Sitting under the mighty Oak tree … is part of a well known verse and it is likely memorable because many of us know oak trees. In the book Oak -the frame of civilization by William Bryant Logan, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005, the author discusses oak trees.  If you asked where can you find an oak tree, it turns out where you can them where we find civilization in Asia, Europe and North America. The story of civilization goes as the following we were hunters and gatherers, but what were we gathering? It turns out many were gathering accorns. Take off the shell. the Insides can be ground into a basic meal which is good for you, although the taste is bland which required the invention of stew. Last week a telephone directory arrived in the mailbox, because of the wide range of the oak tree many people have their last names associated with the oak tree. The oak tree is one of the most diverse trees and it is fortunate for all of us, the oak tree and people got together.  The oak is strong, comparative light, watertight, bendable and workable. The author has some great stories about the oak in terms of boat building, architecture, oak barrels and root system  which will be touched on in tomorrow’s column.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the oak tree which many of us know for us in the urban environment seems like any other tree, but all is not what it seems. Similar to investing all stocks are shares in companies, but profitable ones are better than others. The profitable ones will earn more money in the longer run, the ones that pay dividends will be even more valuable. Like the oak the tree good investments are flexible, adaptable and have very specific reasons why they are good investments.

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