April 2014 Dividend Update

April was another great month for dividend investors as the payouts kept on coming.  The cumulative amounts are rising slow and steady month by month in the account.  Eventually before long it will multiply, expand, and buy my way to freedom if I so choose.  Not only was it a good month for regular dividends, but the month was filled of several dividend raises.  I remain convinced that this investment strategy is one of the best ways to build wealth and by focusing on companies that share their success with you are the way to go.  Not only do many of the high quality companies share some of the profits, but they increase it regularly. This makes one feel safe and valued to invest in such fine businesses.  My April 2014 dividends are as follows:

Early FI is achievable regardless of what people say

Often times at work I have conversations with people about the desire to retire early and have more time to enjoy life.  Usually the thought comes up when I am stressed out and being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  Although there are some people who seem to be content and enjoy the day to day grind.  I think these are the people in the minority rather then the majority.  There are a few excuses why people don't think they too could pursue financial independence like I am.  One is the time and effort would be too much nonetheless the mounting bills adding up.  Inflation for everything except the paycheck.  There are a couple weak excuses also I have come across from people about FI being a negative.  Here are two of them and sometimes I think jealousy is at the heart of these claims.

March 2014 Dividend Update

March 2014 is in the books and was another nice month for dividend income.  It is nice to see the real numbers hitting the account  Progress shows that the plan is working and anyone can do it even with a small work salary.  Every little amount helps us become closer to achieving our goals and buys blocks of time towards FI.  That way we can pursue and find things that are more important and worthy of our time besides full time work.  Some people love their jobs and I think that is great.  Others are mistreated and underappreciated for the work they perform and I applaud them for taking the path of investing to get some of their time back.

February 2014 Dividend Update

Another month has passed and brings another opportunity to report on the progress that my dividend portfolio has been making.  It seems time is moving fast on me and with it being a limited commodity I find myself more determined each and every day to grow this income source so I can have the security of knowing I have something to fight with in case of a catastrophe.  I am overall happy with this portfolio's income in February and look forward to March which will be a monthly record for me and I hope many of you reading along.  Thank you for all the support and following along with the journey.

How Dividends will buy my Freedom!

Have you ever searched for a way to make money for doing nothing?  Does that sound too good to be true?  Well it is possible to do and 100% legitimately.  No cheating or cutting down anyone to get ahead.  In this article I am going to attempt to explain why dividend stocks are the best way to invest (especially for young people).  There are a few different ways to make passive income such as bond interest, rental properties, and of course my ultimate favorite DIVIDENDS!

 I believe dividends are the safest and most reliable way because of the proven track record coupled with the interest rates and ultra low yields on bonds.  The housing market may be a great investment as well, but I’m not near that stage where I can afford to drop enough money to participate.  I make a very small income from my job, but am still able to grow dividend income little by little by buying pieces of well run companies, holding onto them through time, and reinvesting dividends into them to build a compounding machine.  So many people I talk to are scared of investing and think it is like gambling.  I would say maybe day traders gamble a little bit, but still have much better chances at favorable outcomes.  I take a little bit of issue with those who advocate 4% withdrawal no matter market conditions.  Who knows how the market will act from year to year?  What if you are selling assets at their all time low during a recession instead of accumulating shares. 

I believe our plan (as well as many bloggers is a much more solid) See here of holding onto the ownership of these quality companies and at the same time being able to cover all expenses and thus live off of the income they throw off to you.  That gives you a safety net to fall back on in case you unexpectedly lose your job or take a pay cut.  The ultimate goal for most of us is to have the option to not work if we so choose not to and as soon as possible.  It will take a little discipline and some work to maintain your portfolio.  It is not exactly easy to do all the research always while working full time and/or going to school full time.  I know this firsthand, but I believe it will be well worth it in the end.  Do you think you need a high degree to figure it out?  I would argue that it may help you since I am going to school as I type this, but I don’t think at all you have to be a scholar.  Just do the research yourself, find what companies you are comfortable with and learn from your mistakes if you lose money on some then move on because you cannot always predict with 100% accuracy and win every single time.  Getting started may be the hardest part and a lot of people I know say don’t have enough cash to start an account.  At the same time I see a lot of those same people find enough money to spend on less productive things.  I am definitely glad I started investing early and very happy I found my primary strategy of dividend investing.  It will allow me to eventually OWN my time and one day give me the freedom to spend the time doing things I enjoy instead of adhering to the strict schedule someone else drafts out for me.

What about you?  Are you a trader or someone who invests for income?

January 2014 Dividend Update

January started off the year with a decent amount of dividend income.  I am posting this update rather late, but have been really busy working 40 hours every week and taking a Statistics class and accelerated online MSOffice class.  I really do appreciate the support of all the dividend bloggers and the dividend updates they post.  Just a few days ago the ARCP and COLE merger closed and my shares were increased in ARCP.  Not too happy about another $20 reorganization fee from the brokerage.  It is a great way to inspire each other to keep on improving our income.  Here is my January dividend update:

December 2013 Dividend Update and 2014 Goals

December has passed and wrapped up the year that was 2013!  What a great run it was for most investors in equities.  It left many high quality dividend stocks priced at high levels.  Time to look forward to 2014 and make some goals.  My goals will be to continue my strategy of finding quality dividend paying stocks and reinvest the dividends to gain an ever increasing stream of income.  When the opportunity arises I may try to chase some options to boost capital to buy more shares of stocks.

My goals for 2014 are to get as many classes I can finish in school and cover the expenses involved without taking on any, or very little debt.  I will target a goal of getting to $2,700 in dividends in 2014.  Ideally I'd like to double my dividends for as many years as I can, but I have to make the goal achievable and hope to be able to underpromise and overdeliver!