Teak

EPI: My Pick from All India Focused Funds

I agree with the first commenter. As a holder of IFN, I have enjoyed the distribution payouts which I reinvest. Will EPI pay-through company dividends, or will the 'managers' use the money to increase the NAV and, thus, their 'management fees'? Comparing the % mgt fee is not in itself a complete comparison, you must also include info regarding distributions.

I am not a fan of mutual funds, and I use country-based closed-end funds only to get exposure to countries where it is difficult to buy shares directly. I want dividends paid through, not retained by the 'manager'.

Why I Bought AT&T Despite Less than Stellar Earnings

I too hold T as a part of a diversified portfolio (24 companies, 1 country ETF, 2 country closed-end funds). My holding in T is only 106 shares of which 100 were purchased and 6 bought via dividend reinvestment.

Don't put too much weight on the criticism of SA readers. I too sometimes throw a complaint or two out there. Some SA articles are a waste of time, and need to be 'called out'. Others are useful. This analysis of T was useful. Thank you, but I am already part of the choir.

US Bancorp: A $1.7B Loss for Berkshire Hathaway?

Methinks that the traders have been going from one bubble to another with everybody and his brother (her sister?) jumping together from one asset class to another. Dot.com to housing to commodities to Treasuries and then to ....? Apparently, the new hot asset class is the SHORT class. Eventually, that will blow up (blow down?) and then where do they jump?

Until/unless USB shuts down their many branches and lose their many depositors, I suppose that it is worth holding for a while longer. Maybe the traders will eventually come around to financials once again. Maybe plaid pants will come back in style also. We'll see.

Testing Benjamin Graham's Investment Criteria

Well, there you go. You can't start pointing out the errors made by Graham and Buffet because what are the "writers" of the financial world going to write about if they can't continue dropping these names?

Betting on American Recovery - It's Gonna Happen

I agree. He is in the same boat as our governmental "leaders" who neither have a real grasp of the situation nor have any viable solutions. USA 2009.


On Feb 11 12:01 PM Marcap wrote:

> I really do not think the author has any real grasp on just how bad
> the current economic situation is, nor does he have any viable solutions
> on how current problems can be rectified. In fact from reading his
> article, I think that it will become very clear to many, that rather
> than offering solutions to the problems at hand, those with such
> a mentality as the author, are actually the root cause of such problems.
>

China and Brazil Offer Positive Emerging Market Returns

A long-term investor will be in all of these markets to the extent that they can handle the down-side movements psychologically. My issue with articles like these is that it comes across like advice for the day-trader.

Why not be long in Brazil, and China, and Taiwan, and India?? Eventually, all of these will move higher. And if they move sideways, then they will kick out dividends. But, of course, you have to own something that pays through the dividends.

Sell Altria During Market Hours

How does Seeking Alpha decide which of the many blog postings to put on their site? This one didn't seem worth the band-width.

Altria's Dividend Sets It Apart

Yeah, I hear you on the negativity. I also own MO, but for only four years. And yet, in those four years I have received shares of KFT and PM, both of which have increased their dividends, and then MO started increasing their dividend after having cut during the time of the divestments.

Jeremy Siegel in his book "The Future for Investors", clearly shows how the negativity about Altria's always-pending litigation has actually benefited investors who owned and reinvested MO dividend payments. There is a leveraging effect when the stock price stays low over a period of time - dollar-cost averaging is what it is.

So, yeah, let's hear all of the complaining and projected bad news. Keep that price low for me!! I like, I like. Too many people think that prices have to rise constantly for their investment to be worthwhile (on paper). If you never plan to sell, i.e., hold for the passive income, there is no reason to want the price to go higher.

Procter & Gamble Co.: True Quality Blue Chip Dividend Stock

Good analysis.

Mine is simpler. In the 3 1/2 years that I have owned PG, it has grown its dividend at a 14% annual rate for me, and now yields over 3% based upon what I paid.

Good enough for me.

Dow and Rohm & Haas: Just Negotiating

Come again, what? Sell a Jan 70 put with a -0.123456 buy at an XLVIII point cross-intersecting with a package of Oreo cookies and a 54.36 Kraft call?

How about if I hang on to my ROH shares until DOW buys them for $78? Or, if DOW backs out of the deal, I hang on to my ROH shares and continue to receive the 3.5% dividend yield, which has grown at a 16.5% annual rate for me the past three years?

I do try to extract beneficial info from Seeking Alpha, but at times it is the net's equivalent of hot air.

Kraft Foods: Time to Put This Cash Cow Out to Pasture?

I love this type of over-analysis. Go ahead and sell Kraft. I want the price lower so that my re-invested dividends will buy me more shares, not less. If you drive the price up, then that hurts me in that the re-invested dividends will buy me fewer shares.

So yeah, sell sell sell. Me, I'm going to have an Oreo.

Enbridge Inc. Receives High Marks

Yeah, and my sister is the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world. General comments are of not much use to people who have real money invested. How about some numbers to back up the glossy claim? For example, the Gateway Project would represent what % of the company's earnings once it gets underway?

People Still Have To Spend: Eleven Dividends for Even Conservative Investors

On Oct 25 06:03 PM Emerald wrote:

> MLP's should hold up well. I don't see activity in shipments of gas
> and oil declining to a point where pricing deteriorates. Most firms
> have multi year contracts. They need access to capital to expand
> but can hold the line for the near future in a weak economy. Long:
> EPD, TPP, KMP, LINE, BBEP, NGLS.

What would be better: investing in a MLP (such as Enbridge Energy Partners, EEP) or in a company which is a major shareholder in the MLP (e.g., Enbridge, ENB, with a 27% stake). The financials on EEP don't look all that good right now, but those of the major shareholder (ENB) look much better.

Don't MLPs basically have to sell off parts of themselves to keep up the dividend payments? EEP has a dividend payout ratio of 125% now, which doesn't look good to my conservative eyes.

My Dividend Portfolio: I Like Beer

Enbridge (ENB)
12-Nov-08 $ 0.282 Dividend *10.116 = 2.852712

You show a dividend payment of $0.282 per share. Their website shows a payment of $0.33 per share. Why the difference?

Enbridge and TransCanada Would Benefit from Pickens Plan

Boone Pickens became a billionaire through investments in oil for energy. I wouldn't bet against him if he is investing in wind for energy. Not an Oil Man, but an Energy Man. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.....