My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--15 August 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies.

Time to settle down with a nice well-brewed drink (tea, coffee, beer...whatever your fancy) and maybe a biscuit, cake or two and catch up with what has been published during the week related to financial independence, early retirement, frugality and personal finance more generally (with a little of other bits and pieces thrown in).

As usual, last week's post attracted a lot of interest from you all. Hopefully there is plenty in here to catch your interest again.

As always, this is going to include your favourite articles "On Here" (that is on The Dividend Drive) and my favourite articles "Over There" (that is, on other personal finance sites I read).

And "Over To You"? Well that is an invite for you to highlight any articles you came across that you found interesting and not included in the list below.

Anyway, here goes my list for 15 August. Enjoy!

PS: If you want to look at the archive of previous weekly round-up articles then head over to my Every(ish) Posts page. Here you will find all the articles (except portfolio purchase-related ones) published on the Dividend Drive as well as every weekly round-up to date. Take a look.

"On Here"

NOTE: The "On Here" list is purely quantitative. It is the posts with the most unique reads that week (not including other weekly round-up lists). Here's a little legend for you to explain the symbols: ★ = newly published; ▲ = moved-up list since last week; ▼ = moved down list since last week; ▬ = same place as last week.


As usual the new post this week tops the list. This time it was my review of July's goals progress as well as a snapshot of my portfolio and a full breakdown of my income for the month. Overall, it was a pretty good one.

A major jumper this week was my article on shifting my portfolio into retirement gear. I am not sure why that saw such a dramatic spike this week. Does anyone know why?

Elsewhere, my articles on Neil Woodford's monthly moves in his income fund continues to be popular. I am in the process of preparing July's one at the moment. That should be here next week.

Anyway, without any further ado, here is my breakdown for the week beginning 8 August 2015:

1. ★ July 2015: Dividend Income, Trading Activity and Portfolio Snapshot
2. ▬ BUY: Legal & General (LGEN)--Topping up on Top Dividend Growth Insurer?
3. ▲ A Minor Miner Addition: South32 Joins My Portfolio After BHP Billiton Demerger
4. ▼ A Bid for GlaxoSmithKline? Running the Numbers on the Buy-out Speculation
5. ▲ The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in June 2015
6. ▲ 5 Cheap US Stock Brokers who accept UK-resident Account Holders
7. ▲ Shifting My Portfolio into "Retirement Gear": Primitive Proposed Plan and Timescales
8. ▲ BUY: Legal & General--Growth and Income Going for a Song?
9. A bunch of articles joint here:
• ▲ BUY: Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR)--Preparing to Power Future Earnings?
• ▲ The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in May 2015
• ▲ "Work Freedom Day"--A New Way to Chase Your Financial Independence "Crossover Point"?
10. ▼ Taxing Times: Dividend Tax Changes in the UK Government's June 2015 Budget

"Over There"

NOTE: The "Over There" is nothing like the "On Here" list. It is qualitative through and through and is simply chosen by me from what I read (and mostly commented on) during the week. It is not really a ranking but a motley bag of (excellent) items.

So what about articles published elsewhere? Here is a little list of what caught my eye.

FIRE (Financial Independence/Retiring Early) Planning and Strategy

• Selling Capital Units to Provide 'Income' (DIY Investor (UK))--John explains how he plans to handle selling down assets in order to provide income under his new funds-focused strategy. If you have any thoughts on how else he could do it, pass it on!
• How well do you know your investment strategy? (Dividend Growth Investor)--A great post on why dividend investing is a great strategy and some of the things to look out for. Definitely read this. Plenty of interest in there.
• Long-Term Study: Relative Historical Yield & High Quality Businesses (Sure Dividend)--Fascinating study here. When is the best time to buy a dividend-paying company? Very interesting (hint, use historic yield).
• What I learned about financial advice and pension freedoms (Simple Living in Suffolk)--An interesting and thorough tale on Ermine's experience of using an Independent Financial Adviser and the UK pension environment--and strategy--more widely. Very interesting.

