This post first appeared on the DIV-Net on 10/25.

I recently purchased shares of Abbott Labs (ABT). I believe the stock is a great long term holding with a stable balance sheet, a history of dividend growth and a strong pipeline for future growth. I wish the stock would have drop more in price with the recent market downturn but it is such a solid company the stock is only down about 5% for the year.

Company Description

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company that develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. During 2007, pharmaceuticals accounted for 57% of operating revenues, while nutritionals represented
17%, diagnostics contributed 12%, and vascular represented 6%. Sales of other products represented 8%of 2007 sales. The company employs more than 68,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. The company is headquartered in north suburban Chicago.

Healthy Growth

The company recently posted strong results for the third quarter. Earnings per share of 79 cents surpassed the year-prior 67 cents and exceeded the consensus estimate by 3%. Worldwide sales jumped 17.6% on a year-over-year basis.

All of Abbott's businesses are performing exceptionally well, ahead of expectations,' said Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott. 'Abbott remains well-positioned, with strong core growth franchises, including our emerging vascular business, which is rapidly becoming a significant contributor to Abbott's growth.'


ABT should increase sales at a high double-digit percentage rate over the next several years. EPS growth has been forcasted at 13% through 2010. EPS growth includes expected margin improvement, lower debt levels, a successful U.S. launch of a new drug-coated coronary stent and continued strength in sales of Humira.

Higher Estimates

The company hiked its full-year guidance 2008, and analysts followed suit. ABT increased its guidance to an adjusted earnings per share range of $3.31 - $3.33 from $3.24 - $3.28. All 10 covering analysts responded by issuing full-year forecasts of $3.32 per share, up from last week's $3.27.

Strong Dividend Income

In September, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 36 cents per share, this was the 339th consecutive quarterly dividend paid out by Abbott since 1924. ABT said the payable November 15, 2008, to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 15, 2008.

The dividend translates into a yield of 2.6%, which stands high above the yields offered by its peers as most companies within ABT's industry group offer no dividend.

Abbott stated that it increased its dividend payout for 36 consecutive years, which included a 10.8% increase earlier this year. Also, since the debut of the S&P 500 in 1957, Abbott explained that it has had the second-highest average annual return of all originally listed companies, in part because of its dividend yield.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of ABT at the time of this post.

I am currenly on vacation and will post some articles from a couple of months ago.

BusinessWeek has a very good article on how to select stocks in a weak market. They ask money management experts for idea on how to find strong companies in the current market. Finding Strong Stocks in a Sickly Market

BusinessWeek asked investing experts for tips on how to avoid stocks with weak finances, and how to choose strong companies at a time when strength seems especially valuable.

1. Look for lots of cash and low levels of debt.
Look at how much cash the firm has. Compare cash and debt levels to rivals in the same industry. Another key measure many investors use is free cash flow, a determination of, when all is added up, whether more money is flowing into the firm than out in a given quarter.

"When they hit hard times, they have cash to tide them over," says Scott Armiger of Christiana Bank & Trust. He points to USG (USG), a building materials company hurt by the housing slowdown (BusinessWeek.com, 6/18/08) but still modernizing its factories.

A healthy balance sheet also allows firms to make acquisitions when market valuations are low. "Strenuous times [are] when they go shopping, because they see businesses on sale," Armiger says.

Companies can be crippled by high debt burdens. Rob Lutts of Cabot Money Management points to the debt-laden auto and airline industries. "If they didn't have the debt, they could adjust their business operations and succeed," he says. Exxon Mobil (XOM), however, manages to operate in a capital-intensive business with almost no debt, Lutts says.

2. Other financial measures.
Cash and debt levels are at the top of most lists, but investors also include other criteria.

Lutts looks for "very high" aftertax profit margins, often of 25% to 30%. "It brings more strength to a company on a daily basis," Lutts says, citing Google (GOOG) and the Chinese firm New Oriental Education (EDU) as examples.

Mustafa Sagun, chief investment officer of Principal Global Investors' equities group, emphasizes not just good fundamentals, but improvements in those measures, such as increasing revenue, widening profit margins, and rising profits.

If a stock has a dividend, look at its history, Hemauer says. "It's not so much the [size of the dividend] as the consistency," he says. A dividend that is steady or rising is a great sign of financial strength, he says.

