5 Investing Lessons I Learned in 2025 as a Dividend Investor That I will Bring to 2026
Last Updated on 9 months ago by Antony C.
This year reminded me why dividend investing is a SUPERPOWER.
When dividends keep coming in, it’s easier to stay calm. You stop reacting to every market move and start focusing on whether the business still makes sense.
Markets moved around, headlines were noisy, and emotions were tested. I’ve been investing since 2008, and I’ve learned that years like this often teach more than the exciting ones.
So instead of talking about returns or forecasts, I want to share five simple investing lessons this year reinforced for me as a dividend investor in Singapore, investing across SGX, Hong Kong, and China markets.
Lesson 1: Patience Gets Rewarded, Even If It Feels Boring
One thing this year reminded me very clearly is this.
Patience always pays in investing.
Some of the best-performing positions in my portfolio today are stocks I bought during the pandemic. Back then, prices were low, news was bad, and confidence was weak. It didn’t feel comfortable buying. It never does.
But I didn’t buy them to trade. I bought them to collect dividends and wait.
What happened over time?
- Share prices slowly recovered
- Dividends continued to come in
- Dividend yield based on my buying price kept getting higher
- Capital gains became a bonus, not the main goal
That’s the part many people underestimate.
When you buy good businesses at low prices and hold them long enough, time does a lot of heavy lifting for you. You don’t need perfect timing. You just need the ability to sit still.
Why dividends make patience easier?
I find patience much easier when I’m getting paid.
Dividends change how you think:
- You focus less on daily price moves
- You worry less about short-term volatility
- You judge a stock by business performance, not headlines
As long as the company keeps earning money and paying dividends, I’m usually happy to wait.
How I think about it now?
I no longer ask, “Why isn’t this stock moving?”
I ask:
- Is the business still solid?
- Are dividends still sustainable?
- Am I happy owning this for the next few years?
If the answers are yes, patience is not a problem. It becomes part of the strategy.
This lesson may sound simple, but it’s one of the hardest to practice consistently. And it’s also one of the most rewarding.
Lesson 2: Even Dividend Investors Can’t Ignore Long-Term Trends
Dividend investing doesn’t mean ignoring the future.
This year reminded me that dividends come from businesses, and businesses only keep paying if they stay relevant. Cash flow today matters, but direction matters too.
One big shift that’s hard to ignore is AI.
I didn’t try to guess which single company would win. I’m not interested in being right about one stock and wrong about timing. Instead, I chose a simpler approach.
How I approached it?
Rather than picking individual AI stocks, I invested through ETFs.
Why?
- I don’t need to guess the winner
- I get exposure to the whole theme
- Risk is spread across many companies
It’s not exciting, but it’s practical.
What this taught me?
Dividend investors sometimes get stuck looking only at yield.
I’ve learned to also ask:
- Is this industry still growing?
- Will this business still matter in five or ten years?
- Is the company adapting, or just surviving?
AI isn’t a short-term trend. It’s a structural change. Being early isn’t necessary, but being completely absent can be costly.
The balance I aim for?
- I don’t chase hype.
- I don’t ignore change either.
For me, the balance looks like this:
- Core dividend stocks for stability and income
- Select ETFs for exposure to long-term trends
Dividends pay me for waiting. Trends help make sure I’m waiting in the right places.
Lesson 3: In Volatile Markets, ETFs Make Life Easier
This year was another reminder that volatility doesn’t just affect prices. It affects emotions.
When markets swing up and down, it’s much harder to stay rational when you’re holding a single stock. Every piece of news feels personal. Every drop feels like a mistake.
That’s where ETFs helped me.
Why I leaned more on ETFs?
In volatile markets, I find ETFs easier to hold because:
- I’m investing in an industry, not a single company
- One bad earnings report doesn’t break my thesis
- I’m less tempted to overreact
Owning a basket of companies smooths out a lot of noise.
How this changed my behaviour?
With ETFs:
- I check prices less often
- I worry less about short-term news
- I focus more on long-term allocation
That alone is worth a lot.
What ETFs are not?
- ETFs won’t give you bragging rights.
- They won’t double overnight.
- They won’t make good stories at kopi chats.
But they help me stay invested, especially when markets are messy.
And staying invested matters more than being clever.
In turbulent times, I’d rather own the whole field than try to pick the single best player.
Lesson 4: Dollar-Cost Averaging Isn’t Perfect, But It Helps Me Stay Consistent
Dollar-cost averaging is often talked about like a magic solution.
It isn’t.
This year reminded me that DCA doesn’t always give the best returns. There are times when lump sum investing works better. That’s just reality.
But for building a dividend portfolio, DCA has been very useful for me, especially in volatile markets.
Why DCA works well during volatility?
When prices move up and down a lot, DCA helps in a few simple ways:
- I don’t stress about timing the market
- I keep investing even when sentiment is bad
- I naturally buy more when prices are lower
It turns uncertainty into a process.
What DCA really does?
To me, DCA is not about maximizing returns.
It’s about:
- Reducing regret
- Removing emotions
- Building positions steadily over time
That matters more than people realize.
How I use DCA for dividends?
I use DCA mainly for:
- ETFs
- Core dividend stocks
- Long-term positions I plan to hold for years
As long as the business fundamentals are intact and dividends are sustainable, I’m comfortable adding slowly.
It’s not exciting. It’s not clever. But it keeps me moving forward when markets feel uncomfortable.
Lesson 5: Boring Stocks Can Be Incredible Dividend Machines
This year reminded me that exciting stocks get attention, but boring stocks often make money.
One example is Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX: S68).
It’s not a stock people get excited about. There’s no big story. No hype. No dramatic growth narrative. And that’s exactly why many investors overlook it.
Why boring stocks work?
Boring businesses usually have a few things in common:
- Predictable cash flow
- A clear role in the economy
- Less competition trying to disrupt them
SGX earns money when capital markets are active. As Singapore attracts investment, listings, and trading activity, SGX benefits quietly in the background.
The key is the price you pay
Boring stocks are not automatic buys.
They become attractive when:
- Valuation is reasonable
- Dividends are sustainable
- Expectations are low
When you buy them at the right price, they can turn into very reliable income generators.
What this reinforced for me?
Money isn’t always found in exciting ideas.
Sometimes it’s found in:
- Stable businesses
- Simple business models
- Companies that just keep doing their job
For dividend investing, boring stocks can be powerful. They don’t demand attention, but they keep paying you.
And over time, that quiet consistency adds up more than most people expect.
Final Thoughts: Simple Still Works
After all these years of investing, this year didn’t teach me anything new.
It reminded me of what already works.
- Patience matters.
- Dividends change how you behave.
- Trends can’t be ignored, but hype should be avoided.
- ETFs help when markets are messy.
- Boring stocks often do the heavy lifting quietly.
Dividend investing isn’t about being exciting or fast. It’s about staying invested, staying calm, and letting time and cash flow work together.
I’ve learned that the goal isn’t to be right all the time.
It’s to build a portfolio that you’re comfortable holding through good markets and bad ones.
If I can do that, and my dividends keep coming in, I’m happy to let the market do whatever it wants in the short term.
That mindset has served me well since 2008, and this year only reinforced it.
So… You’re New On Investing?
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A good platform should be:
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(Always do your own checks and choose what fits your needs best.)
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Antony C. is a Singaporean dividend investor focused on building passive income through REITs, ETFs, and Dividend Stocks. With 15+ years of experience investing in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China markets, he founded IncomeBuddies.com to share practical wealth-building strategies tested in his own portfolio since 2008. His expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Nasdaq, and NFAA, and he’s the published book author of "Start Small, Dream Big".