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Investing in Dividend Paying Companies

And you could pay attention, and sell if the future didn't look good for the company. You could also dividend reinvest in the company, or invest the dividends elsewhere. Your return would certainly be better.
When times are rough, like now, for the most part I hold the dividend payers, and sell those that don't. The ones bought for fast growth are usually not growing and the more stolid ones lose less, and they pay the dividend while you wait for better times.