Simple Rules
"Column J" shows you the most important stock “metric” on our “BUY” and our “HOLD (don’t sell)” Lists:
How much each stock’s dividend has increased over the past four years; presented as a ratio calculated by dividing the stock’s “Current Indicated Dividend” by the “Dividend five years ago”. For example a ratio of 1.4 indicates a 40% increase over the last five years. All stocks on our lists must have at a minimum a 1.34 ratio, or at least an annualized 7% growth rate for the past 3 years (if they haven’t been paying a dividend for the full five years).
A ratio of 1.9, or greater, indicates 14+% average annual dividend growth, which results in a dividend of 100% of cost basis, if sustained* for 30 years.
How much did the dividends for each of your portfolio's stocks increase for the past five years?!
.Investment Calculator
ONLY INVEST WHEN THE RESULT IS POSITIVEIn the calculator input, “P”, the first input, is always a “percentage”.
However, the other two inputs that follow, “T” and “C”, should either both be “dollars”, or both can be percentages.
If “T” and “C” are “dollars”, the calculator “result” is the actual amount of Cash available to be invested currently. If, for confidentiality purposes, “percentages” are input for “T” (which as a percent input should be 100) and “C”, then the calculated result is a percentage. If you use percentages for all the variables then the calculated result percent must be multiplied times the total dollar value of your portfolio (including Cash) to identify the dollar amount of Cash available to be invested currently.
ALWAYS use this calculator to calculate how much you will be investing AND ONLY INVEST WHEN THIS NUMBER IS POSITIVE:
“Cash to Invest AND WHEN to Invest, if a positive number” = C – (T x P)
Given: P = % of Cash in your portfolio which allows you to sleep well during market “downtrends”. (For this site’s author, this means always being approximately 50% invested in “cash”, and viewing every significant downward adjustment in stocks as a “buying opportunity”!)
T = current Total Value of all your portfolios (including the cash).
C = Cash currently in all your portfolios.
How much did the dividends for each of your portfolio's stocks increase for the past five years?!
"Simple Rules" about investing:
IMPORTANT: Almost never, never, NEVER, "rebalance"! Only rebalance if the value of your holdings in a company exceeds 30% of the total value of your portfolio, THEN "REBALANCE" ONCE EVERY 12 MONTHS BY SELLING "one-fifth" OF THAT POSITION UNTIL IT IS LESS THAN 15% OF YOUR TOTAL PORTFOLIO. THEN STOP ALL "REBALANCING" UNTIL A POSITION AGAIN EXCEEDS 30% OF THE TOTAL PORTFOLIO!! (For additional WHEN TO SELL info -- see August 2017 entries at "FAQ Blog" link above.)
NEVER be fully invested in equities (stocks and bonds).
ALWAYS reserve a significant % of any NEW CASH ADDED TO YOUR PORTFOLIO for investment at a later time when stocks are lower.
NEVER “sell” stocks when the market is in a “downtrend”.
ALWAYS “buy” stocks when the market is in a “downtrend”, as long as your personal information when input to our calculator “Cash to Invest AND WHEN to Invest, is a positive number”.
ALWAYS “buy” equal dollar amounts in a diversified portfolio, which has stocks of at least two companies from each of the ten major sectors of the economy (a “buy” list with a minimum of 20 companies).