First post - About me

I've been an avid believer in dividend investing for several years now, from my very first purchase of rochester gas and electric at the ripe old age of 12.  I went on to college, and then started graduate school in the fall of 2002 in a biochemistry program, and for most of that time I did practically no investing.

Then in 2003, the wonderful woman that was my grandmother passed away.  We were pretty close, it was a tough loss for me.  Upon her death, she willed to me shares in a small community bank that pay a not spectacular, but steady dividend.  It didn't make me uber rich or anything, but the value of the shares was still a substantial sum of money for a 23yo to walk into.  Instead of doing what most people that age would do, which is sell the shares, take the massive tax hit, and by the material possession du jour (clothes, new car, maybe a condo), I decided to keep the stock.  It had some sentimental value, and besides, it spit out a quarterly dividend of about 1200 bucks, which was nice for a graduate student to have coming in every 3 months.

As time progressed, both the dividend and the value of the stocks incrementally increased.  In eight short years, the value of the position I inherited more than doubled, and today the quarterly dividend check is almost 3k.  In the meantime, my potential earning power was increasing.  I finished my PhD in 2007, worked as a postdoc for 2 years, and now work as a scientist for a biotech startup company.

In 2008, I finally had saved up enough money to open an account at a discount brokerage.  I decided to go right back to the well, and start to diversify away from my inherited stock by purchasing shares in other companies that pay dividends.  As of today, these investments (which I will describe in detail at a later time) pay about 1k a quarter in dividends.  I also purchased some physical gold and silver in 2009, and you don't need to be a financial expert to know how well that investment is doing :).

So at this point, I'm working at a job I really like and am compensated nicely for, all while simultaneously making about 4k a quarter in dividends.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, life happens.  While I probably could have made 16k a year work in grad school, I live in a much more expensive area in the country now.  Further, I just got done going through a very costly, both financially and emotionally, period of my life.  Its a story for another time (and probably another blog).  Let's just say that marriage is not in my future.  But the dark cloud that was once overhead is now clear, and it could have been much worse than it turned out.

I feel like I was granted a new lease on life.  So what do I want it to look like going forward?  I want to cut down on expenses.  That means clearing my car debt and credit card debt ASAP.  I'm actually hoping to have both paid off by the end of the year.  Next, I'd like to take the money that I've been using to pay these things down monthly, plus the 4k in quarterly dividends that I receive now, and ramp up my investment efforts.  Lets face it, while I like my job, its a tough economy out there and I work in a highly specialized, pretty shaky industry (startup biotech).  This blog will document my journey towards greater financial freedom.

A few other things.  While I enjoy reading some great dividend blogs out there (Dividend Mantra, Early Retirement Extreme, Dividend Partisan, Dividend Pig, etc., my journey is much different.  I've been granted a head start, which I'm grateful for, but I think it allows me to take a few more risks.  I also really like my job, so I'm not counting on having to touch either the principle or the dividends for a long time from here on out.  I guess this is just a long winded way of saying, "The investments I choose are probably not right for you, and maybe not me either, as I'm really a scientist having some fun with money on the side."  Anyway, hope you enjoy it.