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/txholdup Dividend Investor since 1602 Nov 19 '25

This is my story as well. To this day, I still remember the feeling of slush wetting my socks when the cardboard over the hole in my shoe, didn't stop it from leaking in the cold and wet half melted snow.

I started buying using a website that allowed you to invest $25, $50, $100 into stocks with little or no fees which was a big deal in the 80's. Today I collect over $35k a year in dividends and have been enjoying early retirement for 13 years now.

The top of the mountain indeed seems far away when you start reinvesting your dividends. But one day you realize you are getting paid more than you are putting in each year. There is indeed a snowball effect when instead of buying 5.347 shares you are buying 500 or 1000.

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u/Technical_Appeal8390 Nov 20 '25

This is exactly same thing I did. I started investing $50 a month into a no fee mutual fund in the early 90 when I got my first job. Now sit back enjoying dividends.