Get Rich with Dividends, 2nd Edition

Foreword

When it comes to the stockmarket, most investors prefer glamour to profits.

Why do I say this? Tell average investors about a company with a cutting-edge technology, an exciting Phase III drug, or a new gold strike and they are all ears. But tell them about a blue chip stock with steady sales, a big order backlog, and a rising dividend yield and they are more likely to stifle a yawn.

That’s unfortunate. Because, contrary to what most investors believe, startling innovation is not a good predictor of business success. Or, as the famous industrialist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie succinctly put it, “Pioneering don’t pay.”

A young company that is just feeling its oats—and retaining all its earnings—is unlikely to be the best long-term investment. It’s a widely recognized fact that 80% of new businesses fail in the first five years.

What really makes money for investors over time—and without the hair-raising volatility of hypergrowth stocks—is steady businesses paying regular dividends.

For example, over the past decade, with dividends reinvested, oil producer Chevron Corp has returned 200%. Altria Group, the U.S. tobacco giant, has returned more than 300%. Even musty old Con Edison, originally founded asNew York Gas Light Company—a utility that was born 23 years before Thomas Edison—has returned 130% over the period.

In this excellent new book, my friend, colleague, and fellow analyst Marc Lichtenfeld shows you how and why to invest in great dividend stocks. And let ...