Recently the author went south for a vacation and warmer weather. In the north east; cold weather is part of the way you live. If one is wise adopting weather to your lifestyle and enjoying winter activities. Having a break from winter and enjoying summer again is a tradition many take. The plane from Boston had the two weather extremes – delays for deicing to hot humid weather of Orlando.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the hot humid weather automatically made the vacation a success. Leaving the snow for the sandy beaches was the wonderful bonus and palm trees added to the picture. The perspective was the difference.

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

For those of us in the western democracies we take reading for granted. We can buy or borrow books from the library and read on virtually any subject. During the Holidays a radio show was on and the interviewee said when a dictator comes into power one of the first things he/she does is control access to information. The type of subjects for books – becomes a sign because the leader does not want the population to think. The less they think, the easier it is to control them. This theme has been going on since the ability to write when religious orders control who read what. A wonderful movie is called In the Name of the Rose staring Sean Connery about the Connery character going to a monastery (which wrote books – at the time books were printed by monks) and the head of the monastery did not like laughter in the bible. When he found it, writers began to lose their lives. The head monk believed that laughter would not elevate the religion so he forbade it. The movie is based on a novel but it has many truths in it.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when a company is profitable people are generous with their time and access to information. When the company makes less money, all sorts of sayings such as do you loyalty to the company? the information closes as people react by closing ranks. It is a time honour tradition and when things are tight fewer information is given out. The appearances that were formerly found are often still done but looking closely the signs begin to appear. If the company’s shares you own begins to behave in such a manner it is time to sell. Company’s are run by people, following senior management action can lead to knowing when to sell.

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

Over the holidays, similar to many people, movies are watched for enjoyment and to past the time away. Hopefully you have your favourite holiday movies, some were on TV and others we own but tend to only watch around the holidays. One movie which  watched was Oliver. The movie has been made by many directors and the music and the era keeps us coming back to it. The music is terrific and the themes are relevant in today’s society – food, love, family, retail business.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the movie is about an orphan who is reunited after many years with an uncle. If Oliver had not asked for more food, escaped to London to meet the pick pocket group, to meet his Uncle, there would be no movie. Similar to many things in life, if we had not done x, then y may not occurred. Often times people lose money in the stock markets, then in an effort not to lose money, they learn about dividend paying stocks. You do not pay to learn the lesson first, but by investing in profitable companies, you will have less likelihood of losing money in the long run. When the profitable companies pay you dividends, you can focus on whether your dividend payments will be repeated again in the new year. If the answer is yes, then investing can be easy and profitable. If the answer is no, move to another stock. Make in simple in the new year, by ensuring the bulk of your portfolio is in profitable companies.

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

Those of us who live in the east are will likely always be interested in the western story if for no other reason of the saying Go West Young Man. Many people have moved from the east to the west for economic activity or jobs. In the 1800’s the mythical western was still a possibility with a horse and the wide open spaces of the west. One of the many books about the west is the Western Story – Fact, Fiction and Myth by Philip Durham and Everett L Jones published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc, NY 1975. Most of us have watched movies of the west or TV series and some of it appeals to us. In reality, people were trying to make a living and the work was tough work, but it was outdoors and the results were what the individual made of it. That theme appeals to many of us and we still see advertisers advertising their products with the theme. The elements of good gambling, hearty competition, and making a success by surviving the elements and relying on good people makes westerns a continuing interest.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in the west there was and is greater opportunity because there fewer families control the economic environment. In many eastern cities the ruling or highly influenced group tend to limit others and try to control the direction of the city. Sometimes the families do a great job, other times not so well. To even up the odds, you need to play the same game which includes continually receiving income from your investments. This is where the dividends are very helpful. If the company is profitable, you will receive quarterly income and have the potential for capital gains. Over the course of a number of years, the holding becomes bigger and you will have more financial flexibility in your life. You may or not be as rich as the controlling families, but there are many opportunities for a good life in the east as well as the west.

