04-29-2015, 05:25 PM
(04-29-2015, 01:39 AM)Dividend Watcher Wrote:(04-28-2015, 09:40 PM)stewardinlife Wrote:(04-28-2015, 07:46 PM)Jimbo Wrote: WOW, DW without time to talk. I ALWAYS enjoy the insights of DW.
My gut feeling is when he has the time he will expand on the previous comments.
No DW, that is not a dig on you, you articulate well and I like reading all the good stuff from everyone.
Jim
And I am all ears for DWs input
OMG, you guys are killing me here. Don't know where you come up with that stuff. I'm just a bumpkin living in the middle of a corn field.
Welcome again, Paul. Being 40 is not late to the game. You've got lots of time left to do well, especially with the resources you're bringing to the table.
Maybe I'm wrong but from your first post, you sounded like you were just getting into individual company investing rather than picking some mutual funds for your pension & Roth. Somehow you ended up on a "dividend growth" forum. So my first question is, what are you thinking a dividend growth strategy is? I don't mean to put you on the spot (the question is rhetorical) but I just find it interesting with the "total returners", "modern portfolio theory (MPT)" adherents and "indexers" all over the place you chose to join a dividend growth slanted crowd. Of course, not everyone here has the same concept. We're not zombies following the same mindless strategy. For some dividend growth is reserved for just a portion of their portfolio. There's nothing wrong with any of the above. For me, it was the most logical for the time I have available until I need some of that money back and for the time I have to devote to research and watching the market. I tried much of the above but was never very good at it. Maybe I just don't have the mental capacity to be successful at them; who knows.
That being said, and my silly notion that I can help point out some ideas for your journey, my next quesion is do you have a plan or goals? Just "do want to do the best I can" is a little vague to help guide you along the way. I'm big on having a guiding document. I went back into the DGF archives and found these threads that may expound on this point:
If you're a reader of Seeking Alpha, I'd also suggest searching on Bob Wells and David Van Knapp for more on developing a business plan for your portfolio. It would be among their older posts 3-4 years ago, IIRC.
You had a pretty interesting list in your first post. The replies added a bunch more good ones to think about; probably enough to make your head spin. So much so that now you don't know how to narrow it down or which you want to tackle first. So again I paged back through because I know we touched on valuations a while back and found these:
There's a ton of good information if you go back through the board. I hadn't realized all the interesting discussions we've had here and so many of our posters contributed some great insights.
Lastly, I'll add to not be afraid of asking "dumb" questions. I ask more than my fair share and the responses are often very illuminating.
Looking forward to your participation.
Hello Dividend Watcher, first of all thanks so much for taking the time to explain and point me in the right direction. Agree with you on setting up a goal and a plan, I definitely want to do it. I have been going over the links/suggestions you have provided -- they are very useful. But before I fully draw out a nice plan, I want to clarify some of the queries you have for me.
1. I have been using the pension and Roth IRA for many years, although haven't been contributing the max amounts until about a year ago.
Pension:
I do have to confess that I "blindly" chose an aggressive portfolio for my company's pension after meeting with a rep. I do want to do be diligent in actually rebalancing/choosing a better mutual funds in there, but seem to be at a loss. I would love for you guys to give any suggestions on that.
Roth IRA:
I have it through Vanguard and I placed 90% of the funds in "Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares, VTSAX," this gave me 9.7% growth till date for my investment; and the rest in "Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund, VBLTX " I just recently started the VBLTX.
Again, I would be open to and value your feedback/suggestions.
I do not have any debt except monthly rent.
2. The reason I want to start DGI is I am wanting to start a separate system apart from the retirement vehicle to start generating passive income stream using income/cash sitting in my bank idly doing nothing.
Okay, now to my end goal of what I would like to achieve from DGI:
To be more specific (again, I am yet to come up with a detailed goal/plan), I am wanting to see if I can generate around at least 30K in income from DGI in about 15 - 20 years. I do want to contribute 1K/month (or more as I see fit). Am I reasonable in my expectation, or totally off. Is it possible to achieve this?
Thanks for your feedback.
Paul