other situation, dividend payers will find their stock prices as such lofty values that their dividend yield will be puny, or will be in a situation in which they cannot pay a dividend. Here's my 2 cents, which thanks to Bernanke, is worth less today than it was two weeks ago. Buy good companies that pay dividends, and hold them until they are no longer good companies, or until that company can no longer achieve the goals set by the stock purchaser (Kodak, for example) or until one sees a much better opportunity. By "hold" I mean, purchase with the intention to make a long term purchase. I realize that in the current parlance of "investors" that "long term" might be a few weeks. However, i am suggesting a "long term" of a decade, or more. I sold ED because I thought it was overvalued, then bought EXC. So far ED has drifted a bit higher and I am taking a 10% hit so far on EXC. Once people get over that fear of nukes they will warm up to EXC, which will then (I think) outperform ED in the next decade. Dividends are paid out to reward stockholders and encourage more stock purchasing. In effect, dividends are bubble creators, if we synonymize bubble with "investment." Of course, a bubble usually means overinvestment, but only in retrospect. Had banks had their houses in order a few years ago we might not be talking about the collapse of the "housing bubble."