As of the end of September our Net Worth increased from $788,291 to $809,974. The breakout is as follows:

Retirement Accounts $409,991
Taxable Accounts $101,693
Cash $72,790
Home $205,000
Cars $17,000
Personal Property $3,500

I have made a few purchases when the stock market was down. The markets have increased toward the end of the month resulting in a gain in net worth for the month. I am also going to use some of the cash to fully fund our Roth IRA's for 2008 and 2009. We have no debt at this time.

The Dividend Income increased from $6,280 to $6,437. The increase was from additional purchases as well as a dividend increase from some of my stocks. The dividends are reinvested but I am keeping track of the amount of income I could receive.

Kiplinger has a good article on where to find dividend yields great than 7%. Put Cash in Your Pocket

Turmoil in financial markets offers opportunities if you need more investment income. When stock, corporate-bond or mortgage-debt prices fall, yields escalate. Property-owning real estate investment trusts, for example, lost 21% between early February and mid August, and their average yield rose from 3.3% to 4.4%. Energy royalty trusts and business-development companies have also had it rough lately -- but their yields have not.

More than any other high-yield category, business-development companies feel the conflict between strong business growth and the sort of investor jitteriness that threw the bond market into a tizzy over the summer. BDCs lend to -- and sometimes take equity positions in -- private companies of middling quality at high interest rates. Like a REIT, a BDC must distribute substantially all of its net income as dividends. Most BDC stocks fell about 15% between June and mid August. The number of delinquencies, although low, is edging up -- but hardly enough to imperil generous dividends that result in yields greater than 10%.

Older BDCs, such as Allied Capital and American Capital Strategies, have a lot of experience judging credit risk. They reject more than 90% of the would-be Borrowers who approach them. Allied (ALD) has raised its dividends 6% over the past year, and at $30, it yields 8.8%. American Capital (ACAS) has boosted its payout ten straight quarters and 11% over the past year. At $40, it yields 9.1%.

The Div Guy owns shares of ACAS at the time of this post

A great article that talks about dividend stocks. The main point of the article is to research the individual company when making a stock purchase. Why do dividends matter? Let's do the math

Focus on the companies, not the market

Consistently rising dividends must be reflected in the market. Rising dividend payments are incontestable proof that the underlying company is not only currently profitable but that its prospects for future profits are strong. Wall Street rewards profitable companies by driving their share prices higher.

The focus for investors, then, should be on the companies and not the market. And the underlying value in a company is in its dividend. Why are dividends and dividend increases so important? Let's answer that question with the following hypothetical scenario:

Take 1,000 shares of a $10 stock ($10,000) that pays a 50-cent annual dividend (5%, or $500 per year). Let's say both the share price and the dividend increase by 10% per year. In five years, the stock price is $16.11, giving the position a $16,110 market value. The dividend is 81 cents per share (a 8.1% yield on cost), and the annual dividend received has grown to $810.

In 10 years, the stock price is $25.94, the market value is $25,940, the dividend is $1.30 (13% yield on cost), and the annual dividend received is now $1,300.

"Nice hypothetical, Wright. How about the real world, though?" I am so glad you asked.

The five-year dividend-growth-rate average for Bank of America (BAC, news, msgs) is 13.13%. The current dividend is $2.56. If the past is prologue, the dividend for Bank of America should be about $4.72 in five years, which based on the recent price of $50 per share equates to a yield on cost of around 9.45%. Now consider that the five-year dividend-growth-rate average is 34.64% for McDonald’s (MCD, news, msgs), 33.41% for American International (AIG, news, msgs), 29.44% for Cardinal Health (CAH, news, msgs), 24.96% for Citigroup (C, news, msgs), 20.80% for Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) and 20.39% for Polaris Industries (PII, news, msgs). Are you starting to get the picture?

"But we're going into a recession," you say. Maybe, maybe not; and if we do, it isn't the end of the world. I've witnessed a lot of turmoil over the years, the crash of '87, the Asian currency flu of '97, the failure of Long Term Capital Management and the Russian default in '98, and of course, Sept. 11, 2001.

Each event created anxiety, each event had repercussions, but each event was survived, and all the companies listed above prospered. This too shall pass; opportunities abound.

