Everyone should know that for thousands of years, trading in people for money went on and to some degree it still does (a few months ago it was noted South Korea supplied people to Russia for foreign currency, whle not exactly slaves they were almost). Established companies operated and dividends were paid with very high yields. The end of the slave trade between Europe, Africa and North America ended, although it went on to South America for a little while longer. While this blog only recommends you benefit from dividends from legal means, it is well known the profits are high for illegal substances (i.e. drug trade) There were a number of reason for the end of the slave trade –  the owners in England were paid off by the government (received a buy out); the invention of machinery meant the number of people needed was less (this was one of those great inventions) and when Britian and France went to war (countries) so did the manufacturers (non slave and slave products). Consumers were given a choice of what types of products they would purchase – fortunately non slave won.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, the blog highly recommends legal monopolies or near monoploies, espically near monoploies for they will typically last longer as there is the illusion of competition. There are a variety of companies and industries which due to being first entries and meeting consumer demand have what seems to be near monopoly condidtions. Although consumers and consumer tastes change, look for those companies or do the age old capitalist agenda – buy me out at a higher price..

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

Last evening, when the writer was making dinner, spices were used. In my case nothing that is considered exotic, but spices from the spice rack. Many families have spice racks for they add flavour to the meal. Did you ever think about those spices? People have travelled and continue to travel around the world. For thousands of years, there was and is a spice caravan collecting the spices in India and surrounding areas, going up the Arabian peninsula to Cario and on to Europe – Rome, London, Paris and other urban areas of Europe. As the prices grew, a desire to find an alternative route (lower price) lead to Columbus landing in North America. An added bonus was the search for gold or base metals.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, the basic story is the same for thousands of years. If the item has high demand, with a near monopoly conditions, prices will be attractive to support dividends. It is story which goes through all sectors of the economy and brings capital to continue the search. Investing in dividend producing stocks is learning from and repeating history. It is a good thing to do.

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

If you are a sports fan, after viewing or seeing the game, you will likely read the sports pages in the papers. For sports pages, it typically means professional sports. If you are a football fan and the team has a new quarterback, you are expected to cheer and support an essentially losing team because the win column is likely to be lower than the loss column. In the NFL this year there are a number of teams which are in that situation or are in a rebuilding season. Fortunately for the NFL, the teams have a near monopoly position, the teams are generally competitive each season (although winning would be great) and fans go for different reasons than purely for winning football.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, just because a company pays dividends does not mean they will have a winning season every year. However if the company has a near monpoly or quasi-monopoly situation, it can go through a rebuilding year so that the expectation of paying a dividend is a near certainty. The expectation is even in a year where the company is not performing on all cylinders, it will still do very well relative to other companies. Buying dividend producing companies is never a 100% guarantee but it should be close.

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

On Saturday, the writer was looking through a magazine of museums across the country, If there are local museums in your area, you should consider going but look from a different perspective. The first perspective is interest, but also look at the museum from what companies were in a dominant position and what companies do you still see. For example, prior to WW II the travel from North America to Europe or anywhere else people took boats – large cruise ships. They took time to cross the seas and the cities which built them had a thriving industry. The population changed to flying, had did the companies adapt? How long did it take to recover for those that did adapt?

Linking to dividend producing stocks, museums tell us although people are still people they change what they do and how they do it. It is difficult for companies to stay on top for generations. How does your company adapt each year? If you are satisfied with the way the company changes keep your stock otherwise begin the transition to another company. It is mentioned begin, because it you are similar to most of us, you will like your holdings, but remember the reason you hold it is for the dividend. If it continues to pay a dividend, the stock price will hold up and rise.