FIRE (Financial Independence/Retiring Early) Progress

• May, June & July Dividend Update (Financial Independence UK)--FIUK catches up with a backlog of updates. Pretty solid set of income reports though Tesco's travails has hit income pretty hard.
• Dividend Income Update – July 2015 (Dividend Mantra)--Jason is 53% towards his income goal for the year. Good progress so far!
• Dividend Income - July 2015 (Dividend Hawk)--A nice update on the dividend front for DH. It has been helped--like for many other people--by a hefty Kraft Heinz deal special dividend.
• 1st Annual Accounts (Early Retirement Guy)--A thorough update on the progress over the last year. Very impressive, 
• Income/Expenses For July 2015 (Dividend Mantra)--Jason had an excellent month. High income and a high savings rate. Great to see!
• July Month Review – A Great Month (Pollies Dividend)--An excellent year-on-year growth for PD here. Also, a couple of new purchases.

General Investing

• Stock Watch List (Financial Independence UK)--FIUK provides a list of 5 high yielders and 2 high growers to consider.
• Snowflakes from Simply Wall St (Quietly Saving)--Weenie gives us a little review of the new stock analysis site Simply Wall St. Seems interesting and--despite my first assumptions--does include non-US companies.
• Should companies pay dividends? (Dividend growth Investor)--An interesting article on the value of dividends paid by companies and a short refutation of the "Buffett argument" against it.  

Specific Investing Analysis/Purchases

• July Stock purchase [Walmart] (Dividend Life)--DL adds a new position in the consumer discretionary sector as well as discussing some other "near buys". Interesting selection.
• Cummins: Own The Diesel Engine Leader for Cheap (Sure Dividend)--Ben provides a thorough analysis of the diesel engine maker. It certainly looks an attractive company.
• Cycles (Portfolio Buy) [British Smaller Companies VCT] (DIY Income Investor)--A smaller company Venture Capital Trust joins the DIY portfolio. It is not something I have considered before. But worth a read.
• Recent Buy [United Technologies Corp] (Dividend Mantra)--Jason picks up some shares in the industrial conglomerate with a 22 year dividend growth record after their sale of Sikorsky helicopters.
• Apple & Disney: Similar past, Similar Issues, Similar Future (Dividend Guy)--Great post on why the recent travails of Disney and Apple are nothing to worry about for the long-term investor. What is more, some comments on investor mentality towards tech stocks. Well worth a read.
• Recent SIPP Purchase [Royal Dutch Shell] (Financial Independence UK)--FIUK has topped up on the high-yielding oil supermajor, RDSB. I am not surprised at all either. 

Budgeting and Frugality

• Budget 3.5 – my revised 2015 budget (Dividend Life)--DL provides a very thorough updated budget. Fascinating to see how, DL maintains his expenses within reasonable limits.
• Efficient Student Loan Repayment (Frugal Cottage)--Guest post here most relevant for those US-citizens with a student loan outstanding. Although, here in the UK I have previously explained why I do not repay my student loan early.
• Good Money Habits as an Evolutionary Advantage (No More Waffles)--Great post on habits. We all have them: some good, some bad. All worth thinking about and this is well worth a read.
• Locoblade’s Excel Mortgage Spreadsheet (LocoBlade)--By far the best mortgage calculator spreadsheet I have encountered. Can handle offset mortgages, erratic overpayment values, and compares with savings accounts to see which is better. Truly excellent. I can't fault it.
• My new favourite shop (top car boot sale tips for buyers) (The FireStarter)--A little on the much-maligned car boot sale and a couple of nice tips on how to make the most of it. 
• Boost Your Income with Cashback Sites (Frugal Cottage)--I have used Quidco for some time with great success. FC explains her experience with TopCashback which seem equally positive.

Misc

• The Ermine has been stitched up by Hargreaves Lansdown (Simple Living in Suffolk)--Ermine is trying to move some cash around into a SIPP but HL requires an IFA to sign it off. 
• Look Out York, Here We Come! (Financially Free by Forty)--Huw is getting excited by the York "frugal fun" weekend and rightly so. If you're nearby (or not nearby) and interested in attending, do so!

"Over to You"

Anyway, that is it for this week. And here, as promised an age ago (or rather a few lines above), the "Over to You" bit.

What did you read this week that you found really interesting related to investing, personal finance or financial independence?

Make a comment below and include a link. Then we can all take a look!

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Creative Commons image reproduced from Flickr user Ruz