
Hey! I’m glad to see you here! My name is Mike, and I’m the author of The Dividend Guy Blog since 2010.
My Investment Story
From $20K in Debt to $70K in Profit
First things first; I am French Canadian; pardon my funny expressions from time to time! If you read this page, it’s probably because you are an investor wanting to learn more about dividend growth investing. So, let’s start with a little story about how I began my investment journey.
I will remember this day forever; I applied for a $20,000 line of credit in 2003. I just started my job at the bank, and 10 days later, I was in front of a banker asking for a $20K line of credit. I didn’t tell him what it was for; leveraging. A month later, I had $19,500 invested in the stock market, all provided by the bank which employs me! Three years later, I generated over $70,000 in profit and purchased my first house using $50,000 as a cash down from my trading successes.
The Costly Lesson That Changed My Investing Strategy Forever
I’m not an investing guru, but I have since learned the hard way. Strong from my first three years of success on the stock market, I started to take additional risks. Toward the end of 2006, I lost 50% of my account on a single trade. I then realized investing is not gambling, and you can lose real money. Then, 2008 happened, and I was hit again. I was lucky that most of my money was used to purchase my house, and funds in my investment account were limited.
After 2006, I started to lack the necessary time to trade diligently. I went from an aggressive trader who spent countless hours studying the market to a married man, father of three kids, and with a demanding job. I couldn’t spend a few hours daily on the stock market anymore.
Dividend Investing Gave Me Financial Flexibility (Without Daily Market Stress)
I have been reading The Dividend Guy Blog since its creation in 2005. I noticed the previous author had slowed down his writing pace. I was running other websites and enquired about buying his blog. A month later, I became The Dividend Guy. Following his investment philosophy, I switched my portfolio toward dividend investing. I like dividend stocks because they are more stable companies that don’t require me to look at the markets every day.
From a 6-Figure Salary to Living on My Own Terms: Where Am I Now
I’ve been married to my first crush for over twenty years, and we have three beautiful children. Born in 1981, I quickly understood how to make money. At 28, I hit a 100K salary but started spending it all! I can’t say I regret driving an RX-8, vacationing in Hawaii, or living in a big house. It is interesting and fun… for a while, anyway.
I Quit Everything to Travel for a Year With My Family
In 2016, I decided to take a leap of faith and left everything behind to travel across North America and Central America with my family. We drove through nine countries and stayed three months in Costa Rica before returning home. At 35, I gave myself the most precious gift; I’ve spent an entire year with the people I love and lived a thousand incredible experiences. If you are curious about this trip, I’ve documented this life-changing adventure here.

How Did I Finance That Family Trip?
Did I live frugally for 5 years to pay for my one-year vacation? Did I inherit or come from a wealthy family? None of the above.
Instead, driven by my passion for financial markets, I built a dividend investing platform to simplify and improve investors’ lives. I founded Dividend Stocks Rock (DSR) in 2013 after noticing how difficult it was for investors to know when to buy or sell stocks.
Putting My Money Where my Mouth Is
Upon my return in 2017, I officially quit my job as a private banker at National Bank to live on my own terms and started working full-time on my baby: Dividend Stocks Rock. I also decided to manage my pension account held at the National Bank. I’ve built this portfolio publicly since 2017 to make a real-life case study. I decided to invest 100% of this money in dividend growth stocks using the DSR tools.
What is Dividend Stocks Rock and Why It Can Help You Too?
I created DSR based on the conviction investing principles should be easy to understand. You should not pay someone else 2% of your portfolio to manage your money. You do it mostly because you lack time. DSR has been built to make investment decisions easy. No more dilemmas between buying and selling decisions. No more struggling to enter or exit the market upon the most recent news.
Market fluctuations create confusion and leave you with the impression you will lose all your savings. It doesn’t have to be this way. Dividend Stocks Rock gives you the actionable tools to invest with confidence and retire stress-free.
3 Simple Steps to Invest Smarter and Retire Stress-Free
Simply put, it empowers dividend growth investors in three simple steps:
- Rethink Your Portfolio: Compare with our portfolio models. Click here to review our performance.
- Buy The Right Assets: We analyze over 1,100 dividend stocks for you. You don’t need to read thousands of pages. Avoid paralysis by analysis. Focus on concise information.
- Retire Stress-Free: Stay the course with our weekly newsletter and monthly webinars.
300+ Dividend Stocks With Growing Trends—Get the List Now!
You can glance at the stocks we review by downloading the Dividend Rock Stars list, which is updated monthly. The list shows over 300 companies with growing trends. Save yourself some hard work, and enter your name and email below to get the list in your mailbox.