December Purchases

I apologize for not updating my blog during the month of December. I've been swamped at work with year-end activities and distracted with the holidays.

During the month of December I missed a number of opportunities to buy stocks I liked at attractive prices, such as Coke and BP. I expect there will be some corrections in 2014 that will present additional buying opportunities. I did add to some existing positions in the beaten-down real estate sector at decent prices, namely Realty Income, Healthcare Trust of America and ARCP. In addition, I initiated new position in Ventas (VTR) when it dipped into the 56's, and in Kinder Morgan (KMI) below $36, though I should have picked up KMI at lower prices. Ventas is a blue chip REIT in my book, and will benefit from favorable healthcare demographics. Kinder Morgan is riding the wave of the US energy renaissance on private lands and should provide slow but steady dividend increases for years to come. I missed KMIs lows when it came under attack by the hedge funds who were shorting the stock, but still picked up a starter position at a reasonable valuation.

I ended 2013 with $18,300 in annualized dividend income outside my IRAs and 401Ks compounded over many years of saving and investing. My goal for 2014 is to end the year with an annualized dividend income of at least $20K. This is my retirement annuity, since like most people in the private sector I will not have a corporate pension.

Life is good, and only getting better.