The Div Guy owns shares of BAC and C at the time of this post

Liz Weston has the second part of her Retire by 50 article. One thing that is overlooked or more expensive than planned is the cost of medical care. I think medical costs will play a major role in retirement planning unless some changes are made. Retired by 50: Real-life stories

Reducing your expenses and eliminating debt benefits you twice. Cutting costs and paying off loans helps you save more, while at the same time reducing the total amount you need to retire, since you can live on less.

Having assets to sell also helps. Building up equity in a business or real estate can speed you to your goal, as long as you're willing to sell at some point. (Although real estate in many areas is currently experiencing a slump, historically residential real estate has appreciated at about 6% a year.)

A traditional pension can be a beautiful thing. Although they're hard to find in the private sector, traditional pensions that replace half or more of your pre-retirement pay can still be found in the public sector. High-risk jobs, such as those in the military, law enforcement and firefighting, often allow you to retire on half-pay after 20 years.

The question to answer isn't "Can I?" but "Will I?" Most of the couples I interviewed were willing to live on a lot less than they made, but not everybody wants to sacrifice so much. Understanding that you have options -- about your spending, your income and when to retire -- can help you make better choices. You can decide what you're willing to do now to get the future you want.

CNN Money has an article with some tips to getting on the right financial track. 35 Minutes to Riches. Here are a couple of tips:

You signed up for your plan right after you found the office vending machines. Now do more: Raise your contribution by a point. Save 10% of a $50,000 salary in your 401(k) and you'll have $1.4 million in 35 years, assuming 8% returns and 4% annual raises. Ramp that up to 11% and you'll earn around $140,000 more.

On the road to riches, the key question is whether you're on track for financial independence. So pull out your retirement and investment account statements, plus projections for any pensions. Running that simple math can be surprisingly valuable: Researchers have found that people who plan for retirement have a higher net worth than those who do nothing.

It takes seven seconds on a high-speed Internet connection to download Berkshire Hathaway's annual report (available at berkshirehathaway.com/reports.html). Reading Buffett's letter to shareholders might take a full 35 minutes. The wisdom therein could put your investing head on straight for 35 years.

I enjoy reading stories of people who retire early and learning how they do it. Liz Weston at MSN Money has a great article with two real world examples. Retire by 50: What it really takes.

People who retire so early often have several traits in common, said Jan Dahlin Geiger, a Certified Financial Planner and author of the book, "Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies."They're:

Allergic to debt."Debt is the opposite of savings," Geiger said, "and you don't get to be rich if you don't save."

Acutely aware of the power of time. Early retirees know that the sooner they put money to work for them, the more they'll eventually have. Even small amounts, if diligently saved and invested, can grow to whopping sums over time, thanks to the power of compound interest.

More interested in their goal than what the neighbors think.You may realize that you can't keep up with the Joneses and have any hope of retiring early (or even of retiring at all, depending on how far you take your consumerism). But you may not understand how very different your life might have to be from those around you to retire young.

I recently received a few questions about Zecco so I wanted to post an update. Zecco is an online broker started on July 4, 2006 that offers free stock trades and low cost option trading. Zecco says it will make money from interest income and margin spreads, as well as by charging a low fee for options trades. Zecco also hopes to attract advertisers to its financial portal site. I have been using Zecco Trading for six months and here is a review of my experience with Zecco.com.

Cost I have made 46 stock trades since I have opened my account with Zecco and I have paid zero in commission. I have made 45 buys and 1 sell. I did pay $.04 in fees associated with the sell order. Comparing the Zecco account with my Scottrade account, I have saved $322! There are no account fees for regular accounts but there is an annual charge of $30 for IRA accounts. You get 40 free trades a month and after that you are charged $3.50 per trade. You are allowed 10 free trades in one day. There is no minimum amount required to set up a cash account and $2,000 is required to set up a margin account. Online options trades cost $3.50 plus $.60 per contract with no minimums and online mutual fund trades are $10. Here is a link to all Zecco fees.

Flexibility I love the ability to make small purchases to help create a well diversified portfolio with a limited amount of assets. I can use dividends from a couple of my large stocks to make purchases into new holdings, again allowing me to diversify my portfolio at no cost.

Ease of use You can now open an account online through a very streamlined process compared to the paper process I went through. Once you are logged into the Trading Center there is a simple to use Stock Order Entry. You enter the stock symbol, buy or sell and the number of shares. It also allows limit orders on this same entry form. Trades are processed very quickly and I have not noticed any difference in execution versus Scottrade.

