if it is better to sell some of it to stay in cash or maybe even to repay a bit on the mortgage. In addition, the fluctuations in the economy today goes much faster than 20 years ago.

It is never wrong to re-evaluate and change.

Sour grapes

There is always some investment you wonder why you made.

In my case, it's all about AI. From the beginning it looked good but pretty quickly it started to go down. I have absolutely no explanation or answer as to why I haven't sold them yet.

Maybe I will take the bull by the horns and sell next week. Or not.

Someone never learns from his mistakes

Our list is constantly changing, companies are added after thorough review, a much smaller number companies have left the list and some have been added by mistake.

All the wrong purchases (bought wrong securities) are made by my "worse" half. This time he bought OCCI (OFS Credit Company Inc) when he intended to buy OFS (OFS Capital Incorp).

It's OK when he does it...  according to him

Put your money where your mouth is

I wish I had listened to myself and jumped on the gold train I wrote about in June (gold is king).

Today the gold price is the highest since 2013 and it does not look like the price will stop. I and many with me believe that we are facing a recession with stock market turmoil and more. In such times, gold has always been a safe and secure port.

Paper money comes and goes while gold money glows.

Not everything goes as expected

In April (passive income vs. trading), buying recommendations for NRZ came. The target price was set at $18.

Had the share price reached $18 or more, I hope I would have decided to sell my surplus of the holding. Unfortunately, the stock has fallen instead and the most recent price was $14.4.

This makes me want to increase my surplus instead. NRZ still feels like a good investment.

Better safe than sorry

Sometimes different properties collide.

In my spreadsheet, two of my personal characteristics conflict with each other, caution to accuracy. Being forced to choose between them is not easy, but I have chosen the precautionary principle. My Google Sheet retrieves up-to-date dividends, when available.

As dividends change from month to month, the forecast changes continuously and is misleading in the short term. To avoid this, I have deliberately chosen a lower percent that I match against actual percent on an ongoing basis. Knowing that the document contains wrong numbers is very annoying, even though it is deliberate.

It's not easy being me.

Today is a good day

Some days are better than others.

NEWT boosts its 2019 dividend forecast to $2.15 per share from $1.95, based on its expected Q3 and Q4 2019 results. That comes after NEWT increased its Q3 dividend to ¢58 per share from ¢46 in Q2; in Q1 it paid a 40-per-cent dividend. The new forecast implies a 71-cent-per-share dividend in Q4.

♫ ♪ ♪ ♫  Because I'm happy  ♪ ♫

Came down to earth with a bang

Treating yourself to 5 weeks of holiday costs, and I mean not just money.

Although I've had an understudy, there are some tasks I don't feel comfortable delegating. That means that the workload on return is brutal.

My hope is that next week will be a little more normal.

Make sure you have control

Two of our documents are particularly important to us when planning our share purchases. The most important spreadsheet is the list of companies that we currently have ambition to own.

In order not to get too high or low in a company, I compile the number of shares owned in each securities deposit in this document. I have coded the spreadsheet so that it retrieves the current stock price, dollar exchange rate and future dividends.

This document forms the basis for the second document, which, as of next year, hopefully, will show once we have achieved our goal.

Life is unfair

While my better half and the world's most perfect child sleeps completely unaffected by the time shift, I sit alone on the couch wide-awake.

Since it's the middle of the night, I can't even do any good, such as starting a washing machine or similar. One of few negative things about living in a condominium.

It will be a long night ...

Old is no longer so wise

Getting old is not something I look forward to. The only positive is you apparently become wise when you get old. At least that's what everyone else says.

However, this is something that cannot be applied to me. I missed the whole Bitcoin thing and I am very reserved towards Facebook's upcoming currency, Libra. However, I intend to get myself a currency account, all foreign dividends that are not reinvested in the near future must be hedged against the outside world. Our assets will not follow our currency into the abyss.

It doesn't matter how wise you are when you are not keeping up with the development.

Not spoiled beyond rotten

Sometimes young master Dewlar surprises us. We went into a store to buy him a skateboard.

He could choose which one he wanted within reasonable limits. After back and forth, he chose a ball for the pool for $10 instead of the skateboard for $239.

A prerequisite for a good deal is that both parties are satisfied. I and mr Dewlar are very happy. We will see tomorrow how satisfied YMD still is.

Here comes Libra

It seems as if most finance ministers around the world feels some discomfort with the new cryptocurrencies.

