DRIPs Good? Bad? Where to start?

I'm interested in investing in some DRIPs across the insurance industry. Is this a good idea? I plan on leaving them alone for at least 20yrs. (This will be more of hobby investment than a retirement plan.)

Personally, I like DRIPS. I started investing in DRIPS over 15 years ago - and there weren't nearly as many companies offering these plans then. I know there are other websites that you can get the information from, but the one I use is drip.com. Every year they publish a book with complete company information on all companies offering DRIPS. They also publish a monthly newsletter that keeps you informed of changes in plans and other investing news. You can also purchase the directory from Horizon publishing - it's $15 and worth it. (horizonpublishing.com). This company offers books with lots of useful investing information.
I started with DRIPS as a hobby too. There is a little more paperwork with a portfolio of DRIPS, but I enjoy it.

as a general rule yes... they are good.
and over 20 years of compounding with a drip you will see an excellent return. The down side is record keeping... you will pay taxes on the income even though you didnt keep it each year... and when you sell, each of those drips will carry their own cost basis.... this may be more hassle than you want if its not much money...
Personally i enjoy tracking the investments and have created spread sheets showing Purchases and Drips seperately and their cost basis...figure that most stocks will pay quarterly so you'll only have to update it 4x per year per stock... or just every 6 months when you review your portfolio enter the data then.
the bad, aside from record keeping ... is that if the company goes bankrupt... you never got the benefit of having the cash flow when times were good.

most brokerages that your buy the stocks thru will set it up free of charge so long as the stocks are held in accounts with them,.... or you can do it directly at the transfer agents...

cheers.

yes drips are good

Hi, i recommand you a good and basic tutorial for investing. it covers all Issues related to your Investing and everything around it.

http://www.investingtutorial.info/

wish it will help you.

Good Luck , Best Wishes!

Tags

　　Investment Trading 　　Investment Strategy 　　Investment Services 　　Investment Portfolio 　　Investment Plan 　　Investment Performance 　　Investment Options 　　Investment Opportunity 　　Investment Manager

Related information

How to learn about taxes? Video or easy to learn tutorials?

Go to college because most of these courses are very basic and don't go deeper into much else. If you are trying to figure out your own taxes then just get Turbotax. No one uses paper return...

Is there any way to obtain pension fund?

No, the legislation's pretty watertight. You could maybe find someone prepared to lend you money against the lump sum that you'll be entitled take at age 55. Not sure what sort of a de...

Why should I participate in employer-matched 401k with all of the government restrictions on it?

Because the matching is a guanteed one year return on whatever portion they will do matching on. If the matching is 100% matching up to a certain point, you will never be able to do better than th...

What is a fair yearly depreciation amount ?

There are irs rules for depreciation, you must pick one and go with it. You can't depreciate land. You must depreciate the building slower than other things in it, so ideally you purchased ...

Can anyone suggest a good book on personal finance?

I think it depends on where you are in your knowledge about personal finance. For instance, if you already know to stash all possible cash in first, savings, 2d 401k, 3d Roth, 4th Other--then when...

What's the best way to use your Credit Card?

i use one credit card (discover) it gives me a cash reward and the statement tells me where i spend the money!!!

...

Is this fraud?

Typically, in America, if you purchase a "primary residence" you can live it in for whatever amount of time you want, and sell whenever you want. However, there are a few catches to be a...

Is it the right time?

If you have not signed any papers yet, go to www.realtor.com and look up condos in your area. This site should have pictures and prices of the condos. Also, look up houses in your area. If you ...