Get Rich with Dividends, 2nd Edition

Conclusion: The End of the Book, the Beginning of Your Future

Starting around the end of 2011, when it became apparent that the stock market had gone pretty much nowhere for a decade, financial advisors and writers jumped on the dividend bandwagon. Permabulls, permabears, and seemingly everyone in between suddenly started proclaiming the wisdom of investing in dividend‐paying stocks as the only way to make money over the long term.

Of course, many of these people were the same ones telling you to buy Internet stocks in 2000 and 2001, just before the market tanked. In 2009, they said the world was coming to an end and you should sell everything, just before the market rallied and doubled.

Over the past three years, dividend stocks have become very popular, probably because of the publication of the first edition of this book. However, some investors were likely attracted to the stability of mature companies with long histories of returning capital back to shareholders—especially with the memories of 2008 still causing distress.

But, the main reason why dividend‐paying companies have appeared on so many investors' radar screens is because of the low‐interest‐rate environment.

There is really nowhere else to put your money and achieve any kind of yield.

Personally, I hate that as a reason to invest in dividend payers—that there's nowhere else to go—but it's true. Banks pay nothing; money markets pay nothing. To get more than 4% on your money in a bond, you need to buy junk bonds. ...