3 Thanksgiving Thoughts For Today

Co-produced with Treading Softly.

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. Many of us will be gathering together with family later today to spend quality time and perhaps eat a little too much food.

I’ve long enjoyed what I jokingly refer to as my second annual Thanksgiving while living in the United States. Being Canadian, I get to enjoy Canadian Thanksgiving in October, followed by round two in November – yum!

It leaves me with a lot to be thankful for every year. The time with friends and family.

Yet, even on special days, life and its needs never cease. I have chickens to feed, ducks to refresh their water, dogs to tend to, and rabbits to check up on.

Likewise, we all have expenses that need to be paid, food to purchase, and bills that are accruing as we keep our lights on a little longer in the wintertime.

This Thanksgiving, I want to take a few moments to reflect on some things I am thankful for and share them with you.

My Portfolio’s Income is Growing

Right out of the gate, I’m thankful for my investment portfolio. I am an income investor – as so many of you know very well – and my portfolio is fine-tuned to produce high levels of income now and for years to come.

I recommend retirees reinvest at minimum 25% of what comes in as income back into their portfolio, it will help keep their income growing year after year.

Furthermore, I’ve been blessed with various holdings in my portfolio raising their dividends. Most recently, we’ve seen an increase from Saratoga Investment Corp (SAR).

But one dividend increase, while exciting is not going to move my personal income needle too strongly. I will always be thankful for each one!

Owl Rock Capital (ORCC) and Ares Capital (ARCC) joined in on the fun as well. So, my portfolio of income investments is growing its dividend output, all while I’ve been reinvesting my dividends into the best opportunities I can find at the time.

I’m thankful for every dividend that arrives. I’m extra thankful for any increases I’ve received from my holdings.

Our Community is a True Blessing

Few places in the investment universe exist like Seeking Alpha. Not only do I get to interact with millions of readers annually, but it hosts countless viewpoints. If I like an investment opportunity, I can almost guarantee that there are a few people out there with the opposite opinion.

This environment allows us all to refine our perspective, test it against the viewpoint of others and potentially avoid costly mistakes.

The key here is civility. Seeking Alpha’s team of editors and moderators do work tirelessly to ensure we can all discuss our opinions in a calm and civil manner without personal attacks or outrageous accusations. This is key to a healthy community.

Furthermore, I am thankful for my growing community of income investors and retirees within our specific High Dividend Opportunities marketplace. A frequent comment from new members is how surprised they are to see how lively and interactive our chatrooms are. Members can dive right in, get engaged and discuss income investments at any time, and they are almost guaranteed to have a few other voices present to compare notes with.

I spend countless hours each month talking and discussing investments with various members and our entire community. Their questions, comments, and words of encouragement consistently remind me why I choose to run a marketplace instead of a closed-end fund – I love to interact with people.

So I am thankful for both the Seeking Alpha public community and my privately hosted community. You all make this place worth visiting and returning to, so thank you!

I’m Thankful for the Income Method

When I was a younger man, I had big ideas on how to invest, but no cohesive methodology.

Over time, I developed a methodology and gave it a fitting name – The Income Method. It has rules that work as guardrails – like our Rule of 42 – and pillars that focus on being income-focused and ideals of when to sell an investment.

Many of you may have an idea of the type of investor you are – growth, momentum, value, dividend growth, the list goes on – yet you don’t have a methodology you ascribe to. You operate on more of a gut-instinct or reactionary method. Rules and pillars may feel confining and you are more of a “free spirit.”

I’d recommend you take some time this holiday season and create an outline of how you want to invest in the market and why you’re doing so. The more specific the better. I find goals or reasons like “to get rich” to be nebulous and unhelpful.

For income investors, having a tangible goal is essential to measure your success. I’d recommend an income-specific goal, such as “Have my portfolio generate $100,000 in dividends annually.” This way you can measure your progress toward this goal each year and every decision is funneled through a process of determining if the choices align with your greater goal and values.

If your goal is too nebulous, you will not have an effective means to determine how to achieve it, or when it has been achieved. Will you buy lottery tickets every week to hit it big and become rich? What will you do after that? Or will you buy penny stocks and flip them in the hope to find the next big thing?

Having a clearly thought out, time-tested method allows my team and I to focus on investments that will help our readers work towards a goal that fits into our perspective on the market.

We view the market as a tool and our portfolio as an extension of that. It generates income, which allows us to live freely and opens more opportunities for us to explore. The market does not consume our lives, it is a tool to be used. Just like a hammer doesn’t take up your entire life, it’s there to use when you need it.

I’m thankful for my Income Method, I hope you have a method to follow that you can be thankful for.

Conclusion

It is Thanksgiving and I appreciate you taking some of your valuable time and spending it with me.

I hope you enjoy your day and take some time to mull over what we discussed today.

I plan to eat a little too much food, enjoy great company, and get back to work tomorrow talking to investors and retirees about investments and their futures. For now, the market is closed and you have a chance to get away from it.

Consider taking some time to mull over what you are thankful for, express some thanks, and consider how you can ensure you have even more to be thankful for next year.