Customer Reviews

The Little Book of Big Dividends: A Safe Formula for Guaranteed Returns (Little Books. Big Profits)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a young investment manager I like readable books that I can read in the evenings that can explain concepts clearly and simplify things where appropriate as opposed to the textbooks I'm familiar with which are heavy on theory but weak on application. This book is such a book but with limitations.

As an investor who does not believe in relying on other peoples' models unless I can actually see what goes into a model, this book is a good starting place for understanding the fundamentals of dividend centric investment strategies for your own creative thinking process.

BUT do realise that an important aspect of Mr. Carlson's valuation methodology lies in his Quadrix score generation which is obviously a complex multi level model which he explains only at the simplest level, if you want to use Carlson's formula for picking dividend stocks, you MUST rely on the assumption that his Quadrix model will continue to beat the market based on the evidence that he has presented. Then you MUST only pick from the free data available at his website or PAY for the Quadrix data or RELY on his stock picks.

Personally, I feel this book is worth the money I paid for it just because it gives me a basic understanding into his methodology as well as a updated (weekly) list of stocks he picks using his Quadrix method. I intend to look into his stock picks but I will use my own analysis, relying on black box models always gives me the creeps...

In conclusion,

This is a good book on fundamental dividend stock valuation technique, a computer savvy investor familiar with market valuation techniques might be able to take his hints and formulate his own model but the average investor will need to either pay for the Quadrix scores or rely on the free scores available for a certain amount of stocks. He also provides alternatives to his Quadrix model but overall the key item to finding strong dividend stocks in the method that he would is kept away from us.

Whether this is fair given the cost of the book, I leave to you to decide.

Ben Phua

All in all a decent book if you take the advice with a grain of salt and common sense.

The book is meant for absolute newbies. It does not contain any useful discussion for seasoned investors. The book actually argues that investors should not look to buy and own high dividend stocks! (instead just own stocks spitted out by the BSD formula given in the book). The explanation of the BSD formula itself is very superficial.

Book is excellent. Basically, you purchase a stock and forget it. You will ride the ups and downs of the market with it. However, for short term and intermediate trader; you will be unable to capture the volatility of the equity you own and trade in the direction of the market. Easier to read than your Sunday paper. I therefore recommend this book for beginners in the financial market.

This book should be the #1 baby shower gift to teach parents how to create an easy and safe college fund. It should be a graduation gift for every college student to prepare them for a safe and secure retirement fund. I highly recommend this book for everyone. It is clearly written, easy to understand, easy to follow and implement the recommendations. I have purchased numerous copies as gifts.

With the havoc the recent down market has wreaked on people's retirement plans, I've become very interested in dividend paying stocks. If carefully selected, dividend stocks have the potential to provide a steady stream of income regardless of the fluctuations of the stock's price. Notice I said carefully - as stocks can cut or even stop dividend payments at any time. But if the stocks are selected based on a strict set of criteria that is setup to minimize the chance of cutting the dividend, great recession proof wealth can be created over time.

The concepts covered in this book are mostly basic, but I would have avoided some mistakes if I had read it BEFORE I attempted to invest in dividend paying stocks. If you're an experienced dividend investor, this book is probably a bit too basic for you. The one exception is if you are interested in utilizing a formula in order to pick stocks based on consistent pre-defined criteria. The book provides a basic and an advanced version of it's Big Safe Dividend (BSD) formula. The two formulas vary based the ease of use along with the number of variables used.

The author takes the BSD formula one step further and provides a completely free website that calculates the parameters for you. So all you have to do is apply the criteria explained in the book, and you should be able to pick winning stocks over the long term. The website is updated weekly, and you can go check out the recommended dividend stocks at any time.The formulas were backtested all the way back to 1994, and they consistently beat the market by at least 4 percentage points on an annual basis. The advanced BSD performed even better.

Note that you should do your own due diligence and not completely rely on a formula to make your decisions. But these formulas can be used as a great starting place and will provide a filtered set of stocks for you to work with.

The book wraps up by touching on some of the more advanced investments, such as REITs and ETFs. There is even some discussion on properly utilizing various investment strategies and the principle of diversification.

In summary, the book is a bit basic. But if you're not currently following a systematic approach that is producing consistent returns over time, maybe you should give it a quick read...

James Ryan
PostponedLife.com

The book lays out an easy to understand & implement strategy for making real returns in the Stock Market that won't vaporize in the next downturn. It's not all the trendy stocks and you won't be the hit of the cocktail party talking about compounding dividends, but at the end of the day you'll have the comfty nest egg to retire on.

This book provides much good insight into the correct strategy for investing into individual stocks. This book mainly focuses on Stock investments. I did learn much about how to follow the path of sticking with companies that pay regular dividents over time. Also how to avoid stocks on steroids that are toxic.
However, since i will be maily investing in Mutal funds, I probably won't be using this strategy to the fullest. Still worth the read.

Overall, I found the little book on safe investment slightly more beneficial.

A good and easy-to-understand overview of the value of dividend stocks and how to select them. He also discusses DRIPs and other strategies. As with other Little Books, the author has set up a website using his formula to select quality, dividend stocks. This website is free [...]. It's a useful resource to quickly see yield and other stats for S&P stocks without doing the work yourself.

Thank you for explaining Investing and making it so simple.
your BSD formula will more than pay for the book. Now is the time to invest in your book and the market for great returns. I am buying more books to give to family members and recommending it to our Investment Club members.

I ordered this to be able to make money on accounts for my grandchildren. I am definately going to invest my IRA using this formula. I need monthly income now that I am retired. This is definately the answer to my prayers.