Dividend Growth EBook by The Dividend Guy

This is a new Kindle book by Mike Heroux sold by Amazon. If you do not have a kindle, you can purchase one from Amazon or you can download an app to read it from the Amazon site. I personally have Kindle for Windows on my tablet.

Mike is connected with a number of good investment sites, including:

• What is Dividend
• Dividend Stock Analysis
• The Dividend Guy Blog
• The Financial Blogger

I also reviewed his Dividend Guy site on my blog when I was talking about good articles for novice investors.

This book comes in two versions sold though amazon. See Dividend Growth: Freedom Through Passive Income Canadian Edition and and the American version of Dividend Growth: Freedom Through Passive Income at Amazon. They are only available for Kindle

I will read and review this eBook sometime in the future.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. (TSE-GS). Today, I am discussing this stock's current price. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

Research Information Sites

I am doing this blog entry due to a question on what are some of the sites I get my information from.

The main place I get information is the annual statements of the companies I investigate for investing purposes. It is very rare to find any company with shares on the TSX not to provide its annual statements on their web site. So my main source of information is the financial statements and notes.

To understand financial statements, it would be helpful to take a course in bookkeeping or accounting. Sometimes I review financial records at Google (the Financials for Alimentation Couche-Tard at Google are here) and G&M (the Financial for Alimentation Couche-Tard at G&M are here).

Another great source of information on what to invest in and for stocks reviews is your brokerage firm. I use TD Waterhouse and they have a good selection on-line of Analysts Reports, Reuter Reports, Insider Trading, etc. What I especially like about TD is their weekly video. Go to Products and Service site and click on Weekly Webcast.

Another web site I like is Reuters. For Canadian stock you have to follow the stock symbol by ".TO". The above Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX-ATD.B) stock symbol for Reuters would be "ATDb.TO". Canadian Pacific (TSX-CP) symbol would be "CP.TO". This site has a lot of great information such as details on Key Personnel, analysts' estimates and recommendations, and institutional investing.

If you are looking at an older stock report from me you can pick up current earnings and sales estimates, trailing P/E Ratio, Price to Book, Price to Sales, Price to Cash Flow and Dividend yield. (TTM means trailing 12 months and MRQ means most recent quarter.)

I use Globe and Mail investor site a lot. I like to check more than one site for such things as stock prices, dividends, estimates and analysts' recommendations. Their summary tab also gives good information on P/E Ratios, the annual dividend and dividend yield. If you are looking at an older stock report of mine, you can pick up current and forward P/E Ratios and current Dividend yield from this site.

I use the site of Stock Chase to see what some analysts are saying about a stock. For a good write up on the use of this site, see Passive Income Earner site.

The Financial Times sitegives information on Canadian Stocks. For a Canadian company follow the Canadian Symbol by ":TOR". For example, for Ag Growth International Inc., use "AFN:TOR" in the search for quote box. This site gives forecasts on stocks.

Yahoo Finance site gives a lot of good information. On a lot of stocks you can find past dividend payments and stock prices. For dividends, note that this site, as most sites do, use the ex-dividend date for dividends. The ex-dividend date is 2 business days before the dividend record date. To start getting information on a company, go to Yahoo markets and type in the stock's symbol. Canadian Stock Symbols are followed by "TO". So on this site for Ag Growth International Inc., use "AFN.TO".

I get a weekly Advice Hotline Email from MPL Communications. You can go to their site to sign up for this email. They also have an email called Daily Buy/Sell Advisor. Go to their site to sign up. You can click on past issued at the bottom of the page and see what they have talked about recently.

I often check what other bloggers are saying about stocks. Google gives you the option of searching blogs. After you do a search on a company, look to the left of the page and click "more". One of the options to search is Blogs.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Johnson and Johnson (NYSE-JNJ). Today, I am discussing this stock's current price. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

Conrad Black

If you are an investor, what you should take note of is that the small investor in this company only lost after Conrad Black was kicked out.

The people who took Hollinger International Inc. from Conrad Black ran it into the ground. They were the ones to cause the bankruptcy. It was only after Conrad Black was kicked out of the company that it ran into problems. The new board spent all their time in trying to collect some money from Black and no time running the company. The small shareholder loses big time when a company goes bankrupt.

