Betwixt and Between

I'm between contributions to the 401k; should be one last addition this year based on my calculations.

I pulled the trigger and dumped BXT and BXLT in the IRA due to a cut in the combined dividend and distributed the cash into 4-5 of my existing holdings that had fallen to under fair value.

The market has recovered substantially from it's correction a few months ago. I don't know why exactly; earnings haven't been electrifying, and the news out of China, Europe and elsewhere isn't exactly encouraging either.

Newsmakers continue to fixate on Federal Reserve policy with respect to interest rates. It seems like a non-issue to me. I can't imagine they will raise them much when they do, so I'm just not worrying about a market reaction. I learned to enjoy the opportunity to buy at a bargain this last dip and I'll look to the market's reaction to higher interest rates to augment my holdings in the best of my dividend payers.

I have continued to focus on the DRIP versus selective dividend investment issue and cannot convince myself to change my current strategy. I'm continuing to consider reigning in my company count, coordinating the 3 accounts a bit better and limiting the total holdings to around 50. The problem is, I like all of the holdings I have. There are still a few I'd like to own as well. Perhaps I'll just have to decide that my personal mutual fund will have 100 holdings and stop worrying about how closely I can monitor all of them. Some don't need that much monitoring after all.

I keep a nervous eye on that dividend cash flow, continuing to need the reassurance that it is steadily rising. Fortunately, that is exactly what is happening, so at the very least the strategy is delivering what it promises. I'd be more reassured if the total valuation of the portfolio were also rising; I'm still 5% below peak valuation in December 2014. Maturity in investing is a hard-won state of equanimity, and I have not achieved it yet.

In the bigger picture, I keep thinking about the overall financial picture, how to reduce expenses, lighten the footprint, free up space to do things other than work for wages, shorten the run to retirement. The biggest dilemma for me is whether or not to dump some cash value life insurance and get out from under the premium requirements. I have been in a huge funk about dissatisfaction with my work, making it that much harder to tolerate all of the financial obligations.

I don't have any new and profound insights, so it's time to hit the lights...