Money and Finance
Lots of interesting news in the work side of my life this past week. The really great news is that I finally can have some resemblance of work/life balance. I have a 20/10 schedule now, so I work 20 days then I'm off for 10. This is the first time since I started this job where I can actually tell my wife, family, and friends when I'll be home other than when I've had vacation. That's a huge plus but there's no telling how long it will last so I'll enjoy it while it does. There was also news at the start of the week that our division will be sold sometime this year to help facilitate the acquisition of Baker Hughes. I'm not surprised by the announcement but it brings up a whole slew of questions and not many answers. There's rumors that General Electric could be a potential buyer which is a company I wouldn't mind becoming a part of.
On top of all that Luke continues to be very up and down. Honestly, if he could just have a stable week I would feel better. They currently think that his fluid balance is the big issue as the pulmonary hypertension has shown slight improvement, but the problem is there's very little solutions for that given his current condition. So we're at a waiting point right now while we try and figure out the best way to approach this.
I didn't get to do any investing this past week because of capital restraints but that doesn't mean I'm not on the look out for potential investments into excellent companies. While I rarely sell positions I do have two in mind to potentially end my relationship with. One shouldn't be too surprising, it's my employer Halliburton (HAL). I'm a bit wary of selling shares at a down point in the oil and gas cycle but with capital being rather tight the thought has crossed my mind. I currently have three different lots of shares that were purchased through the ESPP program. Two of them are sitting on pretty heavy losses and the other is looking nice with a large gain. Thanks to the quirky tax rules regarding ESPP's I can only logically shed some exposure to my employer with the lot that's increased in value. I don't want to pay taxes on "income" when I've suffered a loss. Selling a chunk of those shares could net me about $2k in proceeds to put to work in dividend growth companies.
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- Weekly Roundup - June 14, 2015
As per usual we've had a few steady days with Luke and then a few rocky days. Hopefully the down days will start to be less frequent as we give him better nutrition but his body is so sensitive to fluid balance that small changes for most babies...
- Weekly Roundup - April 25, 2015
It's been a pretty great week. I've been off of work, a little bittersweet since no work means less income, but I'm so glad that I've been off. I got home a week ago Thursday and Luke was not doing all that well and was extremely swollen....
- Dividend Update - July 2013
And another one bites the dust! Seriously, was July shorter this year by about 10 days? It was a pretty quiet month for dividends as well as new additions to the FI Portfolio. I only started small positions in Realty Income and General Electric...
- Recent Sells
Well I've been active this past week in trying to unload some shares of Halliburton (HAL) which is my employer. I purchased the shares through the employee stock purchase plan and I believe that if one is offered at your employer and you get a sizable...
- Weekly Roundup - April 13, 2013
This has been a great week at home, although anytime at home is a great week. Last Saturday we went hiking with our dog through one of the local state parks and had an awesome time at the hockey game on Sunday even though it made for a long day after...
Money and Finance
Weekly Roundup - April 11, 2015
Lots of interesting news in the work side of my life this past week. The really great news is that I finally can have some resemblance of work/life balance. I have a 20/10 schedule now, so I work 20 days then I'm off for 10. This is the first time since I started this job where I can actually tell my wife, family, and friends when I'll be home other than when I've had vacation. That's a huge plus but there's no telling how long it will last so I'll enjoy it while it does. There was also news at the start of the week that our division will be sold sometime this year to help facilitate the acquisition of Baker Hughes. I'm not surprised by the announcement but it brings up a whole slew of questions and not many answers. There's rumors that General Electric could be a potential buyer which is a company I wouldn't mind becoming a part of.
On top of all that Luke continues to be very up and down. Honestly, if he could just have a stable week I would feel better. They currently think that his fluid balance is the big issue as the pulmonary hypertension has shown slight improvement, but the problem is there's very little solutions for that given his current condition. So we're at a waiting point right now while we try and figure out the best way to approach this.
I didn't get to do any investing this past week because of capital restraints but that doesn't mean I'm not on the look out for potential investments into excellent companies. While I rarely sell positions I do have two in mind to potentially end my relationship with. One shouldn't be too surprising, it's my employer Halliburton (HAL). I'm a bit wary of selling shares at a down point in the oil and gas cycle but with capital being rather tight the thought has crossed my mind. I currently have three different lots of shares that were purchased through the ESPP program. Two of them are sitting on pretty heavy losses and the other is looking nice with a large gain. Thanks to the quirky tax rules regarding ESPP's I can only logically shed some exposure to my employer with the lot that's increased in value. I don't want to pay taxes on "income" when I've suffered a loss. Selling a chunk of those shares could net me about $2k in proceeds to put to work in dividend growth companies.
Read more »
- Weekly Roundup - June 14, 2015
As per usual we've had a few steady days with Luke and then a few rocky days. Hopefully the down days will start to be less frequent as we give him better nutrition but his body is so sensitive to fluid balance that small changes for most babies...
- Weekly Roundup - April 25, 2015
It's been a pretty great week. I've been off of work, a little bittersweet since no work means less income, but I'm so glad that I've been off. I got home a week ago Thursday and Luke was not doing all that well and was extremely swollen....
- Dividend Update - July 2013
And another one bites the dust! Seriously, was July shorter this year by about 10 days? It was a pretty quiet month for dividends as well as new additions to the FI Portfolio. I only started small positions in Realty Income and General Electric...
- Recent Sells
Well I've been active this past week in trying to unload some shares of Halliburton (HAL) which is my employer. I purchased the shares through the employee stock purchase plan and I believe that if one is offered at your employer and you get a sizable...
- Weekly Roundup - April 13, 2013
This has been a great week at home, although anytime at home is a great week. Last Saturday we went hiking with our dog through one of the local state parks and had an awesome time at the hockey game on Sunday even though it made for a long day after...