Every year one of the local department stores in the urban area in which the author resides has a birthday celebration and on that day or week, there are many extra bargains in the store. On the birthday, the management often has a number of items for sale which is similar to the year in which they opened. Similar to all retail stores, looking around and knowing some prices in advance will help save you move.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are a thousands of stocks on the stock exchanges around the world representing companies trying to make money and change the world in their sphere of influence. Of those thousands you will drop to hundreds around the world that pay dividends. Of those there is a handful which have paid dividends for over 50 years. Examples are 3M (you may know they from Post-it Notes and Scotch tape (they do other things as well); Diebold (they make the ATMs we all use), Johnson & Johnson; and P&G. There are others but if you looked at companies that have paid dividends over 50 years to see the total return on your dollar if you invested in them. You would have and continue to do well, for over 50 years the dividends would have flow into your account and the share price over the years would be worth much more than you bought it at. With names such as the above companies, they should be around for another 50 years and any year is a year in which you can still buy a 50 year dividend producer.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.