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

In the newspaper which the writer reads, every week there is a car section and not being in the car market it is saved for looking through later. Two articles which catch the eye are a discussion of what car should I buy? and a personality talking about their cars. Most people once their have regular form of income, a car is high on their list of needs. If you think back to your first car, was in the make and model which is your ideal car? For most of us the answer is no, if you are remotely similar to the writer’s first car was my Dad’s old car. The price was right – pay for gas and maintenance. The next car was smaller and sportier – more in keeping with my age at the time.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, it is likely these were not the first stocks you bought, Originally you wanted something to make you wealthier overnight, it may have happened. Over time you have moved towards dividend producing stocks because many have produced total returns which you were originally looking for. It is okay to change, we all learn, we all have lessons from the past. In investing, the best results are made over the long term in stocks that pay dividends and have a dominate market share which they can maintain consistent earnings or in other words a near monopoly like conditions. Either there are great barriers to entry, government regulations maintain the status quo, or the buyers consistently want products the company sells for those products have changed over time to match their buyers needs.

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

Honda has come out with an new advertisement of a picture is worth a thousand words. On one side of the ad is the picture of the car, on the other side is the description of the car in 1000 words.. The car looks goods, the written copy I am not positive if very many new buyers will read it – they may. It is wonderful to be surprised.

Linking to dividend producing stocks – the only part of the statement the writer wants to see is when the dividends were paid. The incoming income is a great picture, it is worth more than a thousand words because it is the continuation of the capitalist system and all the other wonderful stories about the American Dream. A company started small, it grew with good management and now has a dominant position to pay its shareholders money derived from the continuing operations of what it does. It is a good thing to see.

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

The lovely Monarch Butterfly which is seen throughout the summer has an annual trip to Mexico for the winter. Then the Monarch comes north in the summer to lay eggs on Milkweed plant. For years, people have been wondering how does a Butterfly do it? How does it know when to go south? How does it know the directions? After years of research it turns out the secret is the declining altitude of the sun. When the sun reaches somewhere between 56 and 57 degrees above the horizon at noon, it is time to begin the migration. The Monarchs follow the sun.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, now that you are aware of the reason why Monarchs go south, does it take away the magical part of it? Probably not, similar achieving dividend payments for numerous years with an idea of increasing them does not take away the magic of the wonders of the marketplace. There are always opportunities in the marketplace, setting the parameters for dividend producing stocks helps to ensure the cycle continues every year..

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

Last week the writer decided to have toast and the toast burnt. Perhaps the setting was wrong; perhaps there was something caught in the toaster whatever the reason the smoke alarm sounded. After the sensitive alarm stopped; the writer looked at the toaster wondering why did the toaster burnt the toast? The first view was the toaster must be old or maybe a new one should be bought;  for the toaster needed a cleaning. Why throw away a good toaster? The decision was to clean it and now it works better or at least looks better.

Linking to dividend producing stocks you should review your portfolio at least every six months to ensure it is cleaned. The review can be easy and does not imply throwing everything out and trying again. At the least, you should review at a good time for you, perhaps when it is time to clean the garage or the toaster. The advaantage of cleaning the storage area or garage is you will find something you forgot about and it still has value. If your portfolio is over weighted to dividend producing stocks start with the simple questions of do they pay dividends and what is the outlook to continue? Having decided those two questions, the review is easier and you will want to do it again.

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

Reading the newspaper, someone trying for political office said, I do not have great experience at the job, but I do have street smarts which I will bring to the job. What streets’ smart means is likely a different question, but with all job interviews the idea is to change a negative into a positive. For investors street smarts means different things from the literal meaning – if you invest in stock with retail operations – go into the store and check out the offerings. Is it what you expect? does the product move where you are? are the margins healthy at the price offered? All those questions and more offer you insights into the company. Street smart can mean how you “fight” the competition? what methods do you engage at trying to win over sales – it does not always mean spending a lot of money.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, street smarts is one of those terms which means a number of things to different people or we all have it. In your weekly life, you will have many experiences which you gather information from. These items which you layer on top of another layer help you make connections allowing you to make decisions. With dividend producing stocks you add in the protection of barriers to keep yourself focused and monetary on track.

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