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River Relief

Missouri River Education

Missouri River Education engages participants’ innate sense of wonder and natural curiosity to explore the Missouri River through place-based programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and experiential in character. We seek to build participants’ knowledge and understanding of the Missouri River through hands-on experiences that will deepen their connection and sense of responsibility for its care and stewardship. Informed by our research and experience working with communities along the Missouri River, we believe this approach inspires community engagement, academic achievement and a sense of stewardship.

Missouri River Education focuses on the development of three core competencies that are integrated into each program. These core competencies serve as targets for participant’s growth, points of participant’s dialogue and criteria for program assessment.

Participants will understand:

  • Missouri River’s abiotic and biotic factors are interconnected through networks of relationships.
  • Missouri River’s diverse ecological community provides resiliency in the face of ecological change.
  • Environmental variations are an essential aspect of the Missouri River’s ecological community.

Participants will be able to:

  • Describe how Missouri River abiotic and biotic factors interact with one another through networks.
  • Explain that the diversity of species in Missouri River maintains the balance of its ecological community.
  • Identify that there are limits to how much stress can be tolerated by the Missouri River ecological community.
  • Identify the difference between environmental variations that can be tolerated and can be harmful.

Participants will understand:

  • Missouri River has been and remains a lifeline for people and commerce.
  • Humans have impacted the Missouri River in both positive and negative ways.
  • Different historical perspectives of the Missouri River.

Participants will be able to:

  • Compare and contrast people’s use of the river over time.
  • Describe how management practices have changed the ecology and geography of the Missouri River.
  • Imagine what life was like for all the cultures that have lived on and used the Missouri River.

Participants will understand:

  • They have the ability to positively impact the Missouri River, their community and themselves.
  • Complexities and interactions of economic, environmental and social systems on the Missouri River.
  • The Missouri River is a shared resource for communities across its watershed and for future generations.

Participants will be able to:

  • Apply knowledge and stewardship skills in a variety of setting.
  • Analyze the Missouri River using a systems thinking approach.
  • Explain how our actions can have an immediate impact that can be both cumulative and long-lasting.

Not only did I love the experience with my child and being able to watch him enjoy something new, but I was able to keep my phone and all the distractions away and just enjoy the quiet beauty and breathe. I think he and I both needed this day.  Thank you again."

-Parent at City Garden Montessori School is created and maintained by Missouri River Relief, P.O. Box 463, Columbia, MO 65205
Copyright © 2020 Missouri River Relief, photos copyright © their respective owners
Site designed and built by Josh Nichols.


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Here at The Stock Doc we feel it is important to play a role in giving back to our community which has done so much for us. Along with our team members, pharmaceutical companies and community members, we started the Angel Fund 2 years ago. The Angel Fund was created to help raise money for two and four-legged family members who are struggling with an illness or ailment of some kind.

This year our Angel Fund will go to one of our amazing team members. This lady has a mass in her abdomen that requires medical treatment and has no health insurance to help defray the considerable medical costs. She helps so many people not only during the course of her responsibilities at the clinic but also within the community. She always thinks of the needs of others first.

How can I help? The Stock Doc will be hosting an online auction on Facebook – look for “The Stock Doc Angel Fund Auction Page” for one of the many themed baskets or individual items we will have. The Stock Doc will be putting together dog, cat and horse baskets with the help of several of our vendors. Several businesses from our community are donating baskets and Stock Doc team members are putting together baskets. There will be something for everybody!! These items will make great Christmas gifts for family, friends or even yourself!! With each bid that is made, you are helping ease the financial burden for an incredible individual.

Please help us support our team member through your purchase and sharing and spreading the word to your friends and loved ones. We sincerely thank you for your support!

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The Many Benefits of Losing Weight with the Clean Start Program

According to a recent study, losing weight has been associated with quality of life improvement in 95% of patients, and n 89% reduction in 5-year mortality rates. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the physical benefits of losing weight.

Physical Benefits of Weight Loss

  • Migraines: 57% Resolved
  • Pseudotumor Cerebri: 96% Resolved
  • Dyslipidemia Hypercholesterolemia: 63% Resolved
  • Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: 90% improved steatosis, 37% resolution of inflammation, 20% resolution of fibrosis
  • Metabolic Syndrome: 80% Resolved
  • Type II Diabetes Mellitus: 83% Resolved
  • Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: 79% resolution of hirsutism, 100% resolution of menstrual dysfunction
  • Venous Stasis Disease: 95% Resolved
  • Depression: 55% Resolved
  • Obstructive Sleep Apnea: 74-94% Resolved
  • Asthma: 82% improved or resolved
  • Cardiovascular Disease: 82% risk reduction
  • Hypertension: 52-92% Resolved
  • GERD: 72-98% Resolved
  • Stress Urinary Incontinence: 44-88% Resolved
  • Degenerative Joint Disease: 41-76% Resolved
  • Gout: 77% Resolved

Try Clean Start Weight Loss

If you are ready to start realizing the benefits of weight loss, try the Clean Start program today to start seeing results! At Riverview Facial Plastic & Total Body Aesthetic, we offer a wide range of cosmetic treatment options – both non-surgical and surgical. Dr. Daniel Schneider is a board-certified physician with years of experience treating patients in the Twin Cities area. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you lose weight. Our main office is located in St. Paul, but we work with patients throughout the state of Minnesota.

Kristi’s Story – The Clean Start Medical Weight Loss Program in Action!

Note: the following is a guest article by Riverview patient, Kristi Gavin about her experience with the Clean Start Medical Weight Loss Program.

The Clean Start Medical Weight Loss program at Riverview Facial Plastic & Total Body Aesthetic is the best way to lose weight and KEEP it off.

I have tried several other weight loss programs in the past that had bars and shakes that the “counselors” heavily pushed during and after those programs. None of them ever taught me how to have continued success with eating REAL food and really educating me on the “bad habits” that can prevent me living a healthy lifestyle.

25 Pounds in 6 Weeks

Clean Start is a quick weight loss program, I lost just over 25 pounds in 6 weeks. It was amazing to see the weight drop off so rapidly. I ate REAL food the whole time – no shakes, bars or pre-made meals. The calorie restriction was balanced with the HCG injections and after the 6 weeks was over the maintenance is really SIMPLE.

I have always been someone who works out regularly and in my 20’s and 30’s this kept me in shape and I was able to eat what I wanted. But now that I’m in my 40’s working out alone doesn’t give me the same benefits. Since completing the Clean Start program I’m seeing my body changing in the ways I have always wanted it to, this weight loss program re-starts your metabolism so that your body is responds to diet and exercise the way it’s meant to. I feel stronger and have energy that I didn’t have before.

Twin Cities Cosmetic Clinic

At Riverview Facial Plastic & Total Body Aesthetic, we provide cosmetic and aesthetic treatments to patients who want to look as young as they feel! If you’re looking for a surgical or non-invasive cosmetic treatment, we’ve got your covered! Dr. Daniel Schneider is a board-certified surgeon specializing in facial plastic procedures and cosmetics. Contact us today to learn more about our wide array of aesthetic offerings. You can find us at our main clinic, located in St. Paul. We also treat patients throughout the Twin Cities metro area.

Kim’s Journey with HCG Medical Weight Loss – Part 5

Note: this is part of a continuing guest blog series about Kim’s journey with HCG medical weight loss. Read Kim’s other entries here:

The transition to phase 3 (which in my opinion is the most important and difficult part of the HCG diet- but also the most rewarding) has been better and easier than I anticipated. I decided to do 6 weeks of phase 3 to make sure my metabolism is set at my new weight. I have been successfully maintaining my weight and I have added more diverse foods into my diet and been able to re-enter social society. Some of the things I stressed about most were going out to a restaurant to eat, a weekend at the cabin, date night and a girls night out. I’ve done all four during Phase 3 with great success, and without feeling deprived.

What Did I Do? What Did I Eat?

I followed the rules in the protocol the best I could and didn’t stress out when food options weren’t perfect. I tried to plan my food ahead of time by checking menus and picking out what I would eat. This helps prevent “moments of weakness” while holding a restaurant menu.

While road tripping and going to the cabin I packed snacks like turkey jerky, sugar snap peas, berries and pork-rinds (no carbs). I chose an unwhich at Jimmy Johns as a healthier option. I’m learning more and more it’s all about balance.

Grilled Brussel sprouts, zucchini and salmon

Egg, cheese and chicken sausage omelet, guacamole and homemade salsa

Fried eggs, bacon and avocado salad. Drinking sparkling water and BCAAs (Branch chain amino acids).

Fried eggs, Gouda, bacon and sprouted grain bread

Honey sweetened green tea with tapioca, viola and lavender from Cafe Astoria.

What’s next on my weight loss/ maintenance? Exercise, a big vacation trip and attending 2 weddings. Stay tuned! Again, if you are ready to make a change, send a message! I feel amazing, so should you!

Kim’s Journey with HCG Medical Weight Loss – Part 4

Note: this is part of a continuing guest blog series about Kim’s journey with HCG medical weight loss. Read Kim’s other entries here:

HCG – Week 1 of Phase 3

I have now been off HCG for 12 days and I’m really enjoying getting to eat a larger variety of foods. My greatest challenge thus far is eating enough. I have been keeping it pretty basic, simply adding a few new meats like salmon and lean pork as well as vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Things have been going well. I have maintained my weight and only cheated once when I ate 2 small low carb tortilla chips and guacamole. I then switched to dipping pork rinds in my guac. Delicious and no carbs! Note: must be eaten in small quantities.

I’ve also increased my activity and I feel amazing! Running is much easier on my joints and I have been slowly increasing my weights at the gym. I have so much energy, and my sleep has been very restful. Overall I feel great!

Buffalo cauliflower roasted in the oven. This will be a new go-to family favorite.

Flank steak and BBQ Brussel sprouts.

