Finding bargains in the market today has become an ever increasing challenge as the months have been rolling by and the market as a whole kept marching to all time highs as well. With that being said, I find that several stocks in the financial sector, despite being near or at all time highs, still present the best relative values when compared to many other S&P sectors such as consumer staples. Of course there are always exceptions within every sector.

In my recent post, “September Stock Considerations” I outlined my continued affinity towards the financial sector and my recent new investments in The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS),The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY) along with additions to my current financial holdings in AFLAC Inc. (AFL), The Chubb Corporation (CB) and Wells Fargo & Company (WFC). I also noted in another post, “Dividend Portfolio Sector Allocation” how I was generally still light in the financial sector as it only accounted for about 10% of my taxable account and ROTH account and how I wished to increase my exposure there.

With that being said I added 17 shares at $60.58 for a total investment of $1,029.86 in AFLAC Inc. (AFL).

AFL is currently my largest holding in my portfolio and with three decades of dividend increases under its belt along with a decent yield of 2.50%, low payout ratio of 23.8% and low PE of just 9.39 relative to its 5 year average, I anticipate lots of room for future, generous dividend increases.

Other stocks that continue to be on my September consideration list are McDonald’s Corp. (MCD),General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (NasdaqGS: KRFT) and potentially new holding me Unilever plc (UL). We’ll see how the rest of the month continues to play out.