For dividend investing, what is the minimum number of counters one should have in the basket? Of course I know there's no hard and fast standard, just wanna hear some ideas

hi DW, any read ups or article that you have on how to invest Sg stocks? do i need a bank account or CDS account in SG or can i just use my Maybank CDS?

thanks let me ask my remiser.

any good recommendations on SG reits? 

Megasale starting today until GE.. I am in hunting mode for dividend stocks also...

Save like mad, no holiday vacations overseas, no car.

Invest in dividend stocks (more than 6% yield). Then re-invest the dividends. Keep doing this for 4 years.

My portfolio is made up of mainly telcos and REITs. 

I save around 70% - 80% of my salary.

If there are opportunities, I will add more stocks.

But nowadays, the Singapore stock market is really high.....so I dun see any good opportunities....

Yup. I will let u know.

I am looking at IGB REIT now. 

Saving 70-80% of your salary is possible if you are earning high income. I'm saving around 60% of my income. I have commitments such as car, house loansand parents. I do not skimp on my expenses.

If I'm earning 10K I also can save 70%

Ya.. Cos got a big jump in salary when I switched job last year.. Before that managed to save around 40% without car loan and giving less to my parents ...

FYI, my personal spending pattern (but has taken up the responsibility of paying household bills and buying all the groceries ) has not changed for the past few years while my income has risen during the same period.

Of course there will be a bit inflation! By "my spending pattern has not changed", I meant that I'm still eating more or less the same food, at the same places

Some pretty top dividend stocks in Malaysia

Company | Ticker | Sector | Marke Cap (RM '000) | Gross Div Payut Ratio (%) | Price as at Feb 8 2013 | Rolling 4 Qs Div Yield (%)
NCB Holding Bhd |  NCB | Port services and port logsitics | 2,116,139 | 174.60 | 4.5 | 16.22
JT International Bhd | JTINTER | Tobacco | 1,687,907 | 188.76 | 6.45 | 13.02
CYL Corporation Bhd | CYL | Packaging, canning and bottling | 47,500 | 163.04 | 0.48 | 12.63

NCB seems to be a very interesting thing company. And they're paying out 42% of profit, and seems to be relatively lucrative. And they've been paying for 10 continuous years, so any reviews on this from anybody else?

Dividends are normally from their cash-flow. As long as the dividends are below their cash-generation ability. It's sustainable.

And JTI is generating a lot of excess cash. Which is why the paid the special dividend last year. Their normal dividends are still below their cash from operations.

EPS is not an accurate indicator of a company's ability to distribute dividend, although it is still an important factor. The cash generation from operations is a much more important data.

If a company pay off all their earnings and remaining cash bank as dividends, it mean they will not have much leftover for additional expansion or they think that the future prospects is not good hence returning money to shareholders. Usually these are sunset industries (ie. tobacco) or industries which have regulated and can not expand further (NCB) as an example.

For me dividend investing we must look at dividend growth and dividend sustainability as a good criteria to ensure that the dividend increase will outstrip inflation and also the company is capable to continuously invest to grow earnings. For me a company with dividend growth of minimum 5% y-on-y and payout ratio not exceeding 50% is what i am looking for. History shows that company which is continuously growing the dividend will have the best of both dividend and capital gain (ie. Nestle, Dutch Lady, GAb...)

US have a good list of dividend aristocrats (increasing dividend for 25 years continuously) and dividend achievers (increasing 10 years)... anyone have the time to compile this list for Malaysia?   

Unless we can spot a good thing before others 'discover' it...
But even if we do, we may not have confidence in ourselves 

That is only 3 years.... you free to compile the 10 year list?  Will be a great list for all dividend investors...

felixmask,

You make my day! This is very good. I know a place to get this data but I need to subscribe/pay for it!

Cheerio

You can count yourself by reading the financial reports... now don't be lazy.

Otherwise you can get a nice 10 year summary from the Malaysian Stock Performance book - published every 6 months - RM 70.

There is a better screener than the one you posted...http://markets.ft.com/screener/customScreen.asp