Author/Editor
Tim Plaehn
Publisher
Investors Alley
Description
High-yield and dividend-growth focused newsletter, offering the “monthly dividend paycheck calendar” and attempting to pick stocks from companies who can sustain a high and growing dividend.
Overall Rating
Rating: 4.0/5. From 144 votes.
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4.0
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I am very satisfied with this service which has taught me a lot about dividend investing although I am a complete novice
I have been burned in the past so I am always leery of being taken. Just curious to see if you are still satisfied.
How satisfied are you now? I am interested to know if you regret your choices ?Thanks
So far I’m very pleased with the Dividend Hunter service. Tim’s picks are helping my investments greatly. I have also emailed questions and have received a timely response
How much per trade is Tim asking you to put up?
I just joined The dividend Hunter, I am surprise that I didn’t get anything from them, there is a webinar at six that I want to watch, I hope I get some response. Anybody know his phone number?
Hey ADA the number I have is (212)566-6100
Tim has great reasons for his choices, but he often recommends stocks which are weak and in downtrends. It would seem better to wait until the downtrend is apparently over before buying such stocks. If 50 day line is below 200 day line, I am not interested unless both are turning up. Why buy a loser? He also ignores some stocks that seem to fit his parameters. Should as least tell us why. But I mostly like the service.
I believe you miss the whole point of dividend investing for INCOME vs. GROWTH.
yeh! I get it you are looking at the dividends BUT if the stock goes down you have to calculate your loss verse the dividend payed out, don’t you? If not what am I not seeing here?
The dividend is paid out per shares you own per qtr. Your yield is based on the price per share that you paid when you bought stock. The higher the stock price goes from the time of purchase, the lower your yield will be.
“The higher the stock price goes from the time of purchase, the lower your yield will be.” I don’t think this is right. Rather, the higher price you pay for the stock, the lower your yield will be. However, if you paid a lower price, in your record-keeping the rate of the dividend payment will always be based on the price you paid and thus will increase the longer you hold it.
Hi Linda, would be interesterd to know how have the dividend performance been since the crash ? Have the stocks you picked been badly affected ? Did you buy more stock ?
Hi, Stan, I was just pondering whether to subscribe to The Dividend Hunter; I haven’t actually done it. I have been subscribing to a similar newsletter for quite a few years but was drawn in by Phelen’s claim that one could accomplish enough monthly income for retirement from a $25,000 investment. The math didn’t work for me which is why I got onto this comment string. My portfolio IS made up of pretty conservative dividend-producing stocks, but they were recommended by the writer of my newsletter. In this “crash,” EVERYTHING has declined in price per share, many quite significantly. So far I have had no dividend eliminations or cuts. I am still reinvesting dividends, so I’m buying shares or partial shares at cheaper prices. Thus, more shares will equal larger dividends next time. I have not actually used “new” money to purchase more shares yet, though. I did buy a couple of new recommendations whose share prices had fallen a fair amount. Not all, but most of them have since fallen more, so I’m waiting until it looks like things have settled down before buying anything else. I had sold some stocks before things got really bad, in order to take some profits and to free up money to buy some bonds which I am only lately learning how to do. For my age, my portfolio held only equities, NOT exactly an asset allocation and much too risky!
You are exactly correct my friend……it’s all about ROI, dividends plus capital gains, and market value appreciation on your investment in each stock. I always sell some portion of shares taking money off the table when the market share price capital gains exceeds two years worth of the dividends being paid. Who knows what can happen over two years to your precious dividend future earnings??? Usually about the 30% point of market value increase. Many investors pay a premium for a stock just for the dividend payout……it’s especially true with Preferred stock issues.
Stop losses placed on any stock you own you own can kill your market value when they have a market event downturn triggering the sell side dumping millions of shares in a day at the next lower price. I never trade on margins, and never set a stop loss.
DON’T BE A FOOL, DIVIDENDS ARE GREAT, BUT IF YOU PUT $10,000 INTO A SINGLE STOCK PAYING YOU 10% ……WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE STOCK GOES DOWN IN MARKET PRICE 15% YOU NEED A STABLE STOCK PRICE, OR ONE WITH SOME GROWTH IN MARKET PRICE GOING UP. THE RETURN ON THE INVESTMENT IS CRITICAL…..(R.O.I.) MARKET PRICE PLUS THE DIVIDEND IS THE KEY BOTH SHORT AND LONG TERM. ANNUAL YIELD % IS FIGURED ON QUARTERLY MARKET PRICE AGAINST DIVIDEND EARNINGS. STOCKS THAT MAKE MONEY, INCREASE REVENUE, BUILD MARKET PRICE, AND INCREASE DIVIDEND PAYOUT AMOUNTS IN CASH ARE THE WINNERS. YOU CAN HAVE A BASKET OF STOCKS THE PAY A HIGHER PERCENTAGE PAYOUT EACH QUARTER, BUT STILL LOSE MONEY, GETTING LESS OF A DIVIDEND, ON A STOCK THAT DECREASED IN MARKET VALUE. i HAVE BEEN IN THE DIIVIDEND GAME FOR 15 YEARS NOW, MAKING IT WORK…….AND THERE ARE LOSER INVESTMENTS, THAT PAY HIGH DIVIDENDS…..WAIT UNTIL THEY DILUTE CREATING MORE SHARES, TO DIVIDE THE QUARTERLY DIVIDEND AMONG MORE SHARES. THIS IS NOT WITHOUT RISK……I EARN BETWEEN $90K TO $120K A YEAR IN DIVIDEND INCOME OVER A LONG TERM INVESTMENT PERIOD.
