With three weeks of May in the rear view mirror it is time, once again, to highlight my recent stock purchase.

As market volatility remains the flavor of the day we are being presented with some pretty good buying opportunities if you can stomach these wild swings. Of course, if you have a long term horizon for your investment plan then over time these wild gyrations will be smoothed out and these daily ups and downs should not be much cause for concern. Keep investing, stay diversified and try not to get shaken out of the market when things really do dive. I always state that I make my monthly buys no matter what’s going on in the market or the world for that matter and this month is no exception. With that being said let’s take a look at my May stock buy.

I have added to my taxable account 3 shares at $117.53 for a total investment of $352.59 in The Clorox Company (CLX). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in CLX now totals 17.2268 shares with a market value of $2,050.16.

I have added to my taxable account 4 shares at $97.60 for a total investment of $390.40 in PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in PEP now totals 29.6316 shares with a market value of $2,948.64. I also hold 16.0922 shares with a market value of $1,601.33 in my ROTH account.

In total, $742.99 was invested. Both trades were commission free which enabled me to make two smaller buys.

Looking forward, the staples still seem to be under pressure along with the REITs and utilities. While it may be scary to nibble at any of these sectors one must realize that the best potential gains are made when stocks and entire sectors are out of favor. These two buys also allowed me to further diversify my portfolio as both positions were relatively small compared to some of my other holdings. I always say that it’s important to create an income portfolio that is not dependent on just a handful of stocks for the majority of your dividend income. The more equality you can achieve in dividend income generated from each stock you hold the stronger your overall portfolio will be when it comes time to depend on that income.