I mainly hold a lot of $SCHD in my brokerage but I feel like I should possibly diversify. I don't know a lot about REITs and I have none in my portfolio. I also have little tech exposure as $SCHD doesn't buy much. So, I complement it with a bit of $QQQM.

$QQQM has almost no dividend. I don't generally want to sell any stocks. I looked into $JEPI but it seems to not keep up with the market. My goal is to never sell because of Tax reasons. I'm definitely more of a dividend investor.

I don't want to get much exposure to healthcare. Ever since late last year I think the industry has been heavily under heavy scrutiny. I don't expect it to do as well. Plus, I don't like the idea of making money off people who are sick.

I like the idea of having a second source of income. I live very frugally and had 5 jobs in 5 years. I think I settled on a great place to work; but the fear and concerns from layoffs are always there. It's nice having a soft cushion of dividends.

I have a 401k largely investing in fortune 500.

I was would like input from others.

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

I think if you're too focused on US-based investments, you're going to be in a bad way regardless. If you don't have a Roth IRA already, you should have one and max it out before you even begin to think of a traditional brokerage.

If you want safe dividends for a cushion, it makes more sense to have a High-Yield Savings Account paying out ~4% per year, monthly, and having growth-focused retirement accounts (preferably a balance of US and international, ie something like VT). Dividend stock investing only really makes sense if you already have 6 months to a year's worth of expenses in a HYSA already and a maxxed out Roth IRA and 401K focused on asset growth.