Chuck, I have also found Tim often recommends a good stock at a bad time to buy it. And I have questioned him repeatedly about why he has kept AMZA on the recommended list. AMZA has been a dog! And there are several other stocks he has dropped that were not nearly the poor performance of AMZA. Never got a good answer. And although has told me his time horizon is YEARS, he has changed his portfolio performance reporting to reflect only the very recent performance. There is a big disconnect sometimes between what he says his convictions are and what he does.
sound logic . great view point
I joined a couple of months ago and the jury is still out. Purchased shares in l5 from his recommended list. GMLP, MIC and AMZA have taken serious hits and overall am down 1.5 % in value. Will hang in and see what happens in the long run.
Chuck Grantham
That’s what I am talking about! I hope over the long run you will even out or better be ahead but considering it is Amazon you should be just fine if you can wait it out.
AMZA is not Amazon
I subscribed to the Dividend Hunter about a year ago, and participated in most of the special presentations that Tim has provided during that time. His views and research has definitely changed by way of thinking about stock investments, focusing on dividend income and growth versus worrying about the price of each stock every day. He has also personally answered a few questions I have e-mailed him over this time regarding dividend stocks I owned that he did not cover. I agree that some of his picks have declined in stock price, but as long as the overall stability of the business hasn’t changed, you still get the dividend income, along with a BUY opportunity.
So is he placing trailing stop losses or option along with the trade while waiting for dividends. I don’t know much about options and how you would set them up but it would seem a good way to protect yourself.
I just joined. NO, he does not use trailing stops and he emphatically states he does not sell based on low share price, theory being he has done his research and stays focused on the reliability of the divs and overall health and management of the companies. I just reviewed all his picks as of Jan 2018 and noticed a few picks whose share prices have dropped since his buy price. A couple of them are / look scary but he maintains to add on dips for the dividends. I will say that his longer-tern holdings (since approx 2014) appear stable. My initial assessment fwiw is that 90% or more of his picks are great for what his advertised goals.
jvsaput07 I hadn’t thought about that. But you got something there. At worst, we lose the money we pay for the options, so it would depend how much they cost to cover your stock purchase. Has anyone looked into that?
It all sounds good if the market remains stable but to get these kind of weekly or monthly paycheck streaming into your mailbox you have to buy shares in the stock. I saw one example of a $2387 check in one month BUT what isn’t mentioned is the capital at risk for buying the stock. If the stock is $4o per share x 1000 shares = $40,000! Nice play if the stock does not go down by by $2387 over 30 days! So even if this works you still have to look over your shoulder and keep an eye on that stock’s daily value. The price is for the program is very generous but it is not so care free set it and forget it. You may get a few gray hairs over twelves month from the unexpected lows in the market place.
J.V.S. Jacksonville, FL
Completely agree jvsaputo7
if only there were companies that would pay you big dividends without having to own their stock.
I think the idea is that if your stocks are fundamentally sound in the first place and have a fairly long history of paying dividends and of increasing them on a regular basis, you don’t have to worry about their price because you’re not going to sell. They will continue to pay the dividend unless they go bankrupt. Of course, if something weird happens that renders them unsound, they might have to cut or eliminate the dividend. I thought I saw something on his site where he cautioned subscribers , in addition to his due diligence, to do their own on a recommendation before buying it. This made me a little nervous.
you should always do your own due diligence on any investment. you don’t have to be a financial guru to check other sources to see if the numbers make sense. there are plenty of free resources on the web.
Some of these big money payouts listed, are actually high level executives of the company who own the stock. You can find their names easy, and see how many shares they own to determine the payouts under insider information holdings. Tim sells a newsletter people, that is his income stream plus his dividend portfolio. Finding a high quality dividend income stock takes research, and hard work that most people do not have a clue to analyze . Try the Preferred Stock Channel.com they have a wealth of research across a broad variety of dividend investments from REITS, BDC’s, CEF’s, ETF’s, Bonds, Funds etc.
In order to collect $2k to $5k per month in dividend income how much would one be expected to invest in the stocks?
