If you like urban design and planning or enjoy looking at your urban environment and considering how it could evolve, there is a wonderful book called Walking Home by Ken Greenberg, Random House, 2011. The book is the life and lessons of a city builder who has worked around the world and tries to make the urban area better. There are many variables in any situation but the focus today is to take the example of any urban area at least 200 years old and walk from the city centre to the suburbs. Although all cities are different, what is similar will be the core area tends to have smaller blocks, you can see the faces of the people on the other side. At some point the roads will get wider, the emphasis is on the car and it is very hard to see the faces of the people on the other side because there are very few of them. The urban areas developed first around the boat, then the railway, and recently the car. Each of these modes of transportation were both good and not so good for the city. Each of them brought different economic development to the area and the cities changed over the years.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as you view the different changes from the urban core to the suburbs, the issue is adaptability. One of the things you can see is how difficult it is for most companies to remain consistently profitable to pay a dividend. There is and there will be continue to be pressures in the marketplace which is the reason why choosing consistently dividend paying companies narrows the field and helps your investing returns.

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