First of all, I’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year.

My premium newsletter, The Daily Paycheck, has now officially welcomed in seven new years. I launched the newsletter in mid-December 2009, with a massive stock market correction still in the rear view mirror.

#-ad_banner-#Some people thought I should wait to introduce the new advisory. They argued that market conditions were still too unstable. They were convinced that a newsletter utilizing dividend reinvestment would appeal to only the most conservative investors, who would still be on the sidelines.

But I was convinced that The Daily Paycheck was the perfect advisory for risky markets — because I specifically designed it that way. By design, the system maximizes income, maximizes growth and minimizes risk.

An investment system that minimizes risk is likely to come in handy again this year.

Barely a few weeks into the new year and we’ve already had our share. It appears that the growth of the Chinese economy is continuing to slow. Iran and Saudi Arabia have severed diplomatic relations following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. To top it off, North Korea claimed a successful test of a hydrogen bomb recently.

Although the market has — understandably– started the year in the red, it’s been fairly orderly. And so far, it’s a market I’ve been happy to reinvest dividends in — buying more shares at lower prices and for higher yields.

But we’ll have plenty of time to tackle the new year. Today I wanted to spend a little time looking back on 2015.

Last year wasn’t a particularly good year, no matter how you were invested. The S&P 500 Index closed the year down 0.7%. Overall, it was an especially difficult year for commodities of all kinds. The S&P 500 Energy Index lost 23.6%. And the specter of the first interest rate increase in roughly seven years weighed on all income securities. High-yield bonds were particularly vulnerable last year, not only because of interest rate risk but because of the increased risk of energy bond defaults. The BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Index dipped 4.4% for the year.

The Daily Paycheck portfolio also had a down year — dropping 3.4%. As you can see from the chart below, it was my first annual loss since its launch.

While I strive to buy, hold and reinvest dividends over the long haul, I sold ten securities in 2015. Eight out of the ten had some level of commodity exposure. And even though I took some losses on a few of them to reduce my risk, my overall sales netted a positive $2,006.44 for the year.

My point is this… Despite having a bit of a down year, I’m not worried about my portfolio in the least.

Here’s the thing: There’s always something to worry about in the world.

In the past 50 years, we’ve had wars and recessions. We had a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that took the lives of roughly 3,000 people. For a number of years, the maximum marginal income tax rate was as high as 70%.

In one ten year period, the price of oil rose more than 600%. At one point, the average residential mortgage rate was 18.5%. We had a technology stock bubble form and burst. When a recent housing bubble burst, it threatened the world’s financial systems.

Yet, over the last turbulent 50 years, the S&P 500 Index has risen 2,128%. With dividend reinvestment, the total returns from the S&P 500 were 9,720%.

History continues to demonstrate the benefits of dividend reinvestment — especially for those seeking a secure retirement. As investors, we need to focus on the long term — and minimize the risks we can control.

And besides, it wasn’t all bad news. The challenges in 2015 gave my portfolio additional opportunities to grow income by buying more shares at lower prices and for higher yields. In 2015, dividend income grew by 6.6%, closing out the year with $19,449 in dividends. That means, despite a less-than-stellar year for income payers overall, my portfolio is earning more now than it has at any time since its inception.

I have many goals for the new year. As I mentioned to my readers in the December issue, I’d like to reduce the risk I can control, including finding securities with lower expenses and leverage. There are also a few securities that are issuing more of their distributions as return of capital. And that’s something I want to minimize as well.

But overall, my 2016 goals for The Daily Paycheck are the same as always. I want to identify suitable investments that will allow me to maximize income, maximize growth and minimize risk — and ring in the next year with even more income than before.

P.S. One of the best parts about The Daily Paycheck strategy is that it works for investors of all walks of life — whether you have $1,000 to invest or $1,000,000. That’s why my publisher and I decided to get the message out to more people. We created a special presentation that reveals exactly how my strategy works and how you can be on your way to collecting more dividend income than you ever thought possible. You can check it out here.