If I wanted to go to no more than 5% in any stock, I just picked the next 10 best performers using the same method and I could just pick up half as many shares of each and spread myself out a bit more.

The top ten work out to about 5% dividend based on todays price as a purchase point and last years dividends. I'll take that. The second ten calculate out to a 3% dividend return figured the same way.

hmm... Personally, I think your spending too much time simply crunching numbers rather than learning their business.

What's been preached here over the hundreds of pages is to
1. Buy "Best of breeds"
2. Buy "what you understand"

To me, just looking from the outside here, you're buying strictly on last years performance.

Now... you could do just fine with that theory. However, the first time Stock "X" is taken to the ringer, You'll be scrambling to figure out if you picked the bad one, if you should sell, or what. You don't understand the fundamentals of the company. What makes them profitable, and what can bring them down.

Personally, I would find 10 sectors of the market. Find the top 3 "best of breeds" in those sectors, then compare them against each other. Both looking back and forward as well as understanding their business model.

I'm no expert by any means. That just what I feel I've learned here. Not to simply look at the last year worth of numbers, but a bigger broader picture.

I guess I should have clarified a bit better how I picked the first 30 stocks to choose from. They are all stocks that I'd own...the best of the best if you will.

I was more looking at how I should ration myself amongst those stocks that which ones to pick out of the blue. I'm concerned about diversity, so I initially picked a 10% number, no more than 10% in any one stock, then doubled that down to 5% picking another 10 stocks for a total of 20. And trying to even them out based on share price and prospective dividend income.

Sorry, I'm a number cruncher by nature...that part is NOT going to change. :D

I'm also a planner, and like to think out my moves well in advance of actually making them.

Lance --- I like your strategy.

We all have to hang our hats on "something".... And as long as you seem to understand the best of breed --- and INCLUDED in your calculations TOTAL RETURN (not Just the dividend)...

20 stocks is all ANYONE needs -- 20 gets you 5% regardless of 100K or 1MM... I actually own fewer than that! But I've owned some of them for a very long time... and I own many other non stock investments.

Averaging in every MONTH is good enough - if you're a long term investor.

I would add one other critical criteria to get a handle on ----- EX Dividend dates (subtracting at least 3 BUSINESS days) ==== Might was well time your purchases to either pick up the dividend ----- or buy they EX dividend when they typically drop the equivalent of the dividend payout. It just feels better to do this --- it's all mental --- but investing is more mental than anything. Getting a dividend payment just after purchasing is like an endorphin! Although sometimes it can be an enema in a market like we're in right now... Which is why we have to have a longer term horizon. Try to "time" it and you'll never be in.


Less than 100K ---- 10 stocks are okay ---- 15 would be better.


5% dividend rate is what I kind of plan for. The dividend is just one criteria -- coupled with the more magic Total Return -- coupled with "sleep at night" and some higher paying "risk on".

Also -- have diversity between "retail" vs "Industrial" vs "sin stocks" etc....

None of this kind/style of investing will get you bragging rights around the office cooler.... But while the braggers are still having to hang around the cooler because they're working.... you'll be at the track pounding your car... collecting money every quarter come hell or high water. Once you start to see that -- that is what has us sleep well. We can count on that income.

By the way --- good for you.... I think you've come a long ways from when you first posted. I also hope this works like you want it too. Because that mental doubt can creep in and kill a guys best laid plans.

If it's just a small amount -- I'd hold it! That is an area of great growth potential yet so much of it "depends" --- there will be many players - and it will have lumps and bumps.

There is actually a hedge fund headquartered in Seattle that was started by three big time guys that quit big jobs in the investing world to start the fund -- and it's goal is to invest in "marywanna"... I actually wrote to them to inquire about their structure and minimum investment etc. It's 100grand by the way. Not really very much - but it could be turned into millions if they invest in the right stuff.

Just a for instance on hedge funds and or angel investing. A $385K investment in a company got me 1% of all the shares outstanding. Yeah - it took about 6 years to pan out... but that company was sold in an all cash deal for 2.25 BILLION (not a typo) in 2010. Ownership of 1% of all the outstanding shares proved to be quite a nice total return. :>) Trust me when I tell you that there were several times when I figured the 385 was a big fat ZERO....


