I am not telling you to dump all your untraditional investments and get all in on dividend stocks. They are a tried and proven method of building wealth that should not be ignored or taken lightly. A solid investment portfolio consisting of mainly dividends and growth stocks will have you well off and ahead of the majority of the pack well before your golden years. Don't just dive head-first into dividend investments, there are tons of stories that are eerily similar to the rug pulls that happen in the crypto sphere. 

Yield traps are what you need to look for. If you see a dividend stock offering 10% or more a month odds are that you will lose your investment or a good chunk of it before you have enough of the downward spiral and finally let go for a big REALIZED loss. Which can put a sour taste in your mouth and could lead you away from solid growth stocks that offer you financial freedom in your later years. In the next paragraph, I will go over what I have in my portfolio and why I have it. If I do not believe in the stock or its growth potential I leave immediately or simply do not invest at all. All investments that i put in my ROTH IRA are for LIFE. The only possible way I could ever see myself pulling out money from my main investment account would only happen if I was facing serious medical emergencies or homelessness. I would rather suffer in the short term and set up my future for success than rob my future to pay for today.

My favorite dividend company I am invested in would have to be Realty Income. here is a quote straight from their page that sums them up. They are a perfect example of what a thriving, well-managed, dividend stock should be.

"The company is structured as a REIT, and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 12,400 real estate properties owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 634 consecutive common stock monthly dividends throughout its 54-year operating history and increased the dividend 120 times since Realty Income's public listing in 1994."

Since 1994 they have delivered compound average annual total shareholder return of 14.6%, outperforming the US REIT sector and the S&P 500 during that timeframe. How much safer with solid returns can you get? This is why I will always add to my Realty Income position. The lowest I go is around 6% of my paycheck into my investing account. It is not a crazy amount of money but over months of constantly doing it, it sure does add up. 

If you are already invested in dividend stocks I would recommend you enroll in DRIP [Dividend Reinvestment Program] it will automatically take your cash dividend payments and reinvest them into your preferred stock. Which honestly is great because I use TastyTrade and just like all the other brokers they only let you do fractional investments as low as $5, so if you do not have a bigger investment portfolio those cash dividends will just sit in your account until you reach the minimum amount required by your brokerage to invest. With DRIP as soon as it hits your account it is auto-added to your already existing position which helps increase your compounding interest. If any of you have messed around with a compounding formula you will know how much those tiny bits massively add up over time.

If you guys like this post let me know in the comments and I will write more small blogs on Dividend stocks you should own for your future.