What I didn’t eat – frosted brownie

If you think you need a change and want something to jump start your weight loss, post below or send a private message. This program is worth it, it has simple rules that when followed yield great results.

Kim’s Journey with HCG Medical Weight Loss – Part 1

Note: this is part of a continuing guest blog series about Kim’s journey with HCG medical weight loss. Read Kim’s other entries here:

Hi! My name is Kim. I’m a 32 year old proud wife and mother. I work full time in healthcare and have let my weight creep up on me over the last 5 years (over 40 pounds of creeping)! Bad habits and lack of time for exercise have caught up with me. I want control over my eating habits, sugar addiction and weight! I need accountability and results! I met Dr. Schneider through work and he could not say enough about the results from HCG medical weight loss. Here, I’m going to document my journey with HCG medically supervised weight loss. My thoughts, feelings, challenges, meals, grocery shopping, the best and worst parts of this dietary change. Ask questions, and if you think this is for you reach out to Dr. Schneider and his amazing staff!

HCG Week 1 – Prepping

Prepping for my first day P1D1 (phase 1, day 1). The first two days I get to eat whatever I want while the HCG starts to work.

I’m reviewing the “HCG bible” and prepping my shopping list.

Meal Prep

Today I went grocery shopping for the start of my low calorie phase. Fresh fruits and vegetables and natural/organic meats from HyVee. I portioned all of the meat into 100 g servings to make cooking easier.

Day 1

Day one of very low calorie lunch- halibut with lemon juice and approved spices. Baby romaine with Apple cider vinegar and garlic salt.

Spicy chicken – 100g per serving. Tip – prep several days so it’s easy to make a good choice. Grilling is a way to add flavor without calories! I used ancho chili powder to make these delicious!

Day 3

It’s low calorie day 3 and things are going well. I had a bridal shower to attend for a friend today and I ate before I left and didn’t go off protocol! I was very proud of myself. Dinner was talapia and asparagus on the grill 145cal for both – I’ve been using ancho chili powder to add some flavor to my food. It was surprisingly delicious!

Meal prep for lunches this week is chili – lemon chicken, baby romaine salad with dressing made from apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, spices and one tbsp of strawberry juice with a little stevia to cut the bitterness of the vinegar. Oh and can’t forget my “croutons”- Melba toast. Mmmm.

Week 1 in Review

I have successfully completed 7 low calorie days of the HCG diet. And lost 11 lbs! And have 16 lbs to my goal weight. CRAZY!!! It’s going really well. My hunger only creeps up on me when it’s time to eat. Otherwise I really don’t feel hungry. The biggest thing I have noticed is that I have so many bad eating habits, grabbing a handful of this or that, even when I’m not hungry. I also eat my son’s leftovers which are often carb-rich foods. Having to stay on the plan had made me aware of this and I will continue to not graze after this phase is done.

Strategies I have employed to help curb hunger and promote weight loss include drinking lots of lemon water and 2-3 cups of black iced coffee. I make my iced coffee myself with a cold brewer. Sooooo yummy!

Other thoughts: I had sugar withdrawal the first 3 days – taking ibuprofen and caffeine helped a lot.

Spices and a food scale are a must for the HCG diet. I like to add approved spices to meat and vegetables for variety. You can give a meal an Italian or Mexican flare by adding the right spices. Yummmmm.

The food scale is easy to use and keeps me honest with myself. It makes Meal prepping quick and easy.

The Benefits of Medically Supervised Weight Loss

It can be tough to lose weight on your own. Determining what to eat, appropriate exercises, and everything else can be frustrating and difficult. Medically supervised weight loss is an effective option for many people who want to lose weight but have been unable to do so on their own. In this article, we are going to talk about the benefits of medically supervised weight loss.

What is Medically Supervised Weight Loss

Medically supervised weight loss is a customized weight loss program supervised by a qualified medical professional to help you lose weight. First, a medical professional can talk with you about your goals, what you’ve tried, and what has/hasn’t worked for you. With that information, you can work together to develop a diet, exercise, and weight loss routine that is uniquely suited to fit your needs.

Total Body Transformation

At Riverview Facial Plastic and Total Body Aesthetic, we offer a Total Body Transformation package that includes medically supervised weight loss, coupled with CoolSculpting and Exilis to reduce fat and tighten skin. This package can allow patients to lose up to a pound a day for the first month. Learn more about our Total Body Transformation medical weight loss program today by giving us a call.

St. Paul Medical Weight Loss Specialists

Interested in learning more about medically supervised weight loss? Contact the experts at Riverview Facial Plastic & Total Body Aesthetic! With more than a decade of experience treating patients in the Twin Cities, Dr. Daniel Schneider and his team are well-equipped to help you meet your weight loss goals. We offer surgical and non-surgical cosmetic and aesthetic treatments. Dr. Schneider is a board-certified otolaryngology and facial plastic surgeon. Contact us today to schedule your appointment at our St. Paul clinic – 651-493-8501.

3 Steps for Total Body Transformation

Struggling to lose weight despite your best efforts? You are not alone! Many of our patients who have previously struggled with weight loss, find great success with our medically supervised total body transformation process. In this article, we are going to discuss our 3 step process to completely transform your body into a healthier you!

Step 1 – Lose the Weight

The Clean Start Weight Loss Program consists of 23-40 days of medically supervised weight loss. It allows a CLEAN START to a healthy new YOU! Patients typically lose 0.5-1 pound per day.

Step 2 – Targeted Fat Elimination

The next step is CoolSculpting. Target unwanted stubborn fat with permanent fat freeze technology removal. This targets common problem areas, including:

  • Muffin top
  • Love handles
  • Double Chin
  • Bra fat
  • Thighs
  • Baby bulge
  • Banana roll

Step 3 – Tighten the Skin

Finally, Exilis 360 degree Ultrasound technology is applied to tighten and rejuvenate skin from head to toe. This allows for customizable face and body treatments for fat reduction and skin tightening simultaneously!

Medically Supervised Weight Loss Clinic in St. Paul, MN

If you are struggling with weight loss, we have solutions that can help you achieve your goals. The total body transformation involves non-invasive, non-surgical procedures that can be performed over your lunch hour and have you back at work for the rest of your day. At Riverview Facial Plastic and Total Body Aesthetic, our medical weight loss specialists provide a wide range of weight loss options for patients. Our primary clinic is located in St. Paul, but we serve patients throughout the Twin Cities and surrounding Minnesota area. Give us a call today to learn more about our total body transformation package – 651-493-8501


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Web Access Research Portal

Researcher: Featherstone, AM (Dr Alison Featherstone)

Fields of Research

Environmental Chemistry (incl. Atmospheric Chemistry)
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Instrumental Methods (excl. Immunological and Bioassay Methods)
Analytical Spectrometry
Industrial Chemistry
Chemical Oceanography
Organic Chemistry
Timber, Pulp and Paper

Research Objectives

Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water in Coastal and Estuarine Environments
Pulp and Paper
Natural Hazards in Marine Environments
Environmental Health
Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences
Health Status (e.g. Indicators of Well-Being)
Coastal and Estuarine Land Management
Physical and Chemical Conditions of Water in Marine Environments

Career Best Publications

Research Publications

A shipboard method for arsenic speciation using semi-automated hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectroscopy; Analytica Chimica Acta
Antimony and arsenic biogeochemistry in the western Atlantic Ocean; Deep-Sea Research Part II-Topical Studies in Oceanography
Arsenic Speciation in Estuarine and Oceanic Waters by Hydride Generation - Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Comparison of methods for the determination of total selenium in plasma by magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Analytica Chimica Acta
Determination of arsenic species in sea-water by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectroscopy; Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry
Determination of Inorganic Selenium Species in Marine Waters by Hydride Generation-AFS; Australian Journal of Chemistry
Development and applications of hydride generation with atomic fluorescence detection for the determination of four arsenic species; 4th Annual RACI Research and Development Topics in Analytical Chemistry
Development and Applications of Hydride Trapping with Atomic Flourescence Detection for the Determination of Ion Arsenic Species; XXX Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale
Development and applications of hydride trapping with Atomic Fluorescence detection for the determination of four arsenic species; RACI, Analytical Chemistry Division, 6th Annual Research & Development Topics 1998
Effect of Magnesium Ions on Pitch Deposition
Flotation deinking with magnesium oxide as the alkali source; TAPPI Journal
Increased selenium concentrations in seronorm trace elements serum; Clinical Chemistry
Meridional distribution of arsenic species in the subantarctic zone of the Southern Ocean, south of Australia; Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans
MgO flotation deinking - The Albury Experience; 55th Appita Annual Conference
Removal of Dissolved Copper and Iron at the Freshwater-Saltwater Interface of an Acid Mine Stream; Marine Pollution Bulletin
Seasonal Cycling of Arsenic Species in a Stratified, Microtidal Estuary (Huon River, Tasmania); Estuaries
Selenium status in Southern Tasmania; European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Selenoprotein P analysis in human plasma - A discrepancy between HPLC fractionation of human plasma with heparin-affinity chromatography and SDS-PAGE with immunoblot analysis; Biological Trace Element Research
The Application of ICP-SMS, GF-AAS and HG-AFS to the Analysis of Water & Sediment Samples from a Temperate Stratified Estuary; European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry
The application of ICP-SMS, GF-AAS and HG-AFS to the analysis of water and sediment samples from a temperate stratified estuary; Journal of Environmental Monitoring
The determination of arsenic species in seawater using hydride generation and atomic fluorescence detection; Intersect.96, International Symposium on Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology
The determination of arsenic species in seawater using hydride trapping and atomic fluorescence detection; AMSA '96
The Determination of Selenium in Human Plasma by Magnetic Sector ICP-MS; Interact 2004

Research Projects

Research Candidate Supervision


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The Reporter’s Affairs

Frank Gordon became obsessed with lie detection while in High School after being deceived by his first teenage love. He entered college with a plan to develop a portable lie detector as a research project for his Ph.D. If he completed his research, he would be sought after by many companies looking to license his work. But instead, he flunked his final exam, ran out of money, and had to leave school.

