Dividends Query

Hiya!

I am brand new to the forums and to the Stock Market. I am researching at the moment to better understand what is involved. I understand most people here seem to be traders instead of investors. I am actually interested in dividends and long term profit/assets.

Any advice would be useful to me, and would be appreciated. I know enough to know that i dont even know what questions to ask. However i will try.

What research is best when looking for dividends and for long term stock investments? Ie profit/loss, net worth, assests etc

Is it possible to guesstimate the upcoming dividend for a company? Is there somewhere that such a thing is already done?

Is it best to look for low priced shares with high dividend or vice versa?

Do you have any companies you would suggest i look in to?

Thankyou very much to anyone who replies. Again i dont even know if these are the right questions so please give any advice, it will be welcomed.

Thankyou!!

Hi James
You will find there is a real mix in here. There are long term investors and short term traders so they will all give you their slant.

As for me, I am a mixture of both. I go for income (dividends) and long term investment in my super fund, and maximum growth/risk in the company in which I trade. Two separate entities so two separate strategies.

No doubt others will soon be in to help you, weekends arent usually that busy!

Hi James

If you are looking at Australia I would suggest you start at the Australian Stock Exchange Site .
There are lists of all past dividends and dividends that have been announced and lots of good information and pamphlets an all sorts of things.

Have a search through this forum for posts by Rozella - he is the dividend stripping King.
and search for posts by Realist for the Long term Investing perspective.
Not sugesting that these two have more or less to contribute than anyone else but it will get you to the threads that will be of interest.
All the Best
John

Hello James,

Welcome. To help us best respond to your questions, perhaps you could tell us what you are looking for. i.e. are you young and looking to start building a long term investment portfolio of what we usually describe as "buy and hold" stocks, e.g. the blue chip companies like the big banks, Woolworths, etc, or are you seeking quick turnover/profits from short term trading?

Also, are you looking for maximum capital growth, or a reliable source of income via dividends. You would choose your companies accordingly.
e.g. BHP might offer good prospects for an increase in its share price, but has a minimal dividend, about 1.3% from memory. Other stocks, e.g. infrastructure trusts etc will offer less opportunity for capital growth but give you a relatively high dividend.

I'd endorse the suggestion of your working your way through the ASX website's education section. There is all the basic information a new investor needs.

All the best
Julia

Hiya!

excellent, thankyou all. I will do the ASX tutorials, i also have the appropriate "for dummies" guide which seems helpful and i am searching the internet regularly. I am actively trying to learn and giving me places to go to learn is a huge help thankyou very much!

I am looking at basically investing in a share that will slowly increase in value and pay a dividend. For this to be worthwhile for me the dividend needs to be above the bank 5% interest i currently get. The purpose is to increase my familys yearly income in the future and invest in an asset that can be sold at a later date.

So fast paced trading - no. Long term over a few years minimum. I have no real plan yet, basically it was to seed a few companies by buying shares and having the share dividend rolled into buying more shares. Then just leaving them alone for a few years to increase. As the seeding amount will not be huge (under 3k) i dont mind a bit of a risk on a company with good dividends and low priced shares.

For example i have found virgin blue VBA, i dont understand why thier last dividend payout was 25c in a share worth around $1.58, and i dont understand why they dont have previous dividend information. However as thier gross increased but thier net FELL, the dividends should also be falling? Is that correct? Also as aviation relys on fuel and the cost is increasing surely the dividend would plummet?

hi James

VBA was a special case, patrick and toll were doing battle when VBA gave the 'special' dividend to please shareholders so dont expect such huge dividends, but if you are still interested in large dividends check our the dividend yeild on TEL



ps i am not advising you on buying any shares this is just general advice.