This blog looks at books such as Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, published by Random House Canada, Toronto, 2010 because as Dividend buyers part of what we want is not to change.

One of the problems with change is the assumption of behavior of change agents is the change desired is an obvious change. To most people it is not, they need to be guided and understand why the change is better. One example is a controller wanting the expense claims done on time. Why because they are small but important part of closing the monthly books and the results can reported upward. How should the person deal with the late filers? Step one look and learn from the ones who file on time. why do they get it done? what could be made easier? are the forms easy to fill out? If there are ambiguities make it more clear. In the emails to those who do not have it done – say we have a file rate of 80%, help make it 100%. If you learn from the ones that are doing it on time, you can ensure the late comers have fewer excuse not to because the process was made easier. Clarity dissolves resistance.

One great way to affect change is point to the destination. This means a buy in and work towards the destination. A great example is a teacher in kindergarten with all levels of reading ability – her goal was you will read like 3rd graders. To the kindergarten kids 3rd graders were bigger, smarter and cooler; however the next step was to call her kids scholars. A scholar is someone who lives to learn and is good at it. The days went by and one day a child was called out of the classroom for administrative reasons, the other kids let a groan because they were thinking that scholar is going to miss something. At the end of the year, 90% of the kids were at grade 3 level.

Another grade school principal used the grading system A, B, C and NY or Not Yet. This is combined with extra supports for those at the NY grade, which is meant to encourage them and figure out a solution to move to the higher levels.

Another wonderful example is Breast Cancer Care in University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) similar to most institutions they do the work, but the internal structure of the organization could be changed. The process was take a test and in one area, learn about it another area and come back in a different building, what if all the steps were in one location? Anyone that has been in a hospital and educational institution know that they move slowly with one area having money, another area having the “turf” and the people reporting to a variety of different people. How you move the organization is to start small to begin to have the departments working together on one process. It took practice, it took persistence with the end game the needs of the patient, not the department. The process started with one doctor who would see the patient, then the patient would come back in an hour or two by that time the doctor would have seen the test results and consulted with others. The patient would come back and the next steps would be mapped out. It took others to see how the process was going before others joined in. Eventually, the organization gave the Breast Cancer Care their own space with all the departments in the same area. The results were more patients were seen, UCSF became a recognized leader in breast cancer care and research and it is major source of revenue. They continue to do more to put the woman at the center of the experience.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the above examples are health and education; two very important areas of our lives and two very complex organizations. However, through change or linking to a destination they were able to impact many lives for the better. For company when lives are impacted for the better greater revenues flow and it takes work and picking the correct destination to go to. Corporately you will see SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant and Timely) do not give emotion or the drive to accomplish it. The goals must be matched with why are they important? who are you doing them for? or the people will be cynical. Asking about the emotion of the company or the reason for its existence will help ensure the return of equity and dividend are maintained and grow.

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

This blog looks at books such as Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, published by Random House Canada, Toronto, 2010 because as Dividend buyers part of what we want is not to change. The idea is to buy into companies that can consistently earn profits which can be distributed to shareholders. The combination of capital gain and dividend over the long-term will give you very rewards. The long-term means to potentially do nothing after you have bought; but you have to do some homework or have simple reasons to exit a stock and done your homework what is the better alternative? Thus dividend paying stocks have a dual nature – no change and looking at possible changes.

The biggest problem with change is to change means to change your personal situation.

How do you make changes – the easiest way is have a goal which everybody agrees with. Then find ways for people to buy in to the goal; and most important some easy ways for the participants to embrace the change. If you make it easy, then people can soon do, if they are doing, they will begin to think of more ways to do and change agents will be brought it to gain more acceptance and soon the change has happened for the better. Some resources are needed but there does not have to be great.

The biggest change can happen with the little resources because as people go through the process they begin to understand the solutions. Sometimes the solution is food – ensuring a well-balanced meal which includes vitamins and proteins. You may not know all the food content but if you eat some from each food group you should be healthier.

Sometimes the solution to the problem is to ask what is working right now. Rather than going into the past to find reasons for the failure, something must work right now and if you start with that, the good can be enhanced.

