I came across this great article on the Kiplinger finance site, 12 Dividend Aristocrats for Every Month of the Year. It lists 12 companies and shares some of their dividend history. As a group, you’ll get dividend payments every month. Getting paid every month, helps with budgeting and cash flow for sure. Though I like […]
Yes reinvested dividends are taxable income. Assuming you’re reinvesting dividends in a regular taxable account. If you’re using a 401k rollover / IRA account, then reinvested dividends are not taxable. The thing is, you probably mean to ask…
Dividend increases are amazingly powerful in their impact on the compounding of dividend “paychecks,” especially for people with a long term focus on building wealth. Increases compound over time, but also ensure protection of the dividend “paycheck” from inflation. A New Dividend King There are currently only 19 dividend kings, companies with 50+ consecutive years of dividend […]
The Irrelevant Investor
1/18/2017
Charlie Munger is famous in the investing world. He’s a plain-spoken master of what should be the obvious, typified by the following response to a request for investment advice: Seems simple. In fact it is, and it’s powerful advice. There’s really no secret to getting started investing when taking this advice. Which begs the question… […]
The Elephant in the Room has a Paycheck by David Bressler (New York City: Infinite Probabilities, 2016)
A fun and socially conscious plan to get you started investing. Written by yours truly! Yeah, this is my book.
During the editing process, I read my book over and over. There were times when I was feeling down about the publishing process — whether how long it was taking, or how difficult some of the stages were. I’d read my book and be inspired.
I believe I’ve told a unique story that will help people who are not friends with numbers get started investing. Technology is making it easier than ever to get started, but people still need a story to hook their interest. Here it is.
It’s a quick read, shouldn’t take more than a couple or a few hours. But be prepared to re-read it, especially Part Four where I outline specific actionable steps to get started.
I’m also working on a free email course to take that section even further for people who start investing modestly with the purpose of learning more about investing. Subscribe if you’d like to be notified when it’s available.
40% of total stock returns come from dividends, but what are dividends? From Part 2 of my book: When you purchase shares in a company, you become a partial owner of that company. When buying shares on a stock market through a brokerage, you’re buying shares of a public company – a company that has […]
I can’t even contain how excited Stockpile makes me. I have such a passion for investing by reinvesting dividends and having money make money. These guys seem to have thought of everything, and investing is as easy as it can be. You can get started with as little as $1. (Whether it makes sense to […]
I love listening to older people’s perspective on life.
There’s a good quote from this book, it talks about how important it is to connect with other people. I couldn’t agree more, as it’s something I learned too late in life. In fact, helping my children be more connected with others is one of my top parenting priorities.
Read this book when you have time to chew on it.
Read this article to understand the power of compounding and why even long term thinkers can’t comprehend how things will play out over the long arc of time.
Compounding plays an important factor in the Elephant’s Paycheck Blueprint because we reinvest dividends and count on annual dividend increases (which compound on each other year-after-year). We’re compounding that dividend return because we get dividends from our dividends, and over time, it really adds up. Even after a “short time” like five years, you’ll see really interesting numbers if you look at compound dividend growth from reinvesting and annual dividend increases.
It’s anecdotal, but after about 4 1/2 years the paycheck from the totally random sample portfolio I put together increased 75%, and has a projected raise of over 10% for the next year (conservatively). The anecdote I like to tell… you probably aren’t getting 10% a year (year after year) at your job. But your portfolio can.
Part of the reason it’s hard to understand is that, as I write about it, I have to shift between absolute numbers (a 10¢ increase) and relative numbers (a 10% increase) as I’m describing different aspects of what to expect. I don’t think people understand percentages very well. If I told you you had a $1 a year income from investing, you’d roll your eyes. But, it’s important. If you had only invested $50, that’s 20% — a fantastic income percentage.
At a time when people want quick answers to things, but don’t want to stop and think about what they mean, it’s hard to get readers to spend the time to think about what this all means, and why it’s important. I had someone interrupt me the other day and say:
Yeah. And I hope some of that will rub off on you guys.