Stay cool and collect dividends by Christian W. Röhl and Werner H. Heussinger is for me the German-language classic on the subject of "dividend strategies". From conception to backtesting and implementation, it covers the entire spectrum.
This book is dedicated to this exciting topic comprehensively and, above all, scientifically - which is unfortunately often a major shortcoming in popular scientific finance literature. To this end, the two authors have enlisted the active support of the School of Economics and Management (FOM) and the Institute for Strategic Finance (isf). As far as I know, one of the authors has many years of professional experience at the latter institute. Thus, one can have confidence in the content of the statements.
What is even more pleasant, however, is that the two authors have a sense of humor and know how to lighten up the otherwise very number-heavy topic with small, entertaining stories. The central theme is the story of little Christian W. Röhl, who was introduced to the Silvester bond by his grandfather and whose interest in the capital market was thus awakened.
The first section is also dedicated to precisely these topics and once again highlights the fact that the bond of that time and its current offspring can no longer generate an intoxicating return. The authors therefore join us in the search for alternatives and end up with dividends.
But (!) using the example of various dividend strategies, such as Michael O'Higgins' frequently cited dividend strategy, the duo very quickly prove that successful implementation requires more than just a look at the dividend yield. The modifications of O'Higgins' strategies, the implementation of the DivDax or the DAXplus Maximum Dividend also perform poorly in the performance tests. Dividend yield alone as a comprehensive filter criterion is therefore not enough to achieve an attractive long-term performance. Other quality components are needed and the authors provide them: This involves putting the various components through their paces and discussing them together with the reader. This section alone makes the book worthwhile, as I have yet to hold one in my hands where you can look over the authors' shoulders in a more lively and well-founded way as they develop an investment strategy.
The effects of adding further components to the overall strategy are tested on various indices and we are there live at the birth of the dividend noble. The authors use the results to create various portfolios, which they then reveal to us in full, and on their blog of the same name we can keep up to date with how these portfolios are changing beyond the book.
If you want to make it easy for yourself, you can get the new lists here every year. All others will find in the appendix of this book various overviews with portfolios, countries, regions and a variety of interesting securities, which you can still analyze in more detail afterwards in your own research if you want to put your own stamp on the strategy.
If you want to invest actively in the stock market and focus on dividend strategies, you simply must read this book! It offers everyone else interesting approaches for their own portfolio optimization, even if the focus is not on dividends. It is also really entertaining at times.