Benjamin Franklin: America’s First Early Retiree

BenjaminFranklin When people think of early retirement I think there are many misconceptions. The first being that when you are retired you are not allowed to do anything productive and the second is that the concept of early retirement is a new concept. In attempt to debunk both of these myths I would like to put forth the case of one of the United States of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

While it is true that Benjamin Franklin was born to the world of milk and honey, it didn’t help him as much as you think it would. The street he was born on was called Milk Street and his parents were candle makers. So, basically the Franklins were never much for money. That isn’t to say the Franklins were poor, but they were very solidly middle class.

The way to a job back then was an apprenticeship and so at age 12 he took an apprenticeship with his older brother as a typesetter for the The New-England Courant. He was a good apprentice typesetter but what Benjamin Franklin really wanted to be was a writer. Unfortunately his brother James wasn’t having it so Benjamin Franklin started writing a new article for the paper under the name of Mrs. Silence Dogood. The Dogood letters were an instant hit and everyone started to wonder who this wonderful middle-aged widow was and how was she so up to date on the going on of Boston, Massachusetts, but yet no one had ever seen Mrs. Silence Dogood at any local parties. It took awhile but eventually James found out that Benjamin had him fooled. Despite the popularity of the letters James was enfuriated with Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Franklin was forced to flee to Philadelphia, Pennslyvania.

In Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin was bound and determined to make his own way. After a few setbacks with the governor sending him to England he eventually started his own paper called the Pennsylvania Gazette. Business was good and business grew. He eventually started papers in all of the colonies and soon over 80% of all communications was handled by Ben Franklin, and people thought William Randolph Hearst was a media mogul! By 1748 there was enough revenue coming in that Benjamin Franklin at the age of 42 could retire.

So did Dr. Franklin take his bifocals and just pass the time in a rocking chair? No of course not! Free from the constraints of a daily job Dr. Franklin progressed in many areas. He was the leader of the local Masons, an emissary, a volunteer fire marshal, a scientist, oh and there was that whole creating a new country called the United States of America. Benjamin Franklin is the only person to have signed the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787). Doing all this took time, time that if he was weighed down by a job I doubt he would have been able to do.

A penny saved is a penny earned – Dr. Benjamin Franklin

What do we learn from Benjamin Franklin? He worked hard and he knew that the number one key to building wealth was saving. Benjamin Franklin did many things but he always kept an eye on his saving. He often said that he wasn’t afraid of being poor but said that being ashamed of being poor was a shame. He constantly learned and as he did bought his freedom and eventually some for every one who is now US citizen. It was no wonder he also invented paper money and the most popular US bill bears his image.

September 2015 Dividends

I just happen to be on vacation right now on my way to Mexico so I have to admit that I am not very motivated to write about my investments, but I will say this, even though I am on vacation my money never rests. The nice thing about being on the other side of the interest game is my money is always out there 24/7 looking for ways to increase itself. Dollar by dollar, cent by cent, it is slowly increasing.

457K Account: $138.56
Robinhood Account: $12.80
(Aqua America Inc.) – $.36
WFC (Wells Fargo & Co.) – $.75
DF (Dean Foods Co.) – $.84
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $1.2
HSY – (Hershey Co.) – $.58
O (Realty Income Corp) – $2.28
DNY – (Denbury Resources Inc.) – $1.19
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $5.60

Sharebuilder Account: $31.58
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $7.76
FTR (Frontier Communications Corp.) – $5.16
FUN (Cedar Fair LP) – $7.70
O (Realty Income Corp) – $1.35
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $6.12
WM (Waste Management) – $1.17
UL (Unilever PLC) – $2.32

Total From All Sources: $182.94

August 2015 Dividends

457K Account: $0
Robinhood Account: $33.15
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $1.2
YUM (YUM Brands Inc.) – $1.64
O (Realty Income Corp) – $2.28
ENZN (ENZON Pharmaceuticals Inc.) – $16
ARTNA (Artesian Resources Corp) – $.22
HCP (HCP Inc.) – $1.13
PER (Sandridge Permian Trust) – $5.08
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $5.60

