Weekend Reading – July 2, 2011

Well, the 4th of July is almost upon us. I don’t know what anyone else is doing, but for me it will be plenty of relaxation, sunshine, great food and hopefully seeing a firework or two. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful and safe July 4th celebration!

Here are some excellent articles from fellow dividend growth investors, frugalists and personal finance bloggers from the past week.

5 Dividend Payers with 50+ Years of Dividend Growth
Dividend Monk highlights a list of dividend stocks that have grown dividends for over 50 years. Obviously, this is a huge accomplishment for a company to continue dividend growth over such a long period of time. Businesses go through cycles, product changes, and even generational changes in consumers. My favorite on this list is Procter & Gamble.

Four Future Dividend Achievers Boosting Distributions
Dividend Growth Investor presents a list of four dividend stocks that have raised their dividend for over five years in a row, and which will hopefully be on the list of Dividend Achievers once they cross the ten year mark. General Mills looks interesting here.

3 Powerful Concepts for Compounding Wealth with Dividend Stocks
D4L writes a terrific article that highlights how to compound wealth and why it’s so important to invest in dividend growth stocks. Great article, and some fantastic companies are listed for your consideration. Compounding our wealth is why we’re all in this game.

The Millionaire Teacher
The Dividend Ninja interviews Andrew Hallam, who has just published a book titled “Millionaire Teacher”. Looks like an interesting read that shows the reader how to build an indexed portfolio. I personally invest in individual stocks, but index investing certainly has its place as well.

Understanding yield to maturity is important
My Own Advisor discusses yield to maturity and focusing on total returns when investing in bonds. I personally do not have any allocation to fixed-income at the moment, but that may certainly change once interest rates start to rise. I personally feel that a better value lies in equities right now, so that’s where my money is going.

Financial Freedom At 45
The Passive Income Earner shows some of his goals relating to becoming financially independent at 45 years old. I applaud his goals and think quite a few of them are very realistic based on his age and time frame. I personally want to become financially independent at 40 years old. We’ll see what happens and I wish PIE the best with his goals!

Whatever Happened To Myspace?
Buy Like Buffett asks the question, and there are a couple good answers outlines in his article. I liked this article because it shows you how fleeting some of these social media companies can be. While social media IPO’s have become all the rage on the market lately, I prefer to keep investing in boring, conservative dividend growth stocks. You won’t see me buying shares in LinkedIn or Facebook (when it becomes public) anytime soon! Who knows when the next Zuckerberg comes along to invent a product that wipes out Facebook? A low barrier to entry means no economic moat.

Investing Myths Debunked Regarding Inflation And How To Beat It With A Shovel
The Dividend Guy talks a little about inflation and how to beat it. While some people believe gold and real estate are the best hedge against inflation, this article shows how investing in stocks may actually be the best hedge of all since companies can naturally increase their prices with inflation, since inflation usually comes about in strong economies where people make more money to buy more stuff.

Thanks for reading.