2k per month = 24 k per year. At 10% return, you would need 240k.
10% as income is Not realistic. Oveerall – 10% maybe. But as income, maximum would be 5%. You would need $480,000 to generate $24,000 a year with reliability. The other 5% is growth, which you can’t have, unless you sell, thereby killing the golden goose.
frankly, frank – i disagree. it depends on your risk tolerance, but there are plenty of decent investments that pay 8 – 14% per year, and increase their dividends over time. you just have to know how to find them. i subscribed to the dividend hunter for a short time but ended up getting a refund. his strategy is perfect for someone who is at least ten years away from retirement. i’m already retired, so it wasn’t really a good fit for me.
So what strategy are you using since you are retired ?
Why does my password not work [ ybagaheb ] I am still financial
I just read his information on my site. I have a question. He speaks of a $25,000.00 investment, not a 240K investment. Has anyone started with a $25,00 investment and seen good dividend for income monthly?
it is more than possible to build a lifetime of good income from an initial investment of $25,000 and no additional new money. the system relies on the old adage of “time in the market” is better than timing the market. you buy and hold, and you reinvest the dividends. if you select good solid companies with an established track record of increasing their dividends over time and you reinvest those dividends for a number of years, the magic of compounding will get you there. it isn’t a get rich quick scheme. it takes time to grow your income. so this is not a strategy that you should start if you are already retired. but there are other income strategies that can work if if you have a $250k nestegg.
The stock research is sophomoric at best. In my judgement, with a bit of effort you can research dividend stocks on your own and come up with a solid list of investment candidates.
Let me recommend AllianceBernstein Global High Income Fund (AWF), they have a good steady history, pay monthly and currently yield 6.7% annually.
If I could have only one investing newsletter, this would be it.
I have just joined the newsletter and now i am being asked to join he inner circle. Not quite sure how I like the up sale before I even get started. I went to my investment adviser to check out the initial stacks that were in the buy portfolio.
most of the stacks were rated a d or an f as in do not purchase or very high risk. Can anyone that has been using this portfolio for a while address this. I do not what to start investing and add high risk when I am getting close to retirement.
Come on, Mark. Of course you don’t want to start investing and add high risk at a late age! Subscribe to SimplySafeDividends.com, go to the conservative portfolio section and sleep at night!
I did some reading/studying last fall , subscribed and then invested using Dividend Hunters list.
1. November 1, 2017 bought l7 of his recommendations with significant $.
2. Have had an 8% dividend return since then. This is good
3. Stock corpus value has increased 3%. This is good.
4. I was not prepared for some stocks’ very precipitous value changes. From what I paid, MIC is down 40%, GMLP is
down 30% but UNIT is up 33% . But as I said, overall portfolio is up 3%
5. I sold and bought a couple of stocks based on Tim’s recommendations since November. This turned out to be good advice and were good decisions.
6. I wish Tim would deal more directly when a stock plummets as did MIC and GMLP. Instead of saying,
“folks, we took a big hit last month, but I think we should hang with this stock” he is almost obfuscating and
tends to skirt/not deal directly with a fairly significant fact..
Overall, I am cautiously pleased, but still watching as I liquidate management intensive assets and am working on my handicap. Hope this helps.
Chuck Grantham
as long as the stock doesn’t cut or eliminate the dividend, you should not worry about short-term fluctuations in the market price. that is the beauty of dividend investing. the only thing you need to keep an eye on is the dividend coverage ratio. if the company is forced to pay out more than forward cash flow for more than a year, you should definitely consider selling the stock.
I have been there with MIC. I have come to know that no one cares more about my portfolio than me. Not even Tim Plaehn. So when MIC started to tank, I sold. I don’t wait for Tim. And when he recommends a new stock, I don’t buy, I start watching it. See if it is in an uptrend or downtrend. The Dividend Hunter is a good resource, but I do not believe there is ANY newsletter of service out there you can just follow blindly. You have do at least some of the work yourself.
I would like to see the newsletter track total return. It is difficult to assss how the sticks picked in the newsletter ar actually performing. For example, one of the pics in the newsletter was MIC. The stock declined over 40% after announcing a dividend cut early in the year. However, you cannot tell the stock even declined in the stock recommendation list.
Can someone in the comments here use dividend strategy and simply blog about it– for free?
3 out of 4 trades have lost over 25% of their value not including dividends over the past 3 months.
I think that would be fairly simple to do, except the blogger would need to be pouring over corporate financials and dividend payment histories to be providing accurate analysis. A Dividend Hunter subscriber would be banned from republishing the original recommendations by the non-disclosure agreement that appears in the fine print of any financial publisher’s order form.
lol. yeah, sure. do you work for free?
