Portfolio of solid companies with growing cash flow and paying dividends

well Auntie was investing in shares from the 1970’s ( as best as i can determine , she held the original Poseidon Nickel which strongly suggests the Vietnam War era ) , and by 2007 her portfolio held CSR ( now taken over ) QAN , WOW and APE ( and the 4 holdings i inherited in 2011 )

now i offloaded QAN in 2014 , significantly reduced WOW between 2017 and 2023 ( there was a lot of them when i inherited them ) , CSR was i great share while i held them , and despite all logic the hands-down winner is APE in the last 15 years

now the question is what about the NEXT 10 ( plus ) years ?

i decided to go for a ‘3 pillar ‘ strategy and those 3 stocks failed to deliver TW(CE ( six stocks in total ) attempt number three has BHP being the sole pillar , but then i was buying them relatively cheap during the dramas over the last 15 years ( and maybe they will be cheap again during some adverse event )

BHP was left out of the first two pillar groups as i considered it to be cyclical and would be hard-pressed to grow over the coming 10 to 20 years

now SOL is never really ‘cheap ‘ ( div-wise ) even when i bought in during 2011 , but it grows , usually has surplus cash ( being mostly an investment vehicle ) and has been listed for something like 100 years , BUT the silver-lining is the annual shareholder reports that give insight into the companies it has major investments in , and that has proven to be a better return than shares in the actual company ( think of it as a subscription service that pays you a small yearly dividend

and possibly WES for the same reason ( as SOL ) ( without the detailed shareholder report , WES tends to own 100% of the companies it invests in )

add to that currently the world is changing FAST and dancing on the edge of a third World War ( and/or a major depression )

office-focused REITs looked like an easy choice and then along came a virus and now AI might be a second pandemic for office space

i built positions in several ‘great companies ‘ and then along came a predator ( or two ) and i am back on the sidelines with a handful of cash ( and looking for a replacement stock )

probably look for survivors of what i think is coming and try to average down ( or just buy when CHEAP , like when WBC was under $20 )

when i grew up Myer and David Jones looked to rule the ( discretionary ) retail world ( in Australia ) and where are they now ?

now in retail space and right out on the risk curve is KGN ( i hold ) at say a fair bit under $4 they MIGHT be a nice reward for the extra risk taken