Personal Finance 101

Written by Tyler |

Where To Start Your Research 

Start out by reviewing the Dividend Aristocrats or Dividend Achievers lists to identify a broad category of stocks that have consistent dividend growth.

Once you have identified a list of stocks using the dividend achievers list, it is time to narrow it down to a few of the best dividend growth stocks.

Sector Selection

A general rule of thumb for dividend growth investors is to select one or two stocks in different sectors, such as insurance, utilities, financials, telecom, etc., with the highest dividend yield and a recent dividend increase.

Many dividend growth investors will require that the dividend increase be within the past year, the more recent the better. Dividend growth investors are of the philosophy that an increase in a company’s dividend means that the company is healthy and its future prospects are solid. Therefore, the amount that the dividend is increased should also be taken into consideration.

Dividend Growth Rate

The amount that a dividend is increased on a year to year basis is called the dividend growth rate. The philosophy of dividend investors is that the higher the dividend growth rate, the higher the prospect for the stock to increase in value.

For instance, Sun Life Financial (SLF) has a dividend growth rate of approximately 20% over the past 5 years. Over that same time, the stock has doubled in value from $20.00 per share to over $40.00 per share. If you had purchased Sun Life Financial 5 years ago at $20.00 per share, with the current dividend rate of $1.07, your yield on the purchase price would be 5.4%.

Not only would one be receiving these healthy dividends this year, but one could reasonably expect to get a 20% raise next year!

This is the basis of dividend growth investing; to produce consistent and inflation hedged income.

Due to the fact that the dividend growth rate can play such a significant factor in the future value and income potential of the stock, it is suggested that the investor find a middle ground when choosing stocks for a dividend growth portfolio.

The middle ground should consist of:
1.) A reasonable current yield, compared to its peers and itself historically.
2.) A recent dividend increase combined with increased earnings
3.) A high dividend growth rate compared to the industry.

Stocks selected from Mergent’s Dividend Achievers that display these factors should provide a great starting point to a dividend growth portfolio.

I’d be happy to hear any comments or questions regarding this strategy and I hope to have more detailed information up here in the near future.

P.S. - I hate excuses, but things are hectic around here as my wife is officially 10 months pregnant! Please accept my apologies for the slow article posting rate.