I’ve been a subscriber to Dividend Hunter for nearly two years.I have chosen several of his recommendations and most seem pretty good but a few are really falling behind. I’m frustrated over his latest pitch for the Dividend Hunter Insider subscription as he says he can’t give all his best recommendations in the Dividend Hunter so now I have to spend more money to get the best stuff. That’s distasteful to me in a big way. And also I have been trying to call their published phone number 1-855-566-6100 for several days and the recording says” this number is no longer in service or has been disconnected.” What’s up with this. Is there a new number? The old one used to be working.
I too subscribe to Dividend Hunter. Got the 1 year at $49.00. Had problems in beginning and couldn’t get through. I emailed Tim and left messages at the 855-566 6100 number. Too much advertisement for me. At end of term will not renew. It seems like it’s all about selling you more subscriptions.
You can email Tim and he’ll respond or here’s another #1-212-566-6100.
Normal business hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday excluding market holidays.
Good Luck…
This exactly what I wanted to say as a new member at $49 and then after your in he says something to the effect, “Now I have a list of super dividend picks but I can’t share them with you but for an additional $197 you can get the premium upgrade” CRAP! It makes you feel like you will get the old hammy downs that will never pay for your cost let alone multiply. Some programs are very low cost the the Dividend Drip program and one I know is free, Simply Sure Dividends. I think I will get my refund guarantee on this one. I just smells wrong and greedy.
I have to generally concur with criticisms of his choices. I invested a pretty significant amount of $ two years ago and bought 17 of his recommendations. Many had gone way down before the virus and now with the virus my overall investment and portfolio value is off 45%. In addition, several of his “picks” choices have had significant dividend cuts. I, too find his constant”hawking” of additional services objectionable and also have a problem with his lack of forthrightness about some of his bad choices. Am still hooked into his way of doing things, but can’t say I’m happy, every before the virus
Just so you know thats “old hand me downs” and its referring to clothes that children in a family “inherit” from their older siblings.
I think you get much more bang for the buck, with a lot more reliability out of Simply Safe Dividends. I don’t think Dividend Hunter /Investor Alley provides a comprehensive service and is constantly nickel and diming you to buy more of his services to get a more complete perspective. I think one of the reasons he is always pitching a lifetime membership is because his performance suffers over time, but if you have bought in for the lifetime membership, then you are a captive audience. Finviz, Seeking Alpha, Leveraged Investing Club, Yahoo Finance, Simply Safe Dividends, DripInvesting.org I think all offer a better and more comprehensive perspective than what is being offered at Dividend Hunter/Investor Alley
well yeah. $400 a year vs $49 a year, they certainly better offer a more comprehensive service.
For the introductory rate of $49, his picks are a good value. I’m considering the $297 lifetime offer, since it’s a $99 / yr. renewal subscription rate. I agree, don’t just use The Dividend hunter’s recommendations, thanks for the tips on the other resources.
another very good and reasonably priced resource is suredividend. they offer two different monthly newsletters that are less than $150 a year. one is geared towards retirees (or near retirees), and the other is focussed on average investors. each newsletter has a model portfolio as well as pages and pages of detailed analysis and updated ratings of hundreds of dividend stocks. a lot of value for the money. they have a 7-day free trial where you will not be charged plus a 60-day full refund policy after you pay.
Add up suredividend’s performance across all recommendations (not just sold stocks). It’s really poor, not to mention all the dividend cuts.
Don’t do it!
Has anyone actually experienced their $25,000 investment producing dividend income of $9.000 to $28,000 in about 48 months? Has your initial $25,000 investment grown enough so that you can leave $25k there to continue producing the income and use the rest of the growth ($25,000 hopefully, right?) to buy another recommendation expected to produce dividend income of $9.000 to $28,000 in about 48 months? I don’t get how one investment of $25,000 is supposed to produce all this extra annual income for infinity. In other words, does his proposal actually work? Also, are options involved in any way?
I haven’t, but I am getting close to 8% average on my dividend stocks. Do the math. “Compound interest is the greatest mathematical discovery of all time.” Albert Einstein
And how have your dividend stocks held up after the last couple of weeks?
I got turned off when Tim revalues his holdings on Jan 1 to the then current price. This distorts portfolio gains! Why would someone calculate gains based on the new low instead of the purchase or entry price? Only to distort results! This makes the results higher for gains and lower for losses and is TOTALLY misleading.
I’ve been a subscriber now for about 9 months. The YTD returns, as of 6/20, on his current conservative and aggressive portfolios are a “train wreck”, and some of his holdings have suspended or significantly reduced their dividends. They can only go up from here! …But I do like the overall strategy.
to be fair, the entire market is a train wreck – unless you had all your money in amazon, apple and tesla. well, actually apple and tesla have been kind of a train wreck too, the past week or so. nobody could predict what would happen to the market in march. the double whammy of covid and the oil price war decimated my portfolio too, and i only had a few of the stocks that tim has in his portfolio. you can’t really hold that against tim.