Sharebuilder Account: $37.01
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $5.35
CNSL (Consolidated Cable Inc.) – $12.17
HAS (Hasbro Inc.) – $3.24
KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc.) – $1.49
NMM (Navios Maritime Partners ) – $7.37
O (Realty Income Corp) – $1.35
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $6.03
Account Interest – $.01

Total From All Sources: $70.16

June Buy/Sell Orders:
Added ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP)
Added DIS (Disney Inc.)
Added KO (Coca Cola Company)
Added DNR (Denbury Resources Inc.)
Added HSY (Hershey Corp.)
Added ORC (Orchid Island Capital Inc.)
Added DF (Dean Foods Company)

That’s right, I am buying hand over fist! Lower prices, bring it on! Didn’t the flash crash hurt you? Yeah, a little, but interestingly it only hurt my 457K account, the one that is supposedly “professionally managed”. The Sharebuilder and Robinhood accounts, the ones that I manage, those actually earned money. Unfortunately the majority of the money I have is in the 457K account so it did hurt my net worth a little bit. Not a big deal though. I consider myself in accumulation mode so when I see those big dips I am buying. No selling right now.

Well, besides the crazy market volatility did you see my dividend returns?! $70.16 is definitely a record for my taxable accounts. I am pushing ever closer to that first $100 per month landmark. I don’t think it will be this year, but it is close.

July 2015 Dividends

Dividend wise July continued to be a good month as my monthly dividends (as seen in my taxable accounts) increased. Value wise it wasn’t so great a month. I have a good section of my stock in the energy field and with crude oil prices tanking I am seeing that sector of my portfolio taking a hit. I am trying to average down on my energy stocks. I just don’t see how crude oil in the 40s is sustainable. Plus, oil stocks have great dividend percentages, so if I can hold on and the price does go up it will make for a good profit.

457K Account: $0
Robinhood Account: $15.81
KO (Coca Cola) – $.33
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $1.2
LOAN (Manhattan Bridge Capital INC) – $2.16
O (Realty Income Corp) – $2.28
WMC (Western Asset Mortgage Capital) – $4.48
CIM (Chimera Investment Corp) – $1.44
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $3.92

Sharebuilder Account: $29.64
SNV (Synovus Financial Corp) – $.60
WIN (Windstream Holdings INC) – $1.39
FPI (Farmland Partners INC) – $5.50
O (Realty Income Corp) – $1.34
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $5.25
CSAL (Communications Sales & Leases INC) – $1.31
SPLS (Staples INC) – $1.60
CMCSA (Comcast Corp) – $.50
GE (General Electric CO) – $1.65
DIS (The Walt Disney CO) – $.66
CIM (Chimera Investment Corp) – $7.20
ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC) – $5.93
Account Interest – $.01

Total From All Sources: $45.45

June Buy/Sell Orders:
Added ENZN (Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc.)
Added (Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc.)
Added (Orchid Island Capital Inc.)
Added (Wells Fargo & CO)
Added KO (Coca Cola Company)
Added DNR (Denbury Resources INC)
Added HSY (Hershey Company)
Added ORC (Orchid Island Capital INC)
Added HAS (Hasbro INC)
Sold NVDA (NVIDIA Corp)

My big sell for the month was NVIDIA. It has gone up a bit, but my average was 23 PPS and I just didn’t see it happening any time soon so I sold. Good news in the technology sector AMD is on a tear thanks to the sell off rumors and very high short averages (that are not sustainable).

June 2015 Dividends

June was a good month. Most of the dividends received for June were in my 457K account. Only thing about that account is it is all mutual funds and I don’t have much say so in what gets sold or bought. My taxable accounts were kind of low dividend wise but it is still good money no matter how you look at it.

457K Account: $123.91
Robinhood Account: $8.47
AGNC (American Capital Reality Corp.) – $1.20
DNR (Denbury Resources Inc.) – $0.31
NVDA (NVIDIA Corp) – $0.20
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 2.27
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.78
WFC (Wells Fargo) – $0.38
WTR (Aqua America Inc.) – $0.33

Sharebuilder Account: $26.59
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $5.17
FTR (Frontier Communications Inc.) – $2.49
FUN (Cedar Park LP) – $7.60
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.95
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $6.98
UL (Unilever PLC) – $2.23
WM (Waste Management Inc.) – $1.16
Account Interest – $.01

Total From All Sources: $158.97

According to the BYU-Kennedy Center this is exactly how much the average Crimean pensioner gets per month. I don’t know much about the country of Crimea other than it is now owned by Russia, but it is nice to know I could at least afford a life somewhere. Then again all money transfers into Crimea are currently halted so who knows if I would be able to get my money if I moved there!