Dealing with finances – unblock revenue; minimize up-front cash; faster is better and use what you have got. These 4 rules plus being innovated about what you have means you can solve problems and work for a better future.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one of the advantages of the companies is they are profitable and should have a good cash flow which enables them to pay dividends. This means some waste will be in the system, because of the knowledge the company makes money. In many instances the best planning is done with limited resources. if you can get management to think that way, those profits should be consistent.

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

When you think of the world’s biggest economies , which countries do you think of? For thousands of years the answer was India and China.About  2000 years ago, India made up of 33% of the world’s economy, China had the 26% or combined 59% of the world’s economy was China and India. 2000 years was the time of Christ, yet most Europeans never thought of the world in that fashion – they likely thought the world revolved around Rome. Now 2000 years later those two countries are regaining their lost status, what should you do? In the book Growling Tiger Roaring Dragon by David Smith published by Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 2007 the author offers ideas. Now the countries are back what do you do?

For many reasons, the countries of China and India with continue to grow, although the grow rates will slow, they will continue to dominate the world’s economy. Both countries have populations that are over one billion and given their growth there is a growing middle class which will change the countries to more service in jobs. In many countries resources or commodities will have great impact on the countries budgets, the growth of China and India has increased the price of commodities which is one of those good bad things. Good for companies in the industry, bad for the individual prices tend to go up, but we are talking about the overall country and good wins out. As the economy grows, China and India have a greater presence on diplomatic matters.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you shop at Wal-mart or one its subsidiaries and 80% of US citizens visit the store at least once a year – the biggest customer of China is Wal-mart. This means the North American economy is tied to China, just as it is tied to Europe. As both China and India develop their economies they will be and still are opportunities for making money from your investments. The same process which is used to pick stocks it means being selective, understanding how the economy works and start your homework there. In China there is a mixture of state and privately owned companies; in India there are a number of family owned companies which have the greatest influence.

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

 

When you think of the world’s biggest economies , which countries do you think of? For thousands of years the answer was India and China.About  2000 years ago, India made up of 33% of the world’s economy, China had the 26% or combined 59% of the world’s economy was China and India. 2000 years was the time of Christ, yet most Europeans never thought of the world in that fashion – they likely thought the world revolved around Rome. Now 2000 years later those two countries are regaining their lost status, what should you do? In the book Growling Tiger Roaring Dragon by David Smith published by Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 2007 the author offers ideas. First, the more important question is why did those two countries take so long to dominate the world’s economies.

The reasons are different by they have not changed and it is something dividend investors need to pay attention to. For India in the 17th and 18th century the biggest cotton industry in the world was located in India. It was not mechanized which is the reason the UK factories and the industrial revolution became number one. The India industry was very labour intensive and locked into that form of production. The spinners and weavers were essentially self-employed and had no interest in technological innovation and neither did the Indian middleman merchants. The ruling British and East India Company made money sending cotton to England and how it was produced was not the issue. For years the system worked for those involved, few people had a desire to change anything, so when changed happened, in another country, the industry could not adapt and stagnated the economy.

In China the country had the finest navy, innovative people a view to see what goes on beyond its borders.  The classic case is gunpowder. The Chinese invented it used in for fireworks, but Europeans found the method to use gunpowder  in arms or warfare which changed the world. The Chinese had all ingredient to be an empire willing to expand and then the leadership changed. The new Emperor turned the country inward and away from innovation, away from what others in the world were doing and stagnated his country. If he had been forward-looking likely this would be written in Chinese.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the lesson to learn is how does your dividend paying company make money and are they tied to the process or is it adaptable? If it is adaptable how open is the company to actually adapting it? Those questions look at senior management and its openness to change, because it can soon be left behind or stagnate because its unwillingness to change.

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

This blog looks at books such as Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, published by Random House Canada, Toronto, 2010 because as Dividend buyers part of what we want is not to change.

We all do something but it may not be directly classified as an activity. An example is the housekeepers in hotels, a study was made – all the ladies were weighed half the maids were told what they were really doing is exercise; the other half was not. A month later the researchers checked the maids weight and the ones that were told they were doing exercise lost weight, the others did not.

