For a long time, women’s official role is the homemaker and bearer of children. In times before pensions, if you had no children you wondered who was going to look after you in your old age. It was easier if you children. The women’s role was to help the man for the man was the “bread winner” and protector of the family. Anyone who has lived in the rural areas knows there is plenty of hard work to do and occasionally “wolves” at the gate or in the yard. With all people, some men were better at it then women; some were worse than women. However the law and traditions dictate where women’s roles fit it. In a book about Women in Medieval Life by Margaret Wade LaBarge published by Hamish Hamlton, London, UK, 1986, the lives of women were a little more complex than being fair maidens waiting for their men to come back from battle. In a Disney movie called The Rookie staring Dennis Quaid, the main character had a promising baseball career, was injured and taught high school. As the coach of the baseball team 10 years retired, he was throwing the ball and begin to throw 97 mile fastballs. If you can throw that fast, you qualify for the majors. It is not suppose to happen, the main character was debating whether to try out for the majors or not; his wife played by Rachel Griffiths said, “I am from Texas, Texas women know how to handle themselves and the kids. You go, otherwise you will regret not doing it forever and I do not want to live that way. ” It is suspected many women in medieval times said something like that to their husbands. You go to battle, the King has called and I will look after things on the home front. Women in Medieval Life similar to today’s life have always played a greater role than the history books give them credit for.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, men tend to written history and most men concentrate on what interests them. If they were the scribes to the King then the King’s conquests were what is important. Often times we read or focus on things that interest us, but there are whole new worlds out there. Start with what you know, move to the reasons why the company made your lists in the first place. Whether it be long time payment of dividends; high margins of goods of sales; limited competition to ensure high profitability; are some of the examples. Your list will soon include other companies that you do not know. Buy positions and you will be pleasantly surprised at other areas of the economy as well as the things you tend to follow and know.

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

As I was driving the car, on the radio station was CBC Ideas and the person giving the talk was Dr. Atul Gawande from Havard School of Medicine (and a whole host of other things) at the BBC Reith Lecture on the Future of Medicine.  It was a wonderful talk and could help make medicine better, but this post will concentrate on one part of the lecture. Dr. Gawande talked about the time in life when doctors are not really positive what to do or the next step. The example was a patient who had experience cancer treatments successfully and after a few years the cancer came back. What should the medical profession do? There are two choices try something new or do nothing, but lower the pain levels. Dr. Gawande pondered the choices, the patient was a friend which made it harder and still did not know what to do. As a writer he did research asking people in the end of life medical care and eventually came to the solution.

All people have priorities in the their lives beside to live longer. What does the patient want?

The most reliable way to learn what the patient wants is ASK.

As a general rule, doctors are lousy at asking.  Doctors are wonderful at giving you data and talking 90% of the time. If you are going to ask the patient, talk 50%.

Four questions to ask the patient to truly understand their priorities.

1. What is your understanding of where you are?

2. What are your fears or worries?

3. What goals do your have?

4. What outcomes are unacceptable?

With those 4 questions, very simple ones, the person knows what you want and equally what you do not want. As conditions change the answers can be updated. However with the patient’s priorities known both the medical profession, family and caregivers can be satisfied with the outcomes as well as the next steps.

In the above example, the patient wanted to finish off her time at home, in hospice care as well as be able to finish her piano teaching, which was her second love, her husband being the first. This was done and the storybook ending happened.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, at this time of the year all companies update their know the client are those 4 questions answered in your statement? If they are that is great, but the ones that the writer has seen many of them could be done better.

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

Hurricanes are very interesting and even more interesting if you do not live within the hurricane belt. One of the greatest storms was Hurricane Sandy and in a book called Super Storm – 9 Days Inside Hurricane Sandy by Kathryn Miles, Dutton, NY, 2014 the author goes to the people who try to understand hurricanes and predict their outcomes. Up above the clouds the winds of the world generally flow in the same direction and follow a predictable pattern. The general shape of the land and the circular flow of the ocean currents allows for weather to be predictable. In the case of the path of Hurricane Sandy, the Gulf Stream which starts in the Caribbean moves up the US Southeast around the Outer Islands or Hatteras, North Carolina the stream bends toward Europe. If you were sailing, you could put your boat on the gulf stream and in 3 months circle the Atlantic Ocean with little effort. There is a similar stream in the south Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes tend to follow this pattern to.

