Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System for Earning Double-Digit Returns

Lumpy Perpetual Dividend Raisers?

This lumpiness in dividends received by ADR holders makes it difficult to find foreign Perpetual Dividend Raisers.

Dividend programs usually are carefully managed. When earnings and cash flow are somewhat predictable, executives will have a strategy for how they will distribute dividends and whether there will be a growth plan. If there is enough excess cash to grow the dividend each year, usually there will be a target growth rate.

Even if a foreign management team has that kind of dividend strategy in place, what ADR holders will receive is out of their control due to the movement of currency prices.

A company could raise its dividend 5% in a year, but if the currency depreciates against the dollar, ADR holders could see a lower payout, even with the rise in the dividend.

Therefore, it is often very difficult to find foreign stocks that qualify as Perpetual Dividend Raisers. Not only does the company have to cooperate but so does the currency market. And the chances of the dollar steadily decreasing over another currency year after year are small.

This is not a political or economic argument. It’s not that I’m especially bullish on the dollar, it’s just that markets, particularly currency markets, seldom move in one direction. Over many years, there might be a trend. The dollar may depreciate over a particular currency over five or ten years. But it’s highly unlikely the currency’s change will be a straight line.

And that fluctuation could impact ...