Forever Home Found……..and Lost

As ours reader are probably aware of by now, we have been looking a location to find or build our forever home. Over the last few months our search has taken us from Montana down to Texas and everything in between. While our forever home search started out very wide, and across several states, it has since narrowed. As much as we love Montana and our temporary home state of South Dakota the winters are too large of a negative to overcome. After considering states like Utah and Nevada we have narrowed our search to parts of Texas. This however still feels like half the country anyway.

Over the last few weeks a lot has transpired and eventually reached a crescendo late last week. Honestly we were hoping this would be the blog where we expressed our excitement about entering a new phase of our lives. But despite giving it our best effort and even going out on a limb financially it wasn’t meant to be.

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September 2023 Financial Update

We are back with our September 2023 financial update! The months are flying by and before you know it we will be heading to the great state of Texas for the winter. We have enjoyed our time on the lake in Oklahoma, but like all great things it will soon come to an end.

As much as we love lake life we are getting to the point where we are ready to move on. The downside to being in this area is that there just isn’t much to do. Aside from walking around the campground or sitting outside looking at the water not much is going on. As such, we have been pretty stagnant for that last month. After a rough couple of months camping in a remote area was a relaxing change. Now we are itching to get somewhere we can be more active and do some sight seeing.

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September 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

Well, let’s get this dividend portfolio update out of the way. As you probably know, and maybe experienced, September was an awful month for investment holdings. Pretty much everything was down with the only exception maybe being oil and refinery stocks. On the bright side that means it was also a great time to buy and build up some positions.

There wasn’t much in terms of news in September. This put the focus squarely on the federal reserve and that’s never a good thing. There is no better market killer than that band of bumbling idiots. While they didn’t increase the funds rate this time around they opened their mouths which is usually just as bad. As expected, in the aftermath of the fed meeting and the J. Powell news conference, brought to you by Apple iPad, the markets tanked.

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Campground Review – Sunrise Ridge Campground

In this edition of our campground review series we will be reviewing Sunrise Ridge Campground located in Hot Springs, SD.

Sunrise Ridge Campground is located off of highway 385 just outside of the historic town of Hot Springs. We booked a one month stay in the month of July 2023 and chose this location because we needed to be within driving distance of Rapid City. We prefer a quiet small town over being in a city. And quite honestly there’s not much to choose from that are decent and have a reasonable price in South Dakota.

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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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Is The End Near?

As athletes age there naturally comes a time when the conversation turns towards trying to determine how much one has left in the tank. Eventually, athletes begin to ponder life after their sport. This inevitably leads to public statements which then leads to questions being asked. It’s the common progression in sports that points to the fact that the end is near.

The old adage in sports is that if an athlete is talking about retirement then they have already retired. At least in a mental capacity.

The hardest part for the athlete is recognizing when the line has been reached so they can walk away gracefully. Everyone wants to find that most opportune time to bow out with their head held high. And no one wants to overstay their shelf life only to be mocked because of it. It can be a fine line to walk.

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Campground Review – Jim & Mary’s RV Park

In this edition of our campground review series we will be reviewing Jim & Mary’s RV Park located in Wye, MT.

This was our first visit to Jim & Mary’s RV Park and it was a place we were super excited about. Many folks on social media RV groups had mentioned this RV park as one of their favorite places in Montana. So we had high hopes and booked a stay for most of June and early July 2023.

Jim & Mary’s RV Park is located off of interstate 90 just outside of Missoula at the exit for US 93. The location is super easy to find and all you really need to do is make sure you turn at the correct street as the signage could be a little confusing.

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