One Man's Search For A Safe And Growing Stream Of Income, Part 2

By Bob Wells:This is the fourth in a series of articles which chronicle my struggle to establish a safe and growing income stream in retirement.

By Bob Wells:I retired in late 2008 and started managing my own money in February of 2011. Needless to say it was a pretty volatile year to start an education in how to manage your own money. Considering all the mistakes I made and all that I needed to learn, 2011 ended up great. I produced the 3.5% I needed from dividends for income in addition to an additional 3.1% in capital gains.

By Bob Wells:This is the third in a series of articles which chronicles my struggle to establish a safe and growing stream of income. Click here for part 1 and part 2.

By Bob Wells:At the end of 2011, I set out to establish a portfolio that would serve to produce an income stream from dividends that would help fund my retirement. I was looking for specifically for stocks with a track record of safety. If there were capital gains, then that was a bonus. As a retiree, I was more interested in a steady stream of income, protection from inflation and preservation of capital.

By Bob Wells:I'm just completing my first quarterly portfolio review since formally signing on as a dividend growth investor. I'm now in my second year of managing my own investments since retiring.

By Bob Wells:I started managing my own investments in February of 2011 after retirement at the end of 2008. I discuss the experience of my first year as an individual investor in my first article for Seeking Alpha. I said, "I am less fearful about my investing future because every day I learn more about what is means to be a Dividend Growth Investor."

By Bob Wells:In my most recent series of articles beginning here, I chronicled the steps taken to develop a retirement income stream from funding coming exclusively from dividends and dividend growth. Along the way I have been joined by a large number of folks who are new to the concept of Dividend Growth investing. Great ideas and suggestions were exchanged.

By Dividend Dog: The Magic Formula was used to pick dividend paying stocks without detracting from its performance in a prior article. Since the Magic Formula does not seem to suffer from limiting picks to dividend-paying stocks, this screening method was used to create a current list of the best dividend stocks to buy now in October 2012.