In addition, up in the sky there are natural forces which tend to block the worst weather from the New York area, in the case of Hurricane Sandy the natural blockers moved which allowed Sandy to aim for New York. You can imagine, because of the size of Sandy and all the rules changing, everyone knew the affects were going to be bad, but no one expected it in their community. People relate to what they know or have been through, in the case of New York, their past experience was a smaller Hurricane which caused damage, the city was up and running within a week. On top of its winds, Sandy brought new concerns – storm surges – this type of Hurricane sucked the water up and  released it as the land became shallower, this cased the waves to that much larger. An interesting experiment is to hold up a glass of water; next hold up a pail of water; next a washing bin. Chances are lifting the washing bin was not done; it just shows the weight of water. Times that washing bin by what you can see when you are at the beach in the summer. Water in a storm surge causes a great deal of damage and very few things will stop the force of water coming from the sea.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the above discussed exceptional circumstances, and when it happens there is not much to do but get out of the way. A whole bunch of things happened to create Hurricane Sandy and its path that do not normally happen; the risk managers will ask is this the new normal or once every 50 years? Unfortunately no one really knows because things happened that normally should not have. When investing, there will be exceptional events; however good companies’ prices rebound faster. While people talk about a flight to quality, the reality is most run to quality stocks when something goes bad. The time to run is when things are going okay or good. If you keep the bulk of your investments in quality stocks or profitable ones, over the long term you will have more money. If those profitable stocks pay a dividend, you have two simple methods for analysis – are they still profitable? can they still pay a dividend? If the answer is yes, then you can decided to do nothing or move to better quality stocks.

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

Many conversations for very good reasons involve the weather and no doubt one of the most used application on a smart phone is the weather and the long range forecast. Depending on where you live, a topic that draws attention is hurricanes. They are very interesting and even more interesting if you do not live within the hurricane belt. One of the greatest storms was Hurricane Sandy and in a book called Super Storm – 9 Days Inside Hurricane Sandy by Kathryn Miles, Dutton, NY, 2014 the author goes to the people who try to understand hurricanes and predict their outcomes. Hurricane Sandy broke all the rules and was the biggest Hurricane seen  it was so big anything in its path was going to be damaged. One of the reasons it became so big, weather patterns changed and the necessary warm and cold weather to feed the hurricane materialized allowing for the hurricane to get bigger. Being large it was slow moving which was great to be glued to the TV and watch it, but the damage it caused was considerable. The storm surges and the power of nature was something to behold; as you look to the sea be aware of the power of nature.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, to forecast hurricanes a great deal of information is gathered to be analyzed, it also take people to understand or have a gut feel for what is happening and if the hurricane is normal or a rule breaker. Similarly it choosing the best stock to pick, there is an increasing array of information to gather and analyze. This blog suggests the best method to make money is to try to make it simple and eliminate companies. For example, invest in profitable companies, which means you miss the unprofitable ones; invest in dividend paying stocks or you miss the non dividend paying stocks. By limiting yourself to profitable dividend paying stocks, you will have the greatest indicators of when to move your money – if they are not profitable or the dividend is being reduced. The overwhelming majority of companies will give plenty of hints along the way if operations are no longer profitable or if the dividend is to be cut. There is a great deal of information which can be analyzed, to make a decision try to keep the reasons as simple as possible.

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

If you watched the movie The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio  distributed by Paramount Studios in 2013, you will come away with a number of conclusions. One there is lots of money to be made on Wall Street and as long as you have few ethics, the more money can come into your pocket. In the movie, the greatest commissions were in the penny stocks or stocks trading for less than the price of hamburger. They are part of the system and it is entire possible for one or more to break out and make you money. The only thing you have to do is be able to sell. In the movie, the firm sold the penny stocks but clients rarely sold their positions for to sell the brokerage company has to buy back the shares. The brokerage company  really does not want to do that for the idea is to pick the trendy stocks; sell the position to clients with a heavy commission; and since the brokerage company makes the market as the price goes up and when there is sufficient demand, the brokerage company sells their shares. This results in the market for those particular share diminishing until it becomes trendy again.

The second aspect of the movie, is a great script will help the sell. Buying stocks has a trust implied with the company. You have ideas so you use the brokerage company to buy your ideas. For the company, they will suggest or offer opportunity to buy more from the company’s favoured stocks. The suggestions should be based on your client needs, but all clients want to get richer, some sooner than later. In reality, the ones who want to get richer later than sooner will do better, because they will buy better quality shares and wait. If you are waiting, it is great to have a dividend payment.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most of us will need live the lifestyle of the Wolf of Wall Street, given the main characters were addicted to drugs, one might ask who wants that lifestyle? There are plenty of other methods to gain income which do not involve being drug addicted and have a longer lifespan with them. When you pick a portfolio of dividend paying stocks, you should have a longer term outlook and rely on history for Wall Street loves profitable stocks and clients love the dividends.

