I already own BP....

As I sit here listening to CNBC, and the talking heads are all discussing which company has blown up due to earnings - and what company they expect to take over some other company.... It makes me think how in the world anyone could keep up with all of this information. I make it my routine. No kids left at home... I'm an early riser... I've been following, and investing, in the market for 30 plus years... So I open up my account (as is the norm) just to see what's up... and here's what I accidentally notice this morning.

Altria (MO) is a base holding for me... I own 10,000 shares. It's not a huge dividend payer but on my cost basis it pays a larger percentage than if you bought it at today's prices. But here's the reason for today's post...

My 10,000 shares are UP $131,030.00 in VALUE. It pays me $20,800.00 on an annual basis. That's not "huge" as far as dividends go... but what I like about it (the stock)... I never go to sleep or wake up fearing what it's going to do. Yet here it is... UP (over time!) $13 a share (my cost basis is $41.63). And it's paid me 20 grand a year on top of that.

I ask you ---- you see anything wrong with that?? LOL

That's the kind of BASE you need to build... 10 great steady eddies that just silently march ahead. Once you have that base - then you can step up and play with GoPro and Twitter and whatever comes along the talking heads are talking about on todays show. :disgusted:

I've been back in the market about a year and a half steadily following the Dividend Growth strategy. As of today, MO is my biggest gainer, showing up net 39.2 %. Next closest is a Utility...ES at 9.34%.

I use Quicken to track my investments and it adds my dividend reinvestments to my initial cost basis and calculates returns off of the total, so it doesn't give me a true return on investment if you want to look at just the initial investments and total return. Someday I plan on setting up a spreadsheet to do just that.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting back...watching my investments grow even in trying times and my only concerns are if I should add more in and if so, where.

It's like getting your car set up -- once it's set up -- you just concentrate on the driving - not what the car is doing (or not doing). LOL


The biggest thing I think I've tried to get people to understand in this whole thread --- the market goes UP and the market goes DOWN.... Get over it! Get some investments that grow over the long haul - pay you dividends - and you'll be set!

Always great stuff from you GW!

I have a recently switched to focusing on this type of investing over the 401K plan I have been using since I got out of school 10yrs ago, so I appreciate the guidance.

I understand how to calculate my cost basis mathematically, but it just gets messy with auto div reinvestment over a dozen different stocks each month/quarter. I am doing as others have with keeping a running total with averages in excel. How do you keep track of your investments to know your cost basis is $41.63 per share?
Thanks

I know you asked Greg, but here is how I do it. I have a number of shares column, a price per share column and a total dollar amount column in a spreadsheet. The number of shares and total dollar amount columns are input manually. The price per share column has a formula which divides the total dollar amount by the number of shares. Every time I get a dividend or make a new purchase, I edit the number of shares and/or total dollar amount columns and the new cost basis per share is calculated.

You could also keep a running total by adding a new row for each new dividend or purchase and use a summation formula in the number of share and total dollar amount columns. Your price per share column would have an averaging formula.

Greg doesn't have to complicate cost basis with dividends
Reinvested. Because he spends the dividends on hotrods.


John

For that particular holding - which is at Wells Fargo Brokerage - that Brokerage tracks it for me. Some brokerages do this, and some don't. I also don't re-invest any dividends since I'm retired -- and live off these dividend payments (as well as other income from other types of investments) - so figuring my cost basis is pretty simple.

Like John said -- I just waste my dividends on "whatever". LOL

Pretty true actually. I'm beyond needing to "save" or build a nest egg.

Can anybody here give us "spreadsheet illiterate's" a quick example of one?

I know thats the best way too track it, but thats where i'm having a hard time..

Lance, how do you use quicken? i use quick books pro at work, its way above my head. My accountant and our data entry people and general ledger manager (wifey) use it.

I have an idea, and i'm the bottom line kinda guy, but i'd be interested in how u use it with quicken. I do know that Pam(wifey) often transfers my reports from quickbooks pro into spreadsheet form and there pretty easy to read (she used to teach Excel in the 80's and early 90's when she was in her early twenties) but her and i just "never" get it done(spreadsheet), which is why i handle the personal investments....

thanx all, good discussion as usual...