I no longer do any of that type of investing. It's a game of percentages and 90% of the time they're losses. They also take lots of input and calling people to get connections going - and it's a who knows who and on and on. Better lucky than smart... and knowing when to hang up the gloves is an important part of investing.

Thanks Greg...for the compliments and the help through this. I mean it.

Looks like I just missed the dividend on OLN so I'll be looking to pick it up on the cheap just after (so to speak).

My calculations were basically just to figure the return of the dividend. I had to come up with a way to figure out how many shares of each I'd be purchasing, then how much dividend each share would pay and then carry it out for a year.

It's an interesting exercise. What was interesting to me was the listed P\E ratios didn't jive at all with my calcs...like I thought it would. Shows that some companies really do pay more back in dividends than others, which is what I went looking for.

Total return including share price growth is just so much of a different animal I didn't want to muddy the water with that for this exercise. I know it is important, but market swings either way can effect a share price while not really changing anything with the way the company operates.

I guess it might not be too hard to go back into my google portfolio and change the purchase dates to a year ago at the share price then and see what my total returns might have been. Now that I'm armed with the dividend info I may try that just to see.

I'm also thinking of weighing my top 10 picks a bit heavier than 5% of the total and taking a bit away from my second 10 picks, like down to 3-4% of the total each. Going to sort them by sector and evaluate them more on that level then decide.

I had posted about a TWITTER trade that I made a while back... I made a quick flip out of it... and here's the reason for my post today. PIGS GET FAT AND HOGS GET SLAUGHTERED. I ended up buying double what I was going to - when it went up way more than I expected - I sold it all.

Had I held --- I'd have a large loss instead of the 40K profit I made.

Here's another thing that I've said before. I consider myself mister joe average. I'm not smart. I'm not some all knowing wall street big shot. I'm just an average car loving idiot. I killed my own personal Twitter account because I wasn't using it - and the things I signed up to follow - I wasn't really following. I didn't see the need for it. I like INSTAGRAM and look at it and comment on it..... I didn't even check in to Twitter.

Glad I got out a pig and didn't hang around to get slaughtered. :>)

@gregweld33



I'd own Amazon long term... they're still growing -- and have a huge cloud business... and everyone loves shopping there. If it paid a dividend I'd buy and hold it. Too expensive (as in too much money to tie up) in a none dividend payer for me personally. 1000 shares is a quarter million --- and while I'm a fan and think it's still growing -- I'm living on my money and what it generates - so it's a different ball game for me personally.

Investing is fun when it starts to work for you. I don't care if it's commercial real estate -- or a rental house or two -- or stocks that pay you to own them. GROWTH is fun - but is hit or miss... and while we'd all like to be some big time stock guru that doubles their money every year... for most of us - that's just not the case.

Frankly -- I don't even see this strategy as SLOW growth.... many dividend paying stocks double or so every 5 to 7 years. That seems like a long time but isn't -- and the part that works is the time and the doubling of the doubling.

100K goes to 200k goes to 400K --- that's in 14 years or so! WTF is wrong with that? The next double is 400k goes to 800K -- 21 lousy years...

Does anyone have a decent watch list setup that includes a column for Dividend Yield?

If so, how and\or where?

I can get to the dividend yield of a particular stock 6 ways from Sunday, I just can't seem to get it to show in a list of the equities with all of the other fundamentals...

Lance, did you check that link a few pages back that I posted for Stuart? I think you might find the info you're looking for there. Not sure though and I'm not at home with my personal computer so I don't have the link bookmarked and available with this machine that I am on.

Found it... thanks...

There is a US Dividend Champions spreadsheet on there that appears to be a fantastic resource for us.

Alright... I'm back in. Hold on to your hats everyone, first time back in the market since 08/2011.

I picked up 10 stocks for now, about a quarter of the total amount I plan on putting back in. I've never done any online trading before, so this was all new to me. Kind of like everything else, was a bit of a learning curve to figuring out how everything works...but was pretty easy.

Now I'm going to turn it off for the weekend and let the earning begin. :D

Thanks everyone for holding my hand through this big step. Pretty sure I wouldn't have ever got back in the market if not for this thread.

