RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Goods results There isn't enough time left in my cancer-riddled existence to go through all my missed investing opportunities :).
My investing goal is income and income growth combined. I want to leave my family a sustainable income that's built on steady-growth enterprises in sectors with high barriers to entry (utilities, banks, telecoms, pipelines).
Accordingly, I track dividend growth alongside a company's ability to sustain that dividend growth (positive trends in revenues, margins, free cash flow, equity, and good debt management).
As an income-focussed investor I think it's important to compare dividend growth to inflation, because utlimately it's the buying power of my income that matters. If in future I could not find companies that kept their dividends in line with (or better than) inflation, I would have to consider switching to a capital gains strategy to generate income. But that is a far greater burden to hand over to my family when I die -- it requires much deeper analysis and general awareness of market trends.
I realize this doesn't answer your question, but it's a harder question to answer than it seemed at first.
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babedinkleman wrote: Interesting.....I've never put that much thought into it.....and to be perfectly honest I'm pretty sure I'm not capable of doing so....so I'll have to live with that.
Have you run into situations where such analysis has made you miss out on making money on some stocks that don't meet that criteria but still perform well?