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

As the ice caps around the world melt, it means some good things and some not so good things. The tops of the worlds are melting and this eventually means sea levels will rise and climate changes. It also means in the north shipping can go through the north west passage. Ever since Europeans discovered the wealth to made from spices in the east or South China Seas, people have been looking for a quicker route. Since at the time few people knew about North America, but every one on the Atlantic and Pacific Coast could see water; few knew what was there. Eventually Columbus went to the Caribbean, and others found a land mass known as the Americans. Explorers being explorers tempted to cross the land, it takes time and no water goes across; they tried going north and south around the land. The north was the north west passage and books such as Silk, Spices and Glory by Margaret Macpherson, Fifth House, Calgary, 2001 are written about the adventures. The names of Frobisher, Hudson, Parry, Franklin and Amundsen come though and they are grand adventurers most realizing too late the Arctic was not very hospitable to people.

If we think about today’s civilization, living in the North East, during winter the winds comes from the Arctic and it is cold – thank goodness for oil and gas to heat the homes. If you were an explorer in the 1500’s or 1600’s and went to the Arctic would you have the correct gear? At the best of times on a ship it had to be damp and cold; going into the Arctic was something else, for many had to be freezing all the time. An interesting comment in the book was many explorers died from scurvy.Even in summer, which is short in length, the Arctic is not short’s weather. In reading about the explorers, it was great adventures, but my goodness. It took to 1903 for a ship to go through the northwest passage, at the time it was on a scientific journey rather than a merchant journey.

Linking to dividend paying stocks,  the adventurers pave the wave to successful companies. If the adventurers had discovered a quicker method around North America, costs would have been cut and profits increased. Other riches were to be found, but not the ones the investors wanted. Every dividend paying company has to constantly find new methods to cut costs and increase profits or to be adventurers that actually can be successful. If they do not, they risk not making profits. Risk happens at all dividend paying companies, it just means not needing a great return to keep the company in business.

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

In a wonderful book, Gavin Menzies wrote 1421 published by Bantam Books, London, 2002. Mr. Menzies was a navy man whose hobby is reading historical maps, As there is great joy in seeing how the maps change as nature moves the shoreline as well as people understand the landscape and fill in the details. In the book, Mr. Menzies outlines 4 Admirals who went out into the unknown world and discovered the world. The four generals were Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Zhou Wen, and Yang Qing and they went on large groups of ships with thousands of people of immense tasks from labour to astronomer to map the world and discovered the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as longitude and latitude. The maps made by Chinese in 1421 would stand the test of time hundreds of years in the future. The ships also moved crops and help make the world more liveable. At the end of the journey, the Chinese were more knowledgeable about the world and its mineral wealth, except the country turned inwards. The great plans had stretched the budgets of China as well as accidents which affected the confidence of the Emperor. The new Emperor turned the country inwards for hundreds of years.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, 70 years later the Europeans had advanced so they could leave Europe with Chinese maps, or they knew where to go. Had China taken the next step to claim the lands, established colonies the world would be a different place. Knowledge by itself, while it is a great thing to have and is it very useful to have the goal; however in business the ability to use the knowledge and profit from it allows for dividends to be paid. How well a company implements or uses the great amount of knowledge it collects is something you want to know? How does the companies whose shares you own profit from the vast knowledge they collect? Is it seamless?

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

In North America, if you asked someone who sailed the oceans blue in 1492, the quick answer is Christopher Columbus. The European world knew something existed between Europe and Asia but few had gone over to see and nobody had mapped it. The known world existed around the Mediterranean and through overland routes of Arabia goods came from South East Asia and India. Through the overland routes of Asia into the Black Sea goods came from China, but very few Europeans had gone to map out the world. As ships became bigger and money was to be made through bringing the goods back, European ships started to map out the world. What if the Europeans were actually using maps from another country? What if the Chinese had made the maps from 1421 to 1423?