Trading Tools There are limited trading tools to help with additional financial analysis of stocks. Zecco does offer Motley Fools stock rating “CAPS”.

Customer Service The customer service I have received has been very good. You can contact customer service via email or phone. I had a question on my account when I first opened the account which I submitted via email that was answered the next day. I also transferred stocks from Scottrade via ACAT and the process was very smooth and took about two weeks. I also enjoy the ability to process online ACH bank transfers to and from my Zecco account. Scottrade does not offer ACH transfers out of your account. I recently had a problem with my cash balance not updating but I called Zecco and it was updated the next day.

Community Zecco offers a program called Share which is in beta testing. Zecco Share is a secure area where Zecco account holders can share trade history, make blog posts and write comments to other users. If you are a Zecco member, you can follow my trades under my user name ZEEMAN.

Overall I have to say I have been very pleased with my Zecco account and would recommend Zecco to anyone who wants to save money on stock trades. If you are skeptical, open an account and purchase as little as one share to see how it works. Give Zecco a try if you're a novice investor or a seasoned investor. You can't beat free stock trades!

The Div Guy has not been compensated for this post.

I was busy over the weekend with the kids and didn't have time to post today. I am trying to get my first grader reading on his own. It can be a little frustrating for parent and child. I got to work early to post but I have been helping with problems and answering questions all day.

I have started researching a couple of international stocks to add to my portfolio. I am going to do some further research on Deutsche Bank, Natixis and 3i Group and look to add one or two to my dividend stock portfolio.

I will have a new post for tomorrow!

I was looking for a couple international stocks to add to my dividend portfolio and came across this article from Bloomberg. Credit Agricole, Lukoil, Samsung Battered Into Cheapest Stocks

French banks, South Korean semiconductor makers and Russian energy companies have become the world's biggest bargains after stock markets around the world lost more than $5 trillion in value.

Credit Agricole SA, France's second-largest lender, trades at a 19 percent discount to Citigroup Inc., the world's biggest financial services company, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Samsung Electronics Co., the top maker of memory chips, was valued last month at the cheapest versus U.S. chipmakers since July 2004. OAO Lukoil, Russia's No. 1 independent oil company, is 34 percent less expensive than Exxon Mobil Corp.

French commercial bank stocks are now the cheapest among those in developed European economies, valued at a median 7.96 times forecast profit, the Bloomberg data show. A gauge of banks in the MSCI France Index, which has fallen 21 percent since its 2007 high on May 11, trades at 7.94 times reported profit, the lowest in at least 12 years.

Credit Agricole and Natixis SA, France's second- and fourth- largest banks, are bargains, according to New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which raised its rating on Credit Agricole's shares to ``overweight'' last week.

The Div Guy does not own shares of the above companies at the time of the post.

Kiplinger's has an article that takes a look at the 10 top yielding stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The strategy of selecting the 10 highest yielding stocks of the Dow is called the Dogs of the Dow. Run With the Dogs of the Dow?

Let's take a close look at the hounds as a group: Pfizer (symbol PFE), Altria (MO), Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), General Motors (GM), DuPont (DD), Merck (MRK), Citigroup (C), JP Morgan (JPM) and General Electric (GE) currently yield an average of 3.6% (the entire Dow 30 industrials pay 2.2%).

Extend the analysis through September 5, and the Dogs' results are little changed, with this exception: The two financials among them, Citigroup and JP Morgan, Whose shares held up as the market plunged, failed to recover alongside most of the other canines once the panic eased a couple of weeks ago.

If you're interested in the Dogs but don't want to buy the individual stocks yourself, there are a number of funds and unit investment trusts that follow this strategy. One simple way to do so is through Defined Strategy Fund (DSF), a closed-end fund that owns only the ten Dogs, in roughly equal weight.

Another way to go: You get blue chips, high income and much wider diversification in the exchange-traded iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund (DVY). The ETF fund holds more than 100 stocks and has regularly outperformed Defined Strategy without interruption since DSF's launch in January 2005.

The Div Guy owns shares of PFE, C and GE at the time of the post.

A reader asked a question about where to invest $4,000 for retirement. One thing they did not mention was whether they are employed by a company or self employed.

