What a crazy financial year it’s been. If you recall, 2016 got off to its worst start ever for the financial markets. All the headlines were proclaiming, “It’s the end.” The start of a new bear market was upon us and the major market averages all took steep dives. Fast forward a few months and spring time all of a sudden looked rosier once again. Oil prices, in lock with the general market rose from their January and February lows. Suddenly, things weren’t all doom and gloom. Of course, this merry feeling didn’t last long as the Brexit vote took EVERYONE, and I mean everyone by surprise. What good are all those financial news outlets and “experts” when they all missed such a big call. Of course, in the following days we saw another sharp sell off in the market only to bring us to a mid-summer all time record high. You just have to love the fickle nature of the market.

The point of this half year recap is simply to reinforce that no one knows, nor can predict the future. The markets can continue their climb going into 2017 just as easily as we can see a 10% or more decline during the same time period. All we can really do is continue to add fresh capital into our diversified dividend paying portfolios and stay focused on the higher quality names without chasing fantasy yields. That being said, I’m happy to be able to add, admittedly a small amount, to my existing dividend portfolio at this time. Sticking to my July stock considerations list:

I have added to my taxable account 1.0000 share at $218.06 for a total investment of $218.06 in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW). With this recent purchase my taxable account holdings in GWW now totals 6.4571 shares for a value of $1,410.04.

Though not a household name among many dividend growth portfolios, GWW does have a stellar record of annual dividend raises going back over four decades and a ten year annualized dividend growth rate of 17.4%. I have held this name in my portfolio for many years but have not added to the position in a while. With this new purchase I plan to start “leveling” my dividend income a bit so as to not become too reliant on just a handful of companies for my passive income flow.

What do you think about my recent buy? Do you own or have you considered GWW for your dividend portfolio? Please let me know below.