What I Wanted From Investing — and the System I Built to Get There
What I actually wanted (and why)
Hi — Max here.
I’m going to show you the actual system that feeds me and my family right now — the one that lets me sleep calmly while my savings do the work.
The foundation: what I actually wanted (and why)
These principles aren’t “marketing.” They’re a reflection of how I’m wired, how I see life, and what I consider right investing at this stage.
I see investing as a partnership.
We put our capital into talented, honest, transparent businesses that build something real and useful. They grow. They create value. And they share that value with us.
The business wins. We win.
And we get to look at the future without that constant tight feeling in the chest.
So here’s the “ideal solution” I was looking for — very plainly:
Income starts today.
The dividend income I begin receiving right away — from the companies and funds I choose — covers a meaningful part of my family’s expenses (or even all of them). That changes everything. It means we can make decisions based on what we want, not what we fear.Income grows over time — even if I stop adding money.
Even if I don’t reinvest new savings or reinvest dividends, the income still rises year after year. We get wealthier. The checks get bigger.My capital is protected and grows.
I’m not slowly eating my savings. My capital is working intelligently and compounding. I’m building legacy and a stronger safety cushion over time.I don’t have to stare at the portfolio every day.
I can step away for 3–5 years and still know the system is doing its job. Of course, I’ll check in more often — but not because I’m anxious. Because I enjoy it. I like seeing the income climb and watching the dividend calendar fill up.
That’s the point. I didn’t just want to “live on dividends today.”
I wanted a structure where every year I feel more freedom and more options — and my family gets wealthier and calmer along the way.
So I built it. Here are the principles it’s built on.
Principle #1 — Business first
No business can pay dividends for long if there’s nothing behind them. If the cash register is empty, it can’t magically print money (unless you’re the Federal Reserve).
This has been true for hundreds of years, and it will always be true. So the first filter is always the same:
Is this a strong business?
What does “strong” mean in practice?
growing sales
growing earnings
stable, positive fundamentals even in tough years
manageable debt
strong liquidity
a smart balance between reinvesting for growth and rewarding shareholders
That’s the type of business I want to partner with.
A quick example: Nexstar Media Group.
A lot of people don’t even know what it is — and that’s fine. Quiet businesses often do the best work. I started buying it in 2024, when my system flagged it as a strong candidate.
At the time, the dividend yield was around 4.5%. Solid history. Strong margin of safety. And the stock was trading around $150.
So I did what we do inside the system: I verified the business quality deeper — and I liked what I saw.
I put real capital into it. And since then, it’s done exactly what strong businesses do.
My dividend income on that position is already well above 5%+, and in the coming months I expect another dividend hike (for me, that would be the third one). That would push it toward 6%+.
And while that happened, the stock price also moved up roughly +60%. That’s what a strong business does when you buy it at a reasonable moment.
It protects your capital. It grows. It supports the dividend. It gives you the freedom to ignore noise.
Income rises because it’s backed by real business performance: revenues, profitability, disciplined debt, buybacks, and smart management.
Principle #2 — Dividend DNA
This is what I call a company’s commitment to rewarding shareholders with dividends — not just paying them, but improving over time so it can pay more.
How do we know if that commitment is real? Time.
There’s only one way to know if a marriage is strong: years.
If you’ve been together 15–20 years, you’ve probably been through enough storms that the next 20 years are much more likely too. Same with business behavior.
My family’s goal for investing is income. So I choose companies with dividend DNA — businesses that treat dividends as a core responsibility, a public promise, a form of partnership.
A long history of paying dividends tells me something important: This company has a culture of accountability to shareholders. Not perfection. Not “no bad years.” But a real, tested habit of rewarding owners.
Principle #3 — Champions only
Imagine this: You’re choosing partners from 10 basketball players. Nine are unknown. The tenth is Michael Jordan. Who do we pick? We pick the champion.
Because champions have already proven they can win at the highest level — again and again.
In dividend investing, “champions” are the businesses with an unusual record: they don’t just pay dividends… they refuse to fall backward.
They raise the bar over time. They protect their reputation. They operate with higher internal standards.
They don’t just have dividend DNA. They have champion dividend DNA.
And when we own those companies, something beautiful happens: Our income grows on its own — like a tree we planted years ago. Quietly. Reliably.
While we live our lives.
Principle #4 — The right moment
Even the best business is not a great buy at any price.
I’m not a “sales guy,” but let’s be honest: if a can of Coke suddenly costs 10 cents instead of a dollar… we’re probably grabbing a few. Timing matters because it’s not about owning great businesses.
It’s about owning great businesses on our terms. And our terms are simple:
Here are our real expenses. Here are the bills. Here is the life we want. So we choose the best — at the best moments we can reasonably get.
That creates a double advantage:
strong businesses (safety + durability)
favorable entry points (better yield, better long-term results, more margin of safety)
The Result: We Become The “Director” of a Dream Team
When these principles come together, the system starts to feel very simple.
We become the director of a team of elite businesses — strong, durable companies with dividend DNA — and they do real work for us:
They pay our bills.
They grow our income.
They protect and build our capital.
They prepare the next quarter’s cash flow — while we live.
And because our expenses are already covered by the system, we don’t have to rush.
We can be patient.
We can make calm decisions: who deserves more capital, who stays steady, and who needs to step aside. That’s the MaxDividends Income System — the structure I built for myself.
And yes… it can become your structure too.
At this point, you’ve seen how I think about income. You’ve seen why structure matters more than tactics. And you’ve seen how this works in real life — calmly, without constant pressure.
So today, I want to be very straightforward with you. You can keep doing what you’re doing now. For some people, that’s perfectly fine.
If your current income feels stable enough, if uncertainty doesn’t bother you much, and if you’re comfortable relying mainly on growth and future outcomes — you don’t need this. And that’s okay.
But if you’re reading this because something feels fragile — if you’ve built solid savings but still don’t feel calm about income — if you don’t want to wait another decade hoping everything works out — then this is exactly why I built the MaxDividends Income System.
Not as a product. As a structure I personally use. This isn’t about chasing yield. And it’s not about “beating the market.”
It’s about building income you can actually live on — and doing it in a way that lets you sleep well at night.
If you want access to the full system, you can get it here:
Get instant full access to the MaxDividends Universe, MaxDividends Income System & App.
Inside, you’ll find:
the full income framework I follow
how I design portfolios around cash flow, not hype
how decisions are made — what to buy, what to hold, what to ignore
and how the app supports this process without turning investing into a second job
This is a one-time decision to step into a clearer structure. No long-term commitment required. You can explore it at your own pace and decide if it fits your life.
If now isn’t the right moment, that’s fine too. You’ll still hear from me — and I’ll keep sharing how I think about income and dividends.
Either way, I’m glad you stayed with me through this series.
Talk soon,
Max