Top 10 Mistakes #9

August 28, 2009
Most investors fail to make dividends their #1 priority. When it comes to stocks, if you are retired or saving for retirement within the next decade or so, dividends and dividend growth must dominate your thought process. If the results of the last decade have taught conservative investors anything, it is that dividends matter. At Young Research, we do not even consider a stock for our in-house, 32-stock model portfolio unless it pays a dividend. And at our family investment management company, we do not invest for clients in non-dividend-paying stocks. Moreover, we like having not only a reasonable dividend today, but the prospect for dividend increases in the future. Today, the yield on the blue-chip DJIA is only 3.0% while the NASDAQ yield is a scant 0.6%. We like an average portfolio yield of 4%-plus. I emphasize dividends in each issue of my monthly strategy reports. Please sign up if you are not now with me.

See Top 10 Mistakes: #8

See Top 10 Mistakes: #10