You might be all excited about the prospect of sitting on the beach years from now, financially stable, in your dream home, with not a worry in the world. However, you might only be in that position if you choose the right stocks to invest in. While I am talking about dividend stocks right now, there are many other options to make you money.

There are numerous stocks that pay dividends, some with really high yields, and some with low yields. However, some new investors get deceived by the high yields of certain stocks and buy them, only to lose their money a few months, or years down the road. For example, if you had invested in Bank of America stock before the market crash of 2008/2009, you might have though you would be sitting pretty. The stock was rising, as it had done, overall, since the middle of 2002. You would have been receiving a dividend between 3-5% over that time frame. Everything was great.

Until it wasn’t…

Bank of America stock dropped from highs of almost $55, paying 3-5%, to near all time lows of $3.15. Unfortunately, lots of people lost lots of money from this stock because it looked good for so long and people had confidence in it. While Bank of America has made a turn-around since that crash and is doing well now, its not out of the blue yet.

So you may be asking yourself, “How am I ever going to choose stocks that are going to make me money through dividends if there’s a possibility that it could just crash tomorrow and I will be left with nothing?”. Well, you’re right. There is always a possibility that the stocks could crash and you will be “left with nothing”. However, the stock market is bound to rebound. The general trend for stocks is, and will continue to be, up.

So let’s get to choosing some stocks that pay dividends that you can assume will be around for a while. Like I said in one of my previous posts, you need to invest in what you know, or what you can easily explain. Why is this so important? While it is not the only things you should be investing in, these are things that you can foresee growing in the short-term and the long-term. These are thing that you will use on a daily basis and you see your immediate company using. Things like Verizon, Cisco Systems, Exxon Mobil, and Microsoft.

These four stocks have been around for a while, and will continue to be or the foreseeable future. Verizon has the largest market share of cell phones in the united states. Cisco Systems is one of the largest providers of network hardware and telecommunication equipment… you can see that the first two go hand-in-hand. Exxon Mobil has been a leader in the energy production in the world for many years now and there is not signs of slowing down. And lastly, Microsoft, is ever evolving to meet the needs of computer consumers. They will be around for many years to come. The common theme among all of these stocks is that you use all of them on a daily basis whether you like to believe that or not.

P.S. If you still haven’t signed up for Robinhood, why not?!

-Will