May

May begins with a BLAST. AT&T (T) starts off the month on a high note with a dividend of $2.28. It may not beat the record for highest dividend anymore but it's definitely up there with the top dogs. In contrast to the good news, bad news seems to be around the corner what with inflation concerns rising unceasingly. Mid month and inflation news continue to deter market upside. The Colonial Pipeline hack that happened throught mid week of May could have impacted the stock market a bit but I wouldn't say by a huge margin. Tech stocks went through a bit of a sell off but honestly, I don't really get why. Tech stocks are likely to be the definitive driver that moves humanity forward in the coming decades. Sometimes I feel like all this bearish news is so short term that I don't see why people really get bothered by them and start panic selling. I suppose those that day trade would have a different mindset. Still, I don't plan on selling my tech holdings at all. Honestly, I'm still eyeing HP Inc (HPQ). Since December, I've been dying to add it into my holdings but my pies over on M1 Finance are a bit of a mess and there seems to be no way of readjusting your pies without losing its data. Stocks I definitely want to add are: HP Inc (HPQ), Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB), and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC).

So it's May 21st and the end of a loooong week just ended. Crypto market took a MASSIVE dive. Hopefully this doesn't mark the end of the bull run as it was expected to end somewhere in between August and September. AT&T (T) was in the news this week and not for good reasons. They let go of WarnerMedia to be less of a heavy indebted company and lowered its dividend by HALF. That's a big blow to my income. What started out as a good month with this company turned out to be a bad sour ending to the month. I only have 2 telecom holdings in my portfolio, 3 if you count Broadcom Inc (AVGO). Having said that, I think I will hold onto AT&T (T). At the end of the day, they're still a company that has paid out their dividends for 23 years with a dividend payout ratio of 65.57% according to SeekingAlpha. The payout ratio only stands to be lowered due to the 50% cut in their dividend payout making its payout ratio much safer.

As the end of the month approaches, I am happy to introduce HP Inc (HPQ), General Mills Inc (GIS), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB), as well as Consolidated Edison, Inc (ED) into the portfolio! One tech, two consumer staples, and one utility. On the 24th, I made a big buy on Disney (DIS) but until further notice, DIS is going to be put on the back burner for a while. It's not providing any income whatsoever which goes against the whole purpose of investing in dividends to retire on passive income. I'm not selling it fully at all but it's low enough on my portfolio that I won't make another buy as big as the 24th. Truthfully I was a bit surprised by how good of a buy General Mills Inc (GIS) and Consolidated Edison, Inc (ED) looked. Very high cash flow, good PE ratio, dividend as well as past dividend payout ratio don't seem too extreme but well controlled, business growth is up even after the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and 10+ years of dividend payouts. I mean what's not to like? Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) needs no introduction. I mean that thing could probably survive any kind of market crash and would still be okay when the dust settles. Now HP Inc (HPQ), like I've stated a few times in the past, has been one that I've been setting my eyes on for quite a while. It, as a company, has great cash flow, great gross profit and net income, a very well balanced dividend payout ratio (past included), a very low P/E ratio (directly below 10), and has been growing its dividend for 10 years consecutively. I just couldn't seem to figure out any reason as to not add it in my portfolio. Looking forward to next month where I will be buying some shares of these four great dividend paying stocks!