A few weeks ago, as the bike was going down the road a box was seen on the side of the road, as it was garbage/recycling day, a thought was to kick the box to the curb as the bike went by. Then other thoughts became to appear, if the box was empty and being on the bike, if it was kicked to the curb, that would likely be fine. But what if the box was full? would it cause discomfort or make the bike unstable? Invariably the bike passed the box left untouched for the seemingly next person. Investing can be seen similar to the do you kick the box or not?

For investors who see a solution to moving the box, for conservative investors we tend to want to see tangible proof the box is empty. In this case the box was upside down, but the flaps were out and it was possible to suspect their was nothing in the box, but maybe? maybe not? To verify, the bike would need to be stopped to examine the box and put it with the rest of the recycling.

For the more adventurous investors who see a solution to moving the box, it was seemingly only needs to move to the side and not on the curb or in the box, there was a high probability the box was not full. The risk is maybe the next time the box will have something metal in it and soreness would result from the kick.

One could make a variety of scenarios about whether to touch the box or not and what the result could be?  The idea is what do you think you would do? that is the type of investing you should do.

Linking to dividend paying companies, when you buy a company you know or expect a continuing dividend. If that does not happen or the dividend does not meet expectations you know to either sell or begin the search for alternatives. However, before you bought you should have a reasonably good idea from the analysts and what their opinion is. In the case of the box, doing research to lower the risk return ratio is an easy thing to do.

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