A couple of weeks ago, the author was at a convention and part of conventions are hospitality suites. Each hospitality suite has various food and drinks, including a few suites with scotch. Recently a picture of a scotch brand was shown in the newspaper which caught my eye, the brand was Johnnie Walker. At the suite, the emphasis was enjoyment of the smooth drink, today the emphasis is on the owner of the brand. One of the largest owners in the premium drinks market is a company called Diageo. If you owned the shares in the last 13 years the market value of the company went up 300 % to $ 50 billion pounds and the company has paid $12 billion in dividends. In contrast if you bought the index fund, the index has grown 60% which is still healthy. While things will change in the future, it is very conservative prediction Diageo will pay dividends far into the future. The stock price will go up and down. in the case of Diageo, it has made a number of acquisitions and its brands continue to be in the right place at the right time which propelled the earnings which should be good things for the future.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, while Diageo is a great example, of a company paying a healthy dividend and over time the price of the shares has risen. For the author, the dividend helps ensure management does not make too many mistakes and the company uses its competitive advantage. For part of success is not losing money, learning from mistakes and doing it all again next year.

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