I've 5x'd the national average of money invested for my age bracket

I didn't get here by chance

I have a normal job with an average salary, but I became smart with my money once I learned these 5 things: 1) It's not about how much you make

It's not about how much you make, but how much you can keep

If you make $150k but spend $140k

You're worse off than someone who makes $100k but only spends $50k

Keeping more of your money allows you take advantage of the compounding effect

The easiest path to wealth is through buying index funds and holding them long term

But once you have a foundation in place, it may be time to start branching off into individual stocks

Here’s what I do before I even consider starting a position 1) Understand The Company

Don’t know how a company makes money?

Ask Ai to give you the answer in 100 words or less

Use this to your advantage

We have access to so much information in a fraction of a second

Dividend growth investing is easy

Especially when you know what to look for

Here are 5 tips to help you buy better quality dividend stocks: 1) Don’t chase high yields

New dividend investors will often chase high yielding junk to get the best bang for their buck

Big mistake

These stocks are usually at risk of dividend cuts

That’s the worst thing a dividend investor can experience

I’m a Gen Z investor with a portfolio worth over $200,000

Here are 5 lessons I’ve learned along the way: 1) Build a foundation before branching off

Dont rush into buying individual stocks

Build a foundation of index funds first

This will become the backbone of your portfolio and allow a margin of safety to extend into more volatile positions

I don’t care what anyone says…

Dividends are the purest form of passive income

The holy grail

Here are 4 tips you can implement TODAY to start making your money work for you: 1) Find the right brokerage account

There are plenty of options out there

Many of them offer investors zero trading fees, which can cut into your wealth long term

Some examples:

Robinhood (U.S.)
Fidelity (U.S.)
Wealthsimple (Canada)
E-trade (U.S.)
Questrade (Canada)

$5 per year…

That’s how much I was making in dividend income when I was 18

Now I make $3,915/year and it’s growing on itself without me having to do a thing

Here’s how I built my dividend portfolio in grade 5 language: 1) I bought stocks with a history of dividend increases

The first place I bought from was the Dividend Aristocrats list

Stocks that have been able to raise their dividend for the past 25+ consecutive years

They’ve survived through wars, pandemics and recessions

Dividend growth investing is easy

Especially when you know what you should be looking for

Here are 5 tips to help you buy better quality dividend stocks: 1) Don’t chase high yields

New dividend investors will often chase high yielding junk to get the best bang for their buck

Mistake

These stocks are usually at risk of dividend cuts

The worst thing a dividend investor can experience

Dividend stocks are great, but dividend ETFs can provide both diversification and income

Here are 3 of my favourite dividend ETFs that will boost your passive income: 1) Vanguard’s Dividend Appreciation ETF $VIG

This fund seeks to track the performance of the S&P’s US dividend growers index

It’s passively managed and invests in large caps stocks with a history of growing their dividends every year

YTD return: 7.91%

Ratio’s will give you the clues

The Cash Flow Statement will give you the answers

Every investor needs to know how to read one

Here’s how to do it in 5 minutes or less

- THREAD - What is the purpose of a cash flow statement?

To provide a picture of what happened to a business’s cash during a specific period

It will tell you exactly how a company manages it’s cash

And as we know, cash is KING 👑

My net worth just crossed $100,000 at 25 years old 🔥👀

Here's a quick thread on what I did to get there: ~ Every $1 has a purpose ~

Whether it's to pay down debt, for necessities, for saving/investing, or for fun

Make sure you have a plan for every dollar that enters your bank account before it gets there

There are so many dividend ETFs, but which ones are the best?

Here are 5 high quality dividend ETFs that will boost your dividend income and diversify your portfolio

- THREAD - 1) $SPHD Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF

Dividend yield: 4.06%

Top 5 holdings:

1) Altria
2) Telus
3) Dow Inc.
4) International Paper Company
5) Kinder Morgan

A recession is coming… you need to prepare yourself

Here are 5 of the “safest” industries to invest in so you can keep more of your money

- THREAD - 1) The Food Industry

The food industry is essential for human life and will continue to be in high demand no matter what the economy is doing

The Cash Flow Statement will tell you 85% of what you need to know about a company

I’ll teach you how to read one in 5 minutes or less

Thread: The purpose of a cash flow statement is to provide you with an idea of what’s happening with a company’s cash

It shows investors how well a company is able to handle the cash that flows in and out of the business

I did all the work so you don’t have to

Here are 5 large cap dividend stocks with:

- 5 year EPS growth over 15%
- Current ratio over 1
- Payout ratio under 60%
- Forward P/E under 15
- Analyst rating of buy or better

These are gems 💎

Thread: 1) Lowe’s ($LOW)

Home improvement retail

Dividend yield: 2.04%

2) Cash Flows

The cash flows will tell you almost everything you need to know about a company

It will tell you how they make money, where they make money from, how much of it they’re keeping and how they’re spending it

Look at the free cash flow as well

Cash is king 3) Beta

You don’t want volatile dividend stocks because that defeats the purpose of long term compounding

Beta will help you determine if the stock is more or less volatile than the market

A Beta of 1 means the stock is exactly as volatile as the market

Here’s how to figure out if a dividend stock is a BUY

(in 5 minutes or less)

Thread: 1) Payout ratio

There’s some exceptions to payout ratios (REITs for example) but if a stock is paying out 60-70%+ of their earnings, I run away

I like to see a ratio in the range of 35-55%

This allows for growth but also internal reinvestment to fuel long term growth

Investors are always debating $VOO vs. $VTI

But which one is the better investment?

Let’s find out

A thread: $VTI seeks to provide broader exposure to the entire U.S. market, holding a mixture of small-cap and large-cap stocks

The fund holds over 4,000 different companies with the top 10 holdings making up 25.6% of the fund

Total assets: $1.3 trillion

The S&P 500 is one of the easiest ways to gain exposure to the largest and most powerful companies in the US

Here are 5 facts about the S&P you probably didn’t know

Thread: There are actually more than 500 companies in the S&P 500 because some stocks trade under dual tickers

Can you guess which ones?

A full list of questions I ask and ratio’s I use before adding any dividend stock to my portfolio

My stock analysis in a nutshell

Thread: 1) Are they creating products people use on a daily basis?

2) Are they in an industry that has room to grow?

3) Who are their competitors? Are they bigger or smaller?

4) How long have they been raising dividends? (If at all)

5) Is there room for dividend growth?

To be the best you have to learn from the best

Here are 6 important lessons from John Templeton, an investor who beat the market 38 years in a row

Thread: Lesson #1

“Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria”

What does that mean?

It means trying to time the market is impossible and we truly have no idea what will happen next

History never repeats itself, it just rhymes

Want to own real estate without the headache of being a landlord?

REITs can do that

Here’s how to supplement your income with REITs so you can finally leave your 9-5

Thread: Before we start, what is a REIT?

A REIT is a Real Estate Investment Trust

You can invest in them like a stock and they trade on the exchange

It’s pretty much like real estate and the stock market had a baby