Dividends Still Don't Lie: The Truth About Investing in Blue Chip Stocks and Winning in the Stock Market

Chapter 13. Conclusion

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The one question I have been asked more than any other is, "Does the dividend-value strategy really work?, "Whether the person asking the question realizes it or not, what he or she is actually asking is, "Will it work for me?"

The short answer is absolutely, if you work it. The long answer is, well, longer.

I have referenced my grandfather often throughout this book. I do so because he had a profound impact on my formation. The lessons he taught me were based on his experience, the wisdom of which wasn't fully appreciated until I had my own experience.

My grandfather was not formally educated. He attended some grammar school. But in the agrarian-based culture of eastern Kentucky in the early 1900s, boys in particular were needed for work on the family farm or business. He would often say that he was a graduate of the School of Hard Knocks.

He left his home as a very young man to find a better life than that of his parents and siblings. Work was hard to find, but being resourceful he managed to scrape by. When the Great Depression hit, he returned home to help out my great-grandparents.

My grandfather had many talents, one of which was public speaking. As my great-grandparents were religious, my grandfather was very familiar with the Bible, which he combined with his proclivity for public speaking, and he would preach on the street corners and then ...