We all make money and then do something with it, after paying the bills many people collect things. The collections begin small and as collections do, they evolve as you spend more time and gain knowledge about the collection. At just about every garage sale, which begin as the weather continues to improve, books are available. Once in a while, there is great finds of books that are more valuable than what the price is offered at. An interesting book was written by Allison Hoover Bartlett called The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Penguin, 2009. The author looks in the world of rare books in terms of the people in the industry and someone who fell in love with books, but does not have the money to buy them so he found a way to steal them. The thief wanted it all right now, while most of the dealers built up their knowledge and collections through the years. The book wonders what drives a person to collect whatever they collect?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there is a host of investments to be made or asset allocation, if you were starting with hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you are starting with less, as you look at all the stocks in the marketplace, a great place to build a solid foundation is dividend paying stocks. They have the advantage of profitable companies, being in business of years, paying the shareholders money every year, and having a  track record in both up and down markets. As you invest, you become more knowledgeable about what you want, what you do not want and how much to pay for it.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions