[toy71camaro]

Once again Greg, thanks for the extremely helpful guidance you've given all of us here.

Thanks also on the thoughts on what I posted previously about AAPL. I felt that way because I just didnt see/feel the strength of the company at the personal/local level. I dont see people lining up in droves (maybe they will this next time), and I personally jumped ship last year and couldnt be happy. But, its not always personal. lol. Good points from the "other side" to keep my mind in the game, and not just a simple feeling. To whole at the "whole thing".


And that leads me to my next topic to get some guidance on. Which that is trying to decide what stock to "add more" to, since I'm fairly diversified at the moment, and reaching my next purchase limit (for the record, I set aside $ monthly for my ROTH IRA, then when that amount reaches $1k, I then buy something).

So, here's where I stand. I've got the money ready. Do I wait for the sell in May and go away before throwing it in? or do it now. And then, the big question, What to put it in? I've got a few "runners" and a few "trotters".

For teaching purposes, I'll put some numbers along with these to help us/me explain, and see what/how I should be "thinking" about this process. I'm going to "think out loud" here, and see what happens.. lol

My thoughts are around these stocks:

MO: 4.79% div. I'm up 62% total return.
KMB: 3% div. Up 59% total return.
T: 5.19% div. Up 24% total return.

I'm sure all 3 of those are "fine" choices. But, since i'd like to get my overall Div % higher, I'm leaning towards MO and T. MO has a 8% div growth rate avg the past 5 years. T has a 2.4%. MO 5yr Total Return is 210%. T is 80%.

Looking at those numbers.. It seems MO is the obvious choice based on Div Growth and overall growth. Seems MO will surpass T quickly on the Div side. But am I looking at the right numbers? I think the forward look on both stock have great potential.

Edit: Oh, and each of these started as a $1k investment and have grown to what they are now. I'm about to add another $1k to it, almost doubling my position in it.