Investing 102

[MPM IV]

Gentlemen,

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who's contributed to this thread. I found a link to it on another forum a while back, and it's been a great resource, and motivator for me. I appreciate even the people who seem very knowledgeable keeping it at the beginners level for those of us that aren't. I'm also very surprised at how open people have been using themselves as examples for the rest of us. Again, thank you.

My father made great efforts to get me to invest, and I did open an IRA when I was 20, but I never really understood much about it. He always spoke at levels far beyond my comprehension and lost me.

I'm currently 41 and retired from the Army. I'm already realizing some mistakes I've made (besides not investing), but my one saving grace is that I live below my means. For years I comforted myself that I was saving for a house and didn't want the money tied up. I bought a house about 1 1/2 years ago and kept saving in a bank account making a whopping .5% or so.

Since reading this thread I've picked up:

Altria Group (MO)
ATT (T)
Southern Company (SO)
and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B)

I plan to try and add a bit more diversity in my next purchases, but I overshot on the first few, so I won't be at 5% in each for a while.

I'm on several car forums, but I never thought I'd join one due to an investing thread. I've made it through about 200 pages here so far.

Thanks again to everyone and I look forward to continued learning!