3. Sustainable advantages.
Michael Yoshikami, president and chief investment strategist at YCMNET Advisors, looks for "companies that have staying power." He puts Walt Disney Co. (DIS) on his list of "industry-leading companies with sustainable competitive advantages."

Another measure of sustainability is the ability to survive economic downturns, either through diversification or because of a business area insulated from trouble. Yoshikami cites Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which reported better-than-expected earnings July 15 despite the tough economic times.

4. Check out the management team.
Ron Sweet, vice-president of equity investments at USAA, suggests looking to see if, when management articulates a strategy, they stick with it. Also, when the business was doing well because of a good economy, did executives congratulate themselves? Or did they talk about preparing for the next downturn? The latter is an example of "a high-quality company," Sweet says.

5. Customer activity.
Many businesses are only as strong as their customer base.

A company dependent on a small handful of customers is vulnerable if just one of them takes business elsewhere, Speiss says. A company that sells to the federal government might seem like a paragon of strength, but "what happens if the U.S. government cuts its budget?" he asks.

Another measure of customer strength is backlog. Lutts cites First Solar (FSLR), a solar-power firm with a backlog of orders that is 6.5 times this year's sales.

The goal is to find stocks that are not only strong enough to survive the current downturn, but to take advantage of the next recovery whenever it finally arrives.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of XOM and JNJ at the time of this post.

Zecco offers 10 free stock trades per month once you fund your account with a minimum $2,500 in equity and/or cash. You only pay $4.50 per trade after your 10 free trades that month.

Zecco has been operating for over two years and I have been using Zecco for over a year now. 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.

BusinessWeek ran a screen of Retail Stocks last week that should do well in the current environment. There are some specialty stores such as Best Buy and Home Depot but the list also has Wal-Mart. I think Wal-Mart will do well in the current environment but I would think a store like Target would do better when we have an actual recovery in the economy. I will wait until after the holiday season to see how the retailers fare. The Retailers Poised to Survive, Then Thrive

The holiday shopping season is forecast to be weak, but S&P retail analysts see growth potential for a number of companies despite the tough times.

Like Santa, you've probably been making a list, checking it twice, and mostly trying to figure out how to cut back on spending—for the holidays and in your day-to-day life.

U.S. consumer confidence plunged to 38.0, a record low, in October, well below the 61.4 reading in September and the 99.5 figure seen a year ago.

"This disappointing report adds more risk to an already challenging holiday season," says David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's.

What does it all mean for the retailers, and retailing stocks? The outlook is not good.

Some Will Fall
That's not just bad news for the holiday season. According to Wyss, it means some retailers will no longer be around this time next year. He theorizes that most retailers fail in the beginning of an upturn because they cut so much during the downturn, they lose out to better-capitalized rivals when the upturn begins.

Wyss says the bottom will be the first quarter of 2009, so retailers who are likely to fail will have most likely done so, in his opinion, by the summer/fall of 2009. Some companies have already filed for bankruptcy, including Circuit City, Barbecues Galore, Bennigan's, Boscov's, Mrs. Fields, and Steve & Barry's.

We polled S&P's retail equity analysts for names for which they have a high level of confidence will survive the recession and are best positioned to eventually thrive. We found 16 retail stocks that are ranked 5 STARS (strong buy) or 4 STARS (buy):

Amazon (AMZN)
Best Buy (BBY)
Coach (COH)
Dollar Tree (DLTR)
Family Dollar Stores (FDO)
GameStop (GME)
Guess (GES)
Home Depot (HD)
J. Crew Group (JCG)
OfficeMax (OMX)
PetSmart (PETM)
Ross Stores (ROST)
Staples (SPLS)
TJX (TJX)
Urban Outfitters (URBN)
Wal-Mart (WMT)

Disclosure: The Div Guy does not own any of the companies listed in the article at the time of this post.

Investopedia has a good post by Ryan Freund on some conservative dividend stocks that should not miss a dividend payment. 4 Dividend Stocks You Can Actually Count On

In uncertain and highly volatile times like these, it is important to make sure your portfolio is well diversified with a healthy selection of investments. In particular, dividend paying stocks can provide significant stability to your portfolio, primarily due to a dividend's inverse relationship to the price-per-share. Furthermore, dividends can bring you current income or the opportunity to re-invest, letting compound interest work it's magic. Before you go out and buy a stock based on its dividend, though, there are several things you must be on the look-out for.

