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@Bee - Dividend Newbies: 8 Tips For Better Investing

You can ignore this article if you are no longer exploring DGI option for some of your portfolio. It was just posted yesterday. It's basically a list of getting started bullet points. I often find in many articles that the real meat is in the comment section where alternate views are expressed.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4064328-dividend-newbies-8-tips-better-investing?uprof=46&isDirectRoadblock=false

Comments

  • nonsense..don't confuse me with facts. buy SCHD and forget this discourse.
  • @ MFO Members: This is why I don't link article from Seeking Alpha.Com. The author
    David Van Knapp hold degrees in physics and a JD, where's the background in economics and finance?
    Regards,
    Ted

  • Seriously @Ted? What are the economic and financial backgrounds of the collective mass who post on this website? To each their own. You of all people should know that there is more than one way to invest.
  • edited April 2017
    Ted...of the 8 tips...which do you not agree with? They seem pretty sound to me.

    Mr. Van Knapp is one of the half dozen or so folks on that site I follow given their posting history.
  • edited April 2017
    Great pointers. Thanks @Mark. Just for the fun of it ... reversing these might create the perfect "dodo" investor.
    Examples:

    - Always chase high yields. Better yet, chase whatever moves.

    - Totally ignore company quality, dividend history and commitment.

    - Whenever possible, shoot from the hip.

    - Overpay if you can.

    - Sell if your shares begin to appreciate.

    :)
  • TedTed
    edited April 2017
    @MFO Members: 1. "Don't chase high yield" the given stocks with outrageous yields are all penny stocks except a couple. Not once does he mention the payout ratio which knowledge investors use as a guide Sorry Mark, you can follow Mr. Van Knapp if you want, but buy my standards, he' a loser.
    Regards
    Ted
  • beebee
    edited April 2017
    Since I am mentioned in the thread title I wanted to first thank @Mark for following up on a question I had posted to him. Here's that thread for those scoring at home (Ted may need a second glass of wine). Here's my previous question to Mark and his post-

    My question to Mark:
    @Mark said,
    my own dividend/income growth portfolio of 25 stocks exceeds it by any financial metric save for the investing knowledge of the portfolio management team.
    I asked,
    Would you care to share your thoughts as to this strategy. I would like to consider this for a taxable account where I would glean dividends for income (@ reasonable tax rate) and hold shares for the long term.
    @Mark followed up with a new post referenced here:
    mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/87409#Comment_87409

    @Ted, more than once I asked you about a little holding of yours (FTR). I followed it with keen respect (thinking your understanding of such things far outweighed mine). Recently I questioned you on your rational for owning FTR as the stock share price tumbled and the dividend yield skyrocketed.
    My question to @Ted on FTR (dated 3/9/17)
    mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/31732/ping-ted-re-ftr#latest

    Fast forward to today, FTR's dividend now stands at North of 21% while it's 52 week share price has regressed South of 64%. My point is that not all stock's dividend are the "mother's milk of investing" as you (Ted) have so often phrased. Sometimes these stock's dividends are unsustainable, irrational and not worth owning. We have all been harmed by misjudgement and we hopefully act when we recognize it. Sometime others attempt to help point it out. Stubbornness more often than not, wears holes in one's own pockets.

    Thanks for the heads up @Mark on this article. I will read it after I do a bit pocket mending of my own this week.

    The fact the your post has already attracted an impressive array of reactions makes it a worthy read and an important addition to the discussion board.
  • @Ted - sorry but I believe you should read the entire article before you cast judgement on the author and the article's merit. Did you? Your comment makes it appear as though you stopped at the first listing. If you had continued reading you would have noted that Mr. Van Knapp called those stocks out for what they were.

    The payout ratio, related to funds from operation, is also important but I can overlook it not being included in an introductory dividend newbie article. However, I have no training in economics or finance by which to judge.
  • @ bee: I sold FTR, CTL, and Win on 3/14/17, and with the proceeds purchased APO. I also capatured the dividend on both FTR and CTL. I made money on all but CTL. Yes, dividends are the mother's milk of investing, but not on penny stocks. Those who are just beginning to invest should stick with high quality dividend paying stocks such as PFE, T, VZ and not entire the high yield arena until they have gained more expreience.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • @Mark Here is a Barron's article on Seeking Alpha that I linked last month, if you haven't read it you should. In my opinion the website has more negatives than positives, and should be the last place any investor would want to go for investment advice.
    Regards,
    Ted

    http://www.barrons.com/articles/seeking-alpha-needs-to-take-stock-of-its-policies-1395420277
  • edited April 2017
    Aren't economists the ones who are always right in hindsight, yet nearly always wrong in their "predictions" and "analysis"? (Yet ppl still listen to them, which baffles the mind...)

