Welcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast # 156 on February 22nd of 2024.  Today, I will be answering five interesting investment question. QUESTION (1) Why spend time building  your own stock  portfolio when you can invest the same amount in units of a Standard and Poor 500 Index Exchange Traded Fund or a Mutual Fund? In Podcast #154, I announced a contest to select 20 stocks using $200,000 in “play money” that will generate the most capital gain and most dividend income over 12 months. I have now received the first completed Excel Spreadsheets from listeners who are participating in the contest.  I was impressed with their choices. While this contest was created as a learning exercise for those who have been hesitant about investing in the stock market, it is open to anyone who wants to test their investment skills. To make it a bit more captivating, the winner will receive $100 as an incentive.   SIX INVESTMENT BOOKS, BY IAN DUNCAN MACDONALD, ARE AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON.COM  KINDLE BOOKS, THE FOLLOWING ARE THE 2 LATEST. (1) CANADIAN HIGH DIVIDEND INVESTING - In this 325-page book, learn how to select, purchase and build a portfolio of 20 Canadian strong dividend stocks. Summary records of 215 stocks are sorted in multiple ways, and each stock's unique page provides detailed scoring data and 24 years of price and dividend trend data. Released September 23. (2) NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE'S 106 BEST HIGH DIVIDEND STOCKS - In this 334-page book, there is a 2-page report for each company scoring 11 data elements. It also lists 23 years of historical share price and dividend payouts so that investors can judge the stock's reliability. Released December 2022. A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HIS 6 INVESTMENT BOOKS, HIS 3 NOVELS, PAINTINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS  AND DIGITAL ART VISIT www.informus.ca   and also www.artgalarian.com  Ian Duncan MacDonald Author, Artist, Commercial Risk Consultant, President of Informus Inc 2 Vista Humber Drive Toronto, Ontario Canada, M9P 3R7 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994 New York Telephone - 929-800-2397 [email protected]