June Buy/Sell Orders:
Added HAS (Hasbro Inc.)
Added FTR (Frontier Communications Inc.)
Added YUM (YUM Brands Inc.)
Added DNR (Denbury Resources Inc.)
Added ENZN (Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc.)

Overall the energy sector is kind of low due to all the excess oil currently in the market, but I think that is going to get bought up and while it has been easy for the Arabian coast to turn up the production numbers on oil, they can only refine so much at a time. Enzon just declared a special dividend of $.50 a share which is great because my average is now down to $1.24 per share. I added to Frontier Communications because I think with the new acquisitions announced we will see news of new customers in future press releases, at least that is what I am hoping.

We Need A Jubilee Year

Just did some interesting research and found out the world collectively owes about 108 trillion (US) dollars. That translates to about 10,700 dollars of debt for every man, woman, and child on the planet. 

Of course debt is really owed by country and if you go that way the United States has the highest national debt at 18 trillion. That means every citizen of the United States owes about 58,000 dollars. Could be worse Luxembourg only owes 4 trillion dollars but their population is so low they owe about 3.5 million each (not buying bonds in that country any time soon). 

Want to get away from all this debt? There is one independent country in the world that has no debt, Zimbabwe. Then again they just recently went bankrupt and have no national currency.

Which brings me to the title of my post. There is an old tradition called a Jubilee Year. Basically every 49 years everything gets wiped out to zero. The ancient pre-Columbian civilization kind of had this same tradition as their calendar was based on a 52 year cycle. We need a do over. 

Try as much as you can (Norway is leading a valient effort eliminating 46% of their debt in just 10 years), no country has done it since the beginning of World War I. That was 101 years ago, that is almost two cycles on Mayan calendar! 

It is time we let bygones be bygones. It’s going to be tough. No one is going to give you a 30 year mortgage when the world is on year 41 of a Jubilee Calendar. Then again the current path we are on is not good. People eventually are not going to have money and when that happens they revolt. Revolts lead to wars, which lead to death and destruction. That just leads us to more poverty.

I choose Jubilee Year. We know the end game is coming. Why don’t we mitigate the inevitable, write down some losses peacefully, and end out with a clean slate? It will not be easy, but anything is better than war.

May 2015 Dividends

In May of 2014 I got my first dividend payments in my taxable accounts. It was $7.75 and it all came from one stock, CNSL (Consolidated Communications). I really haven’t done much with that stock and now I am making $11.95 every quarter with just that one stock. Fast forward to May of 2015 where I received a total of $52.85 from 13 dividend stocks that pay out in May. My current projections have me at $44 a month, apparently I need to adjust my predictions. I will save you the math and tell you that represents a 581.94% increase in just one year!! That is crazy!

There is a saying in the stock market that “the best time to invest in the market was ten years ago.” This may be true. Lots of people are predicting a end to our current bull market and they are right, good times can’t last forever. The thing is there is also another saying that says “the second best time to invest in the market is today.” That is what I am going for, stocks will go up and down, but time in the market is going to conquer that. The best I can hope for is that I am constantly looking after my average.

This is where I got dividends in May:

457K Account: $0

Robinhood Account: $15.34
YUM (YUM Brands Inc.) – .82
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $1.32
ARTNA (Artesian Resources Inc.) – $.22
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 1.52
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.78
PER (Sandridge Permian) – $7.68

Sharebuilder Account: $37.51
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $8.51
CNSL (Consolidated Communications) – $11.95
HAS (Hasbro Inc.) – $1.39
KMI (Kinder Morgan Inc.) – $1.44
NMM (Navios Maritime Partners) – $7.08
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.95
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $6.18
Account Interest – $.01

Total From All Sources: $52.85

April 2015 Dividends

The dividends keep growing in the taxable accounts…

This is where I got dividends in April:

457K Account: $0

Robinhood Account: $10.89
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $1.32
KO (Coca Cola Company) – $.33
LOAN (Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc) – $1.44
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.95
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $2.16
WMC (Western Asset Mortgage Capital) – $4.69

