In this case the Vikings is a TV show which is entering in its 2nd year, looking through various channels on the internet – the History Channel was found and a few episodes of Viking were watched. The show is entertaining, both males and females will likely enjoy the main characters but what is of interest to this blog is the theme of one of the shows. The individual males pledge their alliances to the earl or king who will defend them in times of war. In addition, every summer the Vikings would sail on ships to the east to raid other known kingdoms for their riches. Thus part of the culture was to ensure when war is fought, they are physically prepared. One of the group has heard stories about going to the west, this was a time when people did not know the earth was round, to navigate the seas were unknowns and many thought somewhere out west, if you went you would not come back. Those are very large obstacles to contend with, however one of group heard about a new method or technology to determine whether the ship was going in a direction they thought they were going when they are in the ocean and all you can see is the sea. Coupled with a new ship design (the type of ship that is now commonly associated with Vikings) the young man was determined to go west against the wishes of the leadership. The consequences of disobeying your earl or king was an early death, but determination and hearing stories of untold riches in the west lead the young man to lead a ship to England. They were fortunate in the first voyage to land at a monastery and steal the religious icons, thus when they arrived back, riches were brought forth and all was forgiven.

The next trip was after a larger prize because one of the captured monks at the monastery told them about life in England, so the Vikings both knew what to expect and were prepared for fighting. In the case of the Vikings, they left many dead and were not concerned whether the number was high or low, which is a reason why others would quickly fear them.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in the above case, the earl and kings were only interested in raiding the known lands in the east, not sending resources to the west, because going east although the plunder was not large it was reasonably consistent in size. In many dividend paying companies, when the yearly returns are consistent, there is limited desire to explore new venues. The problem is unless there is very large treasury, someone is likely to doing the exploring. If there is a large treasury, companies can be bought even at high multiples, 99% of the people have a price to sell at. It is important for all companies to do exploring or research and development, otherwise the consistency which is valued will drop over time.

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