If you like running, the book 4:09:43 Boston 2013 through the Eyes of the Runners by Hal Higdon, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 2014 is a terrific book. The book focuses on the Boston Marathon race and the people who come from around the world to run it. If you are a marathon runner the biggest and most famous race is from Hopkinton to Boston, Mass or the Boston Marathon. It is run the third Monday in April and to run you had to qualify at other marathons. For most of the 23,000 runners, winning the race was not something to be considered but finishing the race is the victory. For the Boston race is more than a Marathon, as the book discusses the day is called Patriot’s Day and the race is packed with spectators. Most races have friends and family at the end of the race, Boston has spectators for all of its 26.2 miles. People gather for BBQs, to cheer, to be the added value in the race, they are part of what makes Boston special. The book uses a variety of people’s perspective on running the race, including the logistics of it as running is seemingly an individual pursuit, but there is a great deal of community and support involved through running.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while there are many marathons to run in, there are only a few great marathons and the granddaddy of them is Boston. The tradition, the need to qualify to run the race, the spectators that line the course, all lead to the Boston race as something greater than just a race. Similarly there is many, many investments to choice from but from the many are stocks that pay a dividend seem to last for a long time. There is tradition of paying the dividend, from being a profitable company, from the shares to increase in value over time. The race from the company’s perspective is a marathon for every company goes through management changes, trying to execute their strategic plan, and do good by their customers. From an investor point of view, the long term perspective means the dividend payments should be continually paid and shareholders benefit.

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