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Would you prefer a dividend and slow growth or fast growth with no dividend?

Morningstar recently published an article answering that exact question, and I would like to share it with my readers. The article titled "A Dividend and Slow Growth or Fast Growth With No Dividend?" asks the question, whether you'd rather own Coca-Cola, a company that lacks exciting growth prospects but pays a reliable dividend, or  Amazon.com, which doesn't pay a dividend but has featured strong growth. The majority …

Here’s how you can invest successfully and spend only about 15 minutes a month on your investments:

• Keep it simple
• Ignore the media noise on TV, Internet, Radio, and Magazines
• Reduce the fees you are currently paying (knowingly and unknowingly) on your mutual funds

Keep it simple

Invest in quality dividend-paying companies when they are undervalued. Learn when a company is undervalued here. Quality companies are companies that are recession proof, consistently profitable, and virtual mo…

Yes you can you achieve financial independence and retire on dividends alone. However it requires some planning and investing intelligently.

I’d like to share a blog post Dividend Growth Investor wrote about a year ago discussing the concept of retiring on dividends. Dividend Growth Investor writes about the 5 important rules to follow in order to live off dividends:

1. Focus on companies that have a long history of paying dividends and raising dividends
2. Buy stocks when they are undervalued
3. E…

Take a look at your investments, whether it’s in mutual funds, ETFs, index funds, or individual stocks, are you invested in recession proof companies?

If you answered no, then you might be in trouble. Let’s take a look at what is a recession proof company and how do you invest in one.

What is a recession proof company?
The best way to describe a recession proof company is to look at companies that aren’t recession proof. For example, imagine we are in the middle of a recession or downturn in t…

A reader recently asked: "The US cannot keep its interest rates close to zero forever while the debt burden is increasing at a rapid rate. How would rising interest rates affect my "value investment for dividends" stock portfolio? Is it the right time to put serious money into dividend paying stocks if I stongly believe that US interest rates will rise and there might be a default in US debt and/or a massive inflation?"

Here is my reply:

Broadly speaking high interest rates wi…

High dividend yields combined with stock buybacks give you “Total Yield” a term coined by Chris Brightman of Research Affiliates. Shawn Tully from Fortune has recently written a great article on Total Yields which appears in print (Feb 25, 2013 Fortune Magazine, page 31) and online here.

“Brightman sees dividends as a key metric -- but not the sole one. His latest brainstorm is a value-oriented methodology that screens not only for dividends but also for the impact of stock buybacks. In theory,…

Dividend increases mean increasing income for you the shareholder. A dividend increase generally indicates that a company is financially healthy, and confident that it can continue to pay the increased dividend for years to come.

Here is a list of some recent dividend increases:

Apache Corp (APA) 17.65% increase Ball Corp (BLL) 30%
Bank of Montreal (BMO) 2.78% Equifax Inc (EFX) 22.22%
Home Depot (HD) 34.48%
Ingersol Rand (IR) 31.25%
Coca-Cola (KO) 9.80%
Limited Brands (LTD) 20.00%
Moody’s Corp…

Are you suited to buy stocks? Do you have what it takes to be a stock investor?

Kelly Wright (author of Dividends Still Don't Lie) defines six important attributes that you need to have in order to be a successful investor. I highly recommend the book "Dividends Still Don't Lie" which is based on the original book "Dividends Don't Lie" by Geraldine Weiss. Without further delay here are the six important attributes, taken from "Dividends Still Don't Lie" (Page 16):

Stocks are the best investmen…

Mike from The Dividend Guy Blog and Dividend Stock Analysis wrote a great blog post over at My Own Adivsor that I'd like to share with my readers. Mike discusses the benefits of investing in dividend stocks, and my favourite the section on "Index Investing vs. Dividend Investing" is a must read. Mike writes:

"I chose dividend investing is because I wanted to count on stocks paying me more each year. When you select dividend growth stocks, you can expect to see your dividend payouts being increa…

I sometimes hear from folks that they would like to start investing but don’t have any money right now. It’s true that it takes money to make money, however you might be able to invest in dividend stocks without requiring any new money.

Do you currently have mutual funds in a registered account like an RRSP, 401(k), IRA, or an employer sponsored plan? If so, you could transfer those investments into an equivalent trading account. You need a trading account in order to buy and sell stocks. An RR…