My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--8 August 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies. This time, I have given it a bit of a facelift after suggestions from readers (thanks!).

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 8 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 fresh top-up of my holding in the FTSE 100 insurance giant, Legal & General. I picked these new shares up just before they announced another set of excellent results (and a hefty dividend hike).

My posts on the tax changes here in the UK and their effect on dividend income and on South32 joining my portfolio in May have both jumped up the Top 10 a little.

The interest in the tax changes is, of course, understandable. The South32 articles reinvigorated popularity I suspect--as I suggested last week--is because their first results (and hopefully dividend declaration) is due in August I believe and so people are researching the "lay of the land" with regards to this. I may update the predictions on them at some point, as clearly people find it interesting.

Other than that, my previous Legal & General purchase post has jumped up a few spaces presumably as a result of my recent purchase.

Anyway, without any further ado, here is my breakdown for the week beginning 1 August 2015:

1. ★ BUY: Legal & General (LGEN)--Topping up on Top Dividend Growth Insurer?
2. ▬ A Bid for GlaxoSmithKline? Running the Numbers on the Buy-out Speculation
3. ▲ Taxing Times: Dividend Tax Changes in the UK Government's June 2015 Budget
4. ▲ A Minor Miner Addition: South32 Joins My Portfolio After BHP Billiton Demerger
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. ▼ June 2015 Goals Progress Report: First Half
8. ▲ BUY: Legal & General--Growth and Income Going for a Song?
9. A joint ninth place this week:
• ▬ The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in May 2015
• ▼ BUY: Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR)--Preparing to Power Future Earnings?
10. And tenth is tied as well:
• ▬ BUY: Royal Dutch Shell "B" (RDSB)--Betting BiG on the BG Bid?
• ▼ "Work Freedom Day"--A New Way to Chase Your Financial Independence "Crossover Point"?

"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

• My FIRE Number (Retirement Investing Today)--RIT provides a fuller breakdown of the FIRE number required. Fascinating discussion and well worth reading.
• There Is No Failure (The Escape Artist)--Great post by TEA here. If you are pursuing FI you literally cannot lose out whether you get to FI or not. Quite a realisation!
• The Top Ten Downsides of Financial Independence & Early Retirement (Early Retirement Guy)--A slightly tongue-in-cheek guest post about some of the dangers of FI. Well worth a read!
• The Lending Works Experiment (Retirement Investing Today)--RIT begins an experiment in the peer-to-peer lending platform, Lending Works. Read the first impressions!

FIRE (Financial Independence/Retiring Early) Progress

• July 2015 Update (Keeper of the Cauldron)--Cerridwen provides us with a short update on the comings and goings. A little limbo, maybe, but still some nice points highlighted!
• July Savings, plus other stuff (Quietly Saving)--Weenie continues to make solid progress. I love "other stuff" posts from people. Usually includes some gems to catch your interest. 
• P2P Accounts (Update) - July 2015 (A Frugal Family's Journey)--I am a bit of a fan of P2P investments (though I have not written on this yet). Here is a thorough update on a pretty extensive P2P portfolio with some interesting insights on strategy.
• July 2015 Income/Expenses (Early Retirement Guy)--Another great update from Guy. Superb expenses reduction this month. This will be felt in the future!
• Lanny’s July Dividend Income (Dividend Diplomats)--Another very strong dividend month for Lanny helped along generously by the Kraft special dividend.
• My investment returns in July ’15 (Fire v London)--July's market bounce-back has a nice effect on FvL's portfolio. 
• Collectives Income Portfolio Review (DIY Investor (UK))--DIY provides us with an update on the IT front. Good progress so far. Dividend income 11% up so far this year compared to last.
• Portfolio Update: July 2015 (My Dividend Growth)--Ryan makes excellent progress again in July. Though--like many of you out there, no doubt--the energy sectors "troubles" has hit his portfolio somewhat.
• Dividend Income Update – July 2015 (DivHut)--Another solid month from Keith. Already $1,800+ in dividend income just 7 months into the year!
• 2015 Goals: July Update (Finance Zombie)--Mr Z is on track to increase his net worth by over 50% by the end of the year. Not bad at all! Also, the 60% savings rate is very close indeed!

General Investing

• Early Retirement Guys Forum (Early Retirement Guy et al)--This is a forum for anyone interested in personal finance out there. Take a look, register and contribute if you're interested!
• Insurance: a sector that could profit from rising interest rates (Barclays Wealth)--A nice article from late last year on why the life insurance companies look well-placed to benefit from rising interest rates.
• UK Dividend Champions August 2015 Update (Dividend Life)--DL has updated his invaluable list of UK dividend aristocrats and possible future ones. Wonderful as usual!
• Introducing A New Visual Way To Invest (DivHut)--Keith does a quick review of a new way to find investments of interest, Simply Wall St. Well worth a look. It is currently in--free--Beta mode. 
• The Past 5 Years is Blinding Dividend Growth Investors (Dividend Guy)--Thought-provoking post. Are we being led astray a little by the figures "under the fold" of our reports and analysis? 

Specific Investing Analysis/Purchases

• My Stock Watch List for August 2015 (Dividend Mantra)--Jason provides a little list of some attractive companies to watch for the month ahead. Some nice ones on there. Take a look.
• Legal & General - Interim Results (DIY Investor (UK))--A quick review of FTSE 100 insurer Legal & General with a little more detail on the specifics that came out of this week's results. 
• Undervalued Baxalta Shares Target of Acquisition by Shire Plc (Sure Dividend)--Ben takes a look at Baxalta in light of the Shire bid. Still undervalued in his eyes!
• What should I do with Baxter and Baxalta after the split? (Dividend Growth Investor)--DGI has sold out of a large proportion of Baxter and Baxalta after their dividend policies have been declared. If you're a shareholder, take a read.
• Recent Buy [Caterpillar] (Dividend Mantra)--Jason has averaged down on Caterpillar already. A great opportunity.
• Johnson & Johnson: 53 Years of Low Risk Dividend Growth (Sure Dividend)--Why should you hold Johnson & Johnson? Ben explains. I am sure there are many who agree with him (including myself!).
• Selling RSA Insurance Group: How to escape a value trap by waiting for an acquisition bid (UK Value Investor)--John takes the opportunity of the Zurich bid to get out of RSA at a pretty good price. Also, some nice musings on how to avoid a bad investment like that in the first place. Well worth reading.
• Aflac Is Undervalued & Has a 7% Shareholder Yield (Sure Dividend)--Ben turns his analytic eye towards the very shareholder friendly insurer Aflac. Looks an excellent investment indeed!
• UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Dividend Stock Analysis (Dividend Growth Investor)--This health insurance company has both a rapidly growing and very well covered dividend. DGI gives us some other reasons why it is such an attractive investment.

Budgeting and Frugality

• Savings Rate for July 2015 (No More Waffles)--Another very high savings rate from NMW. Just a little short of the 70% target still!
• How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half (There's Value)--M takes a look at a way to really slice your shopping bill down to size. Worth a look. Maybe worth a try yourself!
• Mini blood bath – july expenses report (FireStarter)--Me and TFS shared the same fate in July. A hefty set of expenses offset somewhat by a slightly boosted income. Still ouch though...

Misc

• Kindle Income - July 2015 (Financially Free by Forty)--Huw's ebook (and physical book) publishing empire is growing pretty rapidly. Very impressive progress. Well worth a read.
• The Grass is Always Greener (No More Waffles)--NMW discusses savings rate envy and how pointless it is for anyone. Interesting post.

"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