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Nice article, Eric. It is a problem when investors ignore potentially great investments just because of a low starting yield. I have done this myself and missed on some great opportunities simply because the starting yield was < 1%.
I guess it makes more sense now than ever - in this low yield and negative yield environment.
crimsonghost747
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Good article! I do admit that I also stare at the starting yield, mainly because dividends to me are something that I consider to be sure income. That is of course with companies that can and will continue to pay and hopefully raise their dividend. Then again recently I've gotten my hands on a couple of companies that are just at the very beginning of their dividend history and the yields are low. But I believe in these companies so I think in the long run it's going to work out well.
But thanks for making the article. It's always great to read these and ponder about how this could help with my own portfolio. And as an added bonus found one interesting company in that list of yours. I'll dig deeper into it when I have the time.
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03-27-2015, 10:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-27-2015, 10:47 AM by earthtodan.)
About half my portfolio is in stocks yielding less than 2%. I've learned to think of dividends as just one way a company makes money for shareholders. I still chase yield in my Roth IRA to capture the tax advantage, but I'll take total shareholder yield (dividends plus buybacks) and growth in my taxable account, even though that makes my total returns subject to market whims in the short to medium term.
Edit: The weighted average yield of my taxable account is 1.3%. The needle may move up a tick when GILD starts paying dividends.
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I'm an old fart and it still doesn't dissuade me from investing in a low yield, high growth company now and then. Afterall, I'll still have plenty of years left after I retire. It's a matter of balancing the income you need with what you'll need further down the road. I expect by the time RMDs roll around, most of the LYHG issues will be in the process of trading up in yield but we'll wait and see.
Good article, Eric.
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“While the dividend itself is merely a rearrangement of equity, over time it's more like owning an apple tree. The tree grows the apples back again and again and again, and the theoretical value of the tree doesn't change just because of when the apples are about to fall.” - earthtodan