In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a decent gain. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.35% to 7,786.2 points.

Four ASX shares that are rising more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are climbing:

Delta Lithium Ltd (ASX: DLI)

The Delta share price is up 13% to 26 cents. Investors have been buying this lithium explorer’s shares after it released an update on its 100% owned Mt Ida Project in Western Australia. That update revealed that the company has discovered a significant gold deposit, not lithium. Management revealed that its mineral resource estimate for gold at Mt Ida (inferred and indicated) is now 6.6Mt @ 3.5 g/t Au for 752,000 ounces. Delta Lithium’s managing director, James Croser, said: “This is a wonderful result for Delta shareholders, reaffirming our long-held belief that the gold system at Mt Ida has significant scale and upside.”

Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG)

The Insurance Australia Group share price is up almost 7% to $7.11. This morning, this insurance giant released an update and reaffirmed its guidance for FY 2024. In respect to the latter, its reported insurance profit and margin are on track to be around the upper end of guidance ranges. In addition, IAG announced that it has purchased reinsurance protection to mitigate natural perils volatility for the next five years, alongside securing adverse development protection for its $2.5 billion long-tail reserves. IAG CEO Nick Hawkins said: “Today’s announcement is an important milestone in our strategy to create a stronger, more resilient IAG.”

Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR)

The Mirvac Group share price is up 4% to $1.88. This follows the release a trading update from the property company this morning. Mirvac reaffirmed its guidance for operating earnings per share of 14 cents to 14.3 cents in FY 2024 and a distribution per share of 10.5 cents. In addition, Mirvac revealed that it has delivered on its ~$1 billion asset sales program. This includes 367 Collins Street, Melbourne (exchanged and deposit received), with settlement expected in July 2024.

Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN)

The Suncorp share price is up 3.5% to $17.41. This has been driven by news that ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) has received a major boost in its quest to acquire Suncorp Bank for $4.9 billion. The Federal Treasurer has approved the proposed acquisition, paving the way for the deal to complete in July. Suncorp Group’s chairman, Christine McLoughlin, said: “The Suncorp Group Board remains committed to returning to shareholders the majority of net proceeds following completion of the sale.”

The post Why Delta Lithium, IAG, Mirvac, and Suncorp shares are climbing today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• IAG shares jump 7% after cutting a deal with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire
• Guess which ASX lithium stock is rocketing 37% on a golden announcement
• ANZ shares higher on ‘significant’ $4.9b Suncorp Bank acquisition approval
• 4 ASX 200 dividend giants to buy in July
• Which ASX shares to buy if interest rates rise (and which to avoid)

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is marching higher on this last trading day of June.

Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank stock closed yesterday at $126.20. As we head into the lunch hour on Friday, shares are swapping hands for $126.46 apiece, up 0.21%.

Looking to last month, CommBank stock ended May trading for $119.53 a share.

With only half a day of trade left in this month, that sees the CBA share price up 5.78% in June.

For some context, the ASX 200 is up 1.2% over this same period.

Here’s what’s been happening with Australia’s biggest bank stock.

CBA share price keeps on giving in June

The CBA share price once more defied a chorus of bearish analysts who’ve labelled the big four bank as overvalued and recommended investors sell. Indeed, at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.12 times, CBA shares trade at the highest valuation of any of the ASX 200 bank stocks.

But we hope you didn’t take their advice.

Investor support comes in part because the FY 2025 stage 3 tax cuts and other government cost-of-living relief measures have mitigated concerns over rising bad loans and potentially fuelled more consumer and business borrowing.

This bullish assessment helped the CBA share price notch a series of record highs in June, most recently on Tuesday the 25th.

Slipping yields

The downside of the fast-rising CBA share price, at least for passive income-focused investors, is the lower accompanying dividend yields.

CommBank has long been favoured by passive income investors for its reliable, twice-yearly, fully franked dividend payouts.

While those payouts have held up over the years, the yield has come to be significantly higher amid the soaring share price.

For example, in 2018, investors could have bought CBA shares for $68 apiece and earned a fully franked yield of 6.3%.

Today, with the CBA share price defying bearish forecasts to soar to $126.46, CommBank stock trades on a dividend yield of 3.6%.

Almost the biggest company again

With another strong share price rally in June, CBA closed the gap with BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) to retake the crown of the biggest company on the ASX.

BHP grabbed that title from CBA in November 2021. That came amid a massive iron ore rally, which saw the iron ore price top US$200 per tonne.

But with BHP’s share price dropping 3.22% in June (at the time of writing), the race for that title is heating up.

As its stands heading into July, CBA has a market cap of $211.77 billion compared to BHP’s market cap of $218.43 billion.

The post The CBA share price trounced the benchmark again in June! Here’s how appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Which ASX shares to buy if interest rates rise (and which to avoid)
• Here’s when CBA and these ASX 200 bank stocks are paying their dividends
• 3 reasons I think the CBA share price may crash!
• CBA shares hit another new high! Too late to buy?
• CBA share price outpacing BHP shares on Monday in the race for biggest ASX stock

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Well, Guzman y Gomez Ltd (ASX: GYG) shares’ first week on the ASX has been… interesting. Upon an explosive initial public offering (IPO) last Thursday, GYG shares rocketed well above their $22 IPO price to reach $30.99 soon after. 

