This article originally appeared on The DIV-Net July 18, 2008. I recently read a paper from Jeremy Siegel and Jeremy Schwartz titled “The Long-term Returns on the Original S&P 500 Firms”. In this paper the authors calculate the total returns of a buy and hold of the original 500 companies in 1957. They found that on average 20 stocks annually have been added and deleted from the index (without considering that a merger of two S&P 500 companies is an addition to the index) since 1957. The... Read Full Story

Inspired by the dividend growth plans of The Money Gardener and The Dividend Guy, which they posted on The Div-Net last week, I decided to summarize my own plan. I believe that having a good solid plan is essential in achieving one’s goals. And my goal is to create an increasing stream of dividend income, which would allow me to live off of my investments. There are several points that have to be covered: Strategy, Stock Selection, Diversification and Money Management. Today I will be... Read Full Story

Pfizer, Inc. engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of prescription medicines for humans and animals worldwide. The company is a dividend aristocrat as well as a component of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials indexes. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 41 consecutive years. From 1998 up until 2007 this dividend growth stock has delivered an annual average total return of 1.1 % to its shareholders. The stock has lost more than 63% from its all... Read Full Story

Carnivals and Festivals My dividend analysis of MCD was featured on Investing Carnival #3: The Bear Market Edition, hosted by Disciplined Approach to Investing. You can submit your article for Investing Carnival # 4 using this submission form. My dividend analysis of AT&T was selected to appear on the Carnival of Personal Finance #161: The "Feeling Renewed" Edition. Festival of Stocks #97 selected my post titled Dow Chemical (DOW) To Acquire Rohm and Haas (ROH) for $78/Share. The Div-Net... Read Full Story

After finding the book “Stop Working” from Derek Foster on Amazon, I feverishly read it from cover to cover in about 3 - 4 hours. To those of you who haven’t heard anything about the book before, it’s written by Derek Foster, who is touted to be Canada’s youngest retiree. Apparently the author of this book was able to “punch out” of the workforce at the tender age of 34. He was able to do this by investing a fixed amount of money every month for a period of about 12 years. Initially he... Read Full Story

United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to the building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. The company's segments include Otis, Carrier, UTC Fire and Security, Pratt and Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand and Sikorsky. UTX is a dividend achiever as well as a component of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials indexes. It has been increasing its dividends for the past 14 consecutive years. From 1998 up until 2007 this dividend growth stock has delivered an... Read Full Story

Ever since the broad market indexes entered into bear market territory, I have been checking the dividend champions list for bargains. I came up with the following list, using my screen criteria: 1) Company has consistently increased dividends for more than 25 consecutive years 2) The P/E ratio is less than 20 3) The Dividend Payout Ratio does not exceed 50% 4) The dividend yield is equal to or higher than the dividend yield on the S&P 500 Using the criteria above I came out with the... Read Full Story

On July 7, 2008 S&P 500 went into bear market territory after sliding 20% from its October 9th 2007 all-time highs at 1565.15. The current bear market correction has been going on for more than nine months. So how long do bear markets last on average? From the table below one could see that the average duration of bear markets has been about 18 months since the great depression. Since 1956 however the average duration of bear markets has been about fourteen months. The average decline since... Read Full Story

Reuters and WSJ today reported that BUD agreed to be acquired by Belgium Based Interbrew for a little under 50 billion dollars. The $70/share bid would create the largest brewing company in the world. BUD shares rose $5.29 to close at $66.50 on Friday, after reports from WSJ that InBev has increased its offer to shareholders by $5/share to $70. I would consider selling half of my stock on Monday morning at the open, as I expect a gap up which would be close to the offering price. I would... Read Full Story

Carnivals and Festivals The Carnival of Personal Finance: American Flag Edition included my analysis of McDonald’s. The 96th Edition of the Festival of Stocks selected my post Carlisle Companies (CSL) Dividend Analysis. Also do not forget to check out this weeks TheDiv-Net Posts. There are several original articles on value and dividend investing there. Blogs Stock Market Prognosticator posted Utah Takes the Plunge. The Dividend Guy Blog posted Investing Boils Down to 4 Principles Like... Read Full Story