August 2023 Financial Update

Welcome to our August 2023 financial update! In last months financial update we had just been upended from our camping spot in South Dakota. The quick exit had us moving southeast and settling in Nebraska before getting back on track with our regular schedule in Kansas.

Once we arrived in Kansas in early August life seemed to get back on track. It was nice to get back into our normal morning routine. It was also great to start taking more day trips to various locations. Kansas isn’t glamorous, but it has a lot of history to learn about. We also made the journey to Kansas City, MO to see the Federal Reserve Money Museum and then checked off another ballpark from our bucket list.

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August 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Another month in the books and that means it’s time for another dividend portfolio update! After two solid months of gains our dividend portfolio took a small step back in August.

For most of the month it looked like the pullback would be sizable. However, after the fed summit in Wyoming and chairman nimrod’s speech the markets brushed off the worry and moved backup. While we didn’t recover all of the downside it was good to see the markets holding strong once again.

There were a couple of events that impacted our dividend portfolio in August. The biggest by far was J&J completing the spin off of Kenvue. The deal was very enticing with the opportunity to receive 8 shares of Kenvue in exchange for each share of J&J. That would have created a nice position for us in the new company. But in the end we decided to stick with our J&J shares as the company is just a machine. It is also our third largest holding and more importantly they are not adjusting the dividend after the transaction. We will probably look to add Kenvue into or portfolio down the line.

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July 2023 Financial Update

This is not where we expected to be when we started writing our July 2023 financial update! We were sitting in a beautiful campground in South Dakota. The owners of the campground are amazing people. Not only do they maintain and manage the campground, but the rest of the property is a working family farm. We were on the list to purchase farm fresh eggs once a week and Mrs. RVF was taking rides with the owner out to the pasture to help feed and water the cows.

They were also gracious enough to share fresh vegetables from their garden with us and other campers at no cost. Each evening we would sit outside and watch the sunset. Some nights the campers would gather around the community fire pit and share stories. This and the surrounding scenery reminded us of why we chose to live this lifestyle.

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July 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

The summer is flying by and it’s hard to believe it’s already time for our July dividend portfolio update! Going into the month we were prepared for a weakness after a strong performance in June. However, the markets had other plans as our dividend portfolio zoomed to new highs. This time it was the big guns like J&J, Abbvie and even MMM that rebounded from lows and added some much needed spark to our portfolio. Of course there always has to be a few dogs and this month it was telecom a AT&T and Verizon fulfilling that role.

That brings us to the steaming pile of garbage that is Warner Brother Discovery. I had high hopes for this company after the spinoff from AT&T. Their presence in streaming and large portfolio of content should have push growth and set the company and investors up for success. But those hopes have pretty much been dashed as this company turned into a giant turd that can’t seem to do anything right.

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June 2023 Financial Update

We will keep this months financial update relatively short as the writing mood is just not in us at this time. As we wrap up our stay in Montana and head to South Dakota we will be doing so with heavy hearts. If you follow us in social media you know by now that we lost our travel buddy Murphy unexpectedly this month.

The loss has brought down our enthusiasm levels considerably and driving away from here without him is going to be extremely difficult. We know that time will heal our hearts and our adventure will go on. But an important and loving part of our lives for the last 13+ years will be missing as we go forward.

So long little buddy!

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June 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

It’s time for another dividend portfolio update! The month of June was a strong month for the stock market and not too shabby for our dividend portfolio. This was a welcome change from last month when we had the largest percentage loss ever for our portfolio.

While our largest holdings are still underperforming a few rebounded this month. Additionally, we had great action in some of our other holdings that helped to buoy our portfolio until those larger holdings regained some traction. One of the holdings that’s been on a tear is ABR, which was up over 15% the past month and 30% over the last 3 months.

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May 2023 Financial Update

We finally got around to writing this financial update after a busy travel schedule. In the last couple of weeks we have gone from Southern Utah to Idaho and now Montana. This is the stop we have been waiting for as we booked our stay here over a year ago. And as far as camping goes, there is no place like Montana.

This will be a busy, and pricy, summer. Our goal is to make it to as many National Parks as possible along our route this season. The adventure was supposed to start with Zion National Park in southern Utah. Unfortunately bad weather and family obligations held us back.

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