Diversification and portfolio allocation

Diversification is very important in achieving ones financial goals. My goal is to be able to create an ever increasing stream of passive income through investments in dividend paying stocks which have the history and the capabilities to increase their dividend payments over time. In order to achieve that I have focused on the Dividend Aristocrats as well as the High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats. I plan on exploring the dividend achievers list once I exhaust the two lists previously mentioned. Any foreign stocks would be included after the ever changing three previously mentioned lists are exhausted at a point of time.

In order to achieve my goal I plan on investing equal amounts of funds in at least 50 dividend companies. You could read about my screens here. I will try to rebalance the portfolio on a quarterly basis through my regular monthly contributions to the portfolio as well as properly allocating and reinvesting dividends received ( I do not plan on using the dividend income for at least several years).

Over time there will be companies that cut their dividend for whatever reason. Currently, I plan on disposing of such stocks when they cut their dividends. I do not plan on selling stocks which simply freeze their dividend increases. My research on certain old-time dividend payers like XOM or SNV show that over time companies are more and more likely to freeze their dividend.

Related Articles:

- Diversification Matters

- The case for dividend investing in retirement

- My Strategy

- Why dividends?