Down on engineering and technology, he searched for a different kind of job. One morning during breakfast at an old drugstore, he was discovered by a glamorous television news anchor. She saw potential in his good looks and sexy voice and offered to teach him to be a reporter. She believed his presence would significantly raise her dwindling news program’s ratings.

This is the story of Frank’s struggles to become a successful television reporter and his involvement with two women. One affair threatens to undermine his position as a reporter while the other enhances it. Along the way, Frank conducts many humorous interviews and gets himself and his television station into trouble numerous times.

Check out the book on Amazon:

Check out the book on Smashwords:

The book is also available on Apple’s iBooks,

Barnes and Noble’s Nook, and Kobo.


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Camp Dakota, Oregon

August 21, 2017, the Great American Eclipse traversed the continental United States and we had to be there. My husband, well-informed in all that is nerdy and scientific, warned me of it in late 2011 and come hell or high water we were going to see it. I called hotels years in advance and after much ado found a hotel on the Oregon Coast. After rumors of price gouging, I decided to call and verify our reservation only to learn our room was no longer available, with no explanation. I panicked.  Desperate, I found Camp Dakota in Oregon, a campground with numerous amenities that all took a backseat to the fact it was in the path of totality.  I called Camp Dakota nine months in advance and to my surprise, they had several spots for us to choose from and they were not raising their listed rates at all. I was skeptical after already getting burned, but took a chance, and ended up very happy I did.

Camp Dakota is a fascinating little gem east of I-5 in the middle of a farming community. The road out to it from I-5 is narrow and winds for miles. Have a bag handy for car sick kids.

Camp Dakota is an intriguing bundle of great ideas, fascinating execution, and good old-fashioned small business savvy. It was everything we wanted it to be and more. A serendipitous happenstance for a once in a lifetime event.

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  • They were honest. They didn’t raise their rates for the eclipse and they probably could have. I give them a big hat tip for this.
  • Zipline. It was a blast. The kids LOVED it. Daredevils. Who knew? The instructor was awesome and the lines were fast and fun.
  • Archery. It was staffed by a polite and kind teenager who he could have rolled his eyes at my kids but didn’t. Kudos… because I roll my eyes at them all the time.
  • Tenderfoot Challenge Course and rock climbing. I like anything that makes my kids exhausted and they came back to camp ready to hit the hay.
  • The staff was very nice. Teens were working hard and were impressively professional. The zip line instructors were conscientious of safety and I felt comfortable flying down the line and leaving my kids back to get thrown down the line behind me. The only attitude I saw that weekend was from some of the grumpy clients that needed to relax.
  • Wood delivery. They delivered dry wood and kindling to your campsite via a kid with a lead hand on a quad. It was awesome. It’s like ordering a pizza (which they do too) and not having to lift a finger. Love.

  • No dump station for RVs.
  • Site 10 fit our 28′ trailer, but just barely.  It was an adventure to get in and out of that spot because of the trees directly across from the site prohibited our turn radius.
  • It was loud at night. Light sleepers might have a hard time. Campers were having the time of their lives, but it can be hard with kids.

Must do:

  • Let the kids do the obstacle course activities. It’ll completely wear them out.
  • Take advantage of some of the activities they offer for yourself too. They charge for everything, but it’s their bread and butter and if you embrace it you might be surprised. It’s a great time.

Good to know:

  • We were in site 10. You might not realize it from the map but it’s right in the middle of all the action. We loved people watching but if you’re looking for privacy I’d recommend sites 1 thru 4 or sites 42-50 up on the back loop.
  • As we had the trailer, we didn’t use the restrooms or yurts so we can’t speak to those.
  • There’s an unpaved incline next to the office. When pulling a trailer I’d suggest going slow or even putting your rig into 4×4 to avoid kicking up rocks. We were fine but another driver threw rocks all the way down the hill taking it too aggressively.
  • Camp Dakota website.

My photos of our family watching the eclipse:

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If you ever have the chance to watch a total eclipse in person, it’s phenomenal. Gorgeous and eerie at the same time.

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No Tresspassing

“Excuse me!!”

Wait…what? I looked up from my poop pile and wheelbarrow to find a middle aged lady standing next to her parked car in my driveway.

Odd. My driveway is 1/4 mile long, has an extremely wonky angled entrance and a cattle guard and then winds down past the pasture to the house. Not very inviting and definitely out of the way.

“Can I help you?” I was a bit incredulous. I mean, why was she standing in my drive?

“Who owns that horse behind you?” Not friendly. Very accusatory and well, to be frank, quite bitchy.

“Rhino? My landlady who lives next door.” I was puzzled. Why be nasty in your delivery of such a question?

“He is too thin. Something needs to be done. I never see you outside and I told myself next time someone was out I was going to find out what was going on over here.”

Um…you don’t see me outside because…oh..wait…that is none of your business. Nothing is “going on over here” either. She made it sound like I was running some sort of horse scam or something.

“He isn’t too thin. In fact he is in better shape than our two horses are at the moment”

“Your two are in great condition. Is he old? I saw his teeth. He doesn’t look old.”

In fact my two horses are fatAnd Rhino is in his mid 20s. And she is a horse teeth expert now?

“He is in his mid 20s. He isn’t thin. He gets two grain meals a day plus hay. He has clean water at all times and 8 acres to roam with a shelter out of the wind. He has a good horse life. Leave him be”

Not appeased by my answer she attempted to continue her interrogation when Einstein finally took notice and came wriggling over. Einstein is a jumper. It’s his last remaining bad behavior and we try hard to curb it.

“Your dog is jumping all over me!”

I just stood there and blinked at her. If you weren’t on my property where you weren’t invited, then you wouldn’t be getting jumped on by my overly exuberant dog.

“Well, he is obviously lonely. He hangs out near your two all day. You need to let him in your pasture. Right away.”

“He is a stallion. I own a mare”

She just stared at me. And repeated her demand that I allow him in my pasture. At this point my patience and good mood were rapidly disappearing and I did what I rarely do: I dropped the vet bomb.

“My husbands a vet and is right over there. Ask him his professional opinion.”

Thankfully Dusty was walking over our way and she repeated her inquest on the state of the horse and his inability to be friends with our horses. He repeated much of what I already said and, finally realizing she wasn’t going to be able to make some big scene, she finally got in her car.

She then proceeded to use the hay field to turn her car around without asking if it was ok to drive through the well cared for grass. I won’t be polite the next time I see her and I am sure there will be a next time. There always is. The middle of nowhere is calling my name.

14 thoughts on “No Tresspassing”

  1. Wow. You have far more patience than I would have had, especially with someone driving uninvited onto the property. I so hear you on the wish for acreage out in the middle of nowhere. Or a thoroughly fenced and gated property, preferably surrounded by a moat. With alligators.

  2. Are you serious? Wow. Just. Wow.
    I think I would be far less polite than you were about this. Be careful- I suspect she may try to report you to the SPCA or whatever animal welfare group you have. I would be livid.

    1. I do slightly worry about it although he isn’t my horse and I have zero responsibility for him. The thing is that if they were to come in and did decide to do something (which I doubt because he isn’t starved), he would be put down. He has a good life and his story isn’t really mine to tell, but he is wild, untouched and not even halter broke. If someone came in to do anything, they would euthanize him and he doesn’t deserve that. He is happy, healthy and fine.

  3. Ahahaha I hate nosy bitches. I LOVE that you dropped the vet bomb. I actually laughed outloud and startled Dave when I got to that point. While I really sincerely hope she doesn’t come back, I do very much look forward to the story if she does!

    1. I was in such a good chill mood too. Dusty was surprised at how nice I was being but it had been a wonderful day and I just had no interest in ruining it. Next time she won’t make it out of her car

  4. Uhhh lol personally I don’t typically even engage in those kinds of conversations. “Ok” is the beginning middle and end of any answer. My horse is too skinny? Ok. You think these horses should be put in the same field? Ok. He’s lonely? His teeth are bad? You think you’d do a better job than me? Ok. Cool story bro.

    Ain’t no need to defend yourself against bullshit batshit crazy ppl like that bc it never matters what you say anyway, you’ll still be “wrong”. How infuriating! Grr

    1. It really is and he isn’t even my horse! I just shake my head when people look at my flabby and fat horse and tell me how great she looks. No she looks fat and flabby and it is embarrassing given how good she looks when in shape. Ugh.

  5. The good thing for Rhino is SC has pretty shit animal welfare laws (which sucks for the animals that actually need someone to step in) so crazy lady can make a big stink about it but nothing will happen as long as he has food and water. I don’t think they even care about shelter? I don’t remember but I do know it’s fairly basic requirements and Rhino will be just fine 🙂 just sorry you had to deal with such a crazy lady!!

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Troll Tuning

Baltimore - with Dún na Séad before restoration - painted by Val Byrne

Baltimore – with Dún na Séad before restoration – painted by Val Byrne

It’s May, and time for the Baltimore Fiddle Fair, still in progress as I write this, and keeping us up well into the nights with world class concerts: music from so many cultures that involves the ubiquitous violin. My post today has been sparked off by the opening event held in the restored Dún na Séad – the name means fort of the jewels, which may be a reference to the building’s role in the collection of taxes levied on foreign vessels entering the harbour. The Anglo-Norman castle was built in the early 13th century, was besieged and sacked many times, became a garrison for Oliver Cromwell in 1649 and fell into ruin until it was rescued and underwent a superb full restoration only completed in 2005. Friday’s candlelit opening concert featured a fiddle master from the Shetlands, Aly Bain, and his long term musical collaborator Ale Möller, a multi instrumentalist from Sweden.

