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Monday, 20 September 2021
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Dividend streams tend to be stable and determined by fundamental factors. Unlike capital valuations, which are affected by estimates of prospective returns which are, in turn, strongly affected by market sentiment.
Australians love dividends and complain when a company cuts its payouts. But neither Amazon not Berkshire Hathaway are ever likely to pay a dividend, and it doesn't bother most of their investors.
Investors and financial market professionals underestimate the power of franking credits to enhance returns, especially in pension phase where franking is fully refunded.
While investors like receiving healthy dividends, it's money that the company can then no longer use for capital growth. Less can really be more if there are better growth prospects with lower dividends.
The market has been supplying investors with high dividend-paying stocks, but unfortunately, this focus overlooks better opportunities with more growth and capital appreciation.
There’s nothing quite like receiving cash without having contributed any sweat or labour. But are dividends the best way for companies to reward their investors? What's happened to reinvesting for future growth?
Not all company growth is created equal. While a headline growth figure may look impressive, it's how this growth is financed that determines whether it's a good or bad thing for shareholders.
Looking beyond the top quality companies, it pays to find the true visionaries, the companies whose prospects are compelling into the distant future because of the strong momentum they have built.
The biggest factor over the past year in Australian equity markets has been investors focussing on dividend yields. Another, perhaps more important, issue is how much a good company reinvests in itself.
If a company is growing, with increasing equity and profits, how does an investor know that management and the board are dudding shareholders?
As equity holders we love to see companies reporting profit growth. In fact, we become wary if they don't. Find out how the wrong sort of growth can quickly and permanently destroy wealth.
Who knew? With some surprise results, the Government is on unexpected firm ground in asking people to draw on all their assets in retirement, although the comments show what feisty and informed readers we have.
The RBA Governor says rising house prices are due to "the design of our taxation and social security systems". The OECD says "the prolonged boom in house prices has inflated the wealth of many pensioners without impacting their pension eligibility." What's your view?
It's a remarkable statistic. In any year since 1875, if you had invested in the Australian stock index, turned away and come back eight years later, your average return would be 120% with no negative periods.
Never stand between Australian households and an uncapped government programme with $3 billion in ‘free money’ to build or renovate their homes. But excess supply is coming with an absence of net migration.
Picking macro trends is difficult. What may seem logical and compelling one minute may completely change a few months later. There are better rewards from focussing on identifying the best companies at good prices.
Some high-quality companies have emerged even stronger since the onset of COVID and are well placed for outperformance. We call these the ‘COVID Opportunists’ as they are now dominating their specific sectors.