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This index fund seeks to track a benchmark that provides broad exposure to U.S. companies that are dedicated to consistently paying larger-than-average dividends. It has about 420 stocks in it. Expense ratio: 0.09 SEC yield: 3.06% It's a cheap ETF to own. It is well diversified without any particular sector dominating. I feel like this is a good way to diversify into dividend stocks, without concentrating on any particular stock. It has some of the best dividend paying stocks on it. Source: Vanguard

Today I added to my existing positions in VTI, VYM, BND and VXUS. Estimated forward dividends: $230.07.

I am glad to have grown my dividends by 10.6% from last year (I am still shocked!). I was doing very well with investing till Q2. Q2 was my by best. After that I had to sell few of my positions to meet some commitments. Q3 I could not contribute much. Q4 I was more or less back to my regular investment level (although not as good as Q2). Without Q2 I would not have beaten my 2015 dividends. I am looking forward to 2017 Q1. How do you guys investment and still meet life commitments? Dividend comparison 2016 Q4

I would like to take advantage of the low mortgage rates and buy a home. But, even with supreme effort I have been unable to come up wit the required capital. So, I have been thinking of investing in REIT. As a staunch believer of vanguard, I have been looking into Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VGSIX). REITs are not strongly correlated with the overall market (correlation stands at 0.74), in a sense it gives me defensive diversification. The yields are also awesome. I believe VGSIX has yield of ~4.8%. This would contribute immensely to my passive income stream. It has a expense ratio of 0.26% which is slightly on the higher side (as compared to other funds in my portfolio). I would keep REITs at 5% of my overall portfolio. I would probably start out with VNQ and once I have 3000 I can switch to VGSIX. BTW, on vanguard ETFs trade for free.

I have looked into Fundrise and I feel they are expensive. I would probably invest in REIT index funds etc. Fundrise is a new company, perhaps after a year or two I would look into it again.

My biggest problem with Loyal3 is the lack of choices. Additionally they go by the "name" and do not perform any due diligence on the stock itself.For example they have been having Aeropostale (ARO ==> AROPQ), which is now in bankruptcy. Naive investors might buy into the brand name. Similarly, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) has been around for sometime. If Loyal3 is all about taking investing to the masses they should do a little bit due diligence at their end. On a positive note, I love the concept of zero commission trades.

I own a scottrade brokerage account. I am excited about this buy. The only negative I can think of is the 9.99$ trade (scottrade is 7 bucks). Scottrade's DRIP (they call it FRIP) is one of the worst I have seen. TD Ameritrade has a much better DRIP. I also look forward to a lot more research material (scottrade's stock market research offerings are limited).

Symbol Name Dividends Capital gains distributions Total distributions Short-term Long-term VHDYX Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund Investor Shares $7.06 $0.00 $0.00 $7.06 VMMXX Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund $0.03 $0.00 $0.00 $0.03 VBMFX Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Investor Shares $2.60 $0.17 $0.08 $2.85 VGTSX Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares $16.26 $0.00 $0.00 $16.26 VTSMX Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares $18.81 $0.00 $0.00 $18.81 $45.01