One piece in their programme immediately caught my attention: Hjaltadans – literally translated as ‘lame’ or ‘limping’ dance. It’s also the name of a Bronze Age stone circle near Houbie in the Shetlands. It’s said that the two central stones of that circle are a fiddler and his wife who were entertaining a group of Trowies (trolls) and were interrupted in their music making by the rising sun which turned them all to stone. Trolls are undoubtedly related to The Other Crowd in Ireland, and also inhabit the shadows in Scandinavia.

Here is an extract from the latest album from Bain, Möller and Molsky – Troll Tuning: King Karl’s March

The Shetland troll dance was followed by a Swedish ‘Troll Tuning Set’. Aly and Ale explained that Troll Tuning is a particular way of setting up a fiddle where the strings are tuned AEAC♯, rather than the more usual GDAE. This tuning is sometimes used in Scandinavia, Shetland and in American old-time music (this probably because there were so many settlers from Sweden in North America). The tuning produces very distinctive, haunting music: ‘…Once you’ve heard a trowie tune you can never forget it…’ Even more interesting is the legend that playing such tunes connects the musicians with magical powers.

The Devil's Music: Hardanger Fiddle

The Devil’s Music: Hardanger Fiddle

All this reminded me of traditional stories involving musicians and characters from the Otherworlds: they are pretty universal over many cultures. I also thought about a particular type of fiddle from Norway (regularly seen and heard at the Fiddle Fair) which has ‘magical’ associations: the Hardanger Fiddle or Hardingfele in Norwegian. This traditional instrument is usually magnificently carved and inlaid, and has understrings which are not actually bowed, but are tuned to vibrate when other notes are sounded. The tone and ambience of the instrument is unique and compelling: it is easy to imagine the Trowies or Sióg (pronouced Sheeogue: Irish Fairies) requiring such striking sounds for their festivities. But some have thought the Hardingfele has diabolic connections, and in fact many good players were reputed to have been taught to play by the Devil himself. During the 1800s many fiddles were destroyed or hidden both by fiddlers and laypeople who thought ‘…that it would be best for the soul that the fiddle be burned…’ as it was viewed as ‘… a sinful instrument that encouraged wild dances, drinking and fighting…’

In Ireland, boys were sometimes dressed as girls to stop the Sheehogue from stealing them away

In rural Ireland, boys were sometimes dressed as girls so the Sióg would not steal them away

At this time of the year it’s not just the instruments and the music we have to be wary of: throughout the month of May the Sióg are active. Yeats tells how an old man saw them fight once: ‘…they tore the thatch off a house in the midst of it all. Had anyone else been near they would merely have seen a great wind whirling everything into the air as it passed. When the wind makes the straws and leaves whirl, that is the Fairies, and the peasantry take off their hats and say, God bless them…’

The wind is certainly whirling and tearing at the trees outside as I write this: May has seen the return of strong gales – the trees are bending again and Roaringwater Bay is alive with white breakers. Looking out to the islands I bring to mind a tune from the Blaskets, over on the coast of Kerry. Port na pBucai (Music of the Fairies) is a haunted song if ever there was one. It’s said that the islanders were out fishing in their currachs when a storm broke out. It turned into a gale and they feared for their lives as the canvas hulled craft became swamped. Then, the wind suddenly died and they became aware of music playing somewhere around them – an unearthly music. The island fiddler was amongst the crew; when they got safely back to land he found he could remember the tune they had heard. It has passed into the traditional repertoire and has been played ever since.

My own rendition of Port na bPucai on the concertina –

To close, a verse by Seamus Heaney which was inspired by this story of the Fairy music:

The Given Note

On the most westerly Blasket
In a dry-stone hut
He got this air out of the night.

Strange noises were heard
By others who followed, bits of a tune
Coming in on loud weather

Though nothing like melody.
He blamed their fingers and ear
As unpractised, their fiddling easy

For he had gone alone into the island
And brought back the whole thing.
The house throbbed like his full violin.

So whether he calls it spirit music
Or not, I don’t care. He took it
Out of wind off mid-Atlantic.

Still he maintains, from nowhere.
It comes off the bow gravely,
Rephrases itself into the air.

8 thoughts

  1. I still often listen to a couple of tracks by Sussane lundeng, Robert. Very haunting – would this be the special tuning ?

    • I think this is very likely Perran. Sussanne Lundeng is Norwegian and would be familiar with the Hardanger traditions. As you say, much of her music is haunting – and very beautiful. I believe there are a whole lot of different fiddle tunings from various traditions – here are some from Old Time American fiddling:

      FCGD = Cajun Tuning (one whole step down from GDAE)
      GDGB = Open G Tuning
      GDGD = Sawmill Tuning or “Cross G”
      GDAD = “Gee-Dad”
      DDAD = Dead Man’s Tuning, or Open D Tuning, or Bonaparte’s Retreat Tuning, or “Dee-Dad”
      ADAE = High Bass Tuning, Old-Timey D Tuning
      AEAE = Cross Tuning, “Cross A”, “High Bass, High Counter” (or “High Bass, High Tenor”), Cross Chord; similar to Sawmill Tuning
      AEAC♯ = Black Mountain Rag Tuning, Calico Tuning, Open A Tuning, or Drunken Hiccups Tuning
      AEAD for Old Sledge, Silver Lake
      EDAE for Glory in the Meeting House
      EEAE for Get up in the Cool

      (source: good ol’ Wikipedia!)

  2. Fascinating writing, and what a treat to have music playing while you read. The Siógs were seriously active on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore but somehow enhanced the human music. I love the painting to begin with too. All very satisfying. Hope you had another good day today.

  3. Robert, not only in the rural countryside but in the city of Dublin in 1909 my father wore skirts until he was potty trained. Probably easier for my grandmother to change him as I don’t think there were any Siógs in Rathmines.

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M I L D     1  2  3  4  5     S P I C Y

Although we do our best to reduce or eliminate gluten, our kitchen is not a gluten free environment, therefore menu items may have come in contact with gluten. This restaurant serves seafood and shellfish and other foods that may or may not be an allergen. We cannot guarantee that your food will be free of this allergen or any other allergen. Approximate pre-cooked weights, actual weight may vary. May be cooked to order. Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions.


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Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Really, what is so nice about this place? People love living here but you really can’t walk anywhere because it is too hot and too spread out. Dubai is freeways, construction, no green space, construction, sand and more construction and lots of big opulent shopping malls. I think it is a works in progress but I also think it is working to build an image for what will be a “post oil” time. They are smart to do this but to me it looks like a huge unsustainable bubble. Abu Dhabi is greener than Dubai probably because it is the Capital and possibly because it is more established than Dubai but like Dubai there doesn’t seem to be a heart other than the very beautiful Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

In both cities the building architecture is unique and beautiful. Small little clusters randomly placed in the desert. Very modern and space aged. They have the “biggest this and biggest that” but that is all. Biggest does not mean best. I think we are very spoiled living in Vancouver and Canada in general.

Abu Dhabi,  Sheikh Zayed Mosque

2 thoughts on “Dubai and Abu Dhabi

  1. I can imagine it’s very unique, beautiful, and different!🏗🏦☀🏝But…no place like green space🌿🍃🌲, and home!🍁🍺😘 xo

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Business for Better Life
Country/ Town: Košice – Olšava region, Slovak Republic
Topic: Industrial Ecology

One of the most vulnerable aspects of Roma youth communities can be seen when they need to get a job, mainly because, more often than not, Roma youth lack the employable skills needed nowadays. As a fact, this group of people needs a reliable centre of motivation and reinforcement that can provide them with the means for self-activation and entrepreneurial thinking, thus leading towards a transformation of their community as well. This is true even more when we speak about rural areas, such as Košice – Olšava region, where the projects developed by the Association for a Better Life are located.

The aim

Association for a Better Life was founded in 2004 and its mission is to strengthen the development of Roma marginalized communities in eastern Slovakia. The Association supports rural development in these communities, with an emphasis on personal development such as raising the educational and employability level. Being an active presence in the region of Košice and Olšava since 2004 and also a member of the international network YEPP (Youth Empowerment Partnership Program), the Association for a Better Life is well-aware of the challenges and disadvantages that Roma youth have to face on daily basis. Setting up business initiatives and enabling Roma and non-Roma youth leaders to engage in their community development has thus became their aim and strength, leading in this way towards maintaining a healthy convergence of different cultural and social groups among the present communities.

More precisely, the above mentioned problems are tackled through projects already developed, such as Romani SUV, ROCKS, Wall Art and ECOstorye, all of them enabling young people to discover their own talents while developing products such as: eco – briquettes, embroidered linen bags, herb bags and a tailor workshop – all of them created by Roma youth.

”Business for Better Life” project started in Košice – Olšava region, providing a needed method within the community to motivate skilled young people with the necessary means to start and develop their own business ideas. With the help of collaborating entities, such as municipalities, NGOs and schools, the project created small social enterprises, thus setting the basis for community development. From then on, the Association, which includes Roma youth, can provide those interested with training in creation of business plans and counseling with the implementation of experimental projects, as well as with developing specific business objective.

Romani SUV project started, also known as Gypsy needle. This project aimed to improve the skills of female students in the craft seamstress, to teach them new techniques, focusing on elements of Roma culture that could be incorporated in evening dresses and costumes. This is how students created a collection of traditional costumes and modern dresses that could be presented in fashion shows.

Business Development strategies caught roots within the community, and two major projects were implemented:

  • Rocks aims to develop the stonemasonry skills of youth who majored in this area. Precisely, a group of students detached from vocational schools in Košice and Rankovce, guided by the experienced mason Ondrej Samel, work with natural stone and produce sidewalks, plinths, mosaics, firestones, fireplaces and benches.
  • Wall ART brings together, under the guidance of the artist Helmut Bistika, a group of artistically gifted girls and boys who create exterior and interior wall paintings that can embellish public and private spaces such as bus stops, school, shops, and private rooms.