If they are self employed, I would have them talk to a tax person to see which plan would be best for them. Here is a link to the basics on plans for self employed. SmartMoney SmallBiz

I would recommend a person start a Roth IRA. A Roth IRA allows for tax free accumulation over the life of the account. You will not have to pay any taxes on yours saving when you take money out in retirement. The Roth is very flexible because you can invest in most types of securities such as mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, bonds and real estate. Also with the Roth you are not required to take out distributions at age 70 1/2 like other types of retirement plans.

The maximum amount you are allowed to contribute to a Roth for 2007 is $4,000 and the limit for 2008 is $5,000. Investors over 50 years old can contribute an extra $1,000 to the Roth IRA.

Keep in mind you must have earned income to contribute to the Roth and there are limits on your income. Contributions will be phased out if you earn over $99,000 for a single person or $156,000 for couples filing taxes jointly.

The Roth offers some other benefits but I would not recommend using them. They are the ability to take out your contributions without penalty, the ability to use money from the Roth to purchase a home or for education.

For a first time investor, I would have them take a look at the LifeStrategy funds from Vanguard. My preference would be the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth Fund. I would recommend this for a person who is looking for long term growth and can handle stock market volatility.

Anyone else have some tips, feel free to add any helpful suggestions.

Here are some links for additional research
http://www.fairmark.com/rothira/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roth_IRA
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/accounttypes/retirement
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/funds/snapshot?FundId=0122&FundIntExt=INT

As of the end of August our Net Worth increased from $782,870 to $788,291.

The breakout is as follows:

Retirement Accounts $393,376
Taxable Accounts $98,334
Cash $71,081
Home $205,000
Cars $17,000
Personal Property $3,500

The decrease in cash is from stock purchases during the month. I have made a few purchases when the stock market was down. The markets have increased toward the end of the month resulting in a small gain in net worth for the month. I still have some cash available for stock purchases in the month of September if we have some more market downturns. I am also going to use some of the cash to fully fund our Roth IRA's for 2008 and 2009. We have no debt at this time.

The Dividend Income increased from $5,876 to $6,280 which is a 6.8% increase. This was due to additional purchases as well as a dividend increase from my largest stock holding. The dividends are reinvested but I am keeping track of the amount of income I could receive.

I have been looking for a site to track the performance of my stock portfolio and wanted to know what sites others used. One site I have looked into is Marketocracy, this site allows you to create a million dollar portfolio. This is unrealistic for me as I want a site that will track my specific trades and not have to create a million dollar portfolio.

I just read an article that talks about two other website called Bullpoo and Icarra. Here is a link to the article. Tracking Stock-Picking Prowess Online

Has anyone used these sites to track your performance and what is the feedback?

My wife and I have a plan that should allow us to retire in 15 years. Our goal is to have $2 million in assets at retirement and have around $40,000 in dividend income at that time. We started saving for retirement early and we each put the maximum in our Roth IRA's. My wife will start a new job in a week and she will contribute to her 401(k) plan as well.

One of the biggest factors for the success of our plan has been able to live on less than what we earn. We have been able to live below our means for many years and this is why we are well on our way towards retirement. We have done this by following a monthly budget and tracking our net worth.

We also relocated to a low cost town and were able to buy our house for cash. We have no debt at this time. While housing costs are very low, we are able to earn almost 3 times the median income for our state. We will be able to save and invest all the money from my wife's new job. If our saving and investing plan does well, we may be able to reduce the time until retirement.

What is your retirement plan?

Here is an article to help you along your way. Your 5-minute guide to quitting the rat race

Many teens and adults these days feel entitled to purchase the latest and greatest products. Our family has always looked at our purchases to make sure they are what we need and not just a want. We practice that with our children as well. Take a look at this article on enttitlment. How to keep 'entitlement epidemic' from infecting your family finances

Nathan Dungan, a financial adviser in Minneapolis, thinks he has an antidote to this so-called "entitlement epidemic" that he and like-minded financial experts, sociologists and psychologists see sweeping America.

Dungan is promoting a program he launched several years ago called "Share Save Spend," an initiative aimed at changing how families think about money whether they're wealthy or not. The goal: for parents and children to open up about what money means to them and to teach ways to use money without abusing it.

"Our habits and values can get out of alignment," Dungan says. "We need to step back and make sure we don't get defined by the hyperconsumer culture, and that the choices we're making with our money are also about our values."

Wanting it all now, materialism, and the popular notion that happiness can be bought, keeps people of all backgrounds and income levels from thinking realistically about money -- and themselves. Dungan is encouraging them to reconnect.