Stock Analysis: Southern Company SO

 Southern Company is an Atlanta based company that supplies energy to over 4.4 million customers and supplies over 42,000 megawatts of power to these customers.  Southern Company is a good long term investment as it does pay out a quarterly dividend which is equal to $1.96/share a year.  At the right stock price Southern Company is something you should add to your portfolio. I would say my buy price for Southern Company would be in the 41 to 43 dollar range. I am a long term dividend investor and will be looking to add a position in SO as soon as it is a favorable position.

What percentage of your income should you invest in mutual funds and IRA?

Answer:

If you do not have an employer sponsored 401k where they match money that you put in and the IRA is your main source of retirement savings I would do at least 10% of my yearly salary or the max of $5,000. Then if you still have a good bit of investing money left over and I would look into stocks that pay good dividends and start collecting some of them as well because they will pay you back over and over, I would just make sure you collect good solid companies stocks and get a wide variety in many different sectors if you go with this strategy. Here are a some good blogs I would join to help you learn more about investing.