Eco-briquettes, stoves and needlework products were developed and now Business for Better Life can proudly offer them and the complementary services to the interested public.

Important people

and resources

Alina Șerban ERSTE Foundation Roma Partnership Coordinator

Helmut Bistika, the guiding artist for the Wall Art program

Julius Pecha, the coordinator of ECOstorye project

Ondrej Samel, the master mason who guides the ROCKS and the ECOstorye project

Municipalities, local NGOs and experts such as ERSTE Foundation, Foundation for children of Slovakia and International women club of Bratislava alongside cooperating organizations including YEPP IRC, Človek v tísni, n.o. Roma media- ROMED, Projekt DOM.ov, Útočište, o.z.

The Association for a Better Life was nominated for the Roma Spirit Award, category of non-profit organizations (December 2016);

Establishing a workshop for the production of eco-briquettes that enables a constant production and assures the development of the product as well as providing work for the interested youth from the community;

Establishing a needlework workshop for the Romani SUV project, which comes to compliment the expansion of products, the business creation and the marketing plan;

Building a community garden which became a public space for Roma people;

Enabling Roma and non-Roma activists, youngsters, who are independent in their small businesses to be active and involved inside and outside of their communities represents one of the biggest and dearest achievement of the project, so far;

Instability of partners involved in projects

For example the availability of proper spaces to rent in order to assure a healthy and constant project development;

The process of creating a separate social enterprise

Is seen as an ongoing route that has to be permanently fueled with work and involvement, despite the initial success of the business initiative.

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Living on Dividends in Early Retirement

Dividends are a popular source of income in retirement.  We rely on them for a part of our annual living expenses.  Dividends provide a relatively steady stream of income regardless of the fluctuations in the stock market.

It’s worth stating that I’m not exclusively a dividend focused investor.  Instead I focus on the total return of my portfolio.  I’m an index fund investor with a fixed asset allocation that I use to periodically rebalance my portfolio.  Right now I’m almost entirely invested in equities through mutual funds and ETFs.  All of those investments pay dividends ranging from 1% to 4% per fund.

In 2015, we received a total of $28,527 in dividends from our portfolio.  This is down slightly from the $29,437 we received in 2014.  This drop was a little unexpected but owes to lower dividend payments from international investments due to the appreciation of the dollar and generally less favorable economic conditions overseas.

Our 2015 dividends were still significantly higher than the $22,000 dividend income we received in 2013.  I’m going out on a limb by guessing that 2015 is a temporary lull in the long term growth of our dividend payments (assuming we don’t eat into the portfolio principal too much).

Here’s a pic from my Personal Capital account showing the total dividends for last year and how much each mutual fund paid (isn’t free automated investment tracking great?).

Around 75% of our investments are tied up in tax advantaged accounts.  Accessing these funds requires some fancy financial footwork (namely, the Roth IRA Conversion Ladder), so we’re only spending the dividends in our taxable brokerage accounts for now.

This year we received $7,767 of dividends in our taxable accounts.  That’s down roughly $1,300 from 2014’s $9,077 in dividends in our taxable accounts.

The $21,000 or so of dividends in the tax deferred accounts gets reinvested automatically.

The $7,767 of dividends from our taxable account covered about a third of our $23,802 living expenses in 2015, which goes to show just how important dividends can be to fund a successful early retirement.  We didn’t spend our whole $32,400 early retirement budget in 2015, but our taxable dividends would have covered a quarter of our planned expenses for the year.

Here’s a summary of all our dividend paying investments:

These are the actual dividends we received for the investments in each asset class in 2015.  To calculate the dividend yield, I divided the dividend payments by the value of the investment (as of January 8, 2016).

I have about $63,000 invested in proprietary index funds in my 457 account that don’t pay dividends.  These funds automatically reinvest dividends internally without making a dividend distribution inside my 457 account.  I took those account balances out of the denominator when calculating dividend yields.

I excluded about $40,000 in the kids’ 529 accounts because they are also proprietary funds that automatically reinvest dividends internally.

Taking a look at the chart, you can tell that the value tilted investments tend to pay a higher dividend yield.  The US small cap asset class offered the lowest dividend yield at 1.51%, while the US REIT asset class yielded almost 4%.  The overall portfolio yielded 2.44% in 2015.

For those wondering exactly what funds I invest in, take a peek at that “Representative Holdings” column in the chart.  It’s not every single fund I own but it is a good reflection of what’s in my portfolio.  Some of the funds are Ishares ETFs that trade for free in my Fidelity account, and might not necessarily be better than the Vanguard equivalent ETF’s (so do your due diligence on expense ratios, average bid/ask spread, average volume, and average variance from NAV).

The rest of this article is excerpted from my original article on dividends from January 2014 (with some updates), so for the twenty seven loyal readers that remember the original article verbatim, my apologies.  For the other few thousand new readers, here’s what you missed two years ago:

Benefits of Dividends

In addition to being a good source of cash flow, dividends have a lot of other benefits, too.

Tax free income – If you are in the 15% tax bracket or lower, all of your qualified dividend income is tax free.  For US funds, virtually all of your dividends will be qualified.  For international funds, typically around half to two thirds of your dividends will be qualified dividends (with ordinary income tax being due on the non-qualified dividend income).  Dividends can be a pretty sweet way to fund your retirement expenses since you could potentially enjoy a fairly high income yet pay zero federal income tax.

Psychology of automatically receiving dividends – In early retirement, you might worry excessively about selling in a down market and how to fund next month’s expenses.  When markets are in the dumps, dividends can provide pain free cash in your pockets!  They keep arriving (for the most part) in good markets and bad.  Unless your portfolio’s yield is higher than your withdrawal rate, you’ll still have to sell some of your holdings to fund your monthly expenses, but having a large part of your expenses automatically funded by dividends can make it less painful.

Long term growth of dividends – The dividends paid by the stocks and funds you own will increase as the underlying companies grow their profits over time.  The growth in dividends will keep inflation at bay.  Dividends can grow faster than the rate of inflation, thereby providing a real increase in your standard of living.

Emergency funds –  If you hit a bump in the road and need an extra source of cash before you reach financial independence, you can consider your dividends as a source of emergency funds.  At a 2% yield, a “modest” portfolio of $100,000 can produce $2,000 of dividend income per year.  I was lucky to never need the extra cash while working, but when my job suddenly ended and I decided to retire, it felt great to know I had an instant source of about $8,000 per year with a few clicks.

Dividend focused portfolios

If you want to become a dividend investor, you could copy my asset allocation and get a 2.44% yield without trying very hard.

Or if you want to be a hot shot investor, you can try to hand pick the “best” dividend stocks out there and craft a portfolio that pays 3-4% or more.  I’m not particularly good at picking stocks so I wouldn’t personally choose this route.

I like easy solutions that don’t take a lot of work.  Vanguard has a few excellent offerings that are dirt cheap (which is a good thing when you are shopping for an investment).

The Vanguard High Dividend Yield Fund is available in mutual fund or ETF format (ticker: VHDYX or VYM respectively).  The ETF version (VYM) has a nice low expense ratio of 0.10% (which is great!).  This fund invests in stocks that consistently pay higher than average yields today.  The fund yields about 3.4% currently.

You can sacrifice a bit of yield today in exchange for higher dividend growth in the future with two different Vanguard funds.  The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund (ticker: VDADX for mutual fund or VIG for ETF) is the better choice since it has a low 0.10% expense ratio and a current yield around 2.3%.  The other option, the Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund (ticker: VDIGX) comes with a higher expense ratio (0.29%) and a 2% yield.

Another great way to put together a dividend focused portfolio is by purchasing a basket of solid dividend paying stocks through Motif Infesting (full review here).  For $9.95, you can buy a slate of up to 30 stocks.  You can choose your own 30 stocks based on your own dividend screens.  For example, you can set a filter that shows only those stocks with yield over 4% with a history of stable and growing dividends.  Or you can pick from one of Motif Investing’s many pre-selected “motifs” (basket of stocks) centered around high dividend yield or dividend growth.  Buying motifs is slightly more complicated than buying a dividend mutual fund, however you can skip the 0.10% to 0.29% expense ratios by owning the stocks directly.  That means a 3% yield after expenses would become 3.1% to 3.29% without the expenses.  Definitely worth checking out Motif Investing if you want to maximize your yield.

Parting Thoughts

Dividend yields can be a great way to generate cash to fund an early retirement.  I personally don’t put too much emphasis on dividends in my own portfolio, since I’m expecting long term appreciation of my investments to keep me flush with cash as I continue to enjoy my early retirement.  But a 2-3% dividend yield can fund the majority of your budgeted retirement expenses if you don’t exceed a 4% annual withdrawal rate from your portfolio.

I came of age and started buying my first investments during the roaring 1990’s tech bubble when everyone was making easy double digit returns and no one cared about a few percent yield.  The focus was all growth growth growth, and sometimes profit profit profit was ignored.  After the tech bubble burst and double digit losses replaced double digit gains, the dividend investors sat back and smiled since their dividend focused portfolios sailed through the crash relatively unscathed.

A decade later, the old high growth tech bellwethers like Apple, Microsoft, and Intel have become somewhat boring dividend payers (yes, Apple is boring).

Some companies are good at consistently earning money but still don’t pay any dividends at all.  Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is one of those companies.  Mr. Buffett thinks it more efficient to reinvest all the corporate earnings from Berkshire’s holdings instead of giving part of the earnings to shareholders in the form of dividends.  Berkshire Hathaway’s impressive track record of outperforming the S&P 500 by 4-5% annually for a few decades means Mr. Buffett knows what he’s doing.

