Dave Van Knapp Positions For 2014: The Best Dividend Growth Stocks Will Pay Out More This Year - Seeking Alpha

Dave Van Knapp Positions For 2014: The Best Dividend Growth Stocks Will Pay Out More This Year - Seeking Alpha: This is the 13th piece in Seeking Alpha's Positioning for 2014 series. This year we have once again asked experts on a range of different asset classes and investing strategies to offer their vision for the coming year and beyond. As always, the focus is on an overall approach to portfolio construction.

David Van Knapp may be a self-directed individual investor, but his impact extends to many members of the Seeking Alpha community and beyond. Starting in 2006-2007, his affinity for value investing gradually gave way to developing his own unique approach to dividend growth investing. The author of six annual eBooks on the subject, Dave assists individual investors who want to take their financial destinies into their own hands by carefully constructing and managing a portfolio of dividend growth stocks.

Is It [Low D]? [Johnson & Johnson, The Coca-Cola Company, Altria Group Inc, Realty Income Corp, Lorillard Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Is It [Low D]? [Johnson & Johnson, The Coca-Cola Company, Altria Group Inc, Realty Income Corp, Lorillard Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: Disclosure: I am long JNJ, KO, O, LO, MO. (More...)

Has your portfolio become lifeless? Maybe you need more dividends. The warning signs are often subtle. Take this simple quiz, then we'll talk.

1. Is your income feeling inadequate? ___Yes ___No

2. Have you lost interest in investing? ___Yes ___No

3. Has your portfolio lost strength and endurance? ___Yes ___No

4. Have you noticed a recent decrease in the pleasure you get from your portfolio? ___Yes ___No

5. Does your portfolio lack energy? ___Yes ___No

6. Are you sad and/or grumpy? ___Yes ___No

7. Do you mock others' methods of investing, yet feel frustrated by your own? ___Yes ___No

8. Has your portfolio lost some of its old trajectory? ___Yes ___No

9. Is your portfolio based on the best academic studies, yet failing to provide true enjoyment? ___Yes ___No

10. Do you feel drained by fees and expenses with little to show in return? ___Yes ___No

Can You Uncouple Your Investment Success From Mr. Market? - Seeking Alpha

Can You Uncouple Your Investment Success From Mr. Market? - Seeking Alpha: Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. (More...)

I dropped by Mr. Market's control room yesterday. He has been very nice to me since our two interviews (see them here and here). I jumped at his invitation.

There's lots of new technology, far exceeding anything you see on CNBC or can get from cutting edge trading platforms. He made me sign an agreement not to disclose any details about that. Sorry. He has even kept it secret from the NSA (so far, anyway).

Stop The Presses: Academics Confirm That Buffett's Success Is No Mystery - Seeking Alpha

Stop The Presses: Academics Confirm That Buffett's Success Is No Mystery - Seeking Alpha: Warren Buffett has said that he would most like to be remembered as a teacher. In my case, he has succeeded. That is how I regard him. Much of what I think I know about investing has come from Buffett. He has a unique way to encapsulate ideas that are sensible and clear, and I have learned a lot from him.

Buffett's success as an investor has often befuddled academics. Is he the luckiest man in the world? Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in saying that he would choose George Soros over Buffett as an investor, has said,

Why Low Beta Stocks Are Like Bonds For Dividend Growth Investors - Seeking Alpha

Why Low Beta Stocks Are Like Bonds For Dividend Growth Investors - Seeking Alpha: Disclosure: I am long AAPL, AFL, BBL, CVX, DRI, HAS, INTC, JNJ, KMB, KMP, KO, LO, MCD, OHI, PEP, PG, PM, T. (More...)

I was reading a paper on Modern Portfolio Theory [MPT] yesterday, and I realized something so obvious that I am embarrassed that it did not occur to me before.

In the paper (Modern Portfolio Theory, Part One), by Donald R. Chambers, who is the Walter E. Hanson/KPMG Professor of Finance at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, the author was making some points about the role of bonds in an asset-allocated portfolio. He began with a description of asset allocation.

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Undervalued? [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Undervalued? [Apple Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: This article is a companion to "Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are Always Overvalued?"

Coming from the opposite direction from that article, here I use F.A.S.T. Graphs to identify which stocks from the 59 most commonly held dividend growth stocks persistently have traded at valuations that are lower than what F.A.S.T. Graphs presents as "earnings justified" valuation.

On the graphs in this article:

The orange line represents "fair value" as determined by F.A.S.T. Graphs, which apply Ben Graham's valuation formulas to each stock's earnings record.