NOW all you have to do is change the way you (everyone) thinks -- rather than bailing at the first hiccup - become a BUYER not a seller... Don't take risk... Be an INVESTOR not a gambler... and sleep tight knowing that every 3 months folks are sending you money.

Well I guess i've lurked for long enough not to chime in and say my thanks to all the contributors of this thread and especially Greg for making stocks something that I can finally look at and not feel discouraged or dumbfounded with.

Im 28 and have had a company 401k plan that is ran by 5/3rd Bank. This is one area of my saving that I dont have much control over. I am going to dig further into this in the next few weeks and try to find out if I have any chance to convert to stocks.

I setup a Schwab brokerage account about 3 months back and have set aside money each month for it. I just bought 5 shares of T (AT&T) last week and have my sights set on several more areas in the coming months.

Consumer Staples
MCD (Mcdonalds)

Consumer Staples
KO (Coke)

Energy
KMP (KinderMorgan)

Materials
PG (Procter & Gamble)

I am focusing now on making my portfolio hit on each sector and then I will focus on diversifying in each of my sectors. Right now my purchase of T has been a great learning experience and has allowed me to get my feet wet per se.

Thank you all for your time

Matthew Boehner

Good for you Matthew!!



The main intent of the posts that I do -- is to try to make sense of it all... and to take the fear out of "the market". I'm thrilled that I have been a help to you.

Anyone read up on the latest BITCOIN debacle??


You now can't get your money from one of the major "brokerages"? Mt Gox...


I don't understand the entire thing... and while Bitcoins have gone up HUGE... I wouldn't be able to stomach the gyrations.


There used to be a poster/member here that was hot on Bitcoin.... I'd love to know if he was able to make any money on this stuff -- or if it sucked him dry. My guess is - since he hasn't posted in a long time -- that the outcome ain't so hot -- but that's just guessing.

Well -- there's not much to write about.


Funny though -- when everyone talks about a 10% "correction" -- we don't get it. That's the way the market works -- which is why waiting and debating and sitting on the sidelines just costs you money over time. If you're always waiting for the perfect time to buy - you're never getting anywhere.

I had 3MM sitting waiting for the big move down - the one that hasn't come so far. So I'm just as guilty of this as anyone else. I put some of it to work last week and some more today. Can't just be sitting on cash - which is losing money IMHO since it's employees on vacation and being non-productive. Who does that?!?!?

So back into my usual parking spots.

It's okay... I'm okay with it. Not having a big down draft is okay.... nobody is spooked out of the market. Just having some normal days or weeks or months in the market is good. Trade on fundamentals... and not all this gibberish. The companies you invest in should have good solid earnings reports - that's all you need to know. They're making money - and they're willing to share it with you via dividends because you ARE an owner of the company (makes ya feel kinda important huh!? LOL).

:gitrdun:

Yup.. Sitting and waiting is no fun either. lol

I'm finally getting "back in the game". Got the emergency account funded, and now setting $ aside to start pushing back into my Roth. Should be able to make my first purchase since early 2013 in March. :)

I'm sitting here having a hard time keeping my powder dry so to speak... :D

Which is NOTHING like I thought I'd be feeling a couple of months ago.

I spent part of the morning calculating the ex-dividend dates of the 10 other stocks I've got picked out but haven't purchased yet...just to make sure I don't miss any payments from them in the near future.

By looking at most of the ex-dividend dates on the stocks that I did buy into, I was just a day late and dollar short on several of them... Oh well, I'll get them next time...

Poor BitCoin can't catch a break! LOL


I'm sorry -- and I'm not gloating here.... but I just wonder what people really were thinking when something completely new like this comes along. The idea vs the actual reality can be debated an infinitum. Mostly though -- and this is where I take issue with the entire notion -- where is the "value" derived from in an "investment" in Bitcoins??

In a nutshell -- hoping that someone will pay a higher price than you just did. Period.

While it might be fun - and it might be the "hot deal" to talk about - and you might be the "cutting edge" dude at the water cooler in the office.... it's still just gambling. Gambling that if you pay X -- someone else will come along and pay X more. It's fantastic on the way up... and you're looking really brilliant while it's going up. But that feeling when over night it goes south and all the money you "made" goes out the window. Well - that's not the feeling you want to experience in your "investments". Save those feelings for buying a lottery ticket - or going to the dog/horse races.