I mention Berkshire Hathaway’s solid investment performance to highlight a company you would completely miss if you were strictly a dividend investor.

Dividend focused strategies can pay off, but so can investment strategies that are spread across many asset classes.

What is your take on the dividend investment strategy?  Do you manage your portfolio with a focus on generating current dividends growing your dividend stream in the future?  Or do you rely on the overall growth of your investment portfolio?

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  1. I like your approach. In the modern era I don’t like dividend investing. Companies are now choosing to do stock buy back programs to boost stock prices and return capital to investors that way. As such, I don’t think anyone should be strictly a dividend investor in the modern era as it will become more and more rare for companies to pay dividends.

    1. I’m mainly afraid of missing out on the good companies that don’t pay dividends or pay a very average dividend and therefore wouldn’t be included in a dividend investing strategy. Instead, I like owning the whole market.

  2. “Psychology of automatically receiving dividend” – for me, that’s huge. Our portfolios have fallen across the board the last month, like everyone else invested in equities, but I give myself a little bit of a psychological boost when I remember two things – timeline and purpose.

    My timeline on my index funds is to not touch them for many many years, certain longer than the trough to peak return of the equities after the SUP500.

    The purpose, which means dividend income from the dividend stocks and funds, will still continue to produce. With the exception of energy (i.e. oil companies), the other dividend stocks are still doing well despite their stock price. They’re unlikely to waver in paying out the dividend, so unless I sell my stock and lock in the losses, I haven’t “lost” anything.

    These two ideas kept me invested (and continuing to invest) during the downturn and now through this “hiccup.”

    FWIW, the third thing that keeps my head in the right place is knowing I’m just giving back some of the massive gains of the last few years. 🙂

    1. I totally agree with Jim.

      Any time a dividend payment is paid to me, it also serves as a kind of positive reinforcement that helps me reiterate to myself that I am a partial business owner of tens of companies in a variety of industries that have global operations and employ millions of workers. Those companies earn profits, and share a portion of those profits in the form of a cash dividend. The stock market can value those businesses any way it wants, resulting in fluctuating share prices. But the cash dividend provides investors like me with a positive reinforcement to hold on to their investments during market declines, and ignore those stock prices.

      And when you ignore those prices, and focus on the stability of cash dividends, you can afford to stick to your long-term investing plan through thick and thin.

      1. And when stocks go down, it truly does represent a sale as long as the prospects of the company remain strong (and the dividend isn’t at risk). You get the same dividend, a higher yield, and the payments reinforce the good behavior.

      2. Definitely a great point. The consistency of the dividends helps us remember that what those shares represent is a tiny fractional ownership in a company. And those companies often still generate profits even in a bad economy when the stock price is way down.

    2. “the third thing that keeps my head in the right place is knowing I’m just giving back some of the massive gains of the last few years.” I console myself with this same knowledge. 🙂 The market goes up, it goes down. Right now it’s gone down, but not nearly as far as it went up.

  3. Love the dividend growth investing strategy and it’s our primary plan for reaching financial independence. Most of our dividend focused holdings are in taxable accounts and then we have another good chunk invested in mutual funds in a 401k/Roth IRA/Rollover IRA. Dividends do provide a nice fall back whenever the markets are pulling back like they’ve been to start off 2016. The good thing though is that reinvested dividends are buying more shares now.

  4. Great article. I would be concerned about focusing solely on dividends, but your approach seems very reasonable and part of a larger strategy. Only having to withdraw $14/year in principal from your taxable account seems very sustainable, especially using index funds with low expense ratios. Certainly good enough to tide you over until the taxable accounts become available more easily.

  5. Like you I focus on total return. The dividend yield from my mutual funds in my brokerage account will be a nice asset in FIRE if I decide to find part-time work or projects that pay, as it will eliminate the need to worry about selling mutual funds. But at the end of the day if you’re living off a 4% portfolio dividend yield, you’re still essentially doing the same thing as someone with a 2% yield and selling 2% each year. It’s basically the same thing.

    1. That’s right – the bottom line is that a 4% dividend yield is the same as a 2% yield from less dividend-focused stocks plus selling 2% of the principal. Some companies simply reinvest more of their earnings while others pay out a significant part of their earnings.

      1. Tax-wise, a 2% yield and selling 2% of principal is better than a 4% dividend yield. Quote from paper published by Vanguard:

        This reduction (in tax rate on qualified dividends) led many investors to believe that there was no difference between the taxation of cash flows on qualified dividends and the taxation of capital gains. Not so: While it is true that the 15% tax rates are identical, the amounts that the tax is applied to are not. That is because a qualified dividend is taxed at 15% in its entirety; whereas if the equivalent sum is realized from a stock sale, the 15% capital gains tax will apply only to whatever portion of the sum represents a gain. As a result, both pre- and post-JGTRRA, dividends should be avoided from a tax perspective.

  6. Thanks for this article – I haven’t concentrated much on dividend income as part of my portfolio until this past year. Unfortunately, I had the mindset of picking stocks that I thought would increase in value (that’s a gambling man’s method!). I now look more at the passive income (dividends). I think Dividend Mantra was my big wake up call on this.

    I’ll definitely check out the Vanguard funds you suggested.

    — Jim

    1. Those Vanguard funds are great places to start, particularly the ones with 0.10% expense ratios. I don’t follow a strict dividend focused investment strategy, but if I did, one of the VG div funds would be the core of my portfolio, with some nicely paying blue chips for a shot at some extra yield.

  7. Very timely article and just shows that investing in index funds can still bring in good amount of dividend. I’ve been focused mostly in individual dividend paying stocks but lately have been purchasing some index funds to diversify our exposure. When it comes to dividend and index fund, you aren’t sure exactly how much yield it’ll produce, so it becomes slightly harder to estimate your income level. I’m like you though, heavily invested in tax-sheltered accounts. The plan is to maximize tax-sheltered accounts first before investing in regular accounts.

    1. I like the idea of diversifying with index funds. It scares me to see some dividend investors who are concentrated in 15-20 issues, with half of those representing the large majority of the portfolio (and often in the same sector!). Scary stuff if a sector gets smashed (a la banking 2008 or oil today).

  8. Wow, for a “non-dividend” investor, you sure make good dividend income (it even easily covers your cost of living!). A 2.4% yield on index funds is actually remarkably good. As you noted, it makes you sleep even better at night 😉

  9. Thanks for sharing. We have about $300,000 in our exclusive dividend portfolio. The rest are in index funds. The dividend portfolio pays off more dividend because that’s the focus of that account. The dividend portfolio will help fund our early retirement when Mrs. RB40 retires. The index fund in the retirement accounts won’t be touched until our late 50s or early 60s.

    2.4% is very good for index fund. I suspect 2016 will be a tough year for dividend. Energy companies will probably have to cut dividend and some other sectors might follow suit.
    I’m curious to see how dividend will turn out in 2016. I’m assuming flat or lower….

    Wow, you have 50% in international. That’s a lot. 2015 was a rough year for emerging markets. Hopefully, the international markets will come back in a few years.
    Let’s brace our self for 2016. 🙁

    1. I’m guessing flat to down for dividends, especially in my 50% international portfolio. And yes, it was a rough year for international, especially emerging markets. The good news is I rebalanced into more emerging markets at a relatively low point.

  10. I have a mixed bag of investments. Some individual stocks, some mutual funds, and some ETFs spread across my accounts. I have been moving to more ETFs as I don’t have time to research stocks right now. I hold a couple of companies I think are really great, but they are also top holdings in most funds, so it is a bit redundant.

    I have tried to balance overall and not in each account based on where I can get the lowest fees. For example, the international fund in my 403b/457b has a very high expense of something like .60%. I think people sometimes try to balance in each account and don’t get the best overall rates they could when having taxable, roth, ira, and 401k accounts to manage.

    1. I do the same thing with finding the best (lowest cost) investments in a particular account and just buy those. My 457 is a good example – limited low expense options leaves me investing in only Total US index and Total International Index at 0.10% and 0.20% fees respectively. That’s almost double what I would pay for a similar Vanguard Admiral fund or ETF, but it’s better than the 0.6-0.7% actively managed funds that consistently underperform the index funds by 0.5% or so (just about the exact difference in fees 🙂 ).

  11. VDADX/VIG is a great one click way to get dividend growth exposure, glad you noted that.

    I rely almost entirely on passive income in FIRE and that includes a healthy allocation to debt and debt like instruments. The low volatility helps me sleep during periods like the last couple weeks.

    1. I don’t have much of an allocation to fixed income investments but still sleep at night. Check back if the market drops another 20% and see if I’m still sleeping. 🙂

  12. Nice post on dividends RoG. Very timely with the markets in decline. As I see it, dividends are ‘business returns’ and stock prices are ‘market returns’:

    We choose to live off our dividends instead of stock sales – We don’t want to sell when the markets are down. We want to buy when markets are down!

    As it is, dividends may be the only kind of return we see for a year or two.

    1. That’s certainly possible that we won’t see much in the way of market returns over the next couple of years. Which is okay given the growth since 2009. Slow and steady suits me just fine.

  13. The last few weeks, I have been thinking on dividend investing, but without having the need to do all the research and follow up myself. The article you have here is – at first sight – the way 2 go for me.
    Living in Belgium means I have to take into account some double taxation.

    It is worth while to look further in this.

    1. Lots of European companies pay out very nice dividends, though I believe they fluctuate more year to year compared to their US counterparts that want to pay a steady, consistent dividend year to year.

  14. Thanks for posting this — a lot to digest.

    I have an initial (and probably dumb) question re: tax implications of dividend income. Does the dividend income itself count towards what tax bracket you are in the same as how earned income does? Or is it a totally separate category?

    I guess what I’m asking is could I theoretically keep my earned income low enough to stay in the 15% tax bracket and get $500,000 that year in qualified dividends paying 0% on it. (Numbers ridiculous for illustrative purposes.)

