Dividends. Why do I insist on bringing them up as the only true investment? There are many experts that will tell you when you're young that you need to invest in risky stocks to get the best return while your young enough to be able to handle the risk. I have heard that and many variations of it for a long time. Putting your money in "risky" investments is the same as walking into a casino and plunking the money down at the poker table.
Why is investing gambling? Simple. The profit yielded from a stock sale comes out of the pocket of another investor, and investor that decided to buy the stock from you at that price. Like many have learned through the recent economic crises, everything that goes up, must come down. Eventually someone is going to be left holding the bag when the price goes down. Your profit has come at the expense of someone else. Someone always has to lose in this kind of arrangement.
Why are dividends any different? Because you are participating in the economic profit that a company makes. There is less risk, and such there is less immediate turn. Over time the dividend income, reinvested, will accomplish the wonder that is compound interest. The icing on the cake is the stock price. While you are still playing roulette, the chances of the end stock price being higher is relatively high.
Playing with money that should be invested in a casino is silly. When you invest in a dividend paying stock, you are participating in the profit that the company is creating. On an open exchange, buying and selling stocks based on prices creates no wealth, just transfers it around.
Of course I'm no expert.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Inferno
Immense waves of heat slammed into his body, he felt as if he had been swallowed by a tsunami. Quivering legs attempted to betray him with every step he could bring them to make. Each new wave of volcanic temperatures singed hairs down to his skin, making him thankful for remembering to pack his goggles. This was truly the hell on Earth that those crackpots had been preaching for so long.
Trudging on through the streets, pushing against each blast of heat, he continued his pursuit. Bright columns of flames now raged where houses and businesses had stood the day before. His quarry would be close; the flame would have been long dead had the Archon moved on. There was no way to stop an Archon, all hunters knew this. Talking was the only weapon he had against a potential madman.
Rounding a corner he spotted a stone wall that had managed to survive to blaze. Commanding his legs to move, he managed to arrive at the wall before he collapsed to the ground. He pulled himself up and lay up against it, glad to be out of the battering winds. Raging fires all around made the air smoky, and hotter than a sauna. There could be little doubt this Archon had lost his mind.
After a quick drink he pulled out a number of small devices, carefully considering the readings each one was displaying. Another half-dozen machines built by some fool engineer, all in the hopes of detecting an Archon. Scientific devices had long given way to a crazed scramble to create something that would work. Twenty five years of mindless destruction. Twenty five years of no answers.
“Scratch these.” He mumbled to himself.
Sighing, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the wall. Thoughts filled his head of past Archons; each unique, but still similar. Some were thought of as great heroes, some terrible villains, and a few just vanished. Many sleepless nights filled his past; nights spent trying to make a connection. Mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, and any other imaginable kind of scientist had tried and failed to find a pattern in Archon appearances.
Explosions in the distance brought him back from the painful daydream. Bringing his watch into view he sighed loudly; every minute spent wasted in a daydream meant a minute for the Archon to escape. A flickering of light through the smoke caught his eye. Through the blackness he could see something moving toward him. Without thinking he sprang to his feet, fists up for the good they would do.
Through the smoke the flicker became larger. It seemed to be accelerating each moment, and moving straight towards him.
That's all for now! I have to get working on a few other things now. I will be finishing this either later tonight or tomorrow!
Trudging on through the streets, pushing against each blast of heat, he continued his pursuit. Bright columns of flames now raged where houses and businesses had stood the day before. His quarry would be close; the flame would have been long dead had the Archon moved on. There was no way to stop an Archon, all hunters knew this. Talking was the only weapon he had against a potential madman.
Rounding a corner he spotted a stone wall that had managed to survive to blaze. Commanding his legs to move, he managed to arrive at the wall before he collapsed to the ground. He pulled himself up and lay up against it, glad to be out of the battering winds. Raging fires all around made the air smoky, and hotter than a sauna. There could be little doubt this Archon had lost his mind.
After a quick drink he pulled out a number of small devices, carefully considering the readings each one was displaying. Another half-dozen machines built by some fool engineer, all in the hopes of detecting an Archon. Scientific devices had long given way to a crazed scramble to create something that would work. Twenty five years of mindless destruction. Twenty five years of no answers.
“Scratch these.” He mumbled to himself.
Sighing, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the wall. Thoughts filled his head of past Archons; each unique, but still similar. Some were thought of as great heroes, some terrible villains, and a few just vanished. Many sleepless nights filled his past; nights spent trying to make a connection. Mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, and any other imaginable kind of scientist had tried and failed to find a pattern in Archon appearances.
Explosions in the distance brought him back from the painful daydream. Bringing his watch into view he sighed loudly; every minute spent wasted in a daydream meant a minute for the Archon to escape. A flickering of light through the smoke caught his eye. Through the blackness he could see something moving toward him. Without thinking he sprang to his feet, fists up for the good they would do.
Through the smoke the flicker became larger. It seemed to be accelerating each moment, and moving straight towards him.
That's all for now! I have to get working on a few other things now. I will be finishing this either later tonight or tomorrow!
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