It is warned about these currencies both left and right. Certainly one should be careful, but I still think that the main reason is not to protect the individual citizen but to protect the state's revenue, AKA taxes. With the new cryptocurrencies, it becomes much more difficult (almost impossible) for the state to control the various cash flows.

A politician's way of exercising "management thru fear".

Mild obsession can be a bitch

Due to our flight being a little late, both me and my husband had the opportunity to log in to Nordea and make some minor acquisitions.

Having a mild type of OCD when it comes to equal numbers is really hard when you have a man who buys as many shares as he possible can. He has no understanding whatsoever of my obsession with even numbers.

Properly the cheapest country in the world (by Carlsberg brewery)

Sitting in the lounge waiting for our flight after having spent a 5 week vacation in Florida USA I have come to the conclusion that I properly live in the cheapest country in the world. And that is not a positive thing, it means that our economy performs poorly in comparison to the rest of the world.

The school change we did for young master Dewlar 2 years ago is the best thing that happened to the world's most perfect child. He feels good and thrives very well now in school. The transition itself, however, was difficult for him. Because of this, we have promised not to move until he has finished the grade 12 year.

I really hope that we can live up to that promise, but continue the economic decline in the country we live in, we may have to re-evaluate that promise.

Been at Epcot Disney World

For several years we have promised the offspring a visit to Disney World. Despite several visits to Florida, it was not until this year that we left for Orlando.

Going around in all souvenir shops got me thinking about trade tariffs and the ongoing US-China trade war. The already high prices of most souvenirs inside the amusement park is manufactured in China will possibly be even higher.

The question is how much are parents willing to pay for a plastic Mickey Mouse.

You have to hate when that happens

Unforeseen external influences on the market, such as someone in a position of power who expresses something, either on social media or traditional media, must be extremely stressful for investors who invest other people's money in the slightly longer term.

However, it should be pure Christmas Eve for day traders who invest their own money keeping track of both the market and the media.

You can't make this up PART 2

As I mentioned earlier, Scandinavia is a small area, both geographically and economically. It is so small that the former Swedish bank Nordea has moved to Finland and offers the Danes 20-year interest-free bank loans. Sweden feels like the loser in this deal.

The same but different

Working and living (buying your home) in a country is a choice most people do voluntary. Either you are born in the country or chosen to move there.

Such an investment can be compared to investing money on the stock exchange. The salary can be compared to a share and likewise the housing if you choose to buy your own home.

The central bank in the country in question can choose to have a zero or even negative yield and that makes the "share" AKA  the salary or the housing to lose in value to the outside world.

Game on!

I may have teased my better half a little too much with what we in my family call as "the buy" (they pamper me at moment).

During dark Monday (I have dark Monday) he sold his entire holding in PCI, PDI and GOF. Despite the bear market that prevailed on the stock exchange that day, he still got a good course. In addition to a bag full of past dividends, he also had a big profit on these holdings.

He thinks he has found a gold bar that he plans to go all-in, and he does not intend to share the information yet! It's always a competition!

System failure part 2

Stated below applies to the country I live in.

I see closely how the welfare system fails. Employed people in their twenties quits their full-time jobs to begin studying at the taxpayer's expense. The primary reason is not that they want to continue their education, but because they are tired of work.

The worst thing is that they know exactly how LITTLE they have to study in order to still receive study grants. This money would do much better for other vulnerable and weak people.

If the offspring becomes that way, we have failed catastrophically as parents.

System failure

Stated below applies to the country I live in.

I must admit that I do not care much about people who live according to FIRE but still use social welfare for their own gain.

Have you saved, worked, inherited etc a small fortune so you can live on it, good for you. If you intend to study for your own pleasure, since you are retired, but still plan to use social welfare to receive study grants, then you are only utilizing a system error.

Contributions should go to people who really needs them, not to people who consciously made a choice to jump off the treadmill.

I want to be on the playing field

Last night, after the stock exchange had closed, I logged into my account and several of my holdings shine bright red as Santa Claus.

If the upcoming dividends had not been earmarked for the holiday, I would have rejoiced. All I can do right now is stand aside and watch those who have the cash to make (hopefully) good investments. I long for the dividends in the Nordea account, which is the only liquid funds to be reinvested. A little light in the tunnel.

One man's loss is another man's gain

The experiment part VI

As I have more holdings than OXLC in that insurance where I look to OXLC, I receive more dividends.

I reinvest all dividends in OXLC but note only the number of shares that just the OXLC dividend suffices in the stack named "dividends", the remainder is listed under "original purchase".

