The Best Broker for Dividend Investors: Interactive Brokers

For the first three to four years of my transformation into dividend growth investing, I managed to develop a process of identifying attractive companies with prospects for further increases in passive dividend income. I managed to pay very little in commissions, since I was using brokers such as Zecco, which offered approximately 10 free trades every month. Since then, I kept adding money to other brokers, but was not able to find another company which offered low costs for me. This resulted in limitation on number of companies I can invest in every single month, despite the fact that I usually had more than 15-20 ideas at all times. I felt limited in the number of companies I can purchase every month, given that most brokers:

1) charge somewhere between $5 and $10 per online trade these days,
2) the fact that I do not want to pay more than 0.50% in commission costs per each transaction, and
3) the fact that I have a limit on the amount of funds I can contribute each month,

I believe that looking for great investments is important, but so is keeping costs to the minimum. Dividend investing is a business, and as the business owner my job is to keep expenses to the bone.

Two Dividend Growth Stocks On My Radar

In the past few days, I have noticed that a couple of dividend growth stocks have been selling at lower prices than before. Those are companies that have managed to grow earnings, and dividends over time. These companies are usually overvalued, but recent weakness has brought them closer to fair value territory. I would be interested in each one of those companies on dips below 20 times earnings. The companies include:

V.F. Corporation (VFC) engages in the design, production, procurement, marketing, and distribution of branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and related products in the United States and Europe.
This dividend champion has increased dividends for 43 years in a row. Over the past decade, it has managed to boost dividends at a rate of 17.10%/year.

The company earned $2.85/share in 2015, and is expected to grow earnings to $3.20 in 2016 and $3.57 in 2017.

Currently, the stock is selling for 17.10 times expected earnings and yields 2.40%. Check my last analysis of V.F. Corporation for more information about the company.

Four Companies Rewarding Shareholders with a raise

I invest in companies that have a long track record of annual dividend increases. This is usually a result of a strong business model, that is fueled by earnings growth. I try to build a diversified portfolio of dividend growth stocks over time, and try to avoid overpaying for investments.

One of the ways to monitor dividend growth stocks is by checking the dividend increases. A company that has a culture of regularly raising dividends, is very likely to continue raising them. A company with a culture of regular annual dividend increases that reduces dividends is sending a signal that something has changed. Either way, it is important to monitor the fundamental position of the enterprise, in order to determine if dividends are sustainable, and if further dividend growth is probable.

There were four companies that raised dividends over the past week. Each one has managed to boost dividends for at least a decade. The companies include:

Getting Started – The Hardest Part About Dividend Investing

Imagine you have a certain amount of cash in your possession, which you do not plan on using for say 10 – 20 years. Or imagine that you are just starting out, and have a small amount of cash that will be added to your savings account every month.

You decide to invest that amount. You have been reading about dividend investing, and think it sounds cool to be paid more dividends every year from the investments you made years ago.

However, you have an uneasy feeling – there is so much information out there, you get information overload and you cannot do anything as a result. Where do you start?

Not all dividend stocks are created equal. A company is not an automatic buy, just because it happens to pays a dividend. You need to develop some knowledge to develop a framework to evaluate companies, and then need to use that knowledge to select companies for long-term income for your diversified portfolio.

So how to gain the knowledge if you are a complete beginner? What steps should you take?

Eleven Dividend Growth Companies Showering Investors With More Cash

I invest in companies that have a long track record of annual dividend increases. This is usually a result of a strong business model, that is fueled by growth in earnings over time. I try to build a diversified portfolio of dividend growth stocks over time, and try to avoid overpaying for investments.

One of the ways to monitor dividend growth stocks is by checking the dividend increases. A company that has a culture of regularly raising dividends, is very likely to continue raising them. A company with a culture of regular annual dividend increases that reduces dividends is sending a signal that something has changed. Either way, it is important to monitor the fundamental position of the enterprise, in order to determine if dividends are sustainable, and if further dividend growth is probable.

During the month of September, there were several notable dividend growth stocks, which continued their winning streak of delivering higher dividend payments to shareholders. Each of the companies listed below have managed to boost dividends for at least ten consecutive years ( with the sole exception being PMI). The companies include: