insane dividends

[diannedawn]

I like you!
Although I'm guessing you wouldn't approve of most of my "investing" choices as seen here (on iHub) :)
Things are not always what they seem.

As a retired postal worker bee
(I guess that makes me one of the "elderly" you referred to)
the vast majority of my retirement funds
are tucked away in my TSP account.
The options we have are index funds,
and more recently, targeted funds.

My brokerage accounts ARE basically "gambling".
I look on trading as being much like poker...
skill certainly plays a part
(and I believe my skill level is increasing, it's been a learning experience!)
but there is a luck factor.

Bottom line for me is, even if I lost every ¢ in my brokerage accounts
I'd be just fine...
but I DON'T LIKE LOSING :)
AND if I make $, I can do things I might not be able to otherwise.

This boards main thrust seems to be one time divys
that are being paid out now
before a [assumed] capitol gains rate change.
I'm not so much interested in jumping in and out for "dividend capture".
I am more interested in finding stocks that are growth stories + a dividend,
or undervalued + a dividend.

The stock that I mentioned here was LPHI...
I find it interesting because due to their problems with Texas and the SEC
the pps has taken a beating.
They recently prevailed (at least for the moment) against Texas
and the news was followed with a more than 100% increase in pps
(this was sold off in the days following, but is still up significantly).
I think they are also notable in that the CEO (Pardo) holds just over 50% of the stock.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/49534/000114420412036933/v317167_def14a.htm
page 13
In that filing you will see that Tad Ballantyne held zero shares.
However, from Oct 25 - Nov 7 he has been BUYING.
He has bought 126,300 shares from $2.30 to $2.66...
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000049534&type=&dateb=&owner=include&count=40
I'm sure you are familiar with the Peter Lynch line
"insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise."

Now the SEC issue is a big one...
and if you read through the complaint
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2012/comp-pr2012-2.pdf
YIKES!

BUT...what IF?
What if they manage to put the SEC issues to rest?
This was an interesting story
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/life-partners-holdings-announces-securities-190900475.html
"Life Partners Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: LPHI), announced today that United States District Court for the Western District of Texas on Friday issued an order sanctioning the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and ordering that federal agency pay Life Partners Holdings $5,000 in attorney’s fees."
How often does THAT happen? LOL!

and WHY is Ballantyne BUYING??

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts,
as you seem to be both knowledgeable, and rational,
Oh and...sane...
I'd also be interested in hearing about these

few exceptions

:)