Value Investing News

From the time the first fire was discovered until now, energy has played a critical role in the development of modern man. As our society has developed, we have require an increasingly large amount of energy. We rely on companies in the Energy Sector to supply our needs.This sector will only become more valuable as time passes and resources become more scarce.

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To ensure a retirement that is free from financial concerns, there are certain things that must be done today. The stock market does not travel in a straight line. There will be times it will behave irrationally. These are the times that try an investor’s patience. Those with clear goals and confidence in their chosen strategy aren’t phased by these market movements.

One of the many reasons I like dividend stocks is because they provide continuous feedback. As time passes, dividend investors see their income grow steadily. You don’t have to wait five to ten years to determine if the strategy is working. Each dividend and dividend increase provides reassurance that the strategy is working.

Twelve companies raised distributions last week. I have highlighted each company below with brief information as a starting point for further research. Stocks that raise distributions have managed to outperform the S&P 500 over the past four decades, which is one of the many reasons to consider them for my dividend portfolio.

Dividend growth investing in its classic form focuses on identifying solid companies with a long record of growing their dividends each year; and an expectation that they will continue to do so into the future. The focus is not solely on yield but a combination of yield and dividend growth. Often it is the lower yield, higher growth, security that will provide the best return over time.

Have you ever pondered the concept of forever or infinity? It is truly mind boggling! What is even more astonishing is that when I buy a stock, my target holding period is forever. For most people, myself included, that is hard to grasp and to carry out. When things start going bad, our primal instinct of flight kicks in and we want to sell. In many cases, that is the time we should be buying.

This is the fifth installment in a multi-part series that looks at various options used by income investors to boost their yield while waiting for dividend growth to lift their portfolio’s overall yield-on-cost. Last week we looked at Bonds. This week we are looking at Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs).