ITW
Illinois Tool Works Inc.
stock NYSE

Sorry this is long, but I think context matters.
I am a high quality dividend growth investor because I desire to buy and hold forever and limit trading. My strategy is to focus on buying great companies at good prices and growing my portfolio dividends by +10% every year. I have no formal financial education so the fewer decisions I have to make the fewer errors I am likely to make. I focus on the buy.
I am 56 years old, self employed and planning on retiring in 6 years. I will not have a pension. My dividends need to be safe and reliable. I used to think that I will shift to higher dividends when I retire, but the portfolio has been very successful and although I might fine tune a little from lower to higher yields to get my portfolio yield into the low 3% range, I can mostly just keep doing what I've been doing for the last 15 years, which I am well practiced at and have a lot of knowledge and confidence in the companies I own. Who wants to learn the yield chase lesson right at retirement? Not me.
I also have no ability to analyze a multi-billion multi-national corporation, so I rely on analyst earnings estimates, which are historically pretty accurate for high quality blue chip large cap dividend growth companies where earnings tend to grind upwards at a moderate pace over time. Stopping myself from analyzing companies fundamentally changed my mental outlook from a stock gambler to a stock investor. I look at charts of earnings more than charts of stock prices and can usually tell in 30 seconds if I am interested in investing in the company. A company with smooth upwards earnings growth averaging near or over 10% over 20, 10 and 5 year timelines is golden.
Over my 20 years of investing, everything high yield that i have owned has ended in poor total returns, and I no longer own mREITS, MLPs, BDCs, JEPx, Yield Cos/Maxs, etc. I know some investors that have had success in high yield but they typically had market/sector knowledge of when to buy and sell that I do not have and don't want to learn (not that it's impossible). I do believe there are many paths to be a successful investor, but high yield doesn't fit my personal investor psychology, risk tolerance and desire for low volatility and my wife to not beat me to death.
My portfolio overall yield is in the mid 2% range, and I pay a little more attention when company yields get over 4%. The highest yield companies I own (highest to lowest yield) are TROW (5.8%), GIS(5.77%), VZ(5.58%), KMB(5.03%), O(4.99%), BNS(4.49%), ES(4.28%), CMCSA(4.25%), SJM(4.06%) and T(4.01%). The higher the yield, typically the smaller the position is in my portfolio. These 10 represent around 5% of my portfolio. I use [SimplySafeDividends.com](http://SimplySafeDividends.com) to help monitor for dividends in danger and only ES, which is a electric utility, is rated "borderline". None of these companies has generated great total returns or grown their dividends very fast, but I've owned them for 10+ years and they have produced reliable dividends and at least mediocre total returns :)
I do also own KO, PG, PEP and JNJ. :) Their total returns have been better.
AAPL, MSFT, WM, ABBV, LHX, ETN, GWW, ITW, MCD, TJX ... lower yields, but total returns have been fantastic. Yields on costs are huge. But it takes time and a lot of patience. Oh if I would have started at age 20 instead of 35!
If I screen (on SimplySafeDividends.com) for Companies with a yield of 6% or higher, Dividend Safety of "safe" and up, Dividend growth streak of 10+ years, and 5 year dividend growth over 5% I get ZERO companies. ZERO! If I pair the screen down to Companies with a yield of 6% or higher, Dividend Safety of "safe" and up, I get one company : HP. So yeah, 6% is risky if you want to avoid dividend cuts but also realize that many high yield investors factor dividend cuts into their process (a cut from 12% to 9% may not be a big deal). I'd just rather avoid the dividend cut drama :) ... and the cold stares.
This went on too long... sorry.
Happy Investing.

Sorry this is long, but I think context matters.
I am a high quality dividend growth investor because I desire to buy and hold forever and limit trading. My strategy is to focus on buying great companies at good prices and growing my portfolio dividends by +10% every year. I have no formal financial education so the fewer decisions I have to make the fewer errors I am likely to make. I focus on the buy.
I am 56 years old, self employed and planning on retiring in 6 years. I will not have a pension. My dividends need to be safe and reliable. I used to think that I will shift to higher dividends when I retire, but the portfolio has been very successful and although I might fine tune a little from lower to higher yields to get my portfolio yield into the low 3% range, I can mostly just keep doing what I've been doing for the last 15 years, which I am well practiced at and have a lot of knowledge and confidence in the companies I own. Who wants to learn the yield chase lesson right at retirement? Not me.
I also have no ability to analyze a multi-billion multi-national corporation, so I rely on analyst earnings estimates, which are historically pretty accurate for high quality blue chip large cap dividend growth companies where earnings tend to grind upwards at a moderate pace over time. Stopping myself from analyzing companies fundamentally changed my mental outlook from a stock gambler to a stock investor. I look at charts of earnings more than charts of stock prices and can usually tell in 30 seconds if I am interested in investing in the company. A company with smooth upwards earnings growth averaging near or over 10% over 20, 10 and 5 year timelines is golden.
Over my 20 years of investing, everything high yield that i have owned has ended in poor total returns, and I no longer own mREITS, MLPs, BDCs, JEPx, Yield Cos/Maxs, etc. I know some investors that have had success in high yield but they typically had market/sector knowledge of when to buy and sell that I do not have and don't want to learn (not that it's impossible). I do believe there are many paths to be a successful investor, but high yield doesn't fit my personal investor psychology, risk tolerance and desire for low volatility and my wife to not beat me to death.
My portfolio overall yield is in the mid 2% range, and I pay a little more attention when company yields get over 4%. The highest yield companies I own (highest to lowest yield) are TROW (5.8%), GIS(5.77%), VZ(5.58%), KMB(5.03%), O(4.99%), BNS(4.49%), ES(4.28%), CMCSA(4.25%), SJM(4.06%) and T(4.01%). The higher the yield, typically the smaller the position is in my portfolio. These 10 represent around 5% of my portfolio. I use [SimplySafeDividends.com](http://SimplySafeDividends.com) to help monitor for dividends in danger and only ES, which is a electric utility, is rated "borderline". None of these companies has generated great total returns or grown their dividends very fast, but I've owned them for 10+ years and they have produced reliable dividends and at least mediocre total returns :)
I do also own KO, PG, PEP and JNJ. :) Their total returns have been better.
AAPL, MSFT, WM, ABBV, LHX, ETN, GWW, ITW, MCD, TJX ... lower yields, but total returns have been fantastic. Yields on costs are huge. But it takes time and a lot of patience. Oh if I would have started at age 20 instead of 35!
If I screen (on SimplySafeDividends.com) for Companies with a yield of 6% or higher, Dividend Safety of "safe" and up, Dividend growth streak of 10+ years, and 5 year dividend growth over 5% I get ZERO companies. ZERO! If I pair the screen down to Companies with a yield of 6% or higher, Dividend Safety of "safe" and up, I get one company : HP. So yeah, 6% is risky if you want to avoid dividend cuts but also realize that many high yield investors factor dividend cuts into their process (a cut from 12% to 9% may not be a big deal). I'd just rather avoid the dividend cut drama :) ... and the cold stares.
This went on too long... sorry.
Happy Investing.