How To Be An Unsuccessful Dividend Growth Investor

Recently, I listened to Derek Sivers on Shane Parrish's Knowledge Project podcast. My favourite part of the conversation consisted of Derek reading his directive How to Stop Being Rich and Happy. I loved Derek's minimalist, instructive and pithy directives and they made me want to challenge myself to write my own . Since I don't feel qualified to draft the affirmative set of instructions, I thought I'd reverse engineer and draft my ideas regarding what it takes to be an unsuccessful dividend growth investor. My next entry will be examples of the ways in which I have disobeyed the below six instructions over the years. 

How To Be An Unsuccessful Dividend Growth Investor

     1.       Chase Yield

-          Pay no attention to payout ratios, declining revenue and profits, or management’s guidance. Forget about dividend growth, higher yields mean more cash now.

2.       Think Short-Term

-          Constantly monitor your portfolio, pay attention to every little movement of stocks, and trade frequently. More trading means more profits.

3.       Ignore Valuation

-          Since you’re basing your buying and selling decisions on your thoughts and gut feelings, ignore what the companies you transact on are actually worth. Stocks are merely numbers on a screen, and no-one knows what a fair price might be more accurately than you.

4.       Do No Research

-          No amount of regulatory filings, in-depth analyst analysis, or contrarian pieces could provide you with additional insight into the stocks you choose to purchase. Never let research change your gut feelings..

5.       Brag About Successes

-          Using every social media account you have, brag about any stock on which you make money. Everyone will know how successful you are, so there’s no need to outline your investments that resulted in losses. Obviously the losers were not your fault. 

6.       Forget Diversification, Focus on Concentration

-          Why diversify away market risk when you can only buy a handful of winning stocks. Holding three or maybe four stocks in your portfolio will ensure you maximize returns since you'll only be investing in your best ideas.