Change is a constant in our society, but change in the stock market as long as companies make money takes a little bit longer. Recently there was an Associated Press article likely written by Stan Choe about which companies are in the top 10 now and which ones were in 2009. The year 2009 is important is this is the 10th year of the bull market or which stocks should you have bought in 2008? Since most of us do not have unlimited funds, if you own an index fund tied to the overall market such as S&P 500 index over the years it would have changed to reflect the new stars on the street. If you did own one, then you still owned profitable companies, but you missed some growth.

The most valuable companies a decade ago were ExxonMobil, Wal-mart, Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) and AT&T Inc.

In 2009 names such as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway and Facebook are the top six.

Fortunately the only company that has gone down is GE, but the signs were there for a long time. The profitable companies still are profitable and even ole AT&T has change with the merger with Time Warner.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the only thing certain about the stock market is profitable companies will be a good investment. One does not always know who and what companies are growing and stock indexes are a great help for your portfolio, but as long as companies each profits and can both reinvest in the business and pay stock holders, you may not receive all the value from the market but your total return will be attractive.

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