This is my August 2019 FFJ Portfolio update. The portfolio was created in January 2017 for the purpose of demonstrating how investing in high quality companies with competitive advantages and with a record of consistently increasing dividends can assist investors in reaching their long-term financial goals without the need to speculate or to chase dividend yield.

Subsequent to posting my August 17^th Chevron (CVX) article I received a phone call informing me that my 94 year old mother’s health had taken a setback. Fortunately my/my wife’s schedules are extremely flexible so taking 2 weeks off to travel out of town to visit my mother was not a challenge.

While I spent time with my mother in the hospital I had an opportunity to observe just how few elderly patients had any visitors. I spent roughly 6 – 7 hours/day at the hospital and noticed that some patients had absolutely no visitors (at least not while I was at the hospital). In instances where hospital patients did have visitors, the visits were typically for a very brief stint and were, for the most part, on the weekend.

Although I am now home because my father-in-law has come to stay with us for a week, I must return to see my mother in just over a week as I need to relocate her to a new long-term care residence; my plan is to spend at least another week with her.

The reason I mention all this is that many years ago I made a commitment to place myself in a financial position where I could buy back my time; trading time for money in perpetuity was not my idea of freedom.

Now that I have time and money I can try to repay my mother in a very small way for the sacrifices she made for me when I was much younger. Were I not in a position to take early retirement a little over 3 years ago and I were faced with my current predicament, I would have extreme challenges as I have no siblings to turn to for assistance.

Given the above, I have not posted any articles subsequent to my CVX article. In addition, my investment activity has been limited to the following:

3M Company (MMM) - Sold 222 shares @$163.47 on August 6th

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) - Sold 304 shares @ $147.3833 on August 6th

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) - Bought 400 shares @ $46.76 on August 15th

I purposely decided to sell these MMM and ITW shares to raise additional cash in anticipation of a broad market pullback.

Following the release of Q4 and FY2019 results and a ~8.6% pullback in CSCO’s share price I decided to acquire additional shares bringing the total number of CSCO shares held in the FFJ Portfolio to 1211.

In my August 17^th CVX article, for which I provided a link earlier, I indicated that I intended to acquire additional CVX shares. Due to the recent events described above, I did not acquire additional shares. I still intend to acquire additional CVX shares and the plan is to do so if CVX’s share price experiences a pullback in September.

FFJ Portfolio

Now that August has come to a close I provide this link to the current holdings within the FFJ Portfolio as well as the reports in which I detail the holdings for previous months.

Dividend Income

The monthly dividend income reports for all of 2018 and YTD2019 can be accessed here. August, November, February, and May are the months in which the holdings within FFJ Portfolio generate the lowest level of dividend income.

Looking at YTD dividend income it is likely I may not attain the dividend income targets I set at the beginning of the year.

Core Accounts - CDN $15,000 (~$14,000 in 2018) and USD $18,000 (~$17,000 in 2018)

Side Accounts - CDN $19,000 (~$7,400 in 2018) and USD $11,000 (~$3,400 in 2018)

When I set those targets I certainly did not anticipate the market conditions we have experienced in recent months. I have mentioned in previous articles that I am not prepared to make additional investments if I view shares to be richly valued. If I do not hit the dividend income targets I set for myself….so be it.

Final Thoughts

I continue to be cautiously optimistic that the valuation levels of high quality companies which appeal to me will become more reasonable (hopefully soon!). Until such time as this happens I will follow the wise words of Mohnish Pabrai, a highly successful Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.

‘You make money by waiting.’

That’s my roundup for August.

I wish you much success on your journey to financial freedom!

Note: Thanks for reading this article. Please send any feedback, corrections, or questions to [email protected].

Disclaimer: I have no knowledge of your individual circumstances and am not providing individualized advice or recommendations. I encourage you not to make any investment decision without conducting your own research and due diligence. You should also consult your financial advisor about your specific situation.

I wrote this article myself and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it and have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Members of the FFJ community can access reports I generate on high quality companies which add long-term shareholder value. In an effort to help you determine whether my offering is of any value to you I am pleased to offer 30 days' free access to all sections of my site. No commitments. No obligations. That's 30 days from the time you register at absolutely no cost to you!