Treat High Dividend Yields As A Danger Sign If It Seems Too Good To Be True, It Probably Is

The Oxford English Dictionary cites the phrase “too good to be true” as first being used in 1580. Apparently, even during the Elizabethan Era, there must have been gullible retirees who invested in high-yield stocks, only to discover the dividends were not sustainable. “The company's dividend wast gen'rous yet the company doth goest bankrupt, so I hath fewer shillings than wenst I started,” wrote one disgruntled investor in 1580. All right, I made that up. But...