Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 04:02:58 -0500
From: "MATTY" 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Laddering Muni Bonds vs Muni Bond Fund
   posting-account=2uuukAwAAACXlHgAFwYIk2UOkB6Bpn9h
	iQBVAwUARSyzQvl/I4+O31e5AQGoswH/YCWEs4CaUuzSwlWJfnh0L7qWbY0703s+
	/2+1QTgW1kkMsGRvKJhr64D/P8jCBN9noTMkAkZ6jhNeS8wn7+PO0Q==
	=64VA


Will Trice wrote:
> joetaxpayer wrote:
>
> > There are those who feel that dividends or stock buy backs are a
> > company's way of saying "we don't know how to invest this extra cash, so
> > here, take it." Don't companies all need to invest for their own growth?
>
> Some of the most successful investors have stated that dividends, and
> particularly increasing dividends, are a positive attribute for
> investing in a particular company [e.g. Benjamin Graham (as Elle has
> pointed out here in the past) and Peter Lynch].  This is usually given
> with the caveat that the payout ratio is not too high, thus addressing
> your other point above.
>
> -Will

Somehow my post never posted so i may end up with 2 replys .

i think we got a little off base here,  study after study seems to
always show as a group dividend paying stocks seem to out perform
,thats not a question.

my point is that the dividends themselves are a zero sum . the stock is
adjusted downward by the same amount so nothing gained nothing lost.

there are quite a few reasons people like dividend paying stocks but
they are more pschological then really based on any gain from the
dividend itself. one of which is that most people think of a dividend
as a gain like bank interest where its not a zero sum event. its not
the same thing yet i think if you ask most uninformed people about
dividends they will tell you how their dividends are like when they get
bank interest,  they just have no clue how it works.

30% of the s&p gains have been dividends but i cant help but wonder how
much of that 3-% would still be intact or even exceeded if the
companies didnt pay a dividend and give away company assets every
quarter.

couldnt we all just sell 2-4% of our holdings anyway every year and
create the same effect.