David Van Knapp

10 Companies Raising Their Dividends

oldman,

If you are a serious dividend investor, by all means put together your own portfolio of the absolute best, dividend-raising individual stocks that you can find. I think 10-15 stocks is sufficient, others think around 40 is ideal (to get more diversification). You can decide that for yourself.

Funds and ETFs are not the best choices for a dividend strategy, in my opinion, because they invariably hold stocks that have dividends in peril (and in the last couple years, companies in peril). You can do better on your own. Choose an initial yield below which you won't go (I use 3%, or 2.5% if the company has raised its dividend 20+ consecutive years), do your own research to be sure that (1) you like the company's prospects for continuing to raise its dividends and (2) it has an advantageous valuation, and go for it!

Also remember, with a true dividend strategy, you will come to care a great deal less about the actual prices of the stocks as you hold them. That's because the main ball you are keeping your eye on is not the stock's price, but the continually rising stream of dividends. That stream will continue to grow irrespective of the vagaries of the stock's price. If you buy at a favorable valuation, hopefully over time your stocks' prices will hold their own. But that's not the main reason to buy them--the main reason to buy them is to get the dividend stream flowing, growing, and compounding.

Best of luck in your dividend investing.