The Incredible Disappearing Dividend
With all the carnage in the stock market, especially in the financial sector, dividend yields have never looked so attractive. In fact, there are over 150 companies - valued at over $500 million market capitalization - that have annual dividend yields greater than 10%. Wow, what a good time to be investing!

Not so fast.

You see, the dividends listed (as well as most other company-specific information) on most websites are based on a snapshots of the past; they do not usually reflect the most current data available. You have to be very careful not to let a stated dividend yield sway your stock purchases. Finding the latest dividend news or payout for a specific stock isn't too difficult, and it’s well worth your time. (To get started, read How And Why Do Companies Pay Dividends?)

Be wary of High Yields
Even if you do your research and find that the dividend yield is still being maintained, double-digit dividend yields should be raising red flags for any investor. The old adage “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is” is incredibly pertinent here, because high dividend yields are often unsustainable and are likely to be cut. No one likes it when a dividend is cut; and the stock is punished accordingly. (To learn some of the telling factors that can help you avoid losses, read Is Your Dividend At Risk?)

If the dividend yield is more than 10%, as is the case with the 150 I mentioned, it's likely too good to be true. The bad news is that there are a lot of dividend "honey-pots" out there for investors who do not take the time to perform adequate research. The good news is that there are also a lot of well-known, venerable companies that not only pay a good dividend, but have had a steady long-term dividend policy in place for decades. Let's take a look at some of my favorites.

Four Stalwarts You Can Trust

Company Dividend Yield* Year Founded Sector
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 2.9% 1885 Healthcare
3M (MMM) 3.1% 1902 Conglomerate
McDonald's (MCD) 3.6% 1948 Services
Coca-Cola (KO) 3.3% 1886 Consumer Goods

* As of stock market close on 11/13/08

History of Rewarding Shareholders
Are these yields exceptionally high? No, but each and every one of these companies has an exceptionally long history of rewarding shareholders with steady dividends. For example, McDonald's has been paying dividends consecutively every single year since 1976, Johnson & Johnson since 1972, Coca-Cola since 1920 and 3M since 1916.

It's important to note that not only have these four companies paid steady dividends for many decades, they've been increasing them consistently. McDonald's has raised its dividend each year since 1976 - the year it began paying dividends. Johnson & Johnson has increased its dividend since the inception of its dividend in 1972. Coca-Cola has increased its dividend in each of the past 43 years. Lastly, we have 3M, which has increased it's dividend steadily for 50 years straight; longer than any of the other three.

Slow and Steady Wins This Race
Sure, these stocks aren't high-flying growth stocks with the potential to make you an instant millionaire. But what they lack in flash, they more than make up for with consistency and stability. Peace of mind is a hard asset to come by these days, and you will certainly sleep better at night knowing that these high yielding stalwarts are bracing your portfolio against losses.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of JNJ at the time of this post.

This week had been a tough week for most investors and even tougher for dividend investors of companies such as American Capital (ACAS)and Diana Shipping (DSX). ACAS and DSX both suspended their dividend to preserve cash in the current recessionary market. While I can fully understand these moves and think they will help them over the long term, it is a big hit to my current annual dividend income. These suspension along with a few dividend cuts have cut in half my dividend income. It looks like I will have to work a couple of more years than my planned retirement in 15 years. Here are the details:

American Capital suspending its dividend
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Investment firm American Capital Ltd. said Monday it will not pay dividends for the rest of the year and retain long-term capital gains in an effort to improve its capital base amid the ongoing credit crisis.

The investment firm said it will now determine whether to pay a quarterly dividend after financial results are determined each quarter.

American Capital most recently paid a dividend of $1.05 per share during the third quarter.

Aside from the dividend cut, American Capital will also retain long-term capital gains from its investments instead of distributing them to shareholders. American capital has retained $155 million in net long-term capital gains during the 12-months ended Sept. 30.

The new dividend policy is part of a plan being enacted by American Capital to reduce its leverage amid the ongoing credit crisis. American Capital is also acquiring the remaining 32.3 percent stake in European Capital it does not already own and suspending its share repurchase program as part of the plan.

