How I Turned Zero to $397k into Stocks

December 01, 2025

Happy Monday!

I prepared a packed newsletter for you, including a portfolio update of all 3 of my accounts (which I rarely share), a look into the flipping AI trade, and a deep dive into the 5 worst and 5 best stocks of 2025.

Your Monday Topics:

  • How I Turned Zero to $397k into Stocks By Age 26

  • 2025’s Biggest Winners & Losers

  • The AI Market Just Flipped - Top 3 Winning Tech Stocks

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Portfolio Update

🔑 How I Turned $0 Into $397k by Age 26

📈 The $134,000 Jump

In the past year, my total invested assets climbed from $263k → $397k, a $134k increase.

  • Cash deposited: ~$44k

  • Everything else: pure capital gains + dividends

  • Why it happened: steady investing, buying dips, and the market ripping higher (S&P 500 +16% YTD)

Mindset mattered more than timing — I kept buying during fear, especially in the April tariff selloff.

💰 Dividend Growth Portfolio — $285,000

This is the account I’ve built publicly since 2020 ($30k → $285k). It’s now producing $12,000+ per year in passive income.

Top income payers:

  • Hess Midstream (HESM): ~$7.2k/yr

  • Altria (MO): ~$2k/yr, ~10% yield on cost, ~90% total return

  • MPLX: ~$1.2k/yr

  • Exxon Mobil: massive winner with ~250% total return

Top growth picks:

  • Alphabet: responsible for $25k of this year’s gains

  • Microsoft

  • Visa

This blend of high-quality growth + high cash-flow dividends has powered both income and total return.

🚀 Growth Account — $50,000

My oldest account and still one of my strongest performers.

  • Tesla: 75 shares bought for ~$1,100 → now over $30k in gains

  • Amazon: +245%

  • Berkshire Hathaway: +136% (trimmed this year for HESM)

A reminder that the biggest mistakes are often omission — in 2019, I didn’t buy more Tesla at the exact price I bought it years earlier. That missed $10k investment would now be worth $300k+.

🛡️ Roth IRA — $62,000

Only two holdings:

  • Tesla: +$37k in gains

  • Alphabet: +106% total return

🔮 Future Projection (Eye-Opening)

If I add no new money and simply reinvest dividends:

  • At age 56: ~$13.7M portfolio, earning ~$149k/yr in dividends

  • At age 61: ~$23.7M portfolio, earning ~$221k/yr
    This is the power of time — the single most important factor in compounding.

🧠 Core Lesson

Everyone’s timeline is different. Don’t compare yourself to others. Focus on:

  • Living below your means

  • Investing consistently

  • Buying during downturns

  • Letting time do the heavy lifting

If you want to see the full breakdown with charts, dividend income, and projections, you can watch the full video on YouTube.

Deep Dive

🚦2025’s Biggest Winners & Losers – What to Watch for 2026

My favorite video of the week. I thought it’d be quick, but it ended up being a 30 minute deep dive!

Winners (Big Movers Up)

  • HOOD (Robinhood) – Up 200%+; turning into an “all-in-one” finance app with Robinhood Gold driving a fast-growing subscription flywheel.

  • PLTR (Palantir) – Strong AI demand, accelerating EPS and revenue growth… but trading at an extreme valuation.

  • AVGO (Broadcom) – Huge AI semiconductor tailwind, free-cash-flow machine, but needs years of high growth to justify the current multiple.

  • WBD (Warner Bros Discovery) – Up on takeover speculation; essentially being sold for parts.

  • GOOGL (Alphabet) – One of my favorite long-term AI compounders; rerated from “undervalued” to “fairly valued.”

Losers (Big Drawdowns)

  • MSTR (MicroStrategy) – Pure leveraged Bitcoin bet; business fundamentals almost irrelevant.

  • CMG (Chipotle) – Great brand, but growth slowed and the multiple finally cracked.

  • UNH (UnitedHealth) – Earnings hit hard; could be a long-term value turnaround if EPS recovers.

  • ADBE (Adobe) – Elite SaaS fundamentals, but derated to one of its lowest valuations ever.

  • CMCSA (Comcast) – Hated media name with its highest dividend yield and very low multiple.

Bonus Names

  • CRM (Salesforce) – Strong SaaS business priced like the market hates software.

  • OKE (ONEOK) – High-yield midstream; solid on the surface, but I still prefer HESM/MPLX in my portfolio.

👉 Watch the full video here — this one is a must-see

Tech Stock News

The AI Market Just Flipped - Top 3 Winning Tech Stocks

What Changed

  • Google, Broadcom, and Tesla surged while Nvidia cooled off.

  • Market is recognizing new AI leaders beyond traditional GPU dominance.

Winner #1: Google (GOOGL)

  • Hit all-time highs after Gemini 3 topped benchmarks.

  • Trained on Google TPUs — not Nvidia GPUs.

  • Massive ecosystem advantage: Search, YouTube, Workspace, Gemini app.

  • Financial powerhouse with huge cash flow and accelerating AI deployment.

Winner #2: Broadcom (AVGO)

  • Up big after Google TPU news.

  • Dominant in custom AI ASICs (~75% market share).

  • Projected $10B+ from Google alone in 2025.

  • AI revenue growing 60%+ YoY.

Winner #3: Tesla (TSLA)

  • AI5 chip revealed — 40× more powerful.

  • Core growth drivers: self-driving + robotics.

  • Moving toward its own AI hardware ecosystem.

My Plan

  • Not chasing — waiting for the next sell-off to add.

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That’s it for this week’s update. If you want to follow along in real time, analyze these tickers, or track your own portfolio, jump into DividendData.com. You’ll also find our Discord community and my AI research assistant there. Hit reply and tell me what you’re buying—I may feature a few notes next week.

📅 Keep Investing. Stay informed.

– Zach
Founder, Dividend Data

P.S. Questions or suggestions? Reply to this email—I'd love your feedback!

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Disclaimer: Dividend Dividend (Dividend Data LLC) is not a professional financial service. All materials released from Dividend Data (Dividend Data LLC) are for educational and entertainment purposes. Dividend Data (Dividend Data LLC) is not a replacement for a professional's opinion. Contributors to the Dividend Data (Dividend Data LLC) might have equities mentioned in the newsletter