Minimum investment in any one stock?

[Julia]

I use etrade, so within etrade i have created a custom view and this contains div yield.

Just be aware that etrade doesn't always update yields. I checked some of the big banks in their "Company Profile" section which quotes div yields some time after the cuts in dividends were announced and e-trade had not made the adjustment.

Also, as things continue to be difficult, more businesses will cut dividends.

Ken Henry is apparently also looking at dividend imputation in his review of the taxation system.

 

[snowking]

This has turned into an interesting discussion about the medium to long term investment. I don't think you can lock away all stocks for a period of time and expect the dividends to roll in. You still need to keep an eye on them to see what the market thinks of certain things happening within the company, local economy, world economy, etc. Sure the dividends might pay your interest on your loan but if you don't keep an eye on things you could have half of what you started with due to the price falling.
For example this time lat year you bought RIO at $149.52 per share. Dividends are good and looking good going forward. However current price a year later is $64.44 and you would be down $85 per share. How long will it take to get back to that level?
Hopefully this is the low point in the market and they are undervalued and you are getting in at the right time but short, medium or long term needs constant attention.
I am no expert and would probably be considered quite a noob. This is however something that I am very interested in and I am prepared to turn this interest into a passion. Without the passion you will not give it the attention that it deserves.

You definitely have to actively manage your investments whether the period be 10 days or 10 years otherwise you most likely increase your risk of failure. As a noob I look at it like this, if you own a house you dont just let it run into the ground and ignore anything thats wrong with it, so why should you leave your shares and not bother to look at them for 10 years.

For any noobs who want a step by step approach to reading and understanding the key aspects of a balance sheet, click on the following .http://www.afr.com/home/investment_guides/investment_guide_financial.aspx