More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Between immediate information from the internet and minute-by-minute stock quotes at your fingertips, investors appear to be more infatuated with price appreciation than anything else. In contrast, prior to the 1990s, investors primarily focused on earning returns through a cash flow of dividends. Even though there has undoubtedly been a shift from cash-focused investing to a market fixated on price performance, dividends play a critical role in assessing the true value of businesses.In this episode, Greg examines wisdom from "The Ownership Dividend: The Coming Paradigm Shift in the US Stock Market." Through several excerpts, he exposes how important dividends are to the structure of the market, investor goals, and company valuation. In the second half of the episode, Greg looks at Williams-Sonoma which has appreciated 300% since we first bought it two years ago. He analyzes whether its recent outperformance should warrant selling it to lock in gains.

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Check out our Capital-UNP-Investment-Report.pdf">Union Pacific Investment ReportIn most cases, holding quality stocks for the long term tends to play out in favor of the investor. However, if a company’s prospects change, there are situations where exiting a position can be warranted. 

In this episode of The Dividend Mailbox, Greg outlines our decision-making process behind selling off a portion of our IBM position. What started as a turnaround play transformed into a potential value trap. Using IBM as an illustration, Greg provides insight into the complexities of owning dividend growth investments and taking advantage of opportunities to exit positions that don't meet your expectations. 

Plus, get a sneak peek into next month's episode featuring a success story with Williams Sonoma, highlighting the potential rewards of high-conviction investments in the dividend growth landscape.

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Check out our Capital-UNP-Investment-Report.pdf">Union Pacific Investment ReportIn this episode, Greg analyzes the wisdom of renowned economist, Jeremey Seigle. Between his investing classic "Stocks for the Long Run," and "The Future for Investors," Siegle maintains that you don't need high growth numbers or a flashy industry, only consistent growth. Although it is seemingly counterintuitive, Seigle presents the power of compounding from a new perspective. Most investors would hope stocks go up, and the quicker the better. But there is an argument for how a stock that goes sideways, or even downward, can be beneficial to your long-term total return.Later, Greg provides an update on Emerson ($EMR) where faster dividend growth seems to be on the horizon. In case you missed it, the original Emerson Electric ($EMR) story is linked here: EP 17 - The Dilemma with Slow Grow

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Check out our Capital-UNP-Investment-Report.pdf">Union Pacific Investment ReportOver the past decade, the oil industry has become increasingly controversial and subsequently neglected by investors. No one knows when the industry's expiration date will come due, but there are great value and dividend growth investments to be made in the meantime. Even in declining industries, there can still be big winners. For episode 31, Greg focuses on Chevron's resilience in a politically incorrect landscape, including its recent Hess acquisition. He explores the intersection of environmental concerns and the indispensability of oil in everyday life, with investing as the backdrop. Despite the industry's challenges, he makes a compelling case for Chevron's sustainable dividend growth and long-term potential.

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter! Check out our Capital-UNP-Investment-Report.pdf">Union Pacific Investment ReportDo you feel confident that the dividends in your portfolio are healthy? What techniques can you use to get a clearer picture of a company's long-term dividend growth prospects? This month, Greg examines a simple 3 decision model from Aswath Damodaran to determine how companies create value for shareholders, and what it means for you as a dividend growth investor. He draws the line between companies that pay a healthy dividend and companies that are in a dysfunctional dividend mindset. As part of that, Greg gives you two simple models to employ when you're considering a company's dividend-paying capability. Later he takes a moment to discuss some of the wisdom of the late Charlie Munger.  Models used in today's Episode:Model.xlsx">ROIC Model - (Excel download) Free-Cash-Flow-Model.xlsx">Excess Cash Flow Model - (Excel download)DCM Investment Reports & Models - (Website)Happy Holidays from The Dividend Mailbox!

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!There is a huge difference between understanding compounding and actually understanding the numbers behind it. As a blanket term, compounding is thrown around in the investment arena often, yet few investors are actually patient enough to experience its full potential. Creating real wealth takes time, discipline, and strategy.In this episode, Greg uses our model portfolio to look at a couple of examples that expose just how significant your portfolio income can be when you have the discipline to let it grow. Moreover, he makes the case that income growth, rather than price growth, has a larger impact on the long-term value of your portfolio. Later, he likens the mindset of dividend growth investing to Odesseyus's voyage.

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!To most investors, big returns are associated with exciting stories or cutting-edge technology. Since everyone is in the market to make as much money as possible, “boring” companies can be easily dismissed without much second thought. That line of thinking is straightforward enough but it may be misguided. Truthfully, some of the better-performing companies out there are actually pretty boring. When it comes to achieving attractive returns, it is not what a company does that is important, it is how well they do it. In this episode, Greg embarks on a deep dive into Union Pacific Railroad ($UNP) and the broader railroad industry. He makes the case that railroads are extremely predictable, well run, and have provided investors with decades of market-beating returns. Railroads are probably not your first idea for building wealth, but these companies are cashflow-compounding machines. This episode is a little bit deeper than we have gone in the past, but it makes for a compelling story. 

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Is there a difference between being intelligent and being smart? Most people would think of those concepts as one and the same. Although it may be abstract, these are two separate schools of thought entirely. You may go so far as to characterize intelligence as left-brain thinking, and smarts as right-brain reasoning. How does that apply to investing? If you’ve ever regretted an investment decision before, it may have been due to an overreliance on numbers, data, or rules, and not enough on vision.

For our 27th episode, Greg takes a step back and examines a recent blog post from Morgan Housel. He starts out by contrasting intelligence vs. smarts, then uses several examples to show how it relates to investors. He applies this mindset to everything from analyzing America’s deficit problems, to honestly reflecting on his own thought process when he sold Intel ($INTC) several months ago. Greg wraps up the episode by introducing a new stock idea, United Pacific ($UNP), and sets the stage for a deeper dive next month.

Links referenced in today’s episode are below:Morgan Housel's blog -> Intelligent vs. SmartGreg's newsletter on America's Debt and Deficits -> Debt, Denial, & Illusions: America Has a Spending Problem

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Do you ever find yourself looking for that one crucial piece that would make you a better investor?  Being active in the market naturally drives investors to want to compare notes. When you look at the impressive track record of great investors, it can feel as though they know something you don’t. Is there a formula? What’s the silver bullet? 

In this episode, Greg reveals seven key factors that he looks for in a good dividend growth story. He explains what they are and why they are important to achieving 7% dividend growth per year. Later on, he applies them to Dover Corporation ($DOV) which is a company that appears to check all the boxes. But before you go out and buy stock in it, you may want to listen to the whole episode.

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review

More on dividend growth investing  -> Join our market newsletter!Even though dividend growth stocks typically have a high degree of predictability, that doesn’t mean you can’t end up with surprises. Outside dividend cuts, some of the most significant surprises can come from legal liability - often arising from the distant past. Companies routinely face challenges in the courtroom and are well-equipped to handle their cases, but occasionally they are forced to cut a check with a lot of zeros. The problem for investors is that there is no quantifiable way to know what legal liabilities might be lingering out there.

This episode is packed with specific companies as Greg dives into two stocks from the tobacco industry and two from the telecom sector. He examines the legal history of British-American Tabacco ($BTI) and Altria ($MO), alongside the potential future liability of AT&T ($T) and Verizon ($VZ). In doing so, he also breaks down their performance as companies and gives you a snapshot of how we analyze dividend growth candidates. 

Notes & Resources:DCM Investment Reports & ModelsIf you submit a question to us and we use it in an episode, we will send you an official The Dividend Mailbox Yeti® Tumbler -> Email us at ethan@growmydollar.com.Visit our website to learn more about our investment strategy and wealth management services.Follow us on:Instagram - Facebook - LinkedIn - TwitterIf you enjoy the show, we'd greatly appreciate it if you subscribe and leave a review