There's a version of almost everything worth doing that pays you very little at the start. The first year in a new career, where the effort vastly outpaces the pay. The early days of raising a family, when the returns are mostly sleepless nights. A farm in its first few seasons, or a portfolio in its first few years. It takes a certain faith to keep going when the ground still looks bare
The foundation laid in those lean years is the whole game. The career that compounds into something rich, the family that holds together, the orchard that eventually can't give its fruit away fast enough, they all share the same simple principle... steady, consistent improvement that nobody claps for at the time.
Dividends are no different. A high yield can be a quick fix, a generous-looking number that can act as a glossy veneer for a business already running out of road. Then there are the companies with a long record of small, regular dividend increases. The financial equivalent of an orchard planted years ago and now in full fruit.
This week is about telling those two apart.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Lawler, Senior Investment Editor
