Income Funds

How old are you and what are you investment objectives at this point? Long term these income funds are under-performers. That being said if you are older and closer to retirement they can be the safer and better choice.

When you look at Southern Company(SO) they are not in position to keep growing. They operate in lower population growth areas. Also with Vogtle voting to move forward with construction in GA shifting all that financial risk to (SO) it's not the utility I would recommend.

I would recommend Exelon(EXC) or American Electric Power (AEP) over Southern Company. You'll get a similar yield with the prospect of some growth.

If you are a believer in the economy and think the FED will continue to hike then I don't think you should be opposed to a short 5 or 10 Year treasury note position which in theory provides you a little more diversification.

I know too little about income funds specifically to go into more detail to make a confidant recommendation. But if you have 20+ years until retirement that's not the place to be.

Hope this helps

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I am 32. I am looking at growing passive income (enough by the age of 40) that I don't HAVE to work and stress if I don't have to.

Basically generating wealth and value. It doesn't HAVE to be an income fund but that's just the one I understand. "buy stock, get this monthly"

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Obviously I don't know your financial situation but you would need a hell of a lot of money in to not "HAVE to work and stress".

Let's just say you are able to put $50k a year until you are 40 into income funds. If you DRIP until 40, let's just say you have $500k. At a 7% return, you are only talking $35,000 a year. I don't know about you but that's still no where near enough for me to not "HAVE" to work.

You can decide what is best for you but there are many different options out there with good yield.

HTD
ETO
ETV
APTS

Just to name a few.

*This is not any kind of financial advice.

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Does that change how I should be doing this?

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Not 100% sure if I am being honest. I am 30 and just started making real money. I personally have my work 401k and stock options that I don't really look at but invest in every paycheck to the tune of 23% of my income before company match and then have been attempting to play the market some with a few different stocks and learning more as I go along.

I have some REITs that I really like but similar to the funds you are looking at, I think it's something I will more look at when I get closer to retirement.

For me personally, I would like to have north of $1M in retirement with ~5% return after that by time I am at retirement age. By then, my expenses should be very minimal and living off $50k should be very comfortable along with SS (if still a thing in 35 years).

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Yeah, that's how I'm feeling. I want to grow my passive income so then I can just go to my stress free main gig and relax on W2 money while my funds grow for me. The consulting is stressful but I'm really good at it (hence the amount of money it brings in).....I can only endure so much of it before I explode though so that is why I'm giving myself the 40 cutoff.

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I'd say for sure make whatever you can now while you can.

I'd love to get some kind of consulting gig and double my income. I'd personally look into some ETFs and just buy those stocks individually myself or get with a financial planner and have them set up a "Financial Roadmap" or plan with specific investment opportunities then execute that plan yourself. You will obviously have to pay a one time fee for the plan then every few years, or in your case in 4 years, meet again to do the same thing and see where you have holes. You should be able to save on the other fees by doing so.

Ok. Yeah, I just get hung up on the whole FOBO (Fear of better options).

It is stupid that I am making the money I make but am a complete idiot when it comes to investing it etc...Trying to wrap my head around it etc.

You bet! Don't be afraid to sit down with an expert!

Happy investing!