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Overvalued? [PepsiCo, Inc., The Clorox Co, Paychex, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

Which Popular Dividend Growth Stocks Are 'Always' Overvalued? [PepsiCo, Inc., The Clorox Co, Paychex, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: I have noticed a couple of themes emerging in dividend articles over the past year. One theme revolves around valuation, with some suggesting that dividend stocks were in a bubble or significantly overvalued. Another theme has centered on "high quality" companies, and whether investors need sometimes to "pay up" for quality.

Putting the two themes together very recently, there has been discussion about Coca-Cola (KO) being a high quality company that never seems not to be overvalued. In the course of those discussions, it became clear that many feel that KO "always" trades at a premium valuation, so if you want to own it, you might as well accept that you'll need to pay up for it.

10 By 15: What Happens With Low-Yield High-DGR Stocks - Seeking Alpha

10 By 15: What Happens With Low-Yield High-DGR Stocks - Seeking Alpha: In "10 by 10 The Interaction of Dividend Yield and Growth," I discussed the interaction of various initial dividend yields (IY) with various dividend growth rates (DGR).

The context of the original 10 by 10 concept relates to achieving a target: 10% yield on cost in 10 years from dividend increases alone. In other words, given a particular starting yield, how long does it take to get to the target for various rates of dividend growth? (Dividend reinvestment, which speeds up the process, is ignored.)

Dividend Growth Portfolio: Semi-Annual Review [Intel Corporation, AT&T Inc., McDonald's Corporation, Chevron Corporation, PepsiCo, Inc., Omega Healthcare Investors Inc, Lorillard Inc., Darden Restaurants, Inc., Hasbro, Inc., BHP Billiton plc (ADR)] - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Growth Portfolio: Semi-Annual Review [Intel Corporation, AT&T Inc., McDonald's Corporation, Chevron Corporation, PepsiCo, Inc., Omega Healthcare Investors Inc, Lorillard Inc., Darden Restaurants, Inc., Hasbro, Inc., BHP Billiton plc (ADR)] - Seeking Alpha: Disclosure: I am long BBL, HAS, MCD, T, CVX, KMP, OHI, LNT, PEP, DRI, LO, PM. (More...)

I have a confession to make. I basically skipped the April, 2013 Portfolio Review for my public Dividend Growth Portfolio (DGP). I got caught up in the excitement of the DGP's 5th anniversary and kind of let the formal Portfolio Review slide. This is a catch-up.

For those not familiar, the DGP is a public, real-money, real-time portfolio that I launched in June, 2008. It is public and transparent to demonstrate the results that can be achieved with the dividend growth strategy. Questions are suggestions are welcome, but ultimately I am the CIO (Chief Investment Officer) for the DGP, and all decisions about it are mine.

High DGR Dividend Growth Challengers [Baxter International Inc., Safeway Inc., Darden Restaurants, Inc., Rayonier Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. (USA), Lazard Ltd, STERIS Corp, Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc., United Financial Bancorp, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha

High DGR Dividend Growth Challengers [Baxter International Inc., Safeway Inc., Darden Restaurants, Inc., Rayonier Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. (USA), Lazard Ltd, STERIS Corp, Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc., United Financial Bancorp, Inc.] - Seeking Alpha: A week ago, I published an article, "Considering High-DGR Dividend Growth Stocks," in which I analyzed the Dividend Champions (CCC) for lower yielding stocks than I usually analyze. I looked for stocks with minimum yields of 2.0% compared to my usual 2.7%. To compensate for the lower yields, I demanded higher dividend growth rates (DGR) than I usually use: I set my DGR cutoff at 8.5%.

Considering High-DGR Dividend Growth Stocks - Seeking Alpha

Considering High-DGR Dividend Growth Stocks - Seeking Alpha: There is a cohort of dividend growth stocks that have always fallen below my minimum threshold of 2.7% yield, but which have high dividend growth rates that make them attractive to some investors. These stocks come up often in comments and portfolio holdings as among the favorite dividend growth stocks.

These high dividend growth rate (DGR) issues seem particularly attractive to younger investors, who often feel that with several decades of compounding ahead of them, high DGRs are more important than high yields. They feel that they have plenty of time to develop excellent dividend streams. Examples of names that typically come up are IBM (IBM), Wal-Mart (WMT), and Exxon-Mobil (XOM).

Buckets, Cisterns, Asset Allocation, And Retirement - Seeking Alpha

Buckets, Cisterns, Asset Allocation, And Retirement - Seeking Alpha: It is useful to be able to visualize what funding retirement is all about. Rows and columns of numbers on a spreadsheet are a great tool, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand columns.

This article provides an overview of three ways to visualize what's going on when you think comprehensively about all of your financial assets for retirement.

