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Dividends on stocks. I've never had an idea good enough to make an app out of, or build a company around. So instead, I started investing a small amount of my

by dpcx 12y ago

Dividends on stocks. I've never had an idea good enough to make an app out of, or build a company around. So instead, I started investing a small amount of my paycheck in to my brokerage account. Buying lots of stock in Dividend Kings[1], I've earned $25 this year, with another $20 through October. It's not a lot, but I'm fully thinking long-term. 1: http://long-term-investments.blogspot.com/2013/02/15-Best-Dividend-Kings-To-Buy-Now.html http://long-term-investments.blogspot.com/2013/02/15-Best-Di...

vetler 12y ago
Have you compared this to just putting the money in a high-interest savings account?
- artie_effim 12y ago
  a what? do you think it is 1985?
  - _delirium 12y ago
    2000 or 2007 would've been okay too (rates around 5-6%): http://www.pfstuff.com/savings/#historical http://www.pfstuff.com/savings/#historical
  - vetler 12y ago
    Yeah, maybe it wasn't a great question. I can get 3.5% where I live, though. Mutual funds may be a much better option, though.
- eli 12y ago
  What counts as high-interest these days? Half a percent?
  - what_ever 12y ago
    http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-top-high-yield-online-savings-accounts/ http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-top-high-... Getting $25/year would need around $3000 in the account. Although it might not increase much over the years.
  - vijayr 12y ago
    Depends on where you are. In the U.S, interest rates aren't anything to talk about. In India, my dad gets something like 7% (I think it is more for people over 60)
    - jo_ 12y ago
      I considered investing in a foreign country bank since I happened upon $20k through some fortunate stock picks. I was advised that this is a _very_ bad idea because of the currency fluctuations between countries. You might earn 7% in India (or 19% in the Ukraine), but if suddenly the transaction rate doubles, you've lost half your money.
      - vijayr 12y ago
        19%?? woah, that is crazy.
        vonmoltke 12y ago
        So is parking cash in Ukraine at the moment.
        aestra 12y ago
        Well, not really. You can't just look at interest rates in a vacuum without any context and make a judgement about them. You have to compare it to inflation rates, currency stability, faith in currency, general economic situation, etc. The US had 16% savings interest rate in 1981[1]. Let's, for example, look at the history of credit cards. I am sure you can agree that the 30% interest rate charged today is unreasonably high. It wasn't at a time, and lets look at how it got that way. Back in the late 70s/early 80s we had a recession with double digit inflation while at the same time all states had usury laws that capped credit card interest rates. Inflation was so high that inflation surpassed the highest interest rates companies were allowed to charge. Citibank was "going broke" with this model - they were actually losing money lending at that interest rate at that time. Citibank then convinced South Dakota to drop is usury laws on credit cards and Citi would move there in order to charge an interest rate that beat inflation. Citibank moved there and overnight the stage was set for the US credit card industry to now flourish. "All of their senior people used to say it,'' [then governor of South Dakota] said. "That South Dakota saved Citibank. I believe it did. That South Dakota saved Citibank.'' It was a result of an economic recession with high inflation. There was a Frontline special years ago about this - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/more/rise.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/more/ri... - though it is outdated, since credit card legislation has passed that addresses a lot of the topics brought up on the show. you can watch it online for free - I highly recommend you do. Delaware and Nevada followed with similar legislation, so that's why most (all?) credit card companies have a return address in SD, NV, or DE. However, we are no longer in double digit inflation but the old interest rates and legislation stand, for the most part. New laws are slowly reeling in on some credit card practices to keep up with the economic times and current circumstances. [1]http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=6563607d-ca3b-4a7e-87bb-1dc72f4fc91f http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=656360... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_Nat._Bank_of_Minneapolis_v._First_of_Omaha_Service_Corp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_Nat._Bank_of_Minneapo.... *Disclaimer: I have no idea about the economic situation of Ukraine. I am just making a point about judgements of different times/economies.
  - lostInTheWoods3 12y ago
    You've got to consider the inflation rate which is currently hovering around 2-3%.
- Glide 12y ago
  I've had an ING Direct (now Capital One 360) account for a decade or so. I've seen the interest rate drop from 5% or so to .75%. So yeah the returns are pitiful in a savings. The rates on CDs are lower than the one on the savings account.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  The interest on savings is probably smaller than the inflation these days.
th1agofm 12y ago
I advise you don't focus too much in dividends but spread it in emerging markets, gold and others. In the short term it looks like a bad idea, because you could have more income coming from your dividends, but when a crisis or something hits, it's worth it.
- mcdougle 12y ago
  What kind of crisis are you thinking? Because if you're talking something like 2008 again, dividend stocks should be fine -- the market value of the stock will drop, but the dividends should remain stable. In fact, the smart investor loves those times -- it's a great time to accumulate assets. If you're talking something like a collapse of the entire economy, then yes, tangible assets like gold and real estate are much better. It's not impossible, but I don't know if it's especially likely that's going to happen.... That said, I do invest in gold/silver and real estate as well for various reasons. I also invest in dividend stocks for other various reasons. They all have a place in my strategy. I haven't done much research on emerging markets, but isn't that a very high-risk/high-reward investment? For now, while I'm still stuck at my job and not yet "rich" (by my conservative definition) I'd rather mitigate my risk and have some control over my investments -- I plan to be successful and well-off, I'm not just hoping that I get lucky and one of my investments' value goes through the roof. (I'm not criticizing and I didn't downvote you. I'm actually interested to hear others' investing strategies, maybe I can learn something new!)
  - applecore 12y ago
    If you're under 40 years old, it's better to invest entirely in growth stocks over dividend stocks[1]. In theory, dividends are a great source of passive income, but with effective yields of 2-3% you'd need a lot of capital to generate any meaningful income, i.e., a $1M investment would pay around $30,000 annually. Dividend stocks have never performed that well; they never appreciate 10-20x like certain growth stocks, they usually underperform relative to the market, and when the market declines they all go down just the same. Here's an example: over the past two years P&G (PG) and Coca-Cola (KO), two dividend stock favorites, are up about 20% and flat respectively. The S&P 500 index is up 40% in the same period, Facebook (FB) is up over 200%, and Tesla (TSLA) is up over 700%. [1]: http://www.financialsamurai.com/better-to-invest-in-growth-stocks-over-dividend-stocks-for-younger-investors/ http://www.financialsamurai.com/better-to-invest-in-growth-s...
Glide 12y ago
I recently moved a lot of money out of a "high" interest savings account and mostly into dividend stocks. I managed to get a small payout of around $20 in an ETF and the potential seems so much higher than that of a savings account. I guess the other thing I'm doing is finally putting money where my mouth is and putting money into companies I think will succeed in the future.
flyingcircus 12y ago
Preferred stocks. Current dividend rates are between 6.5 and 7% typically. Especially high quality companies trading at or under $25. Senior to stocks, subordinate to bonds.
- mrfusion 12y ago
  Can you give a couple of examples? What are the risks with preferred stocks?

by dpcx 12y ago

vetler 12y ago

Have you compared this to just putting the money in a high-interest savings account?

artie_effim 12y ago
a what? do you think it is 1985?
- _delirium 12y ago
  2000 or 2007 would've been okay too (rates around 5-6%): http://www.pfstuff.com/savings/#historical http://www.pfstuff.com/savings/#historical
- vetler 12y ago
  Yeah, maybe it wasn't a great question. I can get 3.5% where I live, though. Mutual funds may be a much better option, though.
eli 12y ago
What counts as high-interest these days? Half a percent?
- what_ever 12y ago
  http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-top-high-yield-online-savings-accounts/ http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-top-high-... Getting $25/year would need around $3000 in the account. Although it might not increase much over the years.
- vijayr 12y ago
  Depends on where you are. In the U.S, interest rates aren't anything to talk about. In India, my dad gets something like 7% (I think it is more for people over 60)
  - jo_ 12y ago
    I considered investing in a foreign country bank since I happened upon $20k through some fortunate stock picks. I was advised that this is a _very_ bad idea because of the currency fluctuations between countries. You might earn 7% in India (or 19% in the Ukraine), but if suddenly the transaction rate doubles, you've lost half your money.
    - vijayr 12y ago
      19%?? woah, that is crazy.
      - vonmoltke 12y ago
        So is parking cash in Ukraine at the moment.
      - aestra 12y ago
        Well, not really. You can't just look at interest rates in a vacuum without any context and make a judgement about them. You have to compare it to inflation rates, currency stability, faith in currency, general economic situation, etc. The US had 16% savings interest rate in 1981[1]. Let's, for example, look at the history of credit cards. I am sure you can agree that the 30% interest rate charged today is unreasonably high. It wasn't at a time, and lets look at how it got that way. Back in the late 70s/early 80s we had a recession with double digit inflation while at the same time all states had usury laws that capped credit card interest rates. Inflation was so high that inflation surpassed the highest interest rates companies were allowed to charge. Citibank was "going broke" with this model - they were actually losing money lending at that interest rate at that time. Citibank then convinced South Dakota to drop is usury laws on credit cards and Citi would move there in order to charge an interest rate that beat inflation. Citibank moved there and overnight the stage was set for the US credit card industry to now flourish. "All of their senior people used to say it,'' [then governor of South Dakota] said. "That South Dakota saved Citibank. I believe it did. That South Dakota saved Citibank.'' It was a result of an economic recession with high inflation. There was a Frontline special years ago about this - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/more/rise.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/more/ri... - though it is outdated, since credit card legislation has passed that addresses a lot of the topics brought up on the show. you can watch it online for free - I highly recommend you do. Delaware and Nevada followed with similar legislation, so that's why most (all?) credit card companies have a return address in SD, NV, or DE. However, we are no longer in double digit inflation but the old interest rates and legislation stand, for the most part. New laws are slowly reeling in on some credit card practices to keep up with the economic times and current circumstances. [1]http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=6563607d-ca3b-4a7e-87bb-1dc72f4fc91f http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=656360... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_Nat._Bank_of_Minneapolis_v._First_of_Omaha_Service_Corp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette_Nat._Bank_of_Minneapo.... *Disclaimer: I have no idea about the economic situation of Ukraine. I am just making a point about judgements of different times/economies.
- lostInTheWoods3 12y ago
  You've got to consider the inflation rate which is currently hovering around 2-3%.
Glide 12y ago
I've had an ING Direct (now Capital One 360) account for a decade or so. I've seen the interest rate drop from 5% or so to .75%. So yeah the returns are pitiful in a savings. The rates on CDs are lower than the one on the savings account.
higherpurpose 12y ago
The interest on savings is probably smaller than the inflation these days.

