Hi there! The second week of January has already finished. This week was about reintegrating at work again. I found it hard to get into the rhythm of waking up every morning at 6 AM, but I am sure that next week will be better.

Having said that, it didn’t stop me from thinking about FIRE related topics and I have enough content for this week’s 5-bullet Sunday 🙂 Enjoy the read!

5-Bullet Sunday is a weekly blog post with 5 topics that were on my mind this week related to Financial Independence and Dividend Growth Investing or something that just fed my curiosity. An overview of other earlier posts can be found here.

🌟 Timely article about Exxon Mobil

Brad Thomas & Dividend Sensei wrote a very nice piece of analysis about Exxon Mobil this week on SeekingAlpha. I was just running through the numbers myself this week as I find the price very attractive. Their analysis confirmed my thinking and I have placed a purchase order to increase my position.

🌟 A new business idea

Lately I have been thinking a lot about a new business idea which came to my mind during the holiday break. I shared the idea with a former colleague of me to check his interest and he straight away bought into it. Tomorrow we will meet over lunch to discuss it further.

We both have the goal to create alternative passive income streams and this would definitely be one of them. I prefer not to talk yet about the idea itself, but you can consider it to be kind of a real estate play, using a unique value proposition to generate income.

I have had such ideas more often in the past, but I never succeeded really pursuing it. Therefore I am trying it this time a bit different by looking for a partner that shares the same enthusiasm. I hope that it will work this time!

🌟 European Dividend Growth stocks

Just a relatively small amount of companies in Europe focus on dividend growth compared to their American counterparts / competitors. European companies do tend to pay a lot of dividend though, but the stability isn’t there as they also cut it quicker. Dividend policies typically refer to 50% payout ratios based on stable earnings and earnings forecasts.

I find that a pity, because I truly believe that committing to a growing dividend over time requires a lot of capital allocation discipline and focus on sustainable growth. Something that I cherish as an investor.

Can the reason be that our European corporate culture in the end is just short-term focused compared to American corporate culture?

🌟 What to do with Boeing?

The CEO is leaving with a 60 million package. The poor guy won’t get any bonuses or other compensation. Shame on Boeing! (Sarcasm)

It’s a miracle that the share price did so well, because in my opinion this company is really in trouble. They have really put their head in the sand and I am glad that the American authorities are not giving in to Boeing’s corporate ignorance.

346 people have died due to mismanagement.

What to do with Boeing? My recommendation would be to sell it if you own it – purely out of moral obligations. In my opinion this is not the regular sin-stock that you can just own. This company is very deep in denial and for me it is therefore on my personal blacklist.

Is NN-Group worth considering to buy?

Polliesdividend purchased shares of NN-group back in December. Just this week I got to read his post about it. In this post he also linked to his analysis from back in May. I find his pollie-style analysis always very interesting.

Personally I am not in favor of considering European companies that haven’t proven yet to be able to weather a recession, because they often quickly pull the trigger to cut the dividend. This is often in line with their policy and NN-group is no difference.

Having said that, I do believe you should read Pollies post if you are considering more exposure to European Dividend paying companies, because he has been building quite some wealth over the last few years by making the right choices. NN-group is also a very well run company, so who am I to challenge him?

I hope that you enjoyed this week’s 5-Bullet Sunday!

I would be very grateful if you would like this post, comment or subscribe as a follower to this blog 🙏.

Have a good and lovely Sunday 🌞