Recent Buy: Reynolds American Inc.

I'm like a kid on Christmas morning this week. My budget finalized, I sold a stock, and I obtained my revenue from SA published articles all in the same week. That means there is moolah (money?) to invest in all that I wish (if only that were really the case)! Therefore I have purchased another holding for the portfolio.

Today's purchase was in Reynolds American Inc. This is the holding company that brought Camel, Newports, and Pall Mall to your friendly neighborhood gas station and Walmart (WMT). They are even responsible for American Spirit (if you smoked that natural stuff). I may no longer be a smoker but I once was and my brand of choice was Camel. Without trying to sound too big on advertisements and plugs, the reason that I chose Camel over the other brands was for the taste and the price in relation to it. The taste was just perfect for the budget that I was looking to buy my smokes for. On the other hand, when I had very little available for smokes, I would reach for Pall Malls. It was no different for all of the friends I hung out with that smoked. Everyone preferred Camels or Pall Malls - not a single one smoked Marlboro. Maybe this was a case of you are who you hang around with but all the same, it all just seemed to depend on how much cash you had at the time of purchase.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that these two brands alone made up the bag or pocket of almost everyone I met who smoked. After taking a look at the numbers released in both Reynolds American Inc.'s 10-K and Phillip Morris's (Marlboro), it appeared that I was not far off. The two makers comprise almost 100% of the market of cigarettes in the United States. The big difference between the two was that Reynolds American had a far greater profit margin (just above 55%) and their P/E has been on the rise rather than falling. Pair this with a better PEG ratio (1.73 for RAI) and a more comfortable D/E ratio and you've got yourself a better bet in the tobacco industry.

I may not smoke anymore but because I have in the past (a little more than I would care to admit), I have a great background for the product and the market they are trying to appeal to. This gives me a pretty good level of confidence that this will be a good long term investment. Granted, it's definitely not the healthiest or society friendly stock but I believe the company still has quite a future ahead of it and that makes it a good buy for the portfolio. Final compilation below:

Purchased 14 shares of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) on 5/20/2016 @49.71/share

**This adds $23.52 in annual dividends to the Dividend Scythe

Avoiding Investing Stasis

Investing stasis - it's what happens when all investors reach a point where they are burnt out looking at a portfolio that is moving... but maybe not moving fast enough. Don't worry, it happens to all of us (or at least everyone that I've talked to about investing who manages their own investments). It's a natural way to feel when you put as much work as most of us do into researching the companies we invest in.

New SA Post: Macerich Company

I've published another premium article with Seeking Alpha. This time I have posted my review of the retail REIT, Macerich Company (MAC). I really enjoyed reviewing it.

They are one of the better retail REITs in my opinion. Even though they have had some downs in the last few years, they have brought themselves back up. It appears largely due to the fact that they have been selling off various parts of their holdings for what I can only expect are future troubles.

I like to see this with REITs because it shows that they can take initiatives when cuts need to be made through their holdings. There is not a whole lot of point in keeping around a dying calf. If it needs to be shot or sold, it's got to be done. Regardless, take a look if you're interested in a retail REIT for a tax-differed account.

Macerich Company: Prime Retail REIT

Recent Buy: L Brands

Back to back buys! Yeah baby! Very groovy! I love Mondays because they bring together quite the great storm of great stocks that offer themselves up for purchase. This morning I have finalized my purchase of now two different stores that I feel have gone on discount and will very likely continue to be on discount for at least a little while. The first was Game Stop Corp Com (GME) and the second is my purchase of L Brands (LB).

I've already spoken about Game Stop Corp Com (GME) in my last post that was centered around the purchase of their company so I want to use this post to exclusively talk about L Brands (LB) and why the buy signal has flashed in my head. The reasoning for the purchase of L Brands (LB) centered around the psychology of the current dip in price. Where only a short few months ago the brand was trading for over $100/share, a change in management and direction has left a lot of investors running for the hills. I would argue however that a shift in management in this case is hardly reason to worry.

L Brands (LB) holds so much attractiveness that I believe it's hard for anyone to really put a price tag on it. I imagine going up to my wife and telling her that she will no longer be able to buy anything from Victoria's Secret. I feel like I would sooner have something chucked at my head than be successful in telling her to avoid the store. Women (and men for good reason!) have a great view of the store because it has such a great history of providing wear that makes women feel sexy. For women (largely due to society being a douche and training them to be this way), feeling sexy is of great importance. Since Victoria's Secret does such a great job at it, seldom would their sales drop unless they were to completely turn away from the styles that they have been so successful with in the many years they have been in business.

Granted, this is only half the business - there is the Bath and Body Works side to the business as well. I don't know about you but I work in an office building. I would be lying if I said there were ever a single day that I've walked about the office and not smelled at least a handful of their products floating around the office. That side of the business is alive and well.

This was an easy buy. Their brand has an incredible name for recognition and a simple change in management and styles of advertising will hardly impact what they take in on the bottom line. I simply have to wait for the next earnings release to confirm this. Q2 has historically been very good for L Brands (LB) and then a small drop in Q3 before a HUGE jump in Q4 thanks to a certain holiday that would be a lot less amazing without Victoria's Secret. The final summary is below:

Purchase of L Brands (LB) - 8 shares @ 66.943 points - total price: $545.534

Recent Buy: GameStop Corp Com

There are going to be a lot of folks who ask me immediately after posting this as to why I finally cracked and grabbed up a piece of Game Stop Corp Com (GME). Quite simply put, I could no longer continue wasting time continuously doubting myself as to whether or not the company was a good use of my money. Where the core business I feel is moving out the door a little (selling used games), I feel that the board is moving the business in other directions that so far have proven to be excellent for income.

Where there is excellent income, there is seldom much reason for worry. There are few of life's troubles that cannot be purchased by good old fashioned cash. As you all know, I like to aim for companies that have very little debt or at least enough capital to pay off that debt if the worst were to come. GME is not unlike these past picks. Their current debt is 350.40M and they have a working cash flow of 450.40M - more than enough to cover if they needed to use it.

A lot of their new income comes from their telephonic branch off. Where GME game stores have taken a hit as of late and slowed sales, their telephonic business is booming. This should help to buffer their game stores while they move those to a more merchandise based model. With this being said, I will summarize my purchase below:

Purchased GameStop Corp Com - 20 shares @ 28.81 points - total investment: $586.19

Life: Container Garden Update

It's time for the second update to the container garden. I'll admit, after a few weeks of absolutely nothing coming from the seeds I put down, I was beginning to worry. My worries were however unjustified as the saplings suddenly sprung from the seed starter only two weeks ago.

I'm now happy to announce that I've obtained almost 100% germination in the seed starter this year. The only one that has yet to come up of my original set is the basil that I put down. For whatever reason, it's being stubborn and not wanting to break the top soil. I don't know if it's a case of putting too much soil on top of it or just maybe not providing enough moisture or what but it's just not giving in to the growing season!

With what I have already sprouting however, the harvest this year should easily dwarf what I put down last year. Even though this year I've only been aiming at a few species of plant, I think this year I have properly put down what will actually be used in abundance rather than only really eating the jalapenos that I put down last year. There were far too many unused plants last year.

Investment Essentials: Starting Your Portfolio

Now that you've gotten 90% done with the essentials, it's time to start thinking about starting your own portfolio. In order to start a portfolio, you will have to open a brokerage account with one of the many brokers that are available to you either at your bank, online, or at trading manager offices. The most popular however is the online brokerage because they are the least likely (in my opinion) to charge you various fees. They can also be best used through online management so you don't need to pay someone else to do any of your investing for you.