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

When Queen Victoria was the ruler in England, the country was one of the most prominent countries in the world. They had a large number of colonies and London expanded towards the large city it is. In terms of housing, England moved from a rural to an urban, at first most people rented homes and later came ownership. The house that was built was called the Victorian House. In an interesting book by Judith Flanders such wrote a book called The Victorian House published by Harper Perennial, London, UK, 2003. The book is subtitled domestic life from childbirth to deathbed. London was different in those days, heating was done by coal and coal plus London weather would equal pictures of Beijing today. The book focuses on the expectations of each room and one is grateful from washing machines. Washing used to take a long time to do. A couple of months ago, the movie Oliver was viewed and there is a musical number dealing with “who will buy my flowers?” and one can see a variety of people selling merchandise for there was no corner stores or department stores to buy items from or there were many independent sellers of merchandise.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to all societies the Victorians organized their lives to reflect their daily requirements. We do the same but it is easier to see how technology and innovations changed the way people used to live. For example, washing took about a day to do, and in some ways it was more expensive to clean than to rent a home. In many homes, a person came in to do the washing. As time evolves a machine can do what many people did, it saves time for the average person as well as changes the need for washers. The point is many things change over the years and that is why if you find a company which has been consistently profitable over the years as well as increasing its dividend, those are the ones you should buy first.

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

Recently a talk radio show had a guest discussing estates and how money is dividing families. If you are fortunate, you get along with members of your family and remain close connections with them. Your parents did all the right things and money can be distributed upon their death. Many people do not want to talk about death – it seems morbid, most of us want to continue living. One aspect of death is what do you want to do with your assets. Traditionally, the assets went to immediate family members, however those who have families similar to the show Modern Family know there are many combinations and tradition. while an ideal, is not always a reality. Everyone who lives has some assets, many also have liabilities or debts, but as you accumulate your assets, you need to consider what distribution you want to leave. A will is a great place to start and if you look in the financial district of the closest city to you, you will see office buildings with the word trust or estates. Depending on the size of your assets, the family may have ideas of what to do with the money if they inherited it, does it match your ideas?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the type of stocks you wish to own are those that have paid dividends for a number of years and increase the size of the dividend. While you are living, the dividends can provide you with a cash flow; if you are deceased as the estate goes through the time to liquidate it, they continue to provide cash flows as well as capital gains. Most estates take a year or two to come to the point of dividing all the assets up. As you are investing think in those time periods, it should make decisions come easier or when to say no.

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

At this time of the year, the first month of January, all the business magazines offer ideas of what to invest in the year, expecting you would buy and hold. You should do one of them, what are your best ideas for the year? This will tell you if you believe the glass is half full or half empty. Using your best ideas, will also tell you if during the year you are right or wrong. If you are wrong, then you lost no money and it suggests you should keep money in index funds or mutual funds which allow for diversification. If you are right, as you cash accounts allow you to invest perhaps that would be a good place to park some of your money. With investing, the only method you will know if you are right is looking back, but there are methods to employ to ensure you lose less or even make money.

Linking to dividend paying companies, one method which has shown to be successful is invest in profitable companies. If the companies are profitable, they can pay a dividend and you will make money two methods – on the dividend and on capital gains as more people wish to buy the stock of a profitable company. There are endless ideas and that is terrific on how to invest, keeping it relatively simple is often best for you for you will know what to do if something is not right. Markets will go up and down and ideally in the long run they go up, but along the way there will be fluctuations.

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

you have never read John Grisham book, you have missed wonderful reads with a lawyer as the main character. In one of the latest books by John Grisham, Sycamore Row published by Bantam Books, NY, 2014, Mr. Grisham maintains his stellar reputation. In this story, an old white man leaves about $ 20 million to his black maid. If I tell you the setting is in Mississippi then you will understand the significance of the beneficiary of the estate. In the US south, things like that do not happen very often if ever. However the book is fiction and it could happen.

The drive to understand why the gentleman left the money is the reason for the book, suffice to say, it helps right a wrong.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, many people own stocks because of estates and trusts. It is a prime reason for allowing the wealthy to stay wealthy; the other reason is the money is invested in dividend paying stocks which means the trusts and estates can pay their beneficiaries for years to come. As well as profitable companies tend to rise in value over the years. Follow the example of the big estate and trusts and keep your money is safe secure stocks which pay a dividend.

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

If you have been in an airport then you might have seen books such as The Quest by Nelson DeMillo published by Centre Street, Hachette Books, NY, 2013. In the Quest the characters – 3 people in the news gathering industry meet a priest in the jungles of Ethiopia. The priest, an Italian, tells them a story which leads to a Quest. The reason the priest is an Italian is Italy in War World II had invaded Ethopia. Among the reasons was the Vatican was looking for the cup or the Holy Grail and it was supposed to be in Ethopia. The Quest jumps 40 years, in some ways the country is not better off as various groups battle for control of the country. Included in the group is a nasty general who likes torture; horsemen who kill and maime the enemies and others. If you were thinking not a pleasant place, you were correct. In the past, the country was a mix of a three thousand year old monarchy, which means all kinds of conventions are changing.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, to find the place where the cup is suppose to be, takes knowledge of the land; trying to figure out the clues the Priest gave and luck or wisdom from God. In the end, the people do the right thing. The wonderful writing ties all the above and it is a wonderful ride. You can do the same in investing your money, study the lay of the land; look for the best opportunities and have some luck. You can also make it easier by starting with dividend paying companies because they earn profits. With the profits, the company distributes dividends to its shareholders and reads the teas leaves to invest in the company. The Quest makes a wonderful read and it is filled with hits and misses; leaving those to reading while make it easy for your investments.

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