Sure, there’s probably plenty of time to take advantage of these prices. They may even get more attractive before all is said and done. But you can’t let fear freeze you in your tracks. You’ve got to keep looking ahead and planning for better days.

Never forget these two basic facts:

First, many of the market’s major advances have come swiftly, and without warning. And they almost always anticipate economic recovery.

Second, an all-cash portfolio will almost certainly underperform over any substantial length of time.
To be clear, now may not be the time to go “all in” on stocks or take unnecessary risks. The volatility is still a bit too high.
But you should stick to your plan… continue contributing to your retirement accounts … and diversify into some core income stocks if you haven’t already done so. These prices will not last forever!

Visit MoneyAndMarkets.com to learn more about big chance to buy the S&P 500 under 900.

To your dividend investing success,

InvestingInDividends.com

McDonald’s is a perfect example of a company boosting its dividend in the face of economic weakness.

In 2007, it decided to boost its annual payment by a whopping 50%. Then, just last month, it decided to increase its dividend another 33%!

That means investors holding these shares keep getting higher and higher effective yields on their original purchase price.

Let’s go back a little further into McDonald’s history, before the latest two dividend hikes, to see what kind of results a long-time investor would have gotten:

Pretend it’s March 26, 1990. You just finished polishing off a Big Mac at the local McDonald’s. Across the restaurant’s floor, you see a long line of customers in front of the register, wallets and purses in hand.

You go home and call your broker. “Buy me 100 shares of McDonald’s,” you say. That day, the stock closes at about $29 a share. Its indicated dividend is $0.31, making the stock’s yield slightly more than 1%.

The move is certainly no great leap of faith. By 1990, McDonald’s restaurants are everywhere — it’s the fast food company by which all others are judged. Its stock is considered “boring.”

Now fast forward 16 years to March 27, 2006. McDonald’s stock closes at $34.55 a share. Its indicated dividend is $0.67 a share, giving the stock an annual yield of 1.9%. Hey, that’s twice as much as when you bought it, right?

Nope.

During your 16 years of ownership, McDonald’s stock split 2-for-1 on two occasions. Adjusting for these splits, your purchase price is equal to $6.20 a share.

Dividing the current indicated dividend of $0.67 a share by your $6.20 cost basis gives you a yield on cost of 10.8%. Plus, you’re also sitting on paper gains of 457%. That’s an average annual return of 28.6%. And, in addition, you got regular cash payments the whole time!

InvestingInDividends.com

Out of the 500 companies in Standard & Poor’s flagship U.S. stock market index, 30 companies have cut their dividends so far this year.

Another 11 have completely suspended payments (or the companies themselves have ceased to exist).

Total damage to investors: $31.74 billion in missed dividends. As you’d guess, most of the pain has come from financial stocks, which accounted for 35 of the negative dividend actions and $30.6 billion of the lost dividends.

And if we look at all U.S. common stocks listed on major exchanges, the numbers are terrible. September marked the worst year for dividends as far back as we have records (1956). October looks like it will be equally bad.

So far this month, there have been 50 negative dividend actions compared to just seven during the same month last year.

But is it all doom and gloom? No way! Many companies are bucking the trend, and raising their dividends through thick and thin. There have been a full 216 dividend increases from companies in the S&P 500 so far this year.

For 32 companies in the index, 2008 marked at least the 25th straight year of higher and higher dividends. And perhaps the most concrete example that dividend hikes are still happening is the fact that THREE companies in the Dividend Superstars portfolio announced increases just last month!

The message is clear: Many businesses are still doing just fine. Their profits are holding up well. Their commitment to shareholders is unchanged.
To learn more about five investing in divideds and other dividend opportunities, read this amazing article. To your dividend investing success,

InvestingInDividends.com