The Case for Dividend Growth

Book excerpt: Both the tech bubble burst of 2000, and the financial crisis of 2008, poked significant holes in the primary investment belief of too many investors today—that one can just blindly withdraw from principal, and that equity returns will keep up. Too many investment advisors have taken the path of least resistance, not aware of the risk in systematically withdrawing from what, at times, will be a declining portfolio. Investors seeking to accumulate money for their future needs, and investors needing to withdraw money now for a present need, both have one thing in common: Dividend Growth investing represents a powerful weapon in the achievement of their objectives. Market volatility is not something any investor can escape, but benefitting from it (for accumulators reinvesting dividends), and being insulated from it (for withdrawers taking only from a growing flow of dividend income), are achievable results for those who understand the time-tested, sustainable, intelligent strategy of investing that is Dividend Growth.