Sharebuilder Account: $32.64
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $5.03
CIM (Chimera Investment Corp) – $7.20
FPI (Farmland Partners Inc) – $4.96
FTR (Frontier Communications Corp) – $2.45
GE (General Electric) – $1.64
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.95
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.61
SNV (Synovus Financial Corp.) – $.60
SPLS (Staples) – $1.59
WIN (Windstream) – $3.60, $.98 (Special dividend due to spinoff)
Account Interest – $.03

My big trade last month was selling CAMP (CalAmp) at $21.50. I made a good bit of money from my buying in the $18’s.

A lot of companies had reverse splits and I went through my first spinoff with WIN (Windstream). I now have shares of WIN and CSAL (Communications Sales and Leasing Inc). I am not sure what to make of CSAL. So far it doesn’t look to be doing well, it has gone down a lot since the spinoff. I don’t really have a reason to sell it, so for now I will keep it until I can better evaluate it’s worth.

Not as much as last month but $43.53 is pretty darn good for just a few clicks and a bit of research.

Full disclosure – Long in all the above mentioned stocks.

March 2015 Dividends

March is a good month because I get dividends in all of my accounts. I have a 457 account that is comprised of just mutual funds so I am just listing it by itself, then I have two taxable accounts that I actively manage. In the Robinhood account I take the dividends and reinvest them myself. In the Sharebuilder account I have all dividends automatically reinvested via the DRIP method.

This is where I got dividends in March:
457K Account: 96.84
Robinhood Account: $4.96
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $0.88
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.57
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.51
Sharebuilder Account: $18.41
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.56
FTR (Frontier Communications Corp) – $2.45
FUN (Cedar Fair LP) – $7.50
WM (Waste MGMT Inc) – $1.16
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $1.44
UL (Unilever PLC) – $2.30

As far as dividend paying stocks go I added several more dividend paying stocks. In the Sharebuilder account I added ARP (Atlas Resources), CIM (Chimera), O (Realty Income Corp), and WM (Waste MGMT). In the Robinhood account I added AGNC (American Capital Agency), WMC (Western Asset Mortgage), ARTNA (Artesian Water), KO (Coca Cola), ORC (Orchid Capital), DNR (Denbury Resources), NVDA (NVIDIA), O (Realty Income Corp), and WFC (Wells Fargo).

I didn’t sell any dividend stocks this month, but I have been flipping CERE and PLUG a bit (two bio energy stocks).

In total $120.21 is not too bad for little to nothing of work.

Full disclosure – Long in all the above mentioned stocks.

February 2015 Dividends

I am still kind of new on the dividend investment thing so I am sure many people reading this post are going to laugh, but you gotta start somewhere right?!

Starting with the new year I started tracking my dividends in my taxable accounts. I get dividends in my non-taxable accounts, but they mostly comprised of mutual funds that track indexes so it doesn’t translate well when I talk about dividends in those accounts.

In January I earned $18.87 in dividends. In February I got $20.57. Not much, but it’s money I didn’t have to work to get at all. Plus a 9% one month increase is a heck of a lot better than I got in my savings account. Unlike trading which isn’t much work either, but you do have to monitor the trade. With dividends it just shows up in your account.

This is where I got dividends in February:
ARP (Atlas Resource Partners LP) – $2.56
AGNC (American Capital Agency Corp) – $0.88
CNSL (Consolidated Communications) – $11.75
HAS (Hasbro Inc) – $1.29
O (Realty Income Corp) – $ 0.57
ORC (Orchid Capital Inc) – $3.51
Interest – .01 (not really dividend, but it is part of my taxable accounts)

I added PER (Sand Ridge Permian Trust), WMC (Western Asset Mortgage Capitol Corp), and YUM (Yum Brands) which will also payout in February, so I should see a bigger payout next quarter in May. As far as the year goes I am up to $39.44. Considering I earned $39.85 in all of 2014 I think I can say I am going to do better than last year.

I am still trying to grow my dividends funds so they can be another part of my financial strategy. As such all the money I earn in dividends will be re-invested into new stocks. The idea being that it will compound along with my other stocks for higher returns.

Full disclosure – Long in all the above mentioned stocks.