Well it certainly felt like "Post Time" at the race track this
morning, with all eyes on the volatility surrounding Apple (
AAPL
) shares. This stock's manic daily moves go along with the
absurdity of the media's "fiscal cliff" coverage. Did you know
there are 25 days, 12 hours, 55 minutes, and 36 seconds left until
the fiscal cliff? There's actually a "countdown to doomsday" timer
on MarketWatch, believe it or not.
If you're actually worried about "The Myth of the Cliff" as we
like to call it around here, just check out
this article
we published yesterday.
Taking a look at today's, shares of Broadcom (
BRCM
) were higher on news the company is bumping up its guidance. On
the flip side, we had some selling in shares of Men's Wearhouse (
MW
) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (
TD
) following their earnings results. Freeport McMoran (
FCX
) is seeing more selling today, as several Wall Street analysts
expressed concern regarding the commodity giant's planned spending
spree, i.e.
two acquisitions announced yesterday
. Elsewhere, we had positive Wall Street commentary move shares of
Starbucks (
SBUX
), Chevron (
CVX
), and Simon Property Group (
SPG
) higher.
Many Hours of Effort for Five Minutes of Attention
The other day I was listening to music, as I tend to do when I
am driving into the office. I started thinking about how great it
must be to have a popular hit song that gets played over and over
again, and is a permanent piece of work that is always remembered.
The economics of artists making a ton of money in the music
business have never been easy, but if you are one of the fortunate
ones to hit it right, you should be able to cash in somehow (music,
concert, shirts, etc.). All these rewards for just a 5-minute song.
But when you stop and think about the sacrifice and tedious hours
of writing, playing, re-writing, changing some of the
instrumentals, and everything else needed to put out a product you
feel may be worthy of music to listeners' ears, it makes a lot more
sense. Even when an artist makes it big, the hard work doesn't
stop. The tours, the interviews, the constant attention, and all
the stresses that accompany mainstream success can be very
difficult to manage.
Many times our own level of success is determined by how well
prepared we are for those moments when we have a chance to take the
next step. You see, you don't have to be an artist to have a
similar experience. This newsletter is written each day, for
example, and each day an outline of the message is contemplated,
discussed, formulated, written, edited, and finally, sent out to
subscribers. What will the readers take out of it, even if just
takes them five minutes to read it? Hopefully we inspire people to
think more deeply about their investments, financial situation, and
other important issues.
The point is, sometimes you have to put hours and hours of work
into something to achieve a relatively small amount of recognition.
And that's OK!
Every Christmas Eve my mom has numerous relatives over to share
the holidays. She starts her preparation the week before Christmas,
buying up the necessary supplies to create the feast she's become
known for. Then the day comes and before you know it, the huge
table of food is getting cleared away as everyone digests the great
meal she prepared. She is retired, and Christmas is one of her
moments of glory these days (the meal "keeps the family together"
as she puts it).
So as I said, depending on what makes you content in life, be it
work, finances, or family, there will be plenty of hours of effort
that will go into some great things that get consumed very quickly.
Many will look at your efforts from the outside and think it
must've been easy to produce. But we will all know how much work
goes into anything of real quality.
Ultimately, success hinges on our willingness to put extreme
effort into all of our endeavors - no matter how big or small the
accolades will be.
Our 2013 Dividend Stock Guide Has Arrived!
Our new members-only eBook has just been released! This 250-page
guide to investing in 2013 contains a concise economic forecast for
next year, including full previews for 60 big-name stocks! Be sure
to head over to
Dividend.com Premium
and download it and get your game plan in place for all good things
dividend-related in 2013!
25 Years of Dividend-Increasing Stocks
We recently updated our list of dividend stocks that have been
paying out dividends for 25 years or more. Be sure to check out
the latest list of names here
.
Dividends Really Matter
Financial blog DailyReckoning.com recently took a look at the
difference dividend payouts made in the overall return investors
saw throughout the prior decades. Here are some of the
highlights:
- The Nasdaq is down 28% since the end of 1999. Even the "blue
chip" S&P 500 stocks are down 15% during that time frame…until
you add back those "boring" dividends. With dividends included, the
S&P 500′s 15% loss flips to a 6% gain.
- Without dividends, the S&P 500 index would have produced a
loss for the 25 long years from August 1929 to August 1954. Then
again, without dividends, the S&P 500 produced a 5% loss during
the 13 years from September 1961 to September 1974. But with
dividends included, the S&P's loss became a 46% gain.
- Over the course of the last half-century, dividends have
contributed more than half of the stock market's total return -
56%, to be exact.
Of course, you can't discuss the potency of dividend investing
without making mention of how awesome compound returns are. I can't
stress enough the power of compound interest: you take a small
amount of money and turn it into a large amount over time. Finding
the right companies at the right price points which not only grow
earnings, but also grow their dividend payouts as well!
New Watchlist Article Out Today
Be sure to check out our weekly Top 50 High-Yield Watchlist
Names post that is out today, exclusively for
Dividend.com Premium
members. This list gives readers a good idea of what stocks we're
watching behind the scenes here for potential upgrades.
Go Beyond This Newsletter
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remember that with our
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service, the newsletter is just one small component of what we
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payouts of the particular stocks you care about.
- Finally, we offer the most complete and easy-to-use dividend
data on the web. Many subscribers use this data as part of a
"Dividend Capture" trading strategy, but long-term investors can
use it to keep track of impending payouts. Just visit our
Ex-Dividend Calendar
for a complete outlook on which companies will be paying out
soon.
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Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow!
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.