Diana Shipping to suspend dividend payments
NEW YORK (AP) -- Global shipping company Diana Shipping Inc. said Wednesday it will suspend its dividend after making a payment in December so it can take advantage of unspecified market opportunities.

The shipping company declared a dividend of 95 cents per share based on its third-quarter earnings. The dividend will be paid Dec. 11 to shareholders of record on Nov. 26.

After that payment, Diana Shipping will suspend its quarterly dividend in an effort to "take advantage of market opportunities," the company said in a statement.

Diana Shipping said the suspension of the dividend will give it financial flexibility and be used for opportunities in the current market. The ongoing credit crisis is likely to constrain shipbuilding and reduce buyers and prices, the company's chairman and chief executive, Simeon Palios, said in a statement.

The shipping sector is exiting a period of high vessel prices and charter rates and entering a period of lower prices and rates, Palios added.

The company noted that when market conditions change, it would then consider reinstating the dividend.

The announcement came as Diana Shipping said its third-quarter profit rose 14 percent, beating Wall Street estimates as rates rose and the company increased the size of its fleet.

Net income increased to $57.5 million, or 77 cents per share, from $50.4 million, or 78 cents per share, during the same quarter last year. Revenue increased to $87.4 million from $49.1 million a year ago.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of ACAS and DSX at the time of this post.

Jon Bruner of Forbes has a screen of some value stocks that can continue to pay their dividend in an economic downturn. Value in Dividends

In a difficult economy and stock market, a healthy dividend can limit the downside damage to a stock and provide a modest amount of income. To that end, we have searched for companies that look like they can afford paying their dividends, seem capable of weathering the current economic storm and are not overpriced.

We used software from FactSet Research Systems and the Thomson IBES and Reuters Fundamentals databases to find companies that have been consistently profitable over the last five years and that security analysts expect to post earnings increases next year. We removed companies whose debt as a percentage of equity exceed 50%, whose dividend payout exceeded 50% of net profits and with ratios of price to last-12-month earnings greater than 20.

Several stocks on our list fall under the consumer staples category, a group that is often resilient during economic downturns. Consumers may put off buying new cars and taking fancy vacations, but they will still buy groceries. Our list includes processors J.M. Smucker (SJM) and Hormel Foods (HRL), as well as PepsiCo (PEP), a beverage and snack company. Between Sept. 1, 2000, and Oct. 9, 2002, a period when the S&P 500 index lost 49% of its value, PepsiCo gained 26%. Hormel's shares increased 53% during that period, and J.M. Smucker was up 102%.

The largest company on our list is pharmaceutical and consumer-products giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Its stock yields 2.7%, its payout is 40% of earnings and it sells for 16 times its earnings from the last 12 months. Security analysts reporting to Thomson IBES expect the company to post 8% annual earnings growth over the next three to five years.

Company Name Industry
J.M. Smucker (SJM) Packaged Foods and Meats
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Pharmaceuticals
PepsiCo (PEP) Soft Drinks
The Buckle, Inc. (BKE) Apparel Retail
Hormel Foods (HRL) Packaged Foods and Meats
Family Dollar Stores (FDO) General Merchandise Stores
Wolverine World Wide (WWW) Footwear
Accenture (ACN) Consulting Services
Simpson Manufacturing Co. (SSD) Building Products
Qualcomm (QCOM) Communications Equipment

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of JNJ and PEP at the time of this post.

Neweek has an article from earlier this year on how to survivie the economic downturn. The article has some good points to follow in difficult financial times. Surviving the Crunch

Leave your retirement account alone. Chances are you're already in diversified mutual funds that will moderate your losses. "Don't sell into this market," says Jane King of Fairfield Financial Advisors in Wellesley, Mass. Rather, keep buying into the market by continuing your regular weekly and monthly contributions. You might even ramp them up a bit, especially if you're a decade or more away from spending that money.

Jigger your other investments. If you own stocks and bonds outside of your tax-deferred retirement accounts, it's a good time to sell some shares on bad days and lock in losses. If you don't want to be out of the market, reinvest the money in other stocks, bonds and funds. Don't buy the same shares back for at least 31 days, to avoid running afoul of tax rules. What about the bank stocks? It's too late to sell early, and some might recover very quickly once all of Washington's confidence-building measures take hold.