th1agofm 12y ago

I advise you don't focus too much in dividends but spread it in emerging markets, gold and others. In the short term it looks like a bad idea, because you could have more income coming from your dividends, but when a crisis or something hits, it's worth it.

mcdougle 12y ago
What kind of crisis are you thinking? Because if you're talking something like 2008 again, dividend stocks should be fine -- the market value of the stock will drop, but the dividends should remain stable. In fact, the smart investor loves those times -- it's a great time to accumulate assets. If you're talking something like a collapse of the entire economy, then yes, tangible assets like gold and real estate are much better. It's not impossible, but I don't know if it's especially likely that's going to happen.... That said, I do invest in gold/silver and real estate as well for various reasons. I also invest in dividend stocks for other various reasons. They all have a place in my strategy. I haven't done much research on emerging markets, but isn't that a very high-risk/high-reward investment? For now, while I'm still stuck at my job and not yet "rich" (by my conservative definition) I'd rather mitigate my risk and have some control over my investments -- I plan to be successful and well-off, I'm not just hoping that I get lucky and one of my investments' value goes through the roof. (I'm not criticizing and I didn't downvote you. I'm actually interested to hear others' investing strategies, maybe I can learn something new!)
- applecore 12y ago
  If you're under 40 years old, it's better to invest entirely in growth stocks over dividend stocks[1]. In theory, dividends are a great source of passive income, but with effective yields of 2-3% you'd need a lot of capital to generate any meaningful income, i.e., a $1M investment would pay around $30,000 annually. Dividend stocks have never performed that well; they never appreciate 10-20x like certain growth stocks, they usually underperform relative to the market, and when the market declines they all go down just the same. Here's an example: over the past two years P&G (PG) and Coca-Cola (KO), two dividend stock favorites, are up about 20% and flat respectively. The S&P 500 index is up 40% in the same period, Facebook (FB) is up over 200%, and Tesla (TSLA) is up over 700%. [1]: http://www.financialsamurai.com/better-to-invest-in-growth-stocks-over-dividend-stocks-for-younger-investors/ http://www.financialsamurai.com/better-to-invest-in-growth-s...

Glide 12y ago

I recently moved a lot of money out of a "high" interest savings account and mostly into dividend stocks. I managed to get a small payout of around $20 in an ETF and the potential seems so much higher than that of a savings account. I guess the other thing I'm doing is finally putting money where my mouth is and putting money into companies I think will succeed in the future.

flyingcircus 12y ago

Preferred stocks. Current dividend rates are between 6.5 and 7% typically. Especially high quality companies trading at or under $25. Senior to stocks, subordinate to bonds.

mrfusion 12y ago
Can you give a couple of examples? What are the risks with preferred stocks?