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As mr Mark J. Grant said "The verdict is in"

There is much talk about Europe and its countries with zero or even negative yields.

I read a very interesting article (https://seekingalpha.com/article/4281320-verdict) by mr Mark J. Grant in which he predicts a sad but realistic economic future for the whole world. I was much narrow minded (our currency takes one for government) and just looked at the country we live in.

I always advocate that you see the whole picture, bow to mr Mark J. Grant.

I have a dark Monday

Sometimes you have to experience things to fully understand it. Being on holidays in America annually since 2016 is one such thing.

Our currency has lost more than 20% against the US dollar since 2017, even against the EUR we have become poorer. This means that our purchasing power has decreased significantly in large parts of the world.

That vacations abroad has become more expensive is not the big problem, it is a choice we can control ourselves. However, the outside world will not sit idly by when our exports become cheaper and cheaper without taking action.

It is when this happens that we will have big problems, and it is not something that we can control ourselves.

Speaking of children

Everyone with one child or several children knows very well that they are not cheap. They consume all your patience, time, money, etc.

I was in a shoe store a couple of years ago with young master Dewlar and the two young sellers who happened to be female was charmed by YMD. Both of them wanted children fairly quickly and they had the expectation that children would just lie in their strollers and be cute all the time while they could meet friends for a coffee etcetera. I informed them with a big smile on my face that my son is the most expensive accessory I ever got or will get.

Sometimes I'm pure evil.

A classic, "save through shopping"

Despite a weak currency, there are still things that are very cheap in the America.

My little, soon big if he continues to grow at this speed, offspring grows so fast that the clothes are almost too small the same day I buy them. Yesterday I found designer clothes (insignificant really) at a 65% discount and another 40% at the discounted price.

I used the excuse that I reduced the holiday cost by shopping extremely cheaply. I would have had to buy the clothes anyway. My husband argues with the obstinacy of a fool that you can't save money by shopping.

Pretty sweet that he's still trying ...

They pamper me at the moment

Another security performs so well that they can maintain their yield level, WPG.

This company has an incredibly high yield, 27.93% annualized for now, so I expected them to cut yields. The fact that they did not lower the yield almost feels like an increase, since I was already mentally counting on a decrease.

That the husband was against that I bought this security only makes it better. It's always a competition!

Being on vacation just got better

There is hardly anything better than being on vacation but still "getting" money.

I am 3 days into the low dividend month but have already received a payment on my DX holding at Nordea and on Monday I look forward to getting paid on my OXLC holding on both Nordnet and Avanza.

I really have to praise Nordea for their unbeatable quick handling of the payments on the dividends. Both Avanza and Nordnet needs 2-3 business days more to handle the exact same transaction.

Rumor has it

Another of my securities, PCI, has increased its dividend. PDI also performs well.

Unfortunately, I cannot increase my holdings in these securities because of EU regulations. According to rumors, there will be a new actor who will be able to handle ETFs for us EU citizens. I really hope this is true.

In such cases, I will soon hold another bank.

Drought

Since I have entered my 2 month drought regarding dividends and those who will come have to pay for the holiday, I am not as keen on logging into my accounts.

Today I have only been to the banks five times. I always have a kind of strange hope that I have missed a certain security or stock and that there will be an unexpected amount of money in the account. Unfortunately, this chance is very small, almost non-existent.

It is fortunate that my old-age pension insurance distributes money that has to be reinvested so I can make some acquisitions.

Some securities deliver

Since some of my securities have reduced their returns, it feels good when OXLC confirms yields for October, November and December.

I very humbly thank them for the 15.25% (annualized) yield. As extra icing on the cake, OXLC is one of the securities in which we have our biggest investment in. A part of the uncertainty factor decreases when a company already confirms quarter 4.

It also shows that we are fast approaching Christmas Eve.

I am disappointed with our local currency

Apart from the cash we exchanged earlier this spring, we charge everything on our AMEX card.

Since I loathe debts, I pay every night the transactions that happened during the day on the AMEX card. The only time I deviate from this is when I'm on vacation. This time, I knew we would have to use the dividends to pay the bill.

Because of this, I never reinvested the dividends. To avoid investing them "by mistake" I made a withdrawal and paid a part of the outstanding amount on the card. This really hurt me. This is the first time I've ever taken out money that wasn't holiday money to begin with.

It doesn't end there. It is so expensive to be in the US so the dividends for next month will also be needed. It feels like there is a fire in my money factory.