Pay down costly debts. Get very aggressive about paying down high-cost debt. That includes credit cards, variable home-equity lines of credit and most car loans. "That's one of the best investments you can make," says Atlanta-based financial adviser David Hultstrom. Look at it this way: paying off a 7 percent loan is a sure-fire, tax-free 7 percent return. That's impossible to beat in this market.

Stretch out cheap debts. Don't make extra payments on your mortgage if it's a fixed-rate loan under 6 percent. That's a handy loan to have; instead, use your extra cash to build up that emergency fund.

Stash your cash safely. In tough times like this, that emergency cash should go into an FDIC-backed bank money market account. For yield, you can look to the online banks like zionsbank.com and ingdirect.com.

Avoid the urge to get more adventuresome with your investments as a way to make back losses. Foreign stocks have boomed, but they're still moving down with the U.S. markets. And now that the dollar is at an all-time low against the euro and sinking in Asia, too, you're paying a lot for those foreign shares.

Hunt for bargains. If you thought you were a couple of years away from buying a house, you might start looking now, says Hultstrom, because loans are cheap and it's a buyers market. Study stocks to see whether there are some good companies getting beaten down along with the troubled ones.

Put that 401(k) statement away. Just because you can watch your retirement fund in real time doesn't mean you should. Individual investors usually do themselves more harm than good by reacting to each hour's economic news. Just do what you're supposed to in a recession: tighten the belt, pay down the bills, salt away cash and keep investing for the next upturn of the economic cycle. And don't waste time worrying.

Barron's has a recent money manager poll that shows bullishness among many money managers, despite their forecast of a recession and small profits through 2009. Managers also select some stocks the think will do well in the difficult environment, here are some highlights. A Sunnier Season

IT MUST REALLY TAKE A LOT TO SCARE AMERICA'S money managers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by 30%. Credit is near-impossible to get. A global recession looms, and the cost to clean up Wall Street's mess is climbing into the trillions. And yet, against these odds, 50% of the investment pros responding to our latest Big Money poll say they're bullish or very bullish about the stock market's prospects through the middle of next year.

John Fox, a portfolio manager at Fenimore Asset Management in Cobleskill, N.Y., which manages $1.5 billion. "We're seeing a lot of forced liquidation," he says. "For a lot of people, just being able to stand pat gives them an advantage."

Fox sees bargains in several debt-free companies, including Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Zebra Technologies (ZBRA), a maker of specialty printers, which trades around $20 a share. The company has $4 a share of cash, and is expected to earn $1.73 a share this year. Phoenix-based trucking outfit Knight Transportation (KNX) is another favorite; it trades for $15, and is expected to earn 64 cents in '08.

Tim Call, a portfolio manager with Capital Management in Richmond, Va., sees promise in various financial groups, including insurance. He also likes Principal Financial Group (PFG), a Des Moines-based leader in servicing small and mid-range 401K retirement plans. The company trades for only four times 2009 expected earnings. "Don't look for banks," he says, noting insurers are "in better shape and just as oversold."

WHEN IT COMES TO INDIVIDUAL stocks, the managers gave their biggest votes of confidence to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) and General Electric (GE), to which the Great One recently gave a $3 billion helping hand. The managers also cast their votes for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM), whose shares have been decimated this year, and Wells Fargo (WFC), a much-admired survivor among the nation's biggest banks.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of GE at the time of this post.

BusinessWeek has an article from Gene Marcial on how General Electric (GE) could be a value investment. I see GE as a good value and should stabilize once the financial markets settle down. Could GE Be a Cheap Global-Comeback Play?

General Electric (GE) has come to symbolize the jarring impact of the swift deterioration of the global financial system and darkening economic outlook. Shares of the once-mighty Wall Street kingpin have tumbled to multiyear lows, as analysts have grown impatient with the giant industrial and media conglomerate's turtle-paced growth. There is also a fair amount of anxiety about the health of GE's finance operations. These factors have prompted many of its Wall Street followers to downgrade the stock and scale back their earnings and sales forecasts for 2008, 2009, and 2010.

