Loyal3 proceeds towards Car Loan

Hi Y'all,

Its been awhile since I posted and although I do have a few posts in draft, its been awhile!!

I have been working hard, running hard and spending quality time with the family. My soon to turn 2 year old son demands both, time and energy.

Its taken me time to analyze and process the closing down operations of Loyal3. 

I used to move money to Loyal3 every week and from Aug 2015 - April 2017, was able to save a considerable amount every paycheck. I could buy stocks for free. I will miss, Loyal3!!

Summary: (8/25/2015 --> 4/19/2017)

• Total deposits to Loyal3 = $14,000
• Total dividends earned = $319.89
• Final withdrawal from Loyal3 = $15,497.65
• On closure, I stand to lose yearly dividends = $355.73 

Portfolio (prior closure)

• 1.0711 shares of GOOGL 
• 1.0581 shares of Amazon (AMZN)
• 1.1472 shares of BRK.B
• 27.8412 shares of Coca Cola (KO)
• 5.0912 shares of Facebook (FB)
• 5.9709 shares of Intel Inc (INTC)
• 2.4881 shares of Hasbro Inc (HAS)
• 15.5117 shares of Macy Inc (M)
• 8.1666 shares of McDonald's Corp (MCD)
• 28.7124 shares of Microsoft (MSFT)
• 21.9707 shares of Nike (NKE)
• 14.6220 shares of Pepsi (PEP)
• 18.2285 shares of Starbucks Inc (SBUX)
• 18.9164 shares of Target (TGT)
• 28.0733 shares of UniLever (UL)
• 16.6199 shares of Wal-Mart (WMT)

I decided to sell all stock ($15, 497.65) and use the proceeds to pay off my Car loan of $11,682.99

I purchased a 2015 Acura MDX in the Fall of 2014 and took on a 4 year car loan with monthly payments of $691.67. My loan would be completed by October 2018. I was desperate to pay off the car and improve my cash flow and hence used a big chunk of closure money towards paying off the loan.

So, I am sad that Loyal3 is history cause this enabled me to save regularly and buy stocks for free. I am happy, was able to pay off the car loan thereby improving my cash flow.

This has also reduced my 12 month dividends by $355.73

We have been looking at buying a house and my current rent spend (approx. $1200) and the money that does not go towards a car payment ($691) can maybe go towards a mortgage payment. We will see how that works out!!

Until next time..

Portfolio Updates - First time 401K

Hi Folks!

I've updated my Portfolio  page after a long time. Its been a steady weekly buying via my Loyal3 account and I've been re-investing the dividends every 2-3 months at my TD Ameritrade and Scottrade accounts .

I've never had a 401K account before June, this year. 
Let me explain ..
I've been in the USA since 2008 and never thought I'd be going thru' the green card procedures until 2013. This is the first step towards citizenship.

Being a contractor in the IT industry had me constantly pushing the thought away. Finally in June this year, I decided that I needed to get serious and took the first steps and inquired about the 401K. I started contributing soon thereafter 15% of my weekly paycheck and have bumped it to 18% a few weeks ago. Its been sweet!! Its been accumulating rapidly. I do plan on contributing the maximum in 2017 and beyond.

God bless you and may He give you all the wisdom to invest wisely.

Thank you for reading!!

Hello World

Hello, Everyone. 

My first post as a blogger and I'm excited and yet, nervous. I have never ventured into writing posts or articles and hence taking this up as a challenge. I will strive to improve with every post and in the process will make many a mistakes. 

I intend to introduce myself, providing readers with information that can be used to build my "persona". I'm a blessed man in my mid-thirties. My wife and daughter are the only family I have in the USA. My desire is to generate substantial income for a happy retirement, pay for college education and also leave behind wealth & inheritance for my dear wife and daughter. 

I've always had a desire to generate passive income and one of the best ways is dividends generated off a diversified stock portfolio. There are sure other ways and I will explore options as time rolls on. I've come to realize that investing in the stock market is one of the only ways to create wealth and then again one could lose entire savings as well, if not done right. 

I'm a Christian and as a family, we honor the Lord with our tithe, every month. My stock portfolio will include growth, dividend paying and a few speculative stocks. Diversification will be the key! Then again, I will choose to not invest in the tobacco, marijuana, gambling and alcohol industry. 

At this point of time, the blog is a start-up and I've already got a small portfolio. I began investing in October 2014. The next few posts will provide details of the stocks I own. 

My hobbies and interests also include running the 5K and 10K races.

Thank you for reading. I will count on the reader community to guide and provide feedback.