cash dividend investment & finance definition

What are the advantages or disadvantages of investing in firms that pay large cash dividends?

Income investors look for corporations that pay consistent, large dividends. Income can be predicted by purchasing one group of stocks that pays dividends quarterly beginning in January, one beginning in February, and one in March. Growth investors or investors in a high tax bracket may not want these stocks. They favor companies that forgo dividends to grow internally. Since dividends on stocks are taxable when paid, highly taxed investors postpone taxes by holding growth stocks and selling for gains later, rather than holding dividend paying stocks. Capital gains taxes may be lower than the ordinary tax rates on dividends.

Jeffrey S. Levine, CPA, MST, Alkon & Levine, PC, Newton, MA