Is Index Investing Boring and Tedious? My Core-Satellite Strategy Mixing in 'High-Dividend Stocks' as a Beginner

Following my senior's advice, I have been diligently and stoically continuing my monthly contributions to All Country (eMAXIS Slim All Country) for 1 year and 8 months now.

I have been living an investment life that is going too well, with absolutely nothing to complain about.

But, as an amateur with less than two years of investment experience, let me be honest here. Please don't get mad when you hear this.

"I am completely bored with index investing!"

Please don't misunderstand. It's not that I want to quit investing. It's just that, as a luxury, I've started to crave a little excitement in the "calm and overly stable world" of index investing.

No matter how much the numbers on the screen increase with index investing, my real life doesn't get a single yen richer unless I sell. I was feeling frustrated by this gap between the "illusion on the screen" and my "unchanging reality."

After much deliberation, I consulted my senior at work again.

Then, my senior said, half-exasperated,

"That symptom is a common occurrence for index beginners."

That's what they said.

That's when my senior taught me about the "core-satellite strategy."

・Core (Main): The ironclad index investment. Defend it as the foundation of your assets.

・Satellite (Sub): "High-dividend stock investment" that combines hobby and practical benefits.

High-dividend stock investing is a method of buying individual stocks with high dividend yields to have money regularly delivered to you.
Compared to index funds, it requires company analysis and the difficulty level
is higher, but it has the advantage of allowing you to remain calm even if stock prices fall, because your goal is the dividends.
It's something like this!

Following my mentor's advice to 'start with a small amount as a learning experience, and buy one share at a time while diversifying across industries,' I decided to use money saved from reviewing my household budget to first buy 20,000 yen worth of Japanese stocks (such as JT and Mitsubishi HC Capital).
I decided to do this.

I still remember my fingers trembling as I pressed the buy button for the first time, even though it was only 20,000 yen.

After that, I still haven't forgotten the feeling of accomplishment when a few dozen yen in dividends were deposited into my account for the first time a few months later. It was the first money I had ever earned that didn't come from labor.


I was moved by those few dozen yen that appeared in my real life, not just as numbers on a screen, thinking, 'Oh, this is how my future life will gradually become easier.'

From the perspective of someone with a long history of investing,

'It's more efficient to focus solely on index funds'

might be an annoying thing to hear.

But I needed this 'little bit of excitement.' The satisfaction of choosing and buying stocks I want to support myself.

And because there is the joy of receiving regular pocket money, I am able to endure the boredom of index investing (the core) and continue to stay in the market.

There is something my mentor once said.

'There is something more important in investing than winning or losing. It is to stay in the market for a long time.'

For those who are bored and troubled by the tediousness of index funds, why not try mixing in a very small amount of 'high-dividend stocks' that won't
strain your household budget as a reward?
Your grip on your investments will become much stronger!