Top Rank. As you might be aware ,many major companies pay over 5% divs per year in two six-monthly slices (with tax credits of another 2% approx) This means on a $1000 up-front investment you get about $35 in,say, March and another $35 in September. Usually the share price falls immediately the dividend is paid(by 3.5%) reflecting the now-missing divvy, but generally recovers shortly thereafter. At that point you can sell your shares and get your $1000 back (allow them to rise a little to cover .the incredibly tiny, brokerage) while keeping the 3.5% div. Due to the Taxation laws with the Tax Credit you, effectively can buy and sell shares SIX times per year,getting the divs plus Credits each time, an effective return of about 23%, not taking Capital Gain into account. Should you NOT be interested in the Tax Credits, you can scoop the divs AS OFTEN AS YOU LIKE (ie by rotating from one stock to another), limited however by your ability to select shares which will QUICKLY recover from the "ex-dividend" factor (ie the lost 3.5% on dividend payday). It's feasible to get about 40-50% like this BUT the capital gain is really the bonus. When Westpac was collapsing about 14 years ago I bought at $3 and then groaned as they fell to almost $2 (rather like a run of outs at the track before the winners arrive!) They (Westpac) then started recovering (consistently) until I seriously wanted to sell at $14 but was talked out of it. Now they are around $20 and paying 8% (with the Credits). Again I'm mulling Selling over. Bear in mind that 8% is about $1.50, but I got the shares at $3 (so MY divs are 50%) My "$1000 bank" is,with divs reinvested, over $10000, now. Similar story with Aristocrat, the pokie machine manufacturer (world leader): under a buck less than 2 years ago and over $10 today. Or Caltex, or CSR or (what about ASX themselves???).
This is not a "hey, look at me" ******** (well maybe,partially!!) but more a reflection on the appropriateness of accepting very elevated risk (in punting) and breaking your head (doing "the form" etc etc etc) for "bank interest" a la Squirter (post 21) or for tiny returns (with HIGH risk) a la BJ. If you're going to punt, the returns have to be VERY high to justify the work and effort involved. When there are other, much more predictable, safer "bets" around no other aim makes sense!!.Thats all folks!! Looking forward to a bollocking, as always, P57