Figure 1-1. Computer Room
Image courtesy of www.Wikipedia.org

Does income you don’t have to work for sound interesting?  Because if it does, here’s a story that might interest you.  It’s about stocks that pay you to own them, called dividend stocks.  And anyone can buy them if they want.  And get paid, too.

So this is the story about how I discovered them, many decades ago, at the young age of 20.  It’s a true story just as described.  And I can still feel the sense of wonder as I write this now.  So here’s what happened…

As I walked out of the bank’s computer room, blinking into the bright afternoon sunlight, my head was still spinning with the financial secret I had just learned.

I had seen how someone could receive big income and never have to work again.

My stunning revelation had begun early that Saturday morning, many years ago, in Springfield, Missouri.  As a young computer programmer at Union National Bank, I was working weekend overtime to test my computer program.  It printed quarterly dividend checks for stockholders of the bank.

I was surrounded by all of the massive hardware, printers and large mainframe computer with rows of blinking lights and control switches.  And I stared in disbelief at the $5335 check my program had printed ($32,000 in today’s dollars).

I couldn’t believe the size of the check, and felt sure I must have a program bug.  I flipped through the pile of checks my program had printed to mail to the bank’s stockholders.  Most were for Read the rest of this entry »

Our popular book Stock Investing For Beginners was just published in audio book form.  So for those of you who like to listen to your books, it’s now available in that format, as well as Kindle and Print.  You can go to listen to free Audible Sample here.

Which is important because many people have some nagging sense that stocks are important.  And in fact, they are right.

In the book they’ll learn that a former janitor and gas station attendant in Vermont, who died a few years ago, surprised everyone by leaving an $8 million fortune to his local library and hospital.

What was his secret, everyone wondered?  And the answer turned out to be pretty basic.  Because, besides being Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I received an email from a reader named Joe who said he’s looking to build a dividend paying stock portfolio. He went on to say that he liked the passive income idea, and getting dividend checks in the mail. But he was trying to figure out how to get started.

Which led him to ask this great question. And that was, “could he just copy the dividend stock investments that other people have made?” For example, could he just buy the same stocks I own, or someone else owns, or even Warren Buffett owns.

Now, on the surface, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. I mean, after all, we’re taught to emulate success. And if you’re just starting out, why not start off with the stocks that are working for someone else?

But as rational as this sounds, there’s a possible problem and limitation with this approach. And that is Read the rest of this entry »

There are any number of ways you can invest in the stock market. And two of the more common ways are through individual stocks and stock funds. Not surprisingly, both ways have their own advantages and disadvantages.

One of the clear advantages of investing in stock funds is diversification. That is to say, since a typical fund is invested in many different stocks, if you own the fund, then you are invested in those many stocks too (see https://livelearnandprosper.com/rocks-stocks-or-etfs-which-are-better).

But today I want to show you a stock fund that offers another type of advantage. This fund allows you to tap into a special trading skill that most stock investors don’t have. But by investing in it, you get the benefit of this special expertise for free.

By the way, that benefit is more income. And the stock fund I’m talking about is Read the rest of this entry »

Between Covid-19, a dicey economy and a heap of election politics thrown in the mix, we are in some challenging times at the moment. However, as shaky as everything feels right now, I tend to think we’ll get through it all, as we usually do.

But the trip may be a bit bumpy from time to time.

Now, when you’re in for a bumpy ride, boring can be beautiful in the investment world. So I thought to share with you a number of boring things that I’m doing. Because you may find them useful, and in the end, think boring is beautiful too.

So let’s get started with my three Read the rest of this entry »

These are strange investing times, with the COVID-19 pandemic, damaged economy, and a volatile stock market setting record extremes in both directions.  And while I remain fairly optimistic we’ll pull through this, at the moment there’s real doubt on where to invest, or not, while we’re going down this path.

That’s because investors are living under great uncertainty right now.  The stock market crashed a few months ago, and then made an amazing comeback.  So people wonder if Read the rest of this entry »

100 Oz Silver Bars – About 7 Pounds Each

Silver is one of the least appreciated precious metals investments in today’s markets.  And that can be a buying opportunity.  So I want to share with you a great way to invest in it… it’s convenient, automatic and online.  And I’ll share with you my favorite online company that I use.  Come to think of it, it’s the only online company that I currently use. Read the rest of this entry »

Miguel De Cervantes Circa 1615

“Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket,” comes from an old Spanish proverb that’s been around for centuries.  It first appeared in print in 1615 in the classic book Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.

This age old idiom is good life advice, and it’s good investing advice as well.  Indeed, what we’ll describe here is the single most important factor to your investing success, and one of the oldest tricks in the book.  It’s far more important than Read the rest of this entry »

I recently took a vacation in Utah where I admired the big sky country, and amazing rock formations, out in Arches National Park.  When I returned and went through my email, I’d received the following note and great question from a reader named Leeka.

Leeka asked about investing in stocks versus funds, so I thought to share it with you because it’s worth discussing… Read the rest of this entry »

Not all investments need be in stocks and bonds and funds.  Indeed, most investors should own some precious metals like silver and gold as well.  That’s because they help protect against inflation and may also stabilize your portfolio by going up, when the stock market goes down.

And while there are many ways to invest in precious metals, here’s a simple little trick I do to painlessly invest in pure silver and gold.  And every time I do it, I feel like one of the alchemist of old in the Middle Ages.

You remember the alchemists, right?  They were the guys with the Read the rest of this entry »