Is The Search For Safety In Dividends Out of Control?

I couldn’t help but smile this week when I saw the Wall Street Journal headline “Dividend Stocks Become the Heroes.” Who would have imagined 12 years ago, when the world was clamoring for Pets.com and Webvan, that we would reach the point that “old-fashioned” trust companies like Haverford would be putting up billboards next to the highway in Philadelphia that asked “Earned any dividends lately?” But that is where we are today. I can’t say that I am terribly surprised, though.

Thanks to deteriorating social mood, we want certainty. And we are happy, if not outright eager, to sacrifice growth for the perception of steady dividends. Of late, though, I have been wondering if this “safety trade” has gotten ahead of itself. Maybe it’s just me, but when I see companies that have paid dividends for at least 25 years labeled “aristocrats,” it sure feels like certainty has set in.

Source: Minyanville

Related Articles:
- The Most Dangerous Investment
- The Magnificent Marvelous Money Machine
- Would You Call Genghis Khan a Ruthless Warrior?
- Measure What's Important
- Auto Pilot Engaged, Sir!