Have I learned anything new lately?

My personal journey that has been documented in these postings was and is about tabulating what I am learning about managing my own retirement investment portfolio. I look back and see that I have learned a lot, perhaps more than I can objectively identify.
Most of it has been learned from other investors who either write or comment on the Seeking Alpha website. Some of it has been learned from newletter editors, but not nearly as much as in the dialogue with other independent investors.

In an attempt to hone my own strategy, I have been asking others "what's next" in their strategy.
One of the fundamental additions I have made is keeping track of credit ratings on the companies I own.

my FASTGraphs program follows the S&P reported credit ratings. I can simply add that to the fields I use for analysis and I see the credit rating. A few of the companies I own are BBB-; I'm not inclined to sell them purely on that basis, but I was gratified when I first checked to see that nearly all of my holdings are BBB or better, with plenty of A's in there.  Without specifically checking, I have collected a sizable portfolio of companies with investment grade debt ratings.  That's an endorsement by credit rating agencies on their ability to service their debt; a surrogate for the safety of future earnings, and indirectly for the safety of the dividends. Debt coverage ratio is one piece, security of earnings is another.

I didn't find much to prune in my most recent review, so I'm waiting for new money to enter the portfolio. I will consider credit rating as a primary criteria for adding any new issue to my holdings.