Another example is a car wash gave a loyalty card – one group was given a card that started blanked and needed 8 to have a free wash. The other group was given a card with two stamps and on the 10th they were given a free car wash or both needed 8 washes to get one free. The result 19% of the first had a free car wash, but with some already filled in 34% received a free car  wash. One way to motivate is to make people feel as they’re already closer to the finish line that they might have thought. This is shrinking the change or lowering the bar for person to stepped over.

On the personal debt level – the best way to pay off is to make the minimum payments and payoff the lowest debt first forgetting about the interest rates. If you can do one then you can do the rest.

Another example is the head of procurement for the US government, there are many who do it – buying things for the US government. There are many stories and some make the press. How do you influence it? One day a conversation with a person sparked an idea. The employee wanted to walk over to the closest computer store and buy some items however the paperwork made it virtually impossible. The idea was to double your agency’s use of the government credit cards over the next year. Credit cards are issued, they have accurate records and for the government can be paid off during the month and for small purchases they are wonderful.  A single person can make a difference.

Former UCLA Coach John Wooden – when you improve a little everyday, eventually big things occur.. Don’t look for the quick, big improvement. Seek the small improvements one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens and when it happens it lasts”    Shrink the change.

When people make choices they tend to rely on one of two basic models of decision-making – the consequences or the identity model.  The consequence is weighing the cost benefit and making a choice to maximize our satisfaction. The identity model is Who am I? What kind of situation is this? What would someone like me do in a situation like this?  (limited calculation of cost benefits) We are a number of identities and those become part of your self-image and triggers the decision-making.  This means any change effort that violates someone’s identity is likely doomed to failure. How do you change a matter of identity rather than a matter of consequences?

An example is Lovelace Hospital Systems in Albuquerque, New Mexico was concerned about the rapid turnover of nurses, Instead of focusing on why people were leaving, the more important question was why are they staying? One of the answers was the nurses were loyal to the profession of nursing. The hospital developed programs which recognized them and set up mentorship programs so new nurses would understand the profession.

Another success story is Brasilata a Brazilian company which manufacturers steel cans. One of the expectations of the firm is when people are employed they are called inventors and expected to bring ideas to make the cans and processes better. In 2008 the inventors submitted 134,866 ideas or 145.2 per inventor. Not all will be implemented but the wealth of knowledge and abilities continue to make the company and its people better. One small example is when Brazil had power outages, the people found ways to save enough energy to fall below its quota and resell the extra energy.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the future is the important aspect when investing, the expectation the company will be profitable and continue to pay a dividend. That is a big expectation and with continued change in its people hard to realize. How the company embraces change will say a lot about whether it can continue to pay dividends.

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

It is always interesting to read reports about companies because perspective is different. As an individual you may have access to low-interest rates (hopefully you do) but one of your credit vehicles is a credit card and people use them with their rates in the 20% category. A few days ago in one of the newspapers a journalist wrote about a company in debt and used the term sky-high interest rates – the company’s debt was 8.5 to 12.5%. If this company could either pay down the debt or refinance it at lower rates, there could be smoother sailing for it. The company is in a field which is needed but how the product is needed is changing rapidly and no one really knows how it is going to end up which is the reason why interest rates are higher than average.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, it was not so long ago interest rates were closer to 5% and so were bond yields, with the great recession from 2008 people have accepted or become very use to low-interest rates or low federal reserve rates. This can be a great thing and hopefully it will allow the economy to move forwards and employment will continue to fall. In planning for the future, interest rates or yield rates are taken as a bench mark measure achieve. If you can receive 5% or more on a low risk investment it is highly worth doing. If it takes achieving a 10% return, then generally risk is going to pay a significant role – it is generally hard to achieve a 10% return year after year. On dividend paying stocks, that is why you hear total return – dividends plus capital gains. In a good year, both will add to a good low risk return and some years easily beat the averages while being a low risk.

