Volatility behind us? Not a chance. Looks like December is picking up right where October and November left off. Of course, being a dividend growth investor means we have an opportunity to take advantage of all this volatility and pick up some traditional, solid paying dividend payers on sale. These days there’s no shortage of names to choose from as sagging stock prices are pushing up yields towards historical highs. Sticking to the short list from my December 2018 stock considerations:

I have added to my taxable account 18 shares at $53.26 for a total investment of $958.68 in Altria Group, Inc. (MO). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in MO now totals 34 shares with a market value of $1,792.82.

As you can see my total holdings in MO are still quite small relative to most of my other positions which leaves me the flexibility to add more should prices remain depressed.

With two weeks left in the trading year juicy yields are still to be found depending on your risk appetite. Seeing AT&T Inc. (T) with a yield approaching 7% or General Mills, Inc. (GIS) over 5% may be too tempting to ignore. The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) is another high yielding play for those who dare. In other words, there is no shortage of traditional dividend paying stocks sporting historically high yields. I wouldn’t mind making another purchase before the year is up but I must also watch my cash position towards the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019. I’m sure many of you feel the same squeeze around the holidays. If this does end up being my last 2018 purchase I’ll be happy. My 2018 dividends have already surpassed my totals from last year. Perhaps it’s time to start relaxing from investing/finance for the next two or three weeks and focus on 2019 in due time.