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

The Madison the title refers to is the Miss Madison the pride and joy of Madison, Indiana which is located on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Louisville. The town was founded when goods travelled up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers; when the transformation was made to trucks, the town declined in population. One of the many things which glued the town together was a number of people from Madison were involved in power boat racing. Essentially, a plane engine is put in a boat and the boats race around a course. If you like car racing, you will like boat racing. In the movie Madison, the folks of Madison were people who loved the sport and spent their spare time working on the boat and representing the town through the boat – Miss Madison. The competition included Miss Budweiser and Atlas van Lines to name a couple, the competition were reasonably large and well financed teams. Miss Madison received their funds from an annual boat race and was the little guy in the race. The movie is about a time when the boat actually won the championship which cemented the annual boat festival held around the July 4 weekend which has been going on since the 1970s.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, often times these companies are big companies in the market. Those which have been around a long time paying dividends which an established market share. Even dividend paying company owners can cheer for the little guy, however similar in the movie, the odds of them winning the championship are low, but it can happen with the right people. It is wonderful to cheer for the underdog, but with investing the tried and true method to continuing success is invest the greater share of your money into the large blue chip stocks which consistently pay a dividend. You will be reward with the dividend and the long term capital gains.

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

If you are a gardener or like to grow plants, one of the biggest reasons for your success will be the soil. Many urban homes lots do not come with wonderful lawns because the dirt is not rich in earthworms. To make it rich in earthworms, composting on a regular basis is the method to go. Building up the soil using your kitchen and yard wastes is an easy thing to do, as well as making gardening that much easier. The book Rodale Book of Composting edited by Deborah Martin and Grace Gershuny, Rodale Press, Emmaus Pennsylvania, 1992 offers suggestions on how you be a better composter. It is interesting, if you walk though a forest in the fall, notice leaves will be on the ground or the forest has a natural composting process. However in many households, they rake the leaves and send them off the property because it looks better. Next the household has to spend money to improve the soil, when in reality the solution was on the ground – use the leaves as compost for the gardens and lawn. Over the years, people have studied what makes plants grow? It turns out composting besides providing nutrients, help stop erosion and makes the land better. Why would you not do it?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, a simple thing which one can see in nature should be duplicated in real life. Studies have shown much of the growth of the total return on investments come with dividends as well as capital gains. In makes sense to make your money work on the same principle. Invest for dividends for it means investing in profitable companies and at the same time profitable companies command higher multiples on the stock market which increases your capital gain.

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

Most of us live in urban areas and many on housing lots that can do one thing but not much more. In the book How to Live on Almost Nothing and Have Plenty by Janet Chadwick, published by Alfred Knopf, NY, 1979, you would have to move to the country and have at least 20 acres of land. The need of space is to raise animals and grow your own fruits and vegetables. The larger animals need space or fields to feed on. If you are going to do this, the author suggests you start slowly and build up to what you think you want. If you have never raised animals, do not buy enough animals to fill the barn. Animals need to be taken care, but you can learn the skills. Buy a few, learn and then expand to fill the barn. If you grow your vegetables, you will have to learn how to can them or preserve them through the different seasons of the year. The lifestyle can be very rewarding and it does not have to be expensive.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, since most of us are not going to move to the rural areas to be small farmers, however we can relearn the skills that rural people have. Whether it is canning or vegetable gardening, those are things that urban people do. It terms of the stock market, if you have a pension or stocks that pay dividends the ability to leave the urban to the rural is easier. The rural life, particularly in a farm is more challenging, but we all have our risk – reward indicators. For a lower risk, but higher reward buy dividend paying stocks for their dividends and long term capital gains.

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

As the month goes by, quicker than most of us want it to, their are regular upcoming dates for everyone. In February there is Valentine’s Day; in March there is March break. In April there is Easter. If you go to a retail store for broad related events you should see merchandise for those days. In a week is the Super Bowl and given many people will watch some or part of the event, there are Super Bowl foods for you to taste or try. Each of us has many other dates – birthdays, anniversaries, remembrances, fundraisers they all appeal to us both individually and collectively.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, these dates are important because there will be more cash in the account or you can reinvest the money to buy more of a good thing. The dates allow for you to see if your holdings are generating the income you expect or is it time to look at something else. If your dividend paying stocks pay less than you expect, due to changing outlook in the price of the commodity perhaps it is good time to look at alternatives. Most of us pick the stocks for a reason and as long as they perform to expectations, we have time on our side. When they do not perform as expected there are alternatives to consider.

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