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

One of the additions to many newspapers on Saturday is a comics in color, usually they are in black and white but on Saturday they come in color and they have their own section. Recently a comic strip was read of Beetle Bailey written and drawn by Mort Walker. Beetle is a private in the army – he goes to a store and buys a Power Bar in those days it was called a Buzz Bar. One of his buddies comes over and asks what he is eating? Beetle says the Buzz Bar – gives you energy and can cure a lot of stuff. His buddy says, You are too Gullible, those are ads are just after your money, the bar will not produce miracles it is a fake claim. Think it over! Beetle says, I think I would rather be gullible.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, sometimes we want to be gullible and pay attention to those never-ending growth rates and believe we will capture them in our investments. The past week demonstrated what goes up also comes down. All of us want to believe the hype both in products for a $1 or buying stock after all it is our hard-earned money and we are making rational decisions. In reality, there maybe some truth but not the whole truth in the advertising or the recommendations. The easiest method is to find stocks that have a definite sell point about them – if you stay with profitable companies – did they make a profit? If you buy dividend companies can they constantly pay their dividend? pick something that tells you very simply when it is time to exit and when you make it a longer term hold. If the condition no longer applies more to another alternative because the great thing about investments is there are always alternatives in the marketplace.

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

The title Criminal Enterprise refers to a book by the same name by Owen Laukkanen published by GP Putnam & Sons, NY,  2013. The book focuses on two investigator one from the FBI and the other from the State of Minnesota or the setting is in that state. The premise of the book is someone who had a great paying job in the section of downtown where the “Robber Barons” used to live or from the outside all the trappings of financial success, losses his job but keeps the house. The character turns from a likable person to a psycho who goes from small bank robberies to armed cars. The problem for him is he never seemed to think there were any consequences. If you try to rob a bank, one or two investigators will begin to determine who you are and what patterns you left behind. If the first went well and the robber tries a second, more people join in to find you. If you rob armed cars,every police service will try to catch you. As a psycho you can likely do the robbery but getting away is going to take some advance planning unless you know where and how to change your identity and slip away from the location where you are in. In the book’s case the winter in Minnesota which is worth considering slipping away from. however going to the rougher side of town is not slipping away.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are ways and methods to hide illegal money, maybe 5% of the money in circulation is from illegal activities, depending of the economy sometimes it goes higher. If you are not involved in the 5% then what you do not know is better for you and you can live a longer healthier life. In the book, the criminal did not think how to run and spiraled out of control or was a psycho. In all aspects of investing ,planning or doing your homework which includes thinking about the consequences of your actions is the key. In the book, the criminal robs another criminal of his money, the person had to answer to someone above him who said to the effect – give me the money or your life, generally I prefer the money, the result was eventually a house call to the first criminal looking for the money. If you invest in dividend paying companies, the only house call you will receive is the monthly statement from brokerage firm informing you of more money or shares were deposited to your account. Those are visitors that are well worth receiving.

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

Each of us search for something, sometimes the answer is nearby seemingly at the tip of your nose, sometimes the journey is longer. When we search we need to follow some basic skills whether it is investing your money or staying alive. One book that is more about staying alive is called Wilderness Secrets Revealed written by Andre-Franciois Bourbeau published by Dundurn Press , Toronto, 2013. The book is about Mr. Bourbeau going into the woods or the wilderness and surviving. There are many tips, one was he did not decide one day to go into the wilderness, he took his time and learned about the way. A great example is if you enjoy going into the wilderness, forgot or do not pack one thing which you typically would use. At some point in time you will need the object and you will need to find an alternative. It is recommended you not start with the biggest item but supporting items. For example bring the tent forget the pegs. What are the alternatives – tip the tent to trees. It is simple but solves the problem and allows you to begin to think about other alternatives. This is where you will have to do some research about how to make your alternatives – but they can be made. In one sense it is a lesson in creativity; patience and whether you really want to go into the wilderness or in my case well used semi wilderness.

The above process is called SEAR for Help Search and rescue teams find you – in the movies it is the message on the beach; Conserve your precious vital Energy; Minimize Risks; and Pamper your Assets. In the outdoors it means prepare signals and stay in open spaces, doing things slowly; avoiding further perilous acts and do not lose or damage the gear you brought in. The idea is to prevent foolish actions into order to cut the stress level.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to surviving in the wilderness takes good judgment knowing or having a good idea of alternatives to keep going. The wilderness offers many solutions and risks however people say that about a really large city and being in the town. There are parallels and both teach you the value of patience and lowering risk levels. With dividend paying stocks the patience is the price may not double in a month, but perhaps in 3 years and with the addition of the dividend you will have a good investment return with limited risk.

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