General

I was about 35 years old when I finally caved in and got myself some glasses. I hate wearing glasses, but not because of how they look. It’s the constant pushing them back up my nose. It’s the irritation above the ears from the constant use. Before I needed bifocals, I certainly had the option of buying contact lenses, but I chose not to. They cost more than glasses – and I already disliked having to spend any money at all on the matter.

In the 1960s, the cost of replacing a pair of contact lenses was about $200. Many of the younger cohort inclined to wear contact lenses found this replacement cost to be prohibitive. But of course, the cost wasn’t about to stop them from choosing contact lenses over glasses and so, contact lens insurance was born. One of the first contact lens insurers was founded by Gerald D. Stephens in 1965 and it became one of the largest of its kind in the United States.

Over time, the demand for the insurance diminished with the emergence of more affordable, disposable soft lenses. In order to remain competitive, Stephens began offering other types of insurance, including commercial property and liability insurance. The company eventually got out of the contract lens insurance line altogether and thrives in the property and casualty industry today. In fact, on 2025-02-13, they announced a dividend increase making this the 50th straight year of doing so. We have ourselves another Dividend King in the Royal Dividends Empire.

All hail RLI Corp!

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Coronation! [RLI]Read More »

On 2024-12-31, the equally weighted S&P 500 Index [SPXEW] closed at $7,100.83, up 10.9% for the year excluding dividends. But it does include an atrocious -6.4% return in December. December’s performance is a reminder that account value, whether we like it or not, is transitory. Unrealized gains are just that, unrealized. Account value only becomes real when you cash in all your chips and get out of the game.

December turned a great year into a good year. Royal Dividends is still in the game and this quick update aims to focus on what is most important, dividends.

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Performance Update [4]Read More »

If you collect a paycheck, electronic or other, there’s a one in six chance it comes from a company created in 1949 by brothers Joe and Henry Taub. They called it Automatic Payrolls, Inc. but there was nothing automatic about it. It was a manual payroll processing business that started small. Now, 75 years later, it employs 64,000 people of its own and brings in over $19 billion in annual revenue. They could very well be working with your own company’s Chief People Person, and they won’t stop until the problems experienced by a young Milton Waddams are eradicated.

On November 6, 2024, this bastion of the workplace announced its 50th consecutive annual increase to their quarterly dividend. We have another Dividend King, and it joins the Royal Dividends Empire.

All hail Automatic Data Processing, Inc!

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Coronation! [ADP]Read More »

If you’re reading this, you likely have received email offers from various investment advisories or financial publishers.  And once you bite, a torrent of emails from previously unheard-of services and publications follows.  These marketing efforts are excessively frequent, intentionally secretive, and filled with exaggerations, even when the service itself is legitimate and worthy of subscription. 

How do we separate the wheat from the chaff so we can make some dough?

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How Transparent is Your Investment Advisory?Read More »

The Royal Dividends portfolio, what I refer to as the Portfolio for the Ages, is my creation. I have made every transaction as posted here since the inception of the website. I own the portfolio exactly as it appears on the Portfolio page right now.

But it is not all that I own.

I own some fixed income, some exposure to precious metals, and plenty of other dividend stocks. In fact, one can think of the Portfolio for the Ages as the most promising microcosm of this larger collection of stocks. It is a simple, refined, comprehensive, value-based selection of dividend stocks from an Empire of dividend stocks, themselves a dividendery-based distillation from a vast, less impressive universe of equities.

Royal Dividends has zero exposure to the Magnificent Seven and crypto currencies, but that is no longer true for my broader collection of investments.

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The Man Who Killed NvidiaRead More »

The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.

– Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell, speaking at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, August 23, 2024

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Like a Hot Knife Through ButterRead More »

On 2022-01-04, the equally weighted S&P 500 Index [SPXEW] closed at an all-time high of $6,664.65. It took 918 days, over 2.5 years, to get above that mark. It closed at $6,697.32 on 2024-07-10. The market had finally decided that there is some merit to owning the other 493 companies after all. The market liked how it felt and SPXEW rose again on July 11th and then again on July 12th. The weekend saw a failed assassination attempt on former President Trump and the market seemed to like that, too. SPXEW gapped up on the 15th and followed still higher on the 16th. The index traded slightly down today and closed at $6,932.70. Thus, it took 918 days to move 0.5% and a week to move up another 3.0%.

But that’s SPXEW; I care about Royal Dividends. And guess what? The Portfolio for the Ages turns two years old today. Let’s take a closer look.

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Performance Update [3]Read More »

Remarkably, three Dividend Kings have chosen to cut their dividends this month. And these weren’t just any Kings, but Kings in the Portfolio for the Ages. LEG cut their quarterly dividend 89%, from $0.46 to $0.05. MMM cut their dividend 54% from $1.51 to $0.70. Then on Tuesday, the newly crowned – and to my knowledge, the first ever Dividend King from the Communication Services sector – announced a major sale of assets they own and control, to T-Mobile [TMUS]. This was news we’ve been waiting for since August 2023.

Unfortunately, this highly anticipated press release also announced a 79% reduction to its dividend. Folks, Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. has abdicated the throne!

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Abdication [TDS]Read More »

Royal Dividends started its first position on 2022-07-18. The Portfolio for the Ages finally turned positive on 2023-01-11, showing a return of 0.9%. Since then, the broader market has moved up and the portfolio right along with it.

But today the portfolio’s total return reached a new all-time high. Let’s take a closer look.

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Performance Update [2]Read More »

Two days ago, I was preoccupied with Leggett & Platt’s decision to reduce its dividend 89%, from $0.46 per quarter to a nominal $0.05 per quarter, thereby ending its 52-year streak of annual increases and its reign as a Dividend King. I was distraught and angry. Perhaps more than usual. Then circa 1:00am last night, perusing my own personal echo chamber of news headlines, I learned that ANOTHER Dividend King had announced plans to cut and run. The 2024Q2 dividend won’t be declared until May. It will be subject to board approval, but I’m calling it now.¹

Put a Post-it note on the fridge for all to see: 3M Company will be abdicating the throne!

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Abdication [MMM]Read More »