Bitcoin hit a high of $1100... it's half that today. OUCH!



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-...s-and-arrests/

You're doing good Lance... but don't rush. You can ALWAYS buy. Just keep a steady hand and ease on in there.

Frankly -- it's never about getting the last 50 cents off... but think more about PERCENTAGES... If a stock is "on sale" 5 - 6 - 7 PERCENT -- then when it comes back you have a better "total return". The problem doing this is in an up market where a guy really never gets the chance to catch the train leaving the station.

Nobody can predict what the market is going to do. NOBODY. The only thing we can TRY to do is to gain some minor understanding of it. It's why I preach LONG TERM - INVESTING - and hopefully, time, and the power of compounding, work their magic.

An interesting exercise on RETIREMENT INCOME investing.... I read the entire thing.... and there are GOOD THOUGHT PROCESS going on here. So it was certainly worth the read.

Here's where I take issue with it.... WAY TOO MANY NAMES for anyone to be able to follow and feel good about knowing what they own. That's me personally... If I can't tell you what I own -- remember them ALL -- and tell you WHY... Then they're not in my accounts. This is why I personally limit my stocks to about 20 names.

Here's the way I figure it. Let's say I have 200K invested - so 20 names would give me 10K in each one. That's just about right in my book. That's enough dough in each name to have it really working.. yet it's not too much dough per name if one should crap out. So if I have 20 million in stocks - why not the same thinking? A million per name - manageable to follow and check up on... but all stuff that I can feel good about. The ratio is the same. If I felt good enough about them to stick 100K in them - then why wouldn't I stick half a mill in it if I still liked it and it was working for me. Why try to make it complicated and just go out and find something else "just because"?


ANYWAY -- Here's the link to the article because I did like some of the work he's done - or rather - the way he looked at things. You never have to agree with EVERYTHING you read - it's all just learning you take away what you want and leave the rest on the table.


http://seekingalpha.com/article/2017..._str_2_4&ifp=0

I'm really starting to like Seeking Alpha, at first it was daunting when I would click on a SA link here or there that was posted in this thread...but the more and more I read there, the more I like it.

I especially like the comments after the articles that I read, one can learn almost as much from those as they can from the articles themselves.

It was also nice to see the links to some of the stocks in the article posted above by Greg, colored differently to show that I've already been looking at them, and have even purchased some.

So, did anyone else have TWC on their looking at but haven't pulled the trigger yet list?

I liked the ROI, like the product (current TWC customer), but some of the fundamentals bothered me, mainly the debt ratio. Was trying to decide on either that or CTL as a future holding in that segment.

Individual stocks are purely PERSONAL picks...



You missed Time Warner Cable (TWC) -- and apparently the debt ratio doesn't mean a single thing to anyone - because it's going to be acquired by Comcast and is trading UP $9 a share this morning.

That is the one part I guess I'll never understand about Stock market investing...

As a business person, I look at that balance sheet and it makes me shudder...yet someone at Comcast (or Charter as they were looking at it first) can look at it and see something completely different.

Little disappointed I missed a decent bump but have to keep reminding myself I'm in this for the long haul and for dividend income, not speculation and day trading purposes... :rules:

I think cable companies will be the next newspaper type dinasours in a few years. Might be some short term gains but long term horrizon I see many of them extinct.

News is coming out that the number of foreclosures in the US increased DRAMATICALLY according to RealtyTrac. +57% in California last month.

http://www.businessinsider.com/forec...pattern-2014-2

http://www.capradio.org/articles/201...nd-in-january/

Along for the ride, let's see what happens!

Steven --


This is not directed at you or anyone in particular -- but I think more Californian's live on the ragged edge than almost anywhere else in the US. So a sharp rise in foreclosures there doesn't surprise me at all. There seems to be 2 economies in California --- the "coastal" communities that are nice... and the "rest of the state" which seems really depressing. Drive highway 99 vs 101 and you really notice the two economies.

Someone around this thread owns Occidental Petroleum (OXY) ---- whomever that is... is having a very nice day today! Good for them!!

