Defensive Value Investing 101

Balancing risk vs. return, income vs. growth and quality vs. value

Investing is all about risk and return. In order to get higher returns, you usually need to take more risk, so there is a balance to be struck between what rate of return you would like and what level of risk you can live with.

Defensive shares – An unusual way to value them

In recent posts, I’ve looked at a variety of ways to track down and compare defensive shares. I’ve covered looking for consistent profits and dividends, consistent growth, high rates of growth and low debt. But finding defensive shares is only half the battle; the other half is having a reliable way to value them.

How to avoid companies with too much debt

For each company you might invest in, there is some prudent and optimal amount of debt that it can carry. Taking on some debt makes sense because many companies can generate more earnings from investing borrowed money (in a new factory, for example) than they’d have to pay in interest.

Fast dividend growers – How to find them

In recent posts, I’ve covered some simple steps that you can use to find companies with long histories of profitable dividend payments and consistent growth.

How to find reliable, profitable dividend growth

If you want to build a high-yield, low-risk portfolio, looking for companies with a record of reliable dividends and profits is a good start, but it’s not enough.

How to find shares that pay a reliable dividend

Reliable dividends are the cornerstone of a defensive, income-focused portfolio. But what’s the best way to find these shares, and just how reliable are they?

A brief guide to dividend Income and capital growth

The returns that you’ll get from participating in the stock market will come from two distinct sources. The first is income from dividends, and the second is capital growth from share price appreciation.

Diversifying your shares: Some additional factors

In my last post, I asked, “How many different shares should you hold in your portfolio?”. However, there is more to creating a diversified portfolio than simply owning shares from many different companies.

How many different shares should you hold in your portfolio?

At its heart, diversification is a simple concept and one with which you’re probably already familiar, but understanding the basics is important.

I would say that at least 80% of your investment results will come from a dedicated and consistent application of the basics and only 20% from anything that looks even remotely clever.

But back to that question: Just how many different shares should you hold in your portfolio?

How to get a progressive dividend income from your shares

Progressive dividends are the Holy Grail for many investors. They want steady, reliable dividends paid out from the companies they own because they want a progressive income from their portfolio as a whole.

10 tools for building a portfolio of high-yield shares

Investing in high-yield shares seems to be all the rage at the moment, and that’s no bad thing as high yield shares have been shown to outperform market averages in the long-run. The problem is that there’s more to picking high yield shares than simply looking for a high yield!

10 Questions every stock picker needs to ask

If you’re looking to invest in successful businesses that are relatively large and safe, perhaps with a preference for market leaders and household names, then you’re not alone.

But despite the popularity of this approach, there is often a surprising lack of planning in the way that many investors go about the business of picking stocks.