Happy New Year

  The end of the year is always the perfect time to research the available annual information about companies I'm interested in owning. So that's what I've been doing the last few days. I'm most interested in how much stock prices and dividends have gone up for those companies I'm interested in. Since I'm most interested in stocks that are on the Dividend Aristocrat List, that's the information I've been digging through. I've been surfing the net for each of these company's websites as well as the NASDAQ website for all the information I can find. In a few days I'll have most of that data input into a spreadsheet so I can make sense out of it. I'll be looking for those companies that not only increase their stock price but do so at a rate faster than the overall market. I'll also be looking for companies that not only increase their dividends but do so at a rate faster than inflation. I know there's quite a few companies on the Dividend Aristocrat List that have done that in the past but that's no guarantee the they'll repeat doing it into the future. It's all based on the assumption that companies that have been great in the past will continue to be great well into the future. But like Ronald Reagan said about the Russians - Trust but Verify. For me that means buy but continue to monitor. Hopefully once I begin to mine this pile of data I'll be able to come up with some good ideas. Wish me luck.