An interesting article on this is in Financial Post. To quote one paragraph "The Canadian showcase for dubious corporate restructuring at the moment is Hollinger Inc., the heart of what was once Conrad Black's newspaper empire. For more than seven years, a succession of law firms, court monitors, fly-in executives, accountants and others have been gnawing away at Hollinger. They've consumed tens of millions of dollars in corporate assets, produced no payouts to shareholders or note-holders, and have yet to generate any meaningful conclusions, charges or allegations."

The agony of Hollinger Inc. just goes on with no end in sight. See a recent article in financial post entitled Conrad Black moves to end Hollinger CCAA.

So, if you are an investor, what you should take note of is that the small investor in this company only lost after Conrad Black was kicked out.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ). Today, I am discussing this stock as an investment. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

The Passive Income Earner Blog

The Passive Income Earner Blog is the last one I am reviewing. He has done a number of blog entries that should help investors who are just starting out with a number of "How To" posts. This blogger says that he "has some large purchase in my TFSA/RRSP accounts but I am quite active with Computershare with small investments every month. It's slow but in 3 years, I now have over $10K invested". To learn about Computershare, read the first entry on starting with little money.

How to Start Dividend Investing with Little Money
One of the most challenging aspects of starting with dividend investing may be to not know how much money we need to get started. I started investing in mutual funds back in my 20's and I was focused on building my RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) and maximizing my contributions. That's what you were supposed to do... Well, the reality is that the benefits of RRSP when your income is low is not all that great from a tax saving perspective...continue...

How Review Your Portfolio
It's a new year and if you have not done so, it might be appropriate to review your portfolio. One powerful concept, aside from compound growth, is to balance... continue...

How to Transfer Shares to your Kids
For the longest time, I have been an income focused investor. I remember when I started working, I did not have much money to invest and I invested in mutual funds telling myself "if I can have more to invest one day, I would buy stocks" (at the time, trading was usually $30 - no $6.99 options back then). It turns out that you don't need a lot of money and you don't have to pay any fees!!! It was quite marvelous... continue...

How to Track your Dividend Investment Performance
I am a serious Quicken user and have been for years. I started using Quicken back in 1997. You read that right - even before the automatic updates from the web were possible! My Quicken file is nearly 100 megs in size. As you can probably imagine, I have a good grasp on my accounting but even after all those years, there is one view of my portfolio I can't get with all the software out there. I want to view my investment from a capital invested perspective... continue...

How To Use StockChase.com
I have written about Stock Chase in the past and how it tracks the comments from analysts and wealth managers on BNN. BNN is Canada's Business News Network with many programs where experts are invited to discuss companies either...continue...

This is another blogger worth reading by novice investors.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about IBI Group Inc. (TSX-IBG). To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

My Own Advisor Blog

I think that it takes many years of reading and investing to become a competent investor. My Own Advisor thinks differently. He has recommended some good "starter" investing books that he thought I should share.

Andrew Hallam
First up is a book by Hallam which he reviews in three separate blogs. Hallam's book is called Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School

When I first heard about Millionaire Teacher, I was excited to get my hands on it. Now that I have, I couldn't imagine not owning this gem..continue...

I consider Millionaire Teacher a gem for your personal finance library because it is an excellent and an enjoyable read. Andrew goes beyond the technical...continue...

Over the last couple of weeks, in Part 1 and Part 2, I raved about Andrew Hallam's book. I have good reason to. I consider Millionaire Teacher a gem for your personal finance library...continue...

Gail Bebee
My Own Advisor also admires Gail Bebee's book called No Hype The Straight Goods on Investing Your Money

He mentions this book when asking "How many dividend stocks are enough?" See My Own Advisor's blog on this subject on buying dividend stocks. He also gives a review of this book on his books page.

Dan Bortolotti
The last book he recommends is one by Dan Bortolotti called MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio. He has a two part post on this book.

According to Dan Bortolotti from Canadian Couch Potato, there is a perfect portfolio out there for investors. Imagine a portfolio that is inexpensive to construct, has low ongoing, maintenance costs, efficient like the markets and in doing so, allows you to avoid the stock market noise. Does this sound too good ...continue...

