Two Words, One Answer.
dividend
 Double Your Money in America's Finest Companies: The Unbeatable Power of Rising Dividends (Almanac Investor Series) $39.95 I like the book, have basically done what he said, and agree with the strategy. After the 2002 bust I left most of the mutual funds and began buying individual stocks--always with the requirement that they pay a dividend and the fundamentals pass the test of sound companies. This has mostly worked. It's amazing how consistent income from dividends are year after year. When our investments are down I can at least see what's specifically down, not just read a fund's Black Box number. But . . . I question the author's suggestion that an hour a year is all the time you need. Maybe that works if you are willing to pick companies randomly off his list of "Finest" US companies. I'm not. He favorably cites Jeremy Siegel's "Stocks for the Long Run" but doesn't mention Siegel's work on foreign stocks, which Siegel says international should be a quarter or more of your portfolio. Foreign stocks almost always require mutual funds. How many companies can you name in Turkey or France or even Asia? We need someone doing the research who knows the international scene, especially with the decline of the dollar. Staton is at the polar opposite of the Jim Cramer opportunism or momentum approach, where you go in and out of any investment depending on short-term gains and losses. He certainly has not bought the widespread view that "buy and hold" is passe. Whether Staton's view is suitable for those of us in retirement (how long term can you think at three score and ten?) or those of us who were shocked at how fragile good companies proved to be in the last year leads me to say, "Two cheers for your book . . . Yes, but ..."  The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth $27.95 The author, Mr. Lowell Miller, discusses the power of compounded dividend reinvestment of common stocks. This investment strategy is great for beginning investors and more experienced traders alike. It is hard to go wrong with this book as a first investment book. The author also discusses fundamental analysis, which is the skill of determining how healthy a company is.  Father's Little Dividend $7.98 This is one of my all-time favorite movies! I remember watching it with my Mom when I was a little girl. There is no one like Spencer Tracy - his facial expressions are priceless!! |
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