Dividend Stocks

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I bought my first stock at age 19, a very long time ago. Since then I've always owned stocks... and bonds... and muni bonds.

About 30 years ago I decided to become "a responsible adult" and shifted most of my stock money into quality no-load mutual funds. But it seemed that my carefully selected funds lagged as soon as I bought them even tho each was run by a certified "stock market genius" who looked great in his three piece suit in a lush paneled office high above The Street.

In those days, it was very hard to know how mutual funds or a portfolio of individual stocks performed. Forbes tracked funds on a quarterly or annual basis which helped a little. Dumb as rocks fund managers made fortunes and their clients were clueless.

Enter Vanguard's John Bogle and his crazy talk about indexing.

I began tracking my funds against Bogle's invention... and the index ALWAYS won no matter the fund (I owned 4) or the time period, whether quarterly or annually. Up markets or down, regardless of market fads ... the index always won!!!!!!!

I still have those 4 actively managed funds but never added to them. One did pretty well but by becoming a "closet indexer." The other three lagged significantly.

Well, that's my Index fund love story. I suppose I could have lucked out and bought Exxon or BRK or WMT back then and I'd be bashing Index funds. But I'm convinced they're great investments for 99% of investors, and will continue to be.