Wealth: January Dividend Income

Part of investing in dividend growth stocks is trusting in the process. There are going to be some good months and there are going to be some bad months. The trick is to try to align for dividend payments to be about equal every month. This is a trick that I have not yet mastered. As one can see from last years dividend payments, I might be a little off as far as consistency goes.

I can't give up though. The dividend snowball is a slow moving process at the start as you try to build up a good enough roll to get it moving. While months like this January may have felt small in comparison to some other months or small in comparison to where I thought it might be by now, it is still an amount of money that I wouldn't otherwise have.

It's good to keep this lesson at the forefront of my mind as I don't want to start straying from this path. If I think too much about other "get rich quick" schemes, I may find myself potentially falling for them and that just simply will not do! It simply will not do at all - not one bit! One has to remember the other types of dividends that have been given through the month.

Holdings in a Bear Market

In a bull market most investors find wins in every shape, size, and sector. That’s just the way it goes when the economy is up and the market is running on highs. In a bear market however, the gains are far fewer and far between. At those times, it becomes increasingly harder for investors to find value and protect their equities. Some sell short, some trade options, others such as myself build a portfolio that has built in stocks that weather bear markets better than others.

There a few qualities that I look for in stocks that I feel can bolster themselves against a bear market. First off, I want to aim for stocks that have a history of weathering bear conditions. Secondly, I want to choose companies that I feel fit that mold but that also have a product that couldn’t just as easily be wiped away. We are still aiming for longevity of course. Lastly, I aim for stocks that are talked about are debated a lot on message boards.

Dividend Increase: WMT

Oh what a wonderful year it has been for the Cookie Jar so far and this month is no different. Although the market has recently seen some volatility, WMT again decided for the 43rd consecutive year to raise its dividends and guess who owns a nice little piece of WMT? We do! This means that without us lifting even the smallest amount of our fingers, we’ve effectively seen a raise from a great company that still shows support for its investors. Although the company itself has seem some slowing over the most recent years, they still show that they are a dividend paying contender.