    1. Your qualified dividend income adds to your regular income for tax bracket purposes. In the $500k of div income example, you would be in the top tax bracket paying 15% on most of the dividends and the max rate on your ordinary income.

      1. Thanks — I actually did some research on this today while killing time on boring conference calls. It did seem too good to be true the way I initially envisioned it.

        But, you could still get a very high income on qualified dividends with a pretty low marginal tax rate. Which, I suppose is what Buffett was describing when he said his tax rate was lower than his secretary’s. I’m not sure what I think the tax system should ideally be — but it certainly makes sense to optimize my own situation to take advantage of the system as it stands.

        1. Right on – Warren Buffett could get billions in qualified dividend income and pay 18.8% while regular middle class people can pay a 25% marginal rate (on the last dollar).

          The really sweet spot is a single person being able to receive almost $50k in qualified dividends at a 0% federal tax rate.

  15. I like what you were able to do with Personal Capital’s tables and charts. Unfortunately, I’m having a lot of trouble with Personal Capital mis-classifying dividends as securities trades instead of as investment income. Even after I correct the classification, the program will not reclassify for purposes of totaling investment income.

    I can’t trust or rely on Personal Capital’s accuracy which undermines the utility. Have you had problems with that and if so, how have you dealt with them? Since you are segregating dividend income, how do you classify capital gains in funds?

    1. Hmmm, I haven’t had a problem. I have accounts at Fidelity and Vanguard and haven’t seen any issues with those. Maybe it’s account specific? I’ll keep a look out though because sometimes transactions get a weird label if I’ve previously classified something differently.

      1. I have Fidelity, Vanguard and T Rowe Price among others. All have been mis-classified at times. Fido and Vanguard are inconsistent and not predictable. T Rowe Price is always wrong. The dividends and capital gains do not show up at all in Investment Income. Something I will have to take up with the PC folks, I guess.

        1. I guess I might recall a very rare occurrence of a mis-classification for dividends. I’ll go through all the transactions and double check them, and sometimes have to make a correction. Certainly not a routine thing though. And once I catch it, I have no problem reclassifying the transaction to be a dividend or sale or whatever.

  16. This could be a dumb question, but should I be counting the capital gains distributed from my mutual funds as dividend income? Most of my funds pay short-term, long-term, and income. Which of these should we be counting towards investment income received?

    1. I would count only the dividends as true income if you’re trying to figure out what a mutual fund’s dividend yield is. The cap gains will vary a lot year to year and are really just an artifact of our US tax code that requires the funds to pay out any gains realized within the fund.

      But in terms of looking at cash flow each year, those cap gains distributions spend just the same as a dividend payment. So from that point of view cap gains distributions are still income.

      1. ah ok thanks. one more question – so when you are quoting your dividend figures, do those include cap gains distributions (long/short) paid on your funds? (i understand your yield calculations are only on income)

  17. One of the benefits of dividend income is the simplicity of it. Especially for newer investors, it’s easy to wrap your head around dividends as an income stream because it more closely mirrors that of a typical salaried job. By not having to sell off shares, not only do you not to risk selling in a low market or dipping into principal, but you have a more passive cash flow that is closer to what you’re used to from your working years.

    All that said, I don’t think focus solely on dividends is the best strategy. For now, I’ll continue betting on total stock market growth and consider any dividend yield in addition to it a nice bonus.

    1. “For now, I’ll continue betting on total stock market growth and consider any dividend yield in addition to it a nice bonus.”

      That’s been my strategy all along. Corporate profits are either paid to investors by dividends or share buy backs or are reinvested into the company. It’s all the same to me (assuming reinvestment actually produces some real gains in corporate earnings!).

    1. I’ve read that, too. His basic philosophy is to let individual investors decide when to experience a taxable event with BRK shares instead of pushing income onto the shareholders. Makes sense if you’re managing tax liabilities very closely and don’t need the income.

  18. Impressive that you have a good tilt towards international funds. You mentioned that it wasn’t exactly by intention, but I guess you just had your tax advantaged accounts directed towards international?

    1. The 50% international allocation was intentional, but where I hold international isn’t always by choice due to different availability of fund options in the various accounts we own.

  19. Thank you for sharing your portfolio with us. I like to compare what others do with my own portfolio to see how it stacks up. It usually reveals specifics I sometimes miss.

    Right now I focus on overall growth as I am about 3-5 years to semi-retirement. 8 years to total retirement…if I want.

    My ideal basket looks very similar to the ROG portfolio. Right now I am deferring everything into 401K, some into Roth, and HSA accounts because my tax bill would be INSANE if I did not. I also like the thought of slow flipping houses every couple of years to unlock more capital to fund the stocks. PHYSICAL Gold and silver, in small amounts is also on my radar. I plan to hold for 30+ years…very long term, but I am convinced this the only way to play the precious metals game.

    I am self employed so I like the idea of funding the stock portfolio while I’m young. When everything is well funded I can move toward business ventures and rental buildings.

    I know everyone here is a reader so I thought I would share a few books that have helped me develop my investment approach:

    Richest Man in Babylon
    The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: Get Wise, Get Wealthy…and Get on With Your Life, Alex Green
    Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment, David Swenson
    The 7Twelve® Portfolio, Craig L. Israelsen, Ph.D
    Intelligent Investor

    1. Great book recommendations. Some I’m familiar with, some not. It’s good to see you’re taking a long term approach to investing – it will serve you well over the course of your investing career and give you a shot at good long term gains.

  20. I’m really more focused on growth stocks to gain more principal appreciation hopefully as I’m still under 40. But as I get older, I’ll allocate more towards stable value assets, and large cap stocks with dividends.

    I’ve got about $25,000 out of my $175,000 passive income portfolio consisting of dividends. The rest is rental income, CD interest income, and alternative income.

    In a rising interest rate environment, dividend income stocks tend to get hit more so I’m going to wait for a year or two.

    1. That’s a smart approach – let those growth stocks do their magic to generate wealth and then convert to more income producing assets later on. I may end up doing something like that if the traditional dividend payers ever go on fire sale.

  21. I have to tell you – your recommendation of Vanguard funds is truly valuable. All of these articles talk about the kinds of things to invest in at a vague, macro level. Naming the fund is extremely helpful to those of us looking to better understand the best ways to invest. Always an enjoyable read – I find your perspective refreshing and of high value.

  22. Great insight. I never thought about using dividend income as an emergency fund vechicle. Many people believe stocks to be risky investments, which is true, but what most don’t understand is that dividends are generally still paid whether or not the market is down or up.

  23. Justin,
    Etfs like Vti hold a strong amount of mid cap stocks in the portfolio, you use the S & P 500…Why no allocation to the mid cap category (even a 5% allocation), just wanted your thoughts. I see lots of portfolio examples excluding mid caps.

    Thanks man!

    1. I have a tilt toward small cap stocks (more volatile, higher expected return). Return of small cap stocks are less correlated with the return of large cap stocks (SP500) so there’s some benefit to staying on the extremes of the capitalization scale.

      I’m not a strict purist, and actually use VTI/Total Market and SP500 interchangeably (to tax loss harvest and switch between 2 positions that are similar but not “substantially similar” per IRS rules).

      I also hold the Extended Market index fund instead of a straight small cap fund in one IRA because of the fund options available at Fidelity. Spartan Extended Market has a better permanent expense ratio than the Spartan Small Cap fund. Spartan Extended Market fund = mid and small cap, so I’m getting mid cap exposure there too.

      1. Ok thanks man appreciate the quick response. I have a Traditional 401k in an an account at work that has high I only contibute what my employer will match. Then I fill up my Vanguard IRA that I manage. I also have a vanguard taxable account. Our belief in vanguard products as well as your allocation approach is spot on. I have a 100 k plus income and am a single 24 year old. If I am socking away 30 percent…is my next best move to throw all the excess money in the taxable account (I want to retire at 40) or am I missing something else that I could be doing?

        I want to get this right sir. Your killing it thanks for any help you can give.

        1. Yes, I’d say next best step is dumping everything in a taxable account (unless you’re planning on leaving the employer in the next few years and want to take the tax deduction today and just pay the high fees for a few years).

        2. You’re leaving a lot of potential 401k tax deductions on the table by only doing the match. Are the options really that bad? Even with high expense ratios the tax savings probably outweighs them. You could also try to talk to your employer and see if they’ll allow you to quit/rehire occasionally so you can rollover the 401k to an IRA. Sometimes having that conversation with a valued employee can give them a hint that they need to improve their 401k options.

  24. Justin,
    I’m no hot shot investor but I do hand pick all my own stocks. Besides my Roth IRA, I buy index funds. You have an impressive portfolio. Thanks for sharing it with us. I can’t wait to be as far into the process as you are. I have just reached the $1,000 in annual dividends milestone. Very exciting to me. The road to early retirement will not be short or easy but oh so worth it. I look forward to following you.

  25. This is quite an awesome blog! We wanted to “FI/RE”. But fear of unknown(big sickness in middle age, or child’s college expenses” keep us away from that dream.

    I have a few questions for you.

    How do you manage to keep commissions and transaction fees low for your investments. I hate paying those. Fidelity is where we have our solo 401k, but all vanguard funds carry a 75$ transaction fee and later additions cost $5… And any ETFs other than a few fidelity cost $7.95 per trade. I feel like these eat up my returns.

    Merrill Lynch has no commissions for us for individual ETFs and stocks, and probably only $20 for mutual fund. But their solo 401k is loaded with fees.

    Vanguard has a good solo 401k, BUT it does not have brokerage option and I can only buy vanguard mutual funds. I prefer ETFs over MFs.

    Do you have any suggestions for me? Not sure if you have discussed this elsewhere. I came across your blog from Clark Howard’s FB page yesterday and have been voraciously reading.

