MOTHER OF ALL THRIFT STORE FINDS

 As many of you already know, my main hobby is collecting vinyl records.  How Gen X of me..   Through garage sales, junk stores, used bins at record shops, and collectable editions through stores, I have amassed over 3,500 records.  

Every once in a while, I come across a great find.  Like "Hey Hey what Can I Do" by Led Zeppelin for 25 cents.   Or the rare Blue Note 78s I found at a thrift store   Early Blue Note 78.   

This past weekend was the Mother of All Thrift Store Finds.  Another Blue Note discovery.   

We went to the thrift store looking for joke gifts for Christmas.  This also requires a stop by the old records for sale.  I wanted to pick up any old records in decent shape to add to my hoarde.  Especially jazz.  I'm lacking in good jazz records

Sitting there among the ruined andy Williams album and multiple Barbara Streisand records was a nice copy of Cannonball Adderley's "Somethin' Else" on blue Note records.  Vinyl looked fairly clean.  And was extra heavy and thick, so I knew it was an old copy.   Picked that up along with a Stan Getz and a Charlie Parker compilation.  

Once I got home, I looked up my Cannonball Adderley on Discogs.   The first release had these qualities:

• West 63 street address and no ® and a "micorgroove" on the labels
• Deep groove on both sides
• no "Inc." after Blue note on the address on the back cover and printed in Serif font
• "P" for Plastylite Recording plant etched on run out.
• RVG stamped on the run out

Well how about that.... This copy had ALL of these. Wha?  This was a first release of this record!   And in VG condition for the vinyl.  The cover is in G condition, a bit worn on the back and bit smudgy on the front.  but not bad for a record from 1958.

This record cost me $1.95.   This sells for around $600 in this condition.   What an absolute monumental find.  I don't think I will ever find a more collectable record.  OF course, I thought that the last time I found some Blue Notes...

I will keep it and listen to it for a while.  If I find a nice clean reissue, I will then sell.    IMO it's one of the best jazz albums ever made and right up my alley.   Sometimes you just get lucky.

Here's a track from this release.   Awesome!

NOVEMBER 2020 DIVIDENDS

December is here!  Less than 1/12 of this year is left, thankfully.  In 26 days, we can kiss this year goodbye and never look back!

And right after Thanksgiving, it was time to pull out the Christmas decorations.  The dog does not really like her Santa outfit.

Meanwhile, I  earned some dividends.  32 companies paid me a total of $1,035.51.  This is a 13.03% year to year gain from the $916 I got in 2019.  After the big shuffles I have gone through over the past 15 months, seeing a gain like that was truly satisfying and motivating to improve on that number in 2021.

The big ones are AT&T (T) and their monster 7% dividend and Omega Healthcare (OHI), a healthcare REIT (one of my few REITs now), also with a 7% dividend.

Here's the breakdown:

NOVEMBER 2020 BUYS

Welcome to the Holiday Season!   My favorite time of the year.  Hope you are all staying safe out there on Panet Poison.

Snow started falling and got to go up to the mountain pass here an play in a fresh 18" of snow that fell the night before

Picked up a few greal albums recently.  This one here is maybe the best album I had never heard until a few weeks ago.  Dadawah - "Peace and Love", a Nyabinghi rhythm LP from 1974. Very sublime and exploratory.  Only four tracks on the LP, but they improvise into this crazy bass and drum Nyabinghi rhythm form of reggae meets the blues meets psychedelia and experiencing the rapture...  They may have smoked some of their sacrament..

What really makes it stand out is the lack of a rhythm guitar and the addition of a minimal echoing piano that really ties it all together.  This is one of the most spiritual, haunting roots reggae albums that could possibly be ever made.  Just re-issued this fall.

Oh, and I traded some shares.....  

Harvested a tiny bit of profit just so I can pick up a couple of Costco (COST) shares after they announced their special $10 dividend.  This is not their first special Dividend. 

I did get out of a smal position in Delek Holdings (DK) after they ended their dividend. I'd rather have my money in something that will pay me back so I can sit on it and get paid for breathing...

I also snagged 3 more shares of Vanguard's VYM, which I plan to do on a regular basis. It's a perfect mix of all of the dividend growth companies I already invest in.

The other major purchases, not really major, but at least over $100, was some more Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Target (TGT).  Both are pretty much recession proof companies that are not going to go tits up any time soon.

In summary, I added $1,063 of new money and increased my annual dividend by $39.26.  That's a payout ratio of 3.69% on the investment.  And should grow.

Check out the details

NOVEMBER 2020 DIVIDEND INCREASES

'Tis the season of dividend increases! Fa la la la la....

November, December, and January have been the months I used to see the most dividend increase.  Now 2020 is one hell of a strange year.   But at least it started well this October.   

I received 5 dividend increases over the past month.  The whopper was the 17.9% increase by Aflac (AFL).  

Overall, I received an extra $35.27 in dividends per year.   That's the name of the game, Dividend growth..

In December, I'm expecting increases from AT&T (T), Pfizer (PFE) and Amgen (AMGN).  I'l keep my fingers crossed.