The search for employment new style

Well it’s been a while since my last update , last few months I have been looking for a ‘job’ , a bit of a testing ground for the workload I can still manage. I had a first meeting 2 weeks ago and the meeting went well, unfortunately there wasn’t a project which was adequate for me to participate in.

It was my first job interview in my new situation and it went well, although the next few days I experienced some backlash. It was very good as you can see how people react and how my explanation of my position can be viewed and where I can improve.

A week later I had another job interview which went very well , I can start this week for a few hours a week. I am very excited. It’s a big step in the right direction. I will be working on things that need to be done but aren’t time sensitive. On my own pace in a very quiet environment. Very good !

Next step will be to get all the paper work sorted, which should be fine. Good news all round. Until next time.

Portfolio news – April 2017 changes

So what’s new, this month I sold my stake in Accell, the company was in take over negotiations with a large automotive and industrial group named PON.

Within a day the price went up with about 26% , I didn’t want to sell at that time since the dividend was due and I estimated a value of about 33 Euro’s per share was about right. So after a month of negotiations and due diligence Accell withdrew from the negotiation table.

Not a problem so far , PON had upped the bid to 33,75 excluding the divided , they came up from 32,75 including the dividend. This apparently wasn’t enough. Still not a problem for me since I am in it for the long term. But at the same time the CEO quits. Which is not a good thing. It creates unrest and instability. Which I really don’t like. So I decided to sell my position in Accell.

It was a nice ride and a good profit. But still I would have preferred to hold on without the turmoil. All will be fine after this I think. And I will pick the stock up at a lower price point, which it will bound too go to.

In addition I added to my Ahold Delhaize position , which is now at it’s maximum percentage within my portfolio. Again mainly to balance everything a bit. I also sold a few call options on my portfolio as part of my strategy to increase my results. This will earn me an extra 0,45% this month.

The rest of the money went into a index fund , the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS. Which is part of the idea that index funds will always outperform stock picking and especially trading.

April 2017 – Dividend

April 2017 is in the past, which means another rundown of the monthly dividends. It’s another good month and another increase compared to last year, this time it’s 7,3%. If all goes well, next year will see another increase.

Lot’s of people ask me why I don’t just buy index funds, since they will generate a very good if unbeatable result over long periods of time. The answer is simple. It’s a hobby and I enjoy reading about the world in general and economics in particular. And I like picking stocks , it keeps me active and I can set goals on my own pace. Another reason is most index funds pay little or no dividends, they automatically reinvest them. And my ultimate goal is to get my living expenses covered by my dividend income.

I do invest in index funds, just to have a nice risk spread and profit of the undeniable maths behind it.
Hopefully this explains it a bit. Now the numbers :

28/04/2017 Dow Chemical EUR 4,22
26/04/2017 Ahold Delhaize Koninklijke EUR 28,50
26/04/2017 Cisco Systems EUR 7,45
25/04/2017 General Electric EUR 4,84
19/04/2017 Nedap EUR 28,00
18/04/2017 Whole Foods Market EUR 1,28
18/04/2017 Icahn Enterprises LP EUR 1,38
17/04/2017 W.P. Carey (REIT) EUR 9,13
04/04/2017 Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF EUR 1,17
03/04/2017 Coca-Cola EUR 5,09

Total EUR 89,68