    Thanks a lot for your time. Look forward to hearing from you!

    1. I have accounts with Fidelity and Vanguard. I pay $8 for most trades, though some ETFs are free at Fidelity, and all Vanguard ETFs are free at Vanguard. Mutual fund trades are free for me at Fidelity and Vanguard (only trade the Fidelity and Vanguard MFs at the respective brokerage).

      Why the preference for ETFs over mutual funds? I have my solo 401k at Vanguard and it’s been great and hasn’t had any fees (though I have other assets there, so maybe that helps).

      1. Thank you! I prefer ETFs because of paperwork involved with 1099B in taxable accounts when it comes to MFs. ETFs have always been commission free both in Vanguard and some in fidelity. Now that you say their own MFs are free in respective brokerages, I may look in to them for my solo 401k in fidelity.

        1. Oh, I wasn’t aware of extra tax paperwork between MFs and ETFs (both formats pay dividends/interest and could pay ST/LT cap gains). I don’t blame you for choosing one if it’s easier though.

          I trade so little that $8 for a trade just isn’t that much to pay since there aren’t any annual account maintenance fees. Add to that the number of ETFs that trade free at Fidelity and my total brokerage fees for the year are typically $8-24 I’d say.

  26. Hello RoG,

    I hope you can help me with this dilemma…have a taxable account with a lot of Fidelity (free) ETFs. Nothing leveraged or inverse. Just plain and simple ones. The portfolio is up 14% now. I don’t need the cash now. Being a self employed individual I am in a lower tax bracket. All ETFs have been held over one year. Should I sell all (keep gains) and wait for market to crash or should I just leave it alone and add to the portfolio if there is a crash. I don’t want to let go of this gain. Can you advise if the strategy of buying and holding for next 20+ years is better than selling and making profit now and accumulating all over again.
    Thanks in advance for your help!

    1. Timing the market correctly is nearly impossible. You have to sell at the right time AND buy back in at the right time. I’d advise your latter approach – keep your $ fully invested and add more periodically over time (especially when it dips!).

      Over 20 year periods, the stock market typically does very well (very few, perhaps zero 20 year periods where it’s negative returns though you might want to fact check me on that 🙂 ).

  27. Hello Justin
    Thank you! Thank you so much!
    You all have a great trip to Europe-Enjoy!
    Hey where do I find your current portfolio fund selection, including-Dividend focused portfolios/REIT ETC.
    Much appreciated

  28. I’m one of those people that find stocks very abstract and daunting, so most of my investment is in target retirement funds from vanguard and real estate. Dividends piqued my attention mostly because of zero taxes if one is in 15% tax bracket,
    I would like to understand the relationship between dividend yield and rental yield (cash after deducting all operating expenses), are they comparable?Lets say, I have a property worth 1M that yields 40K annually (net after all expenses), is that a better investment than cashing out and putting into dividends?

    1. Not sure if you can evaluate $1M of real estate with $1M of dividend paying stocks/funds since the $1M could be a great real estate investment (with a high yield, high prospects for appreciation, for example). Real estate also comes with more risks (leverage, geographic concentration) than dividend stocks/funds (often nationally or globally diversified across industries and economies). So all else being equal, I would require more yield from a real estate investment than from a dividend fund to offset that risk.

    2. I think that depends on your needs and tax situation too. If you need to use the $40k, then your returns from your property can be easily withdrawn, and you get whatever tax benefits from owning your real estate.

      If you don’t really need to use the money, your dividends can be reinvested in a DRIP, and you don’t have to worry about what to do with it. Additionally, the capital gains tax bracket is often lower for most people.

      1. Thanks Justin and Smart Money MD!
        Good point about DRIP, I was mostly thinking about early retirement from the 40K rental income which would suffice for my living expenses..but the fact that the 1mil is not liquid bothers me so maybe dividend stocks is the way to go. However, I’m guessing the yield I can expect from dividend stock will be around 2.5-3% so around 25-30K a year?
        Is there just 1 single vanguard dividend stock I can buy and not monitor continuously? Strangely, I find real estate so much easier as I don’t have to think about it or rebalance anything constantly ????

  29. Thanks Justin and Smart Money MD!
    Good point about DRIP, I was mostly thinking about early retirement from the 40K rental income which would suffice for my living expenses..but the fact that the 1mil is not liquid bothers me so maybe dividend stocks is the way to go. However, I’m guessing the yield I can expect from dividend stock will be around 2.5-3% so around 25-30K a year?
    Is there just 1 single vanguard dividend stock I can buy and not monitor continuously? Strangely, I find real estate so much easier as I don’t have to think about it or rebalance anything constantly 🙂

    1. Vanguard actually does: VHDYX is the index fund, and VYM is the ETF. I don’t personally own them, simply because I have just been contributing to the total stock market fund, but I guess a dividend index isn’t a bad idea. I believe there is about a 3% annual yield.

  30. It really goes to show you that you can build nice cash flow and attractive yields from by using funds/ETFs. I still like some individual stocks to drive yield a little higher in my portfolio, but as you say, Motif is a great way you do this as well.

    1. I like the lazy approach 🙂 I’d probably go through Motif to “roll my own” dividend stocks strategy if that was the way I wanted to go though. Looks pretty simple.

  31. Thanks for sharing the asset allocation of your portfolio. It’s very helpful and interesting to see how you’ve sliced your portfolio (versus VTSAX/bond split like JLCollins). I have two questions:

    1) You hold up to 3 different funds for a single asset class (ex: VSIAX, VBR, IJS for US small cap value // VTMSX, VSMAX, FSEVX for US small cap // etc). Could you share the reasoning behind this?
    2) are the asset allocations the same or have they changed since you posted this a year ago?

    Thank you!

    1. 1. Different funds due to different options available where specific accounts are held. Some $ is at Fidelity, some at Vanguard. Some in 401ks with access to limited funds.

      2. Asset allocation is same as last year. Haven’t tweaked the asset allocation since 2008 or so when I moved to a more aggressive asset allocation with small cap international, international REIT.

  32. I have about 300k in high dividend REITS (NRZ, NLY, AGNC etc.) at the moment generating just over 30k in dividend income a year. The portfolio has appreciated to around 350k in the past 4 years or so and generated another 100k in dividends. I’m not FIRE yet but merely just backtesting my strategy and so far it’s worked out pretty well. I reckon once I have 750k in my brokerage account, I will diversify the portfolio a bit more and give the early retirement a shot. Will likely have 300k in the 401k by that point, and rental income from my Manhattan apartment (about 5-10k a year). Hoping to accomplish this by 35.

    What are people’s thoughts on retiring and living off a high yielding REIT portfolio? Crazy? Uncalculated?

    I reckon I’ll only need about 20-25k a year where I’m going, perhaps 30k since REIT dividends are taxed as regular income. I’ll be doing things that generate income as well (dive instructor/dive photographer, blogger etc.).

    1. The strategy could work, as long as you’re committed to living off just the dividends. I imagine those REITs are more volatile in terms of share price and dividend stream versus lower yield, more conservative REITs.

  33. Some companies are good at consistently earning money but still don’t pay any dividends at all. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is one of those companies.

    Oh yes, so true. And if you look at a graph of the growth, there is a only a slight bump that lasted 2 years and its right back up there. I am slowly getting an idea about how to stay the course in Equity’s.

    My BRK-B is up 200%, and still going, I don’t intend to ever sell it.

  34. Hi! I am a new reader and very encouraged by what you have done!

    Is there any specific reasons for owning different funds/etf in each sector? Wouldn’t it be more cost effective and easier to track if we just own one fund for each sector?

    Also, how did you decide these different sectors? I am still trying to figure out funds/ETF. Most ppl seems to just own Vanguard Total Stock Market Index.

    Thank you!

    1. I had accounts at several places like Vanguard, Fidelity, 401ks with different investment options, etc. Some places offered free ETF trades of certain kinds so I ended up picking from their free list. End result: several different funds in same asset class. Not intentional, just what happened to economize.

      For asset allocation, I followed a guide I found 10 years ago and established the asset allocation at that point, and stuck with it since then.

  35. I just started dividend investing this year. I find it comforting to know that every month I should receive a payment for doing almost nothing.

    My hope some day is to retire early on my dividend portfolio and live off that until I can access my TSP and iRA.

    1. Sounds like a good plan! And I agree – I love sitting back, doing very little and watching the cash roll in on a routine basis. Must be how kings and queens felt back in the middle ages. 🙂

  36. Hi Justin,

    Have been an ardent reader of your posts but first time commenting or the better way to put it, writing to ask you a question. The asset allocation you have is 50% US / 50% International. That makes sense to me and I am trying to go down that path as well.

    But one thing that is keeping me from allocating so much of my portfolio to international stocks is the fact that some countries tax dividends at the source. And we don’t have a way to recoup that especially when those investments are in tax-deferred and/or tax-free accounts. How do you reconcile with that? Or am I missing something?

    Here is a link I found but there are several that discusses the same issue.

    Your feedback is much appreciated.

    1. I didn’t see a huge downside mentioned in the article, at least not one specific to IRA vs taxable accounts. The main negative of holding International in IRA is the withholding of taxes overseas and you can’t get it back (as you mention). In taxable accounts, you can take the foreign tax credit. I decided to slightly tilt my taxable accounts to have more international investments so I could take advantage of the foreign tax credit. It’s usually a few hundred dollars per year on a $300-400k account balance. The downside to this approach is that international funds tend to pay out a slightly higher dividend yield in my experience, which leads to higher taxes (or at least higher AGI), especially considering international investments often don’t pay 100% of dividends as qualified dividends (unlike the typical large cap US index fund).

      So there are pros and cons to sticking international in taxable vs tax deferred, but the dollar amount of tax difference is usually rather modest.

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