    As with many disciplines, academic pedigree or professional certification does not always equate to competency in one's field. Michael Burry comes to mind - he's an MD (took some econ in undergrad though) and yet as a hobbyist investor and later hedge fund manager made a killing for his investors predicting and navigating the housing bubble.
    Ted said:

    @ MFO Members: This is why I don't link article from Seeking Alpha.Com. The author
    David Van Knapp hold degrees in physics and a JD, where's the background in economics and finance?
    Regards,
    Ted

  • My "Theory of Economics" Master's Degree is from Wossamotta U, from the home campus at Frostbite Falls, MN.
    Though not providing a full understanding or base for investing, this degree; in conjunction with my "School of Hard Knocks" self study degree has proven sufficient to provide long term investing success; as measured by our household baseline standards.
  • With all due respect Ted your response to Bee contains nearly the same advice that Mr. Van Knapp gave to the readers of his article regarding high-yield and high-quality dividend stocks. He did not address the issue of capturing the dividends on risky stocks however in his article.

    I did read the Barron's article you referenced and I agreed that there is a fair amount of dubious advice printed at SA just like there is at many other sites. However, it's not all bad and there are a handful or two of authors there with both credentials and credibility. I believe I made both of these comments to your original posting.

    If you can point out the specific problems you have with this particular article I'll be happy to consider removing it. Until then I think the advice is sound.
  • @catch22: Now I know why some of your posts are so rambling and incoherent, its your degrees. Here all along I thought it was the brand of coffee your drinking !
    Regards,
    Ted
  • @Mark: Removing the SA article is entirely up to you. I could care less.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • edited April 2017
    Hi @Ted
    Good One !!!
    Naw, only a combo of genetic and life experiences.
    You well know, this is a good forum to help control out of range BP levels and the nasty chemical levels with the blood stream that can aggravate and/or cause problems.
  • Not to belabor the point Ted but I try my best not to post trash to the MFO website. There are many astute readers here and I prefer to not insult their intelligence. Your dance around my question suggests that you really can't fault much in the article itself.
  • Ted said:

    @ bee: I sold FTR, CTL, and Win on 3/14/17, and with the proceeds purchased APO. I also capatured the dividend on both FTR and CTL. I made money on all but CTL. Yes, dividends are the mother's milk of investing, but not on penny stocks. Those who are just beginning to invest should stick with high quality dividend paying stocks such as PFE, T, VZ and not entire the high yield arena until they have gained more expreience.
    Regards,
    Ted

    Ted...on SA, many posters are fanatical about the ability of the companies to maintain dividend payments. You may want to look at some of the comments and analysis on VZ.
  • With respect to Seeking Alpha, it pays to know that some participants (as on other boards, but not MFO) are short sellers. I have a couple of stocks owned with "play money," that I follow there. There's a wide divergence of opinions and motivations, mostly extreme.
  • Well Ben, I'm not divulging anything new here but we are all ultimately responsible for our own decisions. Those that write the articles on SA are supposed to state their long/short position in the stocks or funds they discuss. Those that write the comments to those articles are not, although some do. It is up to the reader to decide which opinions have merit. We even have to do that on the MFO site don't we?

    As a brief example look what happens when a poster here asks for a recommendation for a fund in any category. Any number of funds are suggested. Are everyone of them right? Or wrong? Not necessarily either. In my mind it's the same with any particular stock. You weigh the opinions and make the best decision you can.

    My disagreement with Ted stems from his opinion that the entire site is garbage. I contend that it is no better or worse than any other web site but it does have merit. For example, is Brad Thomas a frequent SA poster who also happens to write for Fortune magazine pure garbage on one site but not the other? Even if you trust him you still have a decision to make - does it fit for you. With time you learn who makes sense and who has an agenda.
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