The Real False God Of Dividends - Seeking Alpha

The Real False God Of Dividends - Seeking Alpha: In a recent article, the author stated that he would "…expose dividends for what they really are: a false god."

I'm not going to say that dividends are bad, but that they're just not what many people believe them to be….Too many investors…believe that they're actually making money through dividends. That's not true….

The author defined his terms carefully:

[T]he following terms as I define them support my thesis that you don't make money through a dividend….[I]f you really want your net worth to increase, then I think you have to agree to accept these terms.

Dividend Champions: 10 Increases Expected By January 31 - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Champions: 10 Increases Expected By January 31 - Seeking Alpha: In compiling the Dividend Champions list (found here), I get to see which companies are nearing the anniversaries of their previous dividend increases. Since most of these firms raise their payout about the same time every year, I can say with some confidence that they are likely to do so again.

More Good News Ahead

After a noticeable pick-up in the number of companies that typically increase their dividends in the last part of the year, we should see a modest start to 2013, with only a small number expected in January, which coincides with the "forward look" of about 11 weeks for this article

Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXXII - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXXII - Seeking Alpha: Dividend Challengers Smackdown XXXII

In the most recent installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here: http://dripinvesting.org/Tools/Tools.asp ) for a 7% earnings and dividend growth and, last month, by market capitalization and dividend growth.

(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)

Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXXII - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Contenders Smackdown XXXII - Seeking Alpha: In the most recent installments of the Smackdown series, I screened the Dividend Champions (which can be found here) for a 7% earnings and dividend growth and, last month, by market capitalization and dividend growth.

(Note that I have separated the Champions, Contenders, and Challengers into different articles to fit more closely into the format preferred by Seeking Alpha. Champions are companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. I use the same Roman numeral for all three articles.)

Retirees Beware Of The Many Dangers Of Holding Overvalued Stocks - Seeking Alpha

Disclosure: I am long CL, MSFT, INTC, CSCO, ORCL. (More...)

We often write about valuation because we believe it is one of the most misunderstood aspects of investing in common stocks. This causes many people to hold what we consider to be unjustified biases that are based primarily on price action. For example, the concept of the lost decade, which many almost gleefully point to as evidence validating that stocks are poor investments, fail to recognize that the true culprit was overvaluation during the appropriately labeled "irrational exuberance" days.

However, one of the most misunderstood aspects of overvaluation is how wide ranging and relative it is. To clarify, one company can technically be labeled overvalued, but due to other important factors, still be a good investment or even an above-average investment. It all comes down to the degree of overvaluation the market is applying, relative to the potential long-term growth the business is capable of achieving.