But the nasty drubbing that GE has suffered—which took its stock price from a high of 42 a share on Oct. 31, 2007, to an 11-year low of 17.83 on Oct. 24—may now have moved its besieged shares from the "unwanted" stock category to the "bargain" bin. The shares may not only be luring buyers because of GE's depressed p-e ratio, but also because of what CEO Jeffrey Immelt and his management team have been doing to improve the company's liquidity, partly by repositioning its finance portfolio and restructuring the company.

HOW THE BULLS SEE IT
The stock, which traded at 19 on Oct. 31, is trading at depressed 1997 levels, although it had more than doubled earnings since that time, significantly improving its business portfolio. Over the last seven years, GE sold its life insurance, mortgage insurance, bond insurance, reinsurance, and materials businesses. For a while, rumors swirled that GE might also unload NBC. But Immelt publicly said it would hold on to the media-TV leader.

At its current price, GE is trading at about 9.6 times 2009 estimates. The last time it traded at that p-e was in 1982. GE's price-earnings multiple was as high as 50 in 1999.

SHORT-TERM LIQUIDITY PROBLEMS LICKED
Meanwhile, GE has taken several steps to strengthen its capital and liquidity position. It raised $15 billion in cash, including the sale of $3 billion in preferred stock to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA). GE is also benefiting from some of the government's rescue programs.

"We believe the stock remains attractively valued," says David Bluestein, an analyst at investment firm UBS, who rates GE, a client, a buy. Earnings could rebound quickly and sharply once credit-market conditions stabilize and general economic conditions begin to improve, he adds. GE has one of the best infrastructure franchises worldwide, says Bluestein, with solid organic growth rates, exposure to favorable secular trends, and a large installed base of service businesses.

HEALTHY CASH FLOWS AHEAD
"GE's valuation is depressed mainly due to the financial crisis that has called into question the balance sheets of even the most creditworthy institutions," notes Richard Tortoriello, an analyst at Standard & Poor's, who rates the stock a hold, with a 12-month price target of 25 a share.

The diversified company remains a vast enterprise, with products and services ranging from aircraft engines, power generation, water processing, media and entertainment, and security technology. GE is a one-stop shop for playing the global economy. So if you believe a recovery is in the cards, it could be an inexpensive way to bet on a comeback.

Disclosure: The Div Guy owns shares of GE at the time of this post.

My Annualized Dividend Income decreased to $10,175 from $10,334 for the month of October. This means my dividend stocks will pay $10,175 in dividends over the next 12 months.

This is the first time my dividend income went down in a month. I had a dividend stock stop paying dividends which was iStar Financial (SFI) and I was cashed out of Wrigley because of the merger by Mars. I have sold my shares of SFI and will use the loss to offset the gains in Wrigley.

I am now below my updated 2008 Dividend Income Goal of $10,200 in yearly dividend income. I will make some additional purchases to our dividend stocks next month from the cash I received from Wrigley. My stock purchases will be smaller for the rest of the year and dividend income should not increase much.

Most of my stocks are held in my Zecco Trading account and the rest are DRIPs. The dividends from my stocks are reinvested but I am keeping track of the amount of income I could receive once I retire or choose to receive the dividends in cash.

As of the end of October our Net Worth decreased to $654,452 from $735,643 for the month which is a 11.04% decrease.

The breakout is as follows:
ASSETS
Retirement Accounts $278,096
Taxable Accounts $101,183
Cash $37,436
Home $205,000
Cars $14,500
Personal Property $3,000
Kids 529 Accounts $21,037

DEBT
Credit Card $5,800

Here is the summary for the month:

Our Net Worth decreased by over 11%, most of which is from the 14% drop in the stock market. This brings our net worth to values not seen since late 2005. I did make some additional purchases to our dividend stocks this month using some additional cash. I purchased mostly conservative stocks such as PG, PEP, UN and GE after the big drop during the month.

You can click on my Net Worth graph on the right to see the changes in each category from the previous month. I continued funding our Roth IRA's this month. I am keeping a high level of cash that I will use to fully fund our Roth IRAs for 2008 and 2009. I also have a savings account to fund the replacement of my wife's car in a couple of years. This is the first time in a while that I have a credit card debt but I will pay the card off in 12 months with no interest.

I will post my Dividend Income Update on Tuesday which will provide a little bright spot.