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I just took the plunge and started a dividend portfolio. I cashed out my S&P 500 index fund and invested in 22 stocks, equally weighted. I also have a utilities ETF, a REIT etf, and a long term bond funds all with very low expense ratios and pay similar dividends to what I'd get for individual stocks in those sectors.
I'm maxing out my contributions every month, what's the best strategy for future contributions? Should I purchase new funds from here and keep equally weighting or should I pick a select few from my portfolio and dollar cost average? I also am trying to minimize trade fees as well.
Thoughts?
What I do with my ROTH IRA contributions is that I buy the stock that I think offers the best value. Since I'm still in the accumulation phase, equal weighting doesn't really matter too much to me.
Posts: 176
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That's probably what I'll do for a while. I have a few stocks on my watch list, but after that I think I'm going to focus on what I own. Unfortunately with the low contribution limits it'll be hard to dollar cost average without fees eating away at it.
Hey Navy. Congrats on taking the plunge. My first piece of advice is to take a deep breath, do a lot of reading and take things in a very measured fashion. Now that you are into DGI, I would encourage you to spend some time each day on "Seeking Alpha " website. So many folks are there who share their stories and will most likely answer all of your questions if you read them enough. Like you, I converted, but about 2-3 yrs ago. I have about 23 equities and two or three ETFs / mutuals. All of a sudden lately the market has become extremely volatile, moving 250 points up one day and 275 points down the next. This is that time to " hunker down" as we say in hurricane territory. But know that this, too, shall pass. There are only two rules of the market to know: Mr. market goes up, and Mr. market goes down. If you have a fairly solid mix of blue chip, dividend growth equities,then you should be able to ride out the volatile periods. In the mean- time.....Go Navy! (from one who lives in the Cradle of Naval Aviation).
