More than three years ago, WisdomTree realized that indexes focused on historical dividend growth and exchange-traded funds designed to track these backward-looking dividend indexes were extremely popular. Always looking to innovate, WisdomTree created a forward-looking dividend growth Index that seeks to capture dividend growth trends that often are not captured by backward-looking indexes.

All dividend payers are not created equal—it’s a conclusion we’ve come to almost a decade after launching our first dividend-focused Indexes. Different types of dividend payers will have a tendency to perform differently as the market environment ebbs and flows. 

One of the market’s major anxieties has been that the gains we’ve experienced since the financial crisis were mostly artificially induced by monetary easing from central banks and that now, with the Federal Reserve starting to raise interest rates, we are likely to see more volatility and pressures on the market. 

Recently, I highlighted a passage from Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter that reveals how Buffett thinks about attractive investment options. One of the downsides of Buffett’s success is that his potential acquisition list is mostly limited to lage-cap equities because of the size of Berkshire Hathaway.

Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter for Berkshire Hathaway was released on February 28.¹ Each year, investors far and wide comb the letter for its insights and wisdom, and this year is no exception. There is one passage that—more than any other—reveals how Buffett thinks about attractive investment options: his list detailing requirements for acquisitions.