Highest Dividend Paying Stocks In The ASX100

It might surprise you to learn that over the long term dividends make up a large part of a share portfolio's returns. In a study by Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton (see Keeping faith with stocks) it was found that "The longer the investment horizon, the more important is dividend income."

And for retirees, dividends are the life blood of their investment portfolio. While growth in the value of the portfolio is important in order to keep pace with inflation, it is the steady stream of dividends which pays the bills.

Even though I'm not a retiree, I still like dividends because along with my regular savings, they provide me with the cash to make further investments without the need to sell existing ones.

Best Shares To Buy In 2011

With 2010 out of the way, it's now time to turn our our attention to 2011. While I'm sure we'd all like to have a crystal ball which we could look into to see what shares prices have done up to the end of 2011, the reality is the future is unknown. So how can we best position our investment portfolios to grow in 2011? In other words, what are the best shares to buy in 2011.

Retail Shares?

One sector of the Australian stock market which has taken a pounding in recent times is the retail sector. Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey was pessimistic at the company's recent AGM. Discount retailer The Reject Shop, which has been an outstanding performer over recent years, shocked the market recently with a profit downgrade. The announcement saw The Reject Shop shares drop to below $13.00 from over $17.00. And shares in JB Hi-Fi have fallen in recent times as well over the uncertainty in near term retail sales figures.

Australian Exchange Traded Fund Range Bolstered By New iShares ETFs

The choice for ETF investors just got a little broader. Earlier this month BlackRock launched 4 new ASX listed Exchange Traded Funds all covering the Australian stock market. The table below list each of the 4 new funds.

ASX Code	Fund Name	Purpose of Fund
ILC	iShares S&P/ASX 20	Tracks the performance of the S&P/ASX 20 Index
IOZ	iShares MSCI Australia 200	Tracks the performance of the MSCI Australia 200 Index
ISO	iShares S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries	Tracks the performance of the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index
IHD	iShares S&P/ASX High Dividend	Provides exposure to 50 of Australia's larger high dividend paying stocks

New iShares Exchange Traded Funds

Dividend Investing For Beginners

A well constructed portfolio of high dividend paying stocks is a great foundation upon which to build a strategy to achieve financial independence. It is the passive income derived from such a portfolio which grants us our financial freedom. There is no point in being asset-rich if we are cash-flow poor. In this article I'll discuss how stock market beginners can get started with dividend investing.

What Are Dividends?

They are payments made out of earnings from a company to its shareholders. What is paid is the portion of profits which a company doesn't need in order to maintain and grow the business. It is the reward which shareholders receive in return for providing capital to the business. Along with capital gains, it is how an investor profits from buying shares.

QRN - QR National Share Offer Document Now Available

Finally the big day for prospective QR National investors has arrived. The offer document has been released and now we get a chance to see what the 'big' fuss has all been about (don't tell me you haven't seen the ads). What follows are some of the highlights from the QR National prospectus.

How Much?

The indicative price range is between $2.50 and $3.00 per share with the final price paid by institutions (fund managers and the like) to be set by way of an institutional book build (kind of like an auction for the big boys). Retail investors will pay 10 cents per share less than the institutions up to a price of $2.80. I guess that means we will pay somewhere between $2.40 and $2.80 per share.

QR National Share Offer

Is it worth buying shares in the QR National float?

That is the $6.5 billion question. Unfortunately, we're all going to have to wait a little longer to find out. Until October 10 to be exact. That's when the prospectus is due to be released.

Although details of the QR share offer are still sketchy, most main-stream media are predicting a market capitalization once the listing takes place to be around 6.5 billion dollars, although the Queensland Government may retain between 25% and 40% ownership. If you do the maths, that's still a sizeable opportunity for Australian investors. In fact this will be the largest float this year and the second largest in Australian history.

Pre-Registration Now Open For QR National Shares

Valemus Float - Valemus Share Offer Opens Today

Despite stock market volatility in recent times, the Valemus IPO appears set to proceed with the Retail Share Offer opening today. If successful, the float will raise over 1.2 billion dollars, making it the largest IPO so far this year. In fact it will be the largest initial public offering since Myer last year, although prospective investors would be hoping for a much better performance this time around.

Valemus is the recently renamed Australian arm of Bilfinger Berger - a German Construction and Engineering business. While Bilfinger Berger may not exactly be a household name, many of us would have seen the name Abigroup or Baulderstone on various construction sites around Australia over the years. And it is these two businesses which make up the bulk of Valemus Limited.