Hi Field and fellow newbie :) I'm Nicole and in my mid-40s...I tripped across this board last week and thought "wow, this seems to be a caring place to hang out and learn something" as my experience so far sounds like it is very similar to yours! I have been lurking and playing a couple of the plays here and they are the only ones that have really ever worked for me...today was a good day for me and I have "free" shares in CDIV! I decided today to attend the Phoenix "Monkinar". GLTY