Another BitCoin debacle... and they try to tell me this is an "investment". I don't think so.





http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/14/fl...he-end-coming/

was listening to this on Rob Black in the morning on KDoW here in the Bay Area this morning, interesting, him and Chad Burton (CFP) were both saying they wouldnt touch it with a ten foot poll, but that it is interesting nonetheless. I guess its fraudulent in some cases, and some countries its illegal.


On another note, why is Natural gas still on the rise? is it a winter demand heating sort of thing? Cause from what i understand, we have plenty of it, so how can it continue to rise? i see it as supply vs demand...

Just because you have "plenty" of something - doesn't necessarily mean you can get it from source to end user... and I'm pretty sure the "shortage" may have been more like "holding back" (good business if you can get away with it). The government finally had to order the suppliers to put more gas in the pipe - which they did.... and I'm sure - and a hefty return.

It's the way business works... I have something you need -- I want to get paid for it when I can - and I want to charge as much as possible for it if I can. Sucks if you need it - It's great if you're the seller!

LOL

Point. Ya gotta love free enterprise....

I'm invested in OXY. I'm still in the red but it's a nice gain that's for sure. OXY found a buyer for their Hugoton assets which is the area I work in for them. Not only that but they also raised the dividend payment 8 cents to 72. woot!

The only downside would be if the new owners don't use us for their services. Then that hits me weekly in my paycheck. Doh!

The good news for you Trey - is you probably have skills that are sough after in the Bakken or some other oil hot spot. I hear you can make 100K a year driving a truck in North Dakota! Buy yourself a nice trailer and get ready to move....


http://www.dakotaoiljobs.com

No way! Too damn cold, lol. We've got plenty of other customers we work for here as well. Oxy just happens to be our number one customer. Some companies also will flat out not use Halliburton regardless of who the actual people are that will be doing whatever job they need done. I'm hoping the buyers aren't one of those companies. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Adam Aloisi

Will The Allure Of Dividend Growth Continue?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2022..._str_3_4&ifp=0

Pretty interesting article but the comments below were even more interesting.

Lance....


Since the beginning of time -- I've yelled at people to get started early! AND that 4 or 5% "return" - which is actually the CASH FLOW - off a million bucks is "ONLY" going to be 40 or 50 grand -- and then there's taxes off that!! So if a guy ONLY HAS a million bucks... at retirement... life is going to suck. Social Security is paltry... and health insurance alone is going to be a HUGE cost in retirement!

What MANY folks utterly fail to look at is TOTAL RETURN... so it's not just the dividend to concern yourself with -- your CAPITAL must grow as well. The total return for the last 5 years is utterly distorted by the LOWS of '08 and '09.... so we have to look at that number longer term -- with this latest 5 year period being an aberration. Still -- the numbers will prove -- that Dividends re-invested - along with growth -- and time (the biggest factor IMHO) will go a long ways toward helping the overall finances of most people.

The reason I yell -- DIVIDENDS and TOTAL RETURN and "GO BACK AND LOOK AT THE CHARTS" - is because the average "investor" is really not equipped PSYCHOLOGICALLY (mentally) to be a good investor. They buy when the market is on fire - and sell the minute it sells off.... As investors they suck!

So what to do? Get people to SEE their money making money... see that dividend every quarter -- see that it's being reinvested - buying them more shares - which pays a bigger dividend - which buys more shares.... I'm TRYING to help them STAY in the market. If they stay in the market (trusting the dividend etc) then - over time - they'll be winners instead of losers.

I guess my point of all of this is that there isn't a perfect strategy that guarantees success.... or that is perfect 100% of the time. Even commercial real estate can suck... or rental houses etc... because you can just as easily buy in the wrong neighborhood - or the main source of income in your town closes up (think what would happen to Seattle if Boeing or Microsoft moved)... But as long as people get started --- THAT'S WHAT COUNTS.


PS ---- I LOVED THIS COMMENT IN THE ARTICLE YOU POSTED.....




L:

Most baby boomers are freaking broke.

For the fortunate few who have a million dollars to invest in a DG portfolio, I hope that they can be happy living on 40k in dividend income.

Had they started earlier, that 40k would be closer to 80K today.

Cannot stress the importance of getting started with DG investing early. You can still play the stock market "game" with half your portfolio, but that's how many people end up having to work at Walmart as greeters when they "retire."

Dave

I laughed when I read that comment as well... :rofl: