Where Have I Been?

I had hoped to write some original material for this newsletter after I stopped the Timing Outlook in June, but that hasn’t worked out. Keeping up with articles on Seeking Alpha (SA), plus other activities, have burned up all of my available time.

I am in the process of preparing the 2012 edition of Top 40 Dividend Growth Stocks for 2012. A new feature I want to add in 2012 is a guide to all of the articles I have written over the years on dividend-growth investing. I think that will provide a library of sources for people who want to delve deeper into certain subjects. I already work the major points from articles into the eBook itself—that is a primary reason that the text changes from year to year. But I can’t work everything in—the text would become too long. Hence the desire to provide a guide to source articles.

I thought that I would start that work now, and provide it to you here prior to publishing Top 40 in January. My thinking right now is to present the guide in logical clusters of articles. It’s natural to start with the basics. So here is the first installment in next year’s guide to articles about dividend growth investing.

Dividend Growth Investing: The Basics

Here’s What Mr. Market Says: “Ban Dividends” A fun interview with Mr. Market, the fictional(?) fellow that controls all market movements. An Editors’ Pick that has picked up more than 115 comments. (October 31, 2011)

Debating Dividends: What Would You Want Your Company to Do With Its Excess Cash? Is it better for a company to retain all of its earnings or to send some of the earnings to shareholders as dividends? It depends on several factors that are discussed in this article. An Editors’ Pick that attracted more than 230 comments. (June 2, 2011)

Are Dividend-Growth Stocks a Distinct Asset Class? Asset classes are the major categories of investments, such as stocks and bonds. This article explores whether dividend-growth stocks are unique enough in their own right to comprise their own asset class. There are more than 100 comments to the article. (May 5, 2011)

The 5-Year Rule in Dividend Growth Investing. I require 5 straight years of dividend increases for a stock to be eligible for the Top 40 list. This article explains why. 123 comments. (April 15, 2011)

Portrait of a Beautiful Dividend Growth Stock. This article examines the stocks that have made every Top 40 list since I began the series in 2008 and investigates what they have in common. 89 comments. (March 23, 2011)

Why I Love Dividends. This article marked my entry into an age-old debate that continues to the current day. Some people love dividends and others do not. This article explains why I do. 139 comments. (February 9, 2010)

Dividends: A Company’s Leading Indicator. This article concludes from other studies that the amount by which a company raises its dividend is often a leading indicator of how it sees its own fortunes playing out over the next few years. (May 18, 2009)

Why Dividend Investors View Stocks Differently. The difference between traders and investors. (September 3, 2008)

4 Qualities of the Best Dividend Stocks. An Editors’ Pick. What to look for in a good dividend stock. (August 17, 2008)