Dividend Growth Investors: Focus On Valuation Rather Than Price - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Growth Investors: Focus On Valuation Rather Than Price - Seeking Alpha: This article is inspired by a series of comments on Bob Wells' recent excellent article about retirement investing strategies.

A comment thread developed around the idea of stock prices, specifically about the difficulties an investor can experience buying more of a stock that he or she purchased for a lower price in the past. The point I made in the comments, and that I want to expand on here, is that if you shift your focus from price to valuation, the decision becomes clearer and less emotional.

Buffett On Berkshire's Dividend Policy - Seeking Alpha

Buffett On Berkshire's Dividend Policy - Seeking Alpha: In Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) (BRK.B) most recent letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett gives perhaps his most complete explanation for BRK's zero-dividend policy. (See pp. 19-21.)

I am a dividend growth investor, so I do not own shares in BRK. However, I have tried to learn as much as I can about how Buffett invests, because he loves to purchase shares of dividend-paying companies. He has expressed his enjoyment of dividends numerous times. And BRK's wholly owned companies, of course, forward dividends to headquarters like clockwork. Indeed, the managers of those companies earn bonuses based on the cash that they send to Omaha.

Beating Back Fear For Income Investors - Seeking Alpha

Beating Back Fear For Income Investors - Seeking Alpha: Whenever there is market volatility -- especially downward volatility -- certain kinds of articles spring up on Seeking Alpha and other sites like crabgrass in the summer. You know the kinds I mean. They have titles like "Buy And Hold Fails Again," or "What To Do About The Coming Crash," or "Market Downturn Is Inevitable; Time To Go To Cash?"

The common theme is fear. Fear of losing money as prices slide downward for who knows how long. Fear of giving up in just a few weeks or days the gains that it took several years to achieve. Fear of falling behind a benchmark and never catching up. Fear of underperforming your neighbor.

Happy Birthday! The Dividend Growth Portfolio Turns 5 - Seeking Alpha

Happy Birthday! The Dividend Growth Portfolio Turns 5 - Seeking Alpha: Five years ago, on June 1, 2008, I established a demonstration and teaching device: The Dividend Growth Portfolio [DGP]. Last Friday, it celebrated its 5th birthday.

In 2008, I wanted to have a real-life, real-time, real-money portfolio to demonstrate what could be accomplished with a dividend growth strategy-without trickery, cherry picking, back-testing, or hindsight. So I converted an existing portfolio at E-Trade into the DGP. I emptied the old portfolio of stuff that did not fit and bought stocks that did fit the dividend growth strategy

What Stocks Are Most Commonly Held By Dividend Growth Investors? - Seeking Alpha

What Stocks Are Most Commonly Held By Dividend Growth Investors? - Seeking Alpha: Last year, I did a survey on this subject, and I want to update it.

Investors are interested in the most common dividend growth stocks. There is a wisdom-of-crowds dimension to such a list. It represents where dividend growth investors, after having applied a variety of analytical techniques, have placed their actual bets.

Dividend Growth Stocks Are Success Outliers - Seeking Alpha

Dividend Growth Stocks Are Success Outliers - Seeking Alpha: In his bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell explained the idea that success in many fields comes from factors that may be unusual in the population at large, but that are quite common among the outliers themselves. From the book's flap copy:

The lives of outliers - those people whose achievements fall outside normal experience -follow a peculiar and unexpected logic.

The definition of outlier is quoted at the very beginning of the book. An outlier is:

41 Dividend Champions With Yields 50% Higher Than 10-Year Treasuries - Seeking Alpha

41 Dividend Champions With Yields 50% Higher Than 10-Year Treasuries - Seeking Alpha: History repeats itself, or at least it rhymes. Just as happened a year ago, I seem to have been writing lots of theoretical articles lately. It's time to switch gears, set theory aside for a while, and just come up with some dividend growth company names and ticker symbols for consideration.

My simple starting point is one I used last year at about this time: Dividend Champions whose yield is 50% greater than that on a 10-year Treasury. As I write this, the yield on the 10-year Treasury is 1.86%. (A year ago, it was 2.25%). So a yield 50% higher than the current 10-year Treasury would be 2.79%.

Rebalancing My Dividend Growth Portfolio For Diversification And More Yield - Seeking Alpha

Rebalancing My Dividend Growth Portfolio For Diversification And More Yield - Seeking Alpha: I had not planned to write another article about my demonstration Dividend Growth Portfolio [DGP] until the next formal Portfolio Review in April. But a couple days ago, I did a rebalancing on the portfolio along the lines anticipated in my January article, "Rising Dividends: My Dividend Growth Portfolio 2012-2013 Report." I thought that perhaps people would be interested in what I did, why I did it, and what the outcome was.

As I wrote in that prior article: