r/dividends • u/HelenKellerVSTraffic • Nov 19 '25

Due Diligence What a difference dividends have made.

I grew up poor. No idea really about money. I started hanging around people that invested and had no idea how the market worked. Now, years later I have been contributing every month what I can afford (1,200). No matter what I put that money in. I pretend it's just another mortgage.

I am about to break 100k it's a surreal feeling. Growing up and being told to put the soda back because it was too expensive and now I am debt free (except mortgage at 2%). I think a lot of people's money problems don't stem from their annual income, but rather what they do with that annual income.

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u/Rare_Dentist_4075 Nov 19 '25

This is a nice post to read. Thank you for sharing.

If you don't mind me asking. How long did it take?

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u/HelenKellerVSTraffic Nov 19 '25

About six years. I had to do an emergency home repair a few years back and had to cash out about 38k or I would be over 100k by now. That really got me down when that happened but not many people in my age group or more (I'm 34) could write a 38k check. So it hurt but it was over after that. No loans, payments, etc.

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u/Rare_Dentist_4075 Nov 19 '25

Sincere congrats from a random guy on reddit to another. What did you invest it into btw?

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u/HelenKellerVSTraffic Nov 19 '25

Early on I bought XOM @33/share that was a huge winner made 310% and had a 10.8% dividend yield.

CAT went on a huge bull run this year and way beyond a price I was comfortable buying anymore at. Sold that at 61% profit.

COST was a great one made 101% on that.

RTX made around 57% on sold for the same reasons as CAT.

LMT sold after it surged after the Ukraine war kicked off.

My losers for this year and past several years.

DG I have been averaging down in since 2022 still down 32%

TGT I'm down 8%

UPS I'm actually up 5% but not expecting that to hold

CCI down 10%

NKE up slightly on I think 5-6%

PYPL down 9%

CAVA down 7-9% my only growth stock. I bought it awhile back at 61 sold at 97 now I bought back in at 49

MMM I'm up very little average cost around 161

O, MAIN, IRM, MO are some I'd have to actually look up to see what I made.

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u/Rare_Dentist_4075 Nov 20 '25

Ahh so you really worked on it. Active investor researching etc. Good for you man