In a wonderful book, Gavin Menzies wrote 1421 published by Bantam Books, London, 2002. Mr. Menzies was a navy man whose hobby is reading historical maps, As there is great joy in seeing how the maps change as nature moves the shoreline as well as people understand the landscape and fill in the details. To draw an accurate map one needs to understand latitude and longitude; and a host of other skills. If you believe anyone can do it, next year go on a boat and map the shoreline. It turns out the skills needed to map the world were known and used by the Chinese. The third Emperor in the Ming Dynasty was Zhu Di, the Son of Heaven. When he became Emperor he had plans and the ability to carry them out. Domestically the city of Beijing became capital city again and he had 200,000 people doing the labours. At the same time, the Great Wall was repaired and improved; the Grand Canal was enlarged; as well as the great amount of ship building was completed – these ships were the ones that went around the world in 1421 to 1423.The resources of China were mobilized for large amounts of commodities – grain and timber were required to do the projects for the Emperor.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in writing this book Mr. Menzies used his skills from the Navy as well as his interest in map making to fill in the many missing pieces of the puzzle. When Mr. Menzies was reading a map which outlined North America long before Columbus had sail the ocean blue, that sent him on his discovery mission which lead him to write the book. Each of us has interests and something to energize the curiosity in us. Often the trail will lead us to greater understanding and sometimes we will be able to profit from that understanding. As the New Year begins, follow your curiosity for you will be able to understand and profit. Along the way, understand for Mr. Menzies the journey took many years to complete or to get to the point of being able to write the book – you will need a cash flow of dividends and capital gains from dividend paying stocks which help you achieve your goals.

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

In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of Daedalus who was an inventor and at one time or another offended the King. The King put him and his son in jail, while in jail Daedalus began to study the flights of birds. He studied the feathers made some wings and they worked as he and his son flew out of jail. The young man was intoxicated with his abilities to fly and decided to head for the sun. The sun’s heat melted the wax and Icarus fell to the seas only to perish. His father saw what was happening but was powerless to help, he flew to safety and retired the wings.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when we are young and believe we can conquer the universe, we often buy stocks at low prices. Once in a while one goes up in value and visions of being a master of the universe will appear. The good advice is to learn to take some profits and let it ride so when the stocks invariably go down, you have made money. The lesson is easy to say, it is much harder to implement. With dividend paying stocks, although one expects the price to rise, often times the percentage rise per year will not give you masters of the universe feelings. However if you wait or have patience in a few years not only will the price have risen you will have collected dividends along the way and your wealth will be on the way to making you a master of universe with staying power. Learn the simple lessons and Happy New Year.

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

The best performing country in terms of economic recovery will be the US and some of the companies in the US are the best in the world. As the recovery picks up and becomes relative to the past normal economic activity, to lower the risk return ratio putting your money in the US stocks is a good idea. There are many methods to participate and one method is to look at the large cap US listed stocks  with good dividend yields and strong dividend records. Peter Ashton of Recognia Inc did this and published his results.

The process was to start with companies with a minimum capitalization (share price x number of shares outstanding) of $ 10 billion.

Out of those companies – more criteria – to focus on dividends and the quality of them

selected companies with dividend yields of 3 % or better.

To ensure payment of dividends – companies with a dividend coverage ratio of 250%  (to arrive at this figure the earnings per share divided by dividend paid over the past year)  The higher the number, the greater the expectation of payment to continue.

The third criteria is for companies with a history of raising their dividend payments over the past 5 years.

The important aspect of this chart is it helps to narrow the field. There are many companies on the stock markets, by narrowing the field to what you are looking for, this  helps you make better decisions. For the stock market, the best decisions are looking back, for the future will always be up or down. However, it is possible to lessen the risk.

The rankings were

Rank    Company      Ticket   Mkt Cap   Div Yield    Div Coverage   Div Growth 5 year

–            –                      –           billions       %                  %                          Average

1    Ford Motor           F-N          54.2         3.5                 455                            100.0

2.   Agrium                AGU-N    12.3         3.3                 283                             112.4

3. Seagate Tech       STX-Q     20.7         3.3                279                               90

4. Suncor Energy     SU-N      41.2         3.2                357                               31.3

5. Occidental Pete   OXY-N      57.7         3.7                286                              16.3

6.  Chevron               CVX-N  192.3            4.0                286                                9.1

7.  ConocoPhillips     OP-N     77.8              4.4                275                                7.8

8.  ExxonMobil           XOM-N  365.9            3.3                299                                9.8

9. Dow Chemical     DOW-N      50.3            3.8                290                                5.2

10. Caterpillar Inc       CAT-N      54.1           3.1                262                                7.6

11.  Kellogg                 K-N        22.8          3.0                276                                6.8

Linking to dividend paying stocks all the above are good companies to own and you can see some of them are linked to the oil industry. As the price has come down, some are available at lower stock prices; some will do better with a lower price of oil; some do better with a higher price. The decision you make is based on a number of factors but one thing you do know with the above companies the risk factors are down and for a long time the reward factors are high.

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