If you are an average person, there are things in your life that you should do more but you do not get around to it as much as you should. My dentist tells me flossing is one of the things the writer is suppose to do; even though my home is clean it is not spotless. Similar to many people the house could be cleaned more. When you look at your life is there something you could do more? Likely the answer is yes. In terms of your investing how often should you review your portfolio? The investment advisers say minimum quarterly, the more realistic way is at least twice a year. Most index funds change their portfolios at least twice a year because the stock exchange changes their index at least twice a year (this is one of the reasons why the charts tend to go up – the losers are dropped with better candidates). Dropping losers because they are losers is a great thing for the index, but if you bought a stock and there were good reasons why you bought it, ask do the reasons still exist? what has changed or is expected to change? if you were to sell, is the sector still a good investment or should you look a different sector?  You may note the answers are not necessarily good or bad answers, they just lead you towards a decision.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, one of the reasons you bought them is because they pay a dividend. If the dividend is still being paid and there is strong likelihood of it being increased, then the review can be over. To reevaluate your portfolio does not have to be long, if you had good reasons to buy in the first place. Dividend producing stocks allow this part of the process to be easy and that is a good thing.

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

Tonight in the United States is the big debate for the office of the President, two very well seasoned individuals will be discussing their outlook for the future and what qualities they would bring to the office (the job interview). The debate is held every 4 years in a different city and having been in one of the cities in the past, the TV and newspaper coverage is similar to the Super Bowl. In democracies around the world, this type of debate goes on every week and is one of democracy best features. It is a great feature because the people watching, listening and reading will gain a good feel or have ideas on whether the person reflects them and then can vote on it. At the Presidential level, the two should be relative equals, but which one is a better fit for the electorate?

Linking to dividend producing stocks, how you make a choice of the stocks that pay dividends includes the answer to the question which company is a a better fit for you?. On the stock exchanges, although dividend stocks are a minority of the listings, there is choice. If the company has a long history of paying, and from your research you believe it will continue to pay dividends, there are no bad choices from a monetary aspect. However we are humans, other factors often will come into play. The other factors make debates and choices interesting.

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

The writer lives in an urban area and similar to other residents, has a small piece of grass. Years ago when I moved in the grass was not growing. The soil had no worms, no topsoil and need mulching material. Over the years, all of that has been added and the little patch grows grass, even during the past summer with little rain, the little patch of grass existed.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, sometimes you have to have patience. Each time you do research, you learn. That is why this column says to keep it relatively simple and have defined limits on what you can and do invest in. Every month and sometimes everyday a new product comes on to the marketplace. There tends to be a very distinct need for the products, if you go outside the very distinctive need, the returns tend to be very similar to other products. To stay simple, start with stocks that pay a dividend. If possible reinvest the dividends and you will have reoccurring funds and higher stock prices.

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

In one of the financial papers there is a wonderful story of someone who made a living in the investment world with the resources of company’s financial reports and Value Line reports. His name was Walter Schloss.  Mr. Schloss used judgment and some rules – he would look for stocks trading at new lows, he narrowed the field to companies whose business models he understood. How does the company make money? Mr. Schloss looked for little debt and tried to avoid greedy management or companies whose products he thought would fail. If he liked what he saw, he would invest in a diversified portfolio. If you want to listen to a lecture – go to The Ben Graham Centre for Value Investing (bangrahaminvesting.ca) and click on the links Burgundy Resource Centre.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, while value investing focuses on underperforming stocks, it is possible some underperforming stocks produce dividends. The key is understanding how does the company make money? If it is simple such as the investor owned utility makes it money from consumer and business ratepayers, the next step is ask how secure is it? If a company is making most of their money by hedging or betting against the markets, there are other questions that follow, by asking a variety of questions it allows you to react to events that affect your investments.

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

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Doug

The writer recently picked up a book called How 30 Great Ads were Made – from Idea to Campaign, by Eliza Williams, Lawrence King Publishing, London, UK, 2012. The author picked 30 TV ads that not only won awards but pushed up sales of the the companies. It is an interesting read of how advertising companies try to plan everything done to the final detail, but still leave a margin for the target market to “buy into” the ad and become excited about the product, The book shows the skill sets needed to make ads and the risk taking involved from taking an idea and making something of it for at the end of the day the client wants the ad to help sell a product. If you are interested in the advertising business, a very good book to read.

Most of the ads shown in the book are for dividend producing companies, although the total sales of the companies would not be materially affected by the advertising campaigns. This statement means if the campaigns work, the companies increase their market share, if they do not work, the market share for other reasons would tend not to go down. For example, the Sony balls commercial and the explosion of colour on a building that since has been torn down, is a a wonderful ad. It effectively demonstrates Sony TV’s advantages, but Sony would sell large number of TVs without the ad. (hopefully it sells more with it). The key to dividend producing stocks in the consumer products area is they are well diversified or have many profitable products.

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

Anyone who lives in an urban area invariably comes across a busy cross walk, often many times. Have you ever lingered around, perhaps at a cafe, and watched how people cross the street? They do it in a variety of methods. Some will wait for the light to turn green, the little hand to guide them and then proceed and the one extreme is once in a while there are those who do not seem to notice the lights. Part of adapting to the urban living is the perception  of when it is reasonably safe to cross the street. It is possible to remember the delays in the lights on your routine walks, but should people go on a yellow or when the number has counted down to less than 5? In the busy intersections you will see people going when the number is down to 1. Will they fly across the street in a second or two? no but in their busy lives, they go anyways.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, people will be invest in many different methods similar to their tolerance level. If you love the excitement of going across the walk with just a few seconds left, stick to growth stocks. If you prefer to wait, the extra 10 seconds, until it is safe, then one of your best investments will be in dividend producing stocks. No matter which method you go across the street remember to look both ways, for part of getting to the other side is the enjoyment of your life.

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

At this time of the year, the writer follows his favourite football team, and recently went in a professional sports arena. On the walls and throughout the arena is advertising for companies which support the team. Some of the advertising is by public companies trying to reach out to a target market; some of the advertising is for public awareness; and some of the advertising is due to the role sports plays in our society as it is a great place to bring clients and/or reward employees. Whether you go to the opera or ballet, the theatre, the sports arena there are advertisers or supporters of the organization.

An idea for you to consider is to cheer for whatever team you wish, but look at the advertisers or supporters to determine if there are any dividend producing companies to invest in. There will be more than one and you have a win – win situation. You can cheer from the seats and cheer when the dividend is paid by a friendly company which makes life a little better in your community.

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