I was about to write a snarky reply. Something along the lines of:Originally Posted by mshierlaw
I used to be a solid believer in dividend yields as a secure means of generating income. The last few years have shown numerous dividend traps generated in this market. I think bond proxy is now a thing of the past. Buyer beware
"This is Spark mate. With a thirty year record of paying dividends. And everybody needs a phone."
That was until I remembered the gamesmanship that preceded the Chorus split, and the absolute shock on the face of then CEO TG as she realised the government had called her bluff and that her self admitted tactics of using confusion as a dollar maximizing marketing tool were coming to an end. IIRC at the time the then Telecom share price took a hiding from which it took years to recover. So good call 'mshierlaw'. Even the 'safest' shares can take a hit.
I guess the question is "can you stand the volatility" (not that bonds don't suffer from volatility as well of course). In my case the extra two percentage points of income (or more in this instance) is well worth the extra vacillations of share prices. But, of course, others may come to a different decision. The way to guard against 'bond proxy' (share) volatility IMV is to make sure you have a portfolio of bond proxies that are not well correlated in their respective market positions. That way if the black swan event happens, only one of your 'team' goes down.
SNOOPY
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