3 Warning Signs for Dividend Investors

Fantastic dividends are often exactly that: too good to be true. I learned that lesson the hard way four years ago. My retirement portfolio included a few shares or mortgage REIT NovaStar Financial because the stock paid a jaw-dropping 17% dividend yield. To my untrained dividend-hunting eye, NovaStar's payouts looked solid enough as the company had been raising its common dividends year by year while also keeping its cash balances fairly stable. It was a guaranteed goldmine until my retiring days -- or so I thought.... Read more