Top products from r/M1Finance

>do you have any suggestions of things to add?

VTI and/or something like VIG or DGRO, which capture dividend growth stocks - companies that have a history of increasing their dividend. I wouldn't let individual picks comprise more than 10% of my portfolio, but admittedly I'm an ardent index investor.

>I want to keep the dividend ratio over 7%

Why? You're just increasing your tax burden unnecessarily in doing so, especially with REITs, and you're missing out on mid- and small-caps, which have outperformed large-caps over time. I don't recommend chasing yield as income. Just sell shares when you want to.

>I prefer companies with growth potential and companies that survived the 2008 recession.

Look into VIG and long-term treasury bonds. This link shows how they fared better during the 2008 crash compared to the S&P 500. Long-term treasuries are usually inversely correlated to stocks.

>I feel like adding to many more would hurt my return as I have picked the "best" in the sectors I am involved with that support the dividend I would like to sustain.

How do you know you've picked the "best?" Evidence has shown time and time again that even most professional investors can't pick winners that beat a straight S&P 500 index fund over 10+ years, much less the average retail investor. I learned this the hard way firsthand.

You've said you're a beginner investor, which is even more of a reason to simply use index funds, or at the very least sector/factor ETF's as core holdings and then a small allocation for your individual picks if you want to keep things interesting. Or if you like the idea of picking winners, you can let Warren Buffett do it for you by simply investing in Berkshire Hathaway.

>I was considering a Chinese market ETF as the Chinese market is growing faster than the U.S. market currently. Opinions?

I don't know much about the Chinese market and it doesn't align with my investing strategy, so I can't really comment on that. You could utilize VIGI to capture international dividend growers.

I would suggest reading:

• The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
  
• Common Sense Investing by John Bogle, founder of Vanguard
  
• Google for articles related to "asset allocation," "risk management," "diversification," and "volatility reduction" in relation to investing.

Save a buck and borrow it from the local library. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118921283/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_FytlDbJFB2DME

I did not know about the 3fund book but think it would be silly to buy it :) it is going top tell you to balance for risk between a total market, total international, and total bond. It might talk about a split total bond/ total international bond... https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio. But hey might be worth a read if your library had it.

I am reading Get Rich With Dividends, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1118994132/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_o5YXCb6NNND5B, and I have also created a dividend pie with the intent of reinvesting dividends for 5-10 years then using the account for passive income in retirement. It is also my fun account, as I have a maxed out 401K and IRAs managed by a financial advisor. Also reading Simple Path to Wealth, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1533667926/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_56YXCbKQRY0AB who agrees with every other Redditor that I can't beat the market, but my intent isn't to beat the market, its to beat my financial advisor.

In this book the author talks about his magic formula which basically boils down to picking a couple of companies based value (he uses P/E ratio and ROIC to screen stocks) and he hods them for a while and rebalances every quarter or so. Not entirely sure how it works, but I am currently reading the book and it seems interesting.