Tired of reading technical and academic "how to" investing books? Scratching your head to figure out the financial jargon that goes with investing these days? Too many financial acronyms that sound like some foreign... continue...

If you want to buy this book, see the post on all the books My Own Advisor recommends below.

All Books Recommended
My Own Advisor has one post where he reviews all investment books he recommends. See his post on books I've really enjoyed and learned from... continue...

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Bell Aliant Inc. (TSX-BA). Today, I am discussing why I will no longer follow this stock. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

The Dividend Ninja Blog

The Dividend Ninja Blog is another favourite of mine. He has done a number of blog entries that should help investors who are just starting out. He has also done other interesting things, like his interviews.

Dividend Payout Ratios
First up is an article on the Dividend Payout Ratios. This is an important thing to understand.

Many dividend investors go to great lengths to screen dividend stocks. If you stick with the big dividend aristocrats or other big blue chips, you will do just fine. Some of these companies have been paying dividends for over 50 to 100 years! The economic stability of a company like that, which also increases its dividends year after year, is money in the bank. This is what most dividend investors look for, and it is the basis of Dividend Growth Investing...continue...

Four Key Characteristics
Next up is an article on Four Key Characteristics To Look For In Dividend Stocks

There is a lot of talk about great dividend stocks to purchase for the long-term. But, how do you weed out the great dividend paying stocks from the hundreds of good or mediocre ones? There are a few key metrics...continue...

High Dividend Sustainable?
Dividend Ninja has a great article on whether or a high dividend is sustainable. The article is called "Is a 16.8% Dividend Sustainable?" This is an important question as lots of dividend investors chase high dividend yields.

Last week I received a couple of great questions, and I felt they were important enough to share with readers. So with permission, I've posted one of the questions today, and I will post the other next week. I also invite your discussion...continue...

DRIPs and SPPs
If you are just starting out and do not have much money, you should read this article on "Getting started with DRIPs and SPPs". This interesting thing about this article is that it is a guest post by another of my favourite bloggers, My Own Advisor.

There's do-it-yourself investing and then there's really do-it-yourself investing. I'd definitely put full dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) that include share purchase plans (SPPs) in the latter category. Not that full DRIPs are a difficult animal to understand...continue...

Risk Assessment
The Dividend Ninja blogger writes a great article on Asset Allocation and Risk Assessment.

The premise of this article is that "Risk Assessment" is designed by the financial industry, and does not provide any useful indicator for the individual investor. I'll argue that "Risk Assessment" has no bearing on proper Asset...continue...

Stop Loss And Limit Orders
The next article to point out is one on stop loss and limit orders.

Investing is a percentage game. The lower you can buy a stock and the higher you can sell, then the more money can be gained. But in reality finding the exact bottom or the exact top of a stock is impossible and most investors....continue...

Interviews
The Dividend Ninja has done some interesting things on his blog. One is interviewing other bloggers, including yours truly. See his interviews at on his site

Investment Book
The Dividend Ninja thinks that there are some good books for novice investors. He highly recommends Lowell Miller's The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth Dividend Ninja says that this book is really what I think is one of the best getting-started dividend books!

This is another great blog for novice investors.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about PFB Corp. (TSX-PFB). Today, I am discussing the stock. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

The Dividend Guy Blog

Dividend Investing

I think that the first thing you might want to check out is The Dividend Guy's Dividend Investing eBook. It is free. He starts off with: the question of "Why Dividend Investing?" and gives I have 3 simple reasons:

• #1 Dividend Investing is Easy to Understand - A prestigious financial background is not required if you follow simple and time-tested investing principles
• #2 Dividend Investing is Perfect for Lazy People - Not much time is required once you learn the basic principles of how to select your stocks.
• #3 Dividend Investing, if Done Right, equals Receiving Money Monthly! - Dividend payouts are regular.

What this eBook is about? This eBook is a friendly guide to dividend investing. It is separated into 4 chapters:

• Chapter #1: Don't Lose Money Investing - Instead Learn to Make Money
• Chapter #2: Looking at the Engine of Your Never Ending Money Distributor - Build Your Core Portfolio With Dividend Stocks
• Chapter #3: Baby Steps Guide to Start Investing
• Chapter #4: Tools of the Trades - The Complete List of Dividend Resources

continue...

