How to Learn to Invest in the Stock Market and Make Money Doing It updated for 2015

We always had a financial advisor to do our investing until several years ago. I had time on my hands and to my surprise I discovered nvesting is actually very simple. If you learn the basics of what stock ratio's mean, learn to read charts and join some good websites you are on your way and possibly going to do better than your advisor because you are watching your money more closely. I am particularly fond of dividend stocks and drip investing.So I begin my hub Learn how to invest and make money doing it!!!

About 6 years ago my husband and I were transferred to Florida. It was an awesome place to move to although I hated leaving my children and my job behind. I found myself feeling lonely and somewhat useless. I decided it was time I learned more about our finances. That was where I began my education on investing .

I didn't start like any normal person would, reading about our accounts and investments made by our financial planner. No, I dove in head first investing.from the get go. I had knew about discount brokers available on the Internet so I started with Sharebuilder. It was easy enough and VERY inexpensive. I began by linking my bank account for automatic transfers. Then I had to learn what I wanted to purchase and how much to invest each week and/or month. This is where my education began.

The web was my first choice for stock information although I later subscribed to 3 financial magazines, Smart Money, Kiplinger's and Forbes. There are quite a few places on the web offering free advice on the best stocks and other forms of investments. My favorite became The Motley Fool. It was light reading, informative and very helpful but my favorite part was the contest they offered to compare my choices with other investors like myself. I enjoyed the competition and my husband liked that I was putting away money to invest in every week. Our savings grew rapidly. Now I enjoy investopedia, bloomberg, msn finance and kiplinger as welll as some great blogs on investing.

In just a few months I had learned quite a bit and was ready to open a second account with Scottrade making it easier to invest in funds.

I know I made many mistakes along the way but my portfolio grew quite fast. I especially liked dividend stocks, a trait I picked up from my father. With each passing week. I learned more and more. I could not get enough information and started following all the financial websites I could find. I enjoyed reading articles. I especially loved reading when we were at the beach and I could spend hours working and looking up at the ocean. It was relaxing and fun.

Consider REIT'S or real estate investment trusts for high dividend payouts.

I like dividend stocks and always reinvest. When you look at a dividend stock you want to make sure that the dividend rate has been maintained or increased for over 25 years. The PE is hopefully below 20. A dividend yield above 2.50%. Dividend payout ratio below 60%. Finally 10 annual dividend growth rate above 6%.

The updated dividend investor portfolio is;

Position Average Purchase Price Initial Purchase Date Percentage Gain/Loss Excluding Dividends
CVX 108.06 12/6/2012 1.16%
MCD 96.54 1/3/2014 -2.28%
ORI 16.22 4/4/2014 -9.19%
MCY 50.75 9/5/2014 18.27%
TMP 44.46 8/6/2014 19.52%
CTBI 36.55 5/5/2014 -10.53%
XOM 89.01 4/5/2013 3.76%
HP 90.57 10/6/2014 -25.94%
T 32.34 3/6/2014 6.80%
AFL 58.63 1/9/2015 4.01%

I really like Jason the dividend mantra blogger . He has great articles and i have learned so much from him He has been growing his dividend portfolio for quite a few years. His goal is to live of the income during retirement. Here is a quick list of his most recent portfolio

Company Ticker Shares Cost Basis Market Value Weight Yield

Aflac Incorporated AFL 100 $3,891.36 $6,401.00 3.4% 2.44%

Armanino Foods of Dinstinction Inc. AMNF 800 $1,472.00 $1,752.00 0.9% 3.29%

Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. APD 20 $1,716.20 $3,025.60 1.6% 2.14%

Avista Corp. AVA 55 $1,373.19 $1,879.90 1% 3.86%

Baxter International Inc. BAX 60 $4,080.35 $4,110.00 2.2% 3.04%

BHP Billiton PLC (ADR) BBL 115 $5,712.65 $5,089.90 2.7% 5.6%

Bank of Nova Scotia BNS 40 $2,218.40 $2,009.20 1.1% 4.28%

BP PLC (ADR) BP 80 $3,400.20 $3,128.80 1.7% 6.14%

The Clorox Co. CLX 35 $3,076.35 $3,863.65 2% 2.68%

ConocoPhillips COP 55 $2,803.46 $3,586.00 1.9% 4.69%

Chevron Corporation CVX 40 $4,026.74 $4,199.20 2.2% 4.08%

Deere & Company DE 30 $2,606.80 $2,630.75 1.4% 2.74%

Walt Disney Co. DIS 15 $1,407.23 $1,573.35 0.8% 1.1%

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. DLR 65 $3,534.30 $4,287.40 2.3% 5.15%

Emerson Electric Co. EMR 60 $2,867.90 $3,397.20 1.8% 3.32%

General Dynamics Corporation GD 20 $1,271.40 $2,714.60 1.4% 2.03%

General Electric Company GE 170 $4,252.50 $4,217.70 2.2% 3.71%

Harris Corporation HRS 40 $1,430.60 $3,150.40 1.7% 2.39%

Int'l Business Machines Corp. IBM 15 $2,631.25 $2,407.50 1.3% 2.74%

Illinois Tool Works Inc. ITW 35 $1,640.80 $3,399.90 1.8% 2%

Johnson & Johnson JNJ 100 $6,478.24 $10,060.00 5.3% 2.78%

Kinder Morgan Inc. KMI 180 $6,370.80 $7,570.80 4% 4.28%

The Coca-Cola Co. KO 140 $4,878.90 $5,677.00 3% 3.26%

Lorillard Inc. LO 50 $1,918.73 $3,267.50 1.7% 4.04%

McDonald's Corporation MCD 60 $5,203.76 $5,846.40 3.1% 3.49%

Medtronic PLC MDT 37 $2,847.15 $2,885.63 1.5% 1.56%

Altria Group Inc. MO 80 $2,222.32 $4,001.60 2.1% 4.16%

National Oilwell Varco, Inc. NOV 65 $4,001.69 $3,239.45 1.7% 3.68%

Norfolk Southern Corp. NSC 70 $4,674.81 $7,204.40 3.8% 2.29%

Realty Income Corp. O 70 $2,932.54 $3,612.00 1.9% 4.41%

ONE Gas Inc. OGS 8 $179.15 $345.84 0.2% 2.78%

Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. OHI 60 $1,917.03 $2,434.20 1.3% 5.32%

ONEOK, Inc. OKE 55 $2,247.51 $2,653.20 1.4% 5.02%

PepsiCo, Inc. PEP 77 $4,899.15 $7,362.74 3.9% 2.74%

Procter & Gamble Co. PG 51 $3,220.12 $4,178.94 2.2% 3.14%

Philip Morris International Inc. PM 115 $7,927.55 $8,662.95 4.6% 5.31%

Phillips 66 PSX 27 $816.34 $2,122.20 1.1% 2.54%

Praxair, Inc. PX 10 $1,200.60 $1,207.40 0.6% 2.37%

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (ADR) RDS.B 25 $1,652.50 $1,567.50 0.8% 6%

Raytheon Company RTN 25 $1,286.00 $2,731.25 1.4% 2.45%

Southside Bancshares, Inc. SBSI 70 $1,296.20 $2,008.30 1.1% 3.21%

AT&T Inc. T 100 $3,102.50 $3,265.00 1.8% 5.76%

Toronto-Dominion Bank TD 36 $1,484.44 $1,542.60 0.8% 3.8%

Target Corporation TGT 70 $4,364.60 $5,744.90 3% 2.53%

Orchids Paper Products Co. TIS 60 $1,644.39 $1,617.60 0.9% 5.19%

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. TROW 20 $1,662.40 $1,619.60 0.9% 2.57%

Unilever PLC (ADR) UL 100 $4,037.80 $4,171.00 2.2% 3.53%

Visa Inc. V 20 $1,076.50 $1,308.20 0.7% 0.73%

Vodafone Group PLC (ADR) VOD 81 $4,069.51 $2,647.08 1.4% 5.51%

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ 39 $1,821.87 $1,896.57 1% 4.52%

Wells Fargo & Co. WFC 90 $3,303.10 $4,896.00 2.6% 2.57%

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT 38 $2,038.36 $3,125.50 1.7% 2.38%

ExxonMobil Corporation XOM 20 $1,727.00 $1,700.00 0.9% 3.25%

I tried trial subscriptions to Value Line and Investor's Business Daily, great websites but a little too expensive for my frugal taste. Some free sites are Seeking Alpha, investopedia and The Motley Fool. An awesome site for ideas on mutual funds is one of US New's Websites, also free. A few other good sites are seeking alpha, investing for beginners and dividend.com.

I especially like Drip Investing. I pick a company I like which pays a good dividend and if they participate in drip investing you can invest a fixed amount every month or whenever you want to set it up. 20smoney.com has a good article about drip investing.

Then came the crash of 2008 and 2009. My dad had always taught me that you have not lost anything unless you sell. It is all on paper. So I patiently waited the recession out and took advantage of many low priced values. With the recovery I have learned to branch out and learned more about real estate income trusts and exchange traded funds.

We have thankfully recovered somewhat although I am a little fearful of all the political upheaval and the natural and man-made disasters in the world today.

I still invest monthly and try to read all I can. It has definitely become a fun and lucrative hobby. Be careful when you begin. Check up on the suggestions you read. Learn the lingo and learn to buy low and sell high.Be sure you try to hold onto a stock for at least one year before you take some gains or your capital gains taxes will be very high. There is a mandatory 30 day waiting period before a sold stock can be repurchased

Thanks so much for reading my Hub. Please rate it if you enjoyed it. You can become a hubpage writer toohttp://hubpages.com/_startyourownhub/user/new Use this link!