Yeah, I am. It's been a long road though and along the way, I've learned many things, adjusted my purview countless times and only recently came to the conclusion that I've been "doing it wrong" all this time. What I mean by that is that since my point of being in the market is for retirement purposes only, trying to find that right group of stocks that will "get me set" for retirement is a fool's errand.
So, a few years back, I decided to invest in a target retirement fund from Vanguard and so far I've been successful and have even outpaced inflation, though, I did lose thousands of dollars in the most recent correction a month or so ago. This loss got me thinking about what if I was 65 this year and this correction happened? I'm sure there were thousands of folks who were in that predicament. So, instead of continuing to put more money into my TRF, I've decided to take the dividend yield route. Invest only in stocks that pay a dividend yield so this way even in the down times, I am still getting a "consistent" payout regardless of the market volatility. I put quotes around consistent because, yes, there is a chance that the dividend could get cut but if I've done my due diligence the chances of this happening are slim.
Anyway, as far as planning for the future, I started out late. I racked up thousands of dollars in CC debt and it was only until my early 30's when I got out from under all of that and started making changes financially. Anyway, I won't bore you with my journey and subsequent discovery down this financial road but I am definitely in a better place today, financially, than I ever have been.
Holdings:
I have 3 DRIPS I started almost a decade ago (I'd rather not post what I have of each):
3M 34%
GPC 10%
JNJ 24%
Scottrade
BRK-B 66%
Vanguard ROTH IRA
VFORX 8%
All percentages are to date.
For the next 20 years I will mostly only be adding to positions of stocks with dividend yields.
So, a few years back, I decided to invest in a target retirement fund from Vanguard and so far I've been successful and have even outpaced inflation, though, I did lose thousands of dollars in the most recent correction a month or so ago. This loss got me thinking about what if I was 65 this year and this correction happened? I'm sure there were thousands of folks who were in that predicament. So, instead of continuing to put more money into my TRF, I've decided to take the dividend yield route. Invest only in stocks that pay a dividend yield so this way even in the down times, I am still getting a "consistent" payout regardless of the market volatility. I put quotes around consistent because, yes, there is a chance that the dividend could get cut but if I've done my due diligence the chances of this happening are slim.
Anyway, as far as planning for the future, I started out late. I racked up thousands of dollars in CC debt and it was only until my early 30's when I got out from under all of that and started making changes financially. Anyway, I won't bore you with my journey and subsequent discovery down this financial road but I am definitely in a better place today, financially, than I ever have been.
Holdings:
I have 3 DRIPS I started almost a decade ago (I'd rather not post what I have of each):
3M 34%
GPC 10%
JNJ 24%
Scottrade
BRK-B 66%
Vanguard ROTH IRA
VFORX 8%
All percentages are to date.
For the next 20 years I will mostly only be adding to positions of stocks with dividend yields.