This week, there will be no ordinary Weekly, as I have caught a persistent infection over the weekend. As I do not want to publish any copy-and-paste garbage, I decided to skip an episode after more than three years non-stop. But …

When I go through the comments below YouTube videos where I appeared, the feedback is overall positive or neutral if the commenter has a different opinion. Of course that’s perfectly fine, everyone shall express their views. Occasionally, I find comments where I am described as having a negative attitude, being bearish or overly pessimistic. While I don’t care on a personal level in the sense that I do not feel offended or take such comments personally, one such comment has led me to think about it a bit deeper – and write a Weekly about it! While it sounds contradictory at first sight, it simply fits into my investment and analysis approach.

While this article likely won’t make me many new friends (rather to the contrary), I find it necessary to discuss this topic as it’s often presented as an almost infallible recipe for success. The dividend investing strategy sounds great and if done properly has a psychological advantage. But my observation shows unfortunately a drift towards low-quality stocks and lots of sugarcoating which needs to be addressed.

With every passing day and week where one is not invested in the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks, pressure continues to mount up – at least for those who allow for it. Investors who underperform the broader market indexes, are left in the dark. Usually, active fund managers have to report frequently and to apologize for not having been able to keep pace. It can be a mental strain and cost them their job. Private investors at some point also lose patience and sanity. A plea to stay calm and sane.