10 best practices for dividend investing

At this point of time, in mid thirties and, having a stable job, I do not look for income from my shares. I rather re-invest the dividend I receive each quarter. I own almost 20 different stocks right now and more than 80% of those stocks are dividend paying.  

If you are aiming for higher return from your investment, stock and dividend investing is probably in your list already. But stock investment inherit greater risk compared to other form of investment. You should have some clear strategy and game plan to secure higher return with lower risk. These are some of the best practices that I tend to learn and adapt over last few years.

Let’s see them, very briefly.

10 best practices for dividend investment

1. Setting goals: working without a goal means nothing…you do not have anything to lose. All you do is survive. With goals, you will know the reasons for your investment and what you want to do with it when it matures. Eventually, you can decide the steps to do to make your dreams come true
2. Have strategies that are achievable and sensible. People have written down their dreams and visions, it wouldn’t be surprising to write down your own in a document. Write down steps of how you will be investing your capital.
3. Learn from mistakes: first I should mention that once the excitement of being an investor wears off, there comes a point when you will make mistakes-but first learn from the mistakes and experience of others before you can learn from your own
4. Think beyond today or tomorrow: think about how your life will be in the next two to three decades. This is a motivation that will help a lot in deciding against impulse decisions that many people make when they are scared. This will also encourage you  to invest more
5. Follow your strategies: it is one thing to have a strategy document and it is another thing to follow them to the last point. You can always increase their number, but they shouldn’t be too restrictive or too allowing as you will not achieve what you set out to achieve. A good example will be the judging of companies according to factors like current yield, dividend growth rate, operating margins, earnings growth etc.
6. Learn: there is never an end to learning. Learning investing is a great way to go about your own path of investment, learn on valuation, compounding business developments corporations master limited partner shops etc. understand the risks you have to take when going a certain path. Always maximize the rewards and minimize the risks.
7. Measure your own performance constantly: are you achieving your goals? Will you have an income stream at  the end of your investment? If your total returns will be affected, perhaps it is time you changed your tactics and went to something else
8. Selecting stocks: when it comes to stock considerations, you must have a list of what your stocks should have for you to consider them. You should have a minimum standard of initial yield and an increase streak. You should remove from your list and standards any kind that does not meet your standards. This will make it very easy for you to select stocks
9. Diversify your portfolio: decide how diversified it will be. It could be measured by the number of stocks or companies, the varieties of yields, the various growth rates and so forth. Decide the parameters of your diversification.
10. Monitor your portfolio. You need to keep up with the important happenings in your stocks. Get constant reviews from experts and so forth.  This is an important exercise, although not something you should do everyday.

Readers, you have seen that having a good dividend income strategy is no different from having a stock portfolio growth strategy. You might be on the course of increasing your dividend income, what strategies you want to recommend other readers?