Dividends4Life, Dividends Value, Dividend Growth Stocks and my entire blogging experience was started on a whim. I never expected it go anywhere and certainly didn't expect the growth I have seen over the last several months. At the time of this writing Dividends4Life has over 25,000 page loads per month and over 500 subscribers. My thanks to each one of you who have played an important part in this growth!Not thinking that there would be any interest in Dividends4Life, early on I didn't display the standard AdSense ads found on virtually every site. Eventually, I added AdSense to the site and my earnings were measured in pennies per month. At that time I quipped, "this will never amount to anything more than pocket change."
As months went by, the pennies turned into dollars and I added other brands of advertising. Last month I hit a milestone - my cumulative collected earnings exceed $1,000. Now what to do with this new-found windfall?
Since Dividends4Life is an investing website, it didn't take long to decide that I would use the collected earnings to invest. Remembering my earlier quip, I decided to refer to this as my Pocket Change Portfolio (PCP).
I considered whether or not to open a Zecco account and keep the PCP totally separate. Ultimately, I decided not to add the administrative burden of a second brokerage account, but to treat the PCP as if it was in a Zecco account. That means I will charge the portfolio a $4.50 commission for each trade if the account balance is under $2,500. My plan is to purchase a stock now with the $1,000 collected and charge it a $4.50 commission. Save another $1,000, buy another stock and charge the portfolio another $4.50. Then I will save $500 and buy another stock without incurring any additional commissions. Thereafter, I will invest my monthly earnings as they are received.
In reality, I will piggyback these investments along with my normal monthly investments, thus not generating any additional commissions. I will provide periodic updates along with a page detailing my current holdings, including shares and market value.
I think this will be fun and an interesting exercise in watching a small acorn grow into an oak tree. If nothing else it will show the power in saving small amounts each month.
Next week I will provide my first update along what stock I purchased in September.