The above eBook was made for novice investors, but he also has written a complete beginner's guide to dividend investing with its own web site.

Dividend investing has become one of the most famous and effective way to invest for the past 20 years. In fact, it has been proven many times that Dividend investing is a huge part of the stock market yield. Unfortunately, if you are a beginner investor,... continue

Start investing with $1,000

Another section of this site that you may also want to read is his series on how to start investing with $1,000. He started this series from a question he got from someone just starting to invest. He starts out talking about options:

You have actually 3 options. However, I would disregard the first option which would be to buy 38 shares of one company trading at $26. This wouldn't make sense in terms of asset diversification and trading fees. However, you have options #2 and #3 ... continue...

Next he talks about "How To Pick The Right Brokerage Account Before Investing"

Last week, I started a short series about dividend investing for beginners. I noticed that it had generated a few comments as I waved the first option that would be to start with stock picking right away. I still believe that starting with 1 or 2 stocks in your portfolio may put you at risk if you are just starting to learn the investing... continue...

Next he talks about "How To Pick Your ETFs and/or Dividend Funds"

I remember the first time I opened my brokerage account online to start trading. I had $19,500 that I just transferred from a line of credit and I felt like a kid in a candy store with $1M in my pocket... continue...

In the last entry of this series, he goes on to talk about "What to look for in buying a stock".

Starting to get a little more precise about investing in dividend stocks with a small portfolio, we are looking today at the basics you need to consider before purchasing... continue...

This is a blog that would be well worth it for any investors to check out.

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Coast Wholesale Appliances Inc. (TSX-CWA). Today, I am discussing the stock. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.

The Dividend Monk Blog

As you probably have noticed by now my favourite blogs talk mostly about dividend stocks. The Dividend Monk is not any different. His blog has a lot of great information not only for the novice, but for more experienced investors. The main article is called "Dividend Stocks: The Essential Guide". The Dividend Monk talks a lot about US stocks, but there are a lot of Canadians that are interest in US stocks.

Main Article

Dividend stocks are one of the most powerful tools for building long-term wealth.

If you had enough passive income to perpetually support your expenses, and you could direct your creativity and passion to do what you want, how would you spend your time?

What kinds of active passions or active income streams would you build if your necessary expenses were already covered?...continue...

Some Highlights of his Essential Guide

First, there is the Dividend Discount Model Overview.

The Dividend Discount Model (DDM) is the key valuation technique for dividend paying stocks. The most straightforward form of it is called the Gordon Growth Model. This guide explains how it works and the streamlined way to use it. ...continue...

Next is Dividend Growth Investing 101

Dividend Growth Investing is about purchasing dividend stocks that grow their dividends over time, and then holding onto those investments for quite a while as you receive continually increasing passive income from those companies....continue...

A very interesting article is about "High Dividend Stocks: Finding Safe High Yields". We all like to have high dividend yields, but you must tread carefully.

Investors must be cautious when it comes to investing in high dividend stocks. Companies with high dividend yields can potentially offer very strong returns, but they can also lead to value traps and dividend implosions. ...continue...

If you want to get good information on checking out a company, see 20 Quick Ways to Check a Company.

Investing research can be overwhelming. This is especially true for novice investors; there are just so many metrics to consider, and they all relate to each other in a large and complex whole, so how can one make sense of a set of investments and compare them? ...continue...

His article entitled MLPs: The Essential Guide also serves as a portal to some further articles on MLPs. If you want

MLPs, or Master Limited Partnerships, are an interesting option for income investors that can offer higher yields than most dividend stocks....continue...

He also has on his site an archive of free dividend stock reports, arranged alphabetically. They are all US companies, but if you are interested in a stock report on your favourite US company, you may find it here.

This page is the collection of stock reports on the best dividend stocks for the site. Each week, I publish one or two analysis reports on companies, and the full list of recent analysis reports appears below, organized alphabetically. Each link leads to the full quantitative and qualitative report on that dividend stock....continue...

Canadian Pacific Railway

On my Investment Talk blog I am today writing about Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX-CP). Today, I am discussing the stock. To read about this stock go here....

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on twitter.