One of the biggest risks an income-oriented investor faces is a large decline in dividend income. There are different approaches used to mitigate such a risk. In this article, I will share with you how to guard against systemic dividend decline. One popular approach is to carefully screen dividend stocks and only invest in those which satisfy certain income and balance sheet requirements (e.g. dividend coverage ratio, free cash flow growth, etc.). Another approach is to select from a list of stocks that have had a stellar track record of dividend payments such as the Dividend Aristocrats and Dividend Kings.

As Benjamin Graham has stated “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative.” In this article, I hope to convince you that because of repeated changes to the definition of “the dollar” one cannot ever be 100% satisfied that the lending of “dollars” is an investment operation. This inflation in the currency supply may not affect the prices of all goods and services uniformly, and many goods will not climb at a rate of 7.5% per year due to enhancements in productivity, but the inflation effect is very real leading to the conclusion that the only truly valid unit of account in today’s world are ounces of gold and ounces of silver, s,o should gold and silver in hand be considered the default position for any holder of wealth?