But the rest of Guzman’s first week on the ASX was more muted. Over Friday and Monday’s session, the company steadily lost value, only to see a bump back up over the past few trading days. Well, until today, that is.

GYG shares are having an awful end to the trading week so far this Friday, currently nursing a loss of 3.41%, down to $28.64 a share at the time of writing.

So a wild and woolly first week for Guzman y Gomez on the ASX. Check out the shares’ performance for yourself below:

But enough on that.

Guzman insiders take advantage of IPO

Today, let’s take stock of GYG shares and how much of this company is still owned by its founders.

So Guzman y Gomez was founded by two people back in 2006: Steven Marks and Robert Hazan. Today, Marks remains Guzman’s co-CEO alongside Hilton Brett. Hazan no longer plays an active leadership role at Guzman, but still retains a significant ownership stake in the business.

As my Fool colleague Tristan covered earlier this week, many of Guzman’s early-stage investors have taken the opportunity of the company’s IPO to sell down their stakes in the company. Those include the company’s chair, Guy Russo, as well as TDM Growth co-CEO Hilton Brett and director Bruce Buchanan.

However, the holdings of several of GYG’s largest shareholders, including those of Marks, are still under voluntary escrow. This ensures that 25% of these investors’ holdings are under escrow until the company releases its first half-yearly results. The remaining 75% of these investors’ holdings will be locked up until Guzman’s full-year results for the 2025 financial year are released.

However, this escrow has not stopped Marks from offloading some of his GYG options. On 24 June, an ASX filing showed that Marks bagged around $8.1 million after converting 403,750 options into shares and selling them.

How many GYG shares are still owned by its founders?

But let’s get down to business.

So according to that filing, Marks retains 2.074 million GYG options. He also directly owns 1,212,000 GYG shares. In addition, Marks indirectly owns another 7,602,000 shares through both a family trust and a super fund. All up, that’s 8,814,000 shares to Marks’ name. Guzman has 101,352,914 outstanding shares in total, meaning Marks retains an approximate 8.7% stake in Guzman y Gomez today.

But what about the other co-founder, Robert Hazan?

Hazan doesn’t appear to have changed his stake in the company post-IPO. That means he still retains 4,527,500 shares indirectly through his family company RBH Ltd. That equates to a 4.47% stake in Guzman y Gomez.

At the current share price, Marks’ stake in Guzman y Gomez would be valued at $252.43 million. Hazan, meanwhile, is sitting on a $129.67 million fortune.

The post What percentage of GYG shares are owned by the company founders? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why are Guzman Y Gomez shares being shorted?
• Should I buy Guzman Y Gomez shares on the ASX?
• Over $100 million of GYG shares sold by insiders on day one. Should investors be worried?
• How rich are the Guzman Y Gomez founders following the company’s IPO?
• How does the Guzman Y Gomez ASX valuation compare to Domino’s?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

When it comes to investing in ASX dividend shares, looking at a company’s income track record is one of the first things I do. A company’s management can tell us all sorts of things about how strong its business model is or how exciting its growth potential might be.

But when the rubber hits the road, actions usually speak louder than words. And if a company has shown the financial strength to deliver a consistently growing dividend over a long period of time, it usually indicates that it is doing something right.

So with that in mind, today, let’s discuss three ASX shares that have demonstrated a seemingly unstoppable dividend growth streak over recent years.

3 ASX shares with unstoppable dividend growth streaks

WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)

Logistics software company Wisetech Global first burst onto the ASX scene as a popular tech growth stock. But as the old ‘WAAAX’ group faded into obscurity, this company has continued to scale new heights as an ASX dividend share. Most investors might know Wisetech for its stellar share price growth. The Wisetech share price is up more than 90% since the start of 2023 after all.

But what many Wisetech fans might not know is that this company has been building up an impressive streak of dividend pay rises.

Wisetech made its first dividend payment to shareholders back in 2017, forking out an annual 2.2 cents per share. But by 2023, this had grown (every year) to 15 cents per share – a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.7%.

2024’s interim dividend of 7.7 cents was also a big improvement on the 6.6 cents per share investors enjoyed in 2023. So it looks as though Wisetech’s streak is set to continue.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

Next up, we have another tech stock in TechnologyOne. This enterprise software share also has an impressive, but little-known dividend track record.

Again, this may escape the notice of investors too busy looking at this ASX dividend share’s stellar stock price performance. After all, TechnologyOne shares have risen by a whopping 136% over the past five years.

Back in 2014, this company forked out an annual total of 6.2 cents per share in dividend payments. But by 2023, this had grown to 19.5 cents per share (a CAGR of 13.58%) after a clockwork-like annual dividend pay rise every single year.

That’s well over TechnologyOne’s stated goal of increasing its dividends by 8-10% per annum.

Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)

Last but certainly not least, we have ASX 200 investing house and dividend share Washington H. Soul Pattinson, or Soul Patts for short. Much like a listed investment company (LIC), Soul Patts isn’t your typical ASX share. Instead of selling a good or service, this company manages a portfolio of underlying assets on behalf of its shareholders.

These assets include a huge portfolio of blue-chip shares, as well as significant chunks of a select group of companies. These include TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) and Brickworks Ltd (ASX: BKW). Soul Patts’ investment portfolio also houses other assets like unlisted businesses and private credit.

Soul Patts has the most impressive dividend streak on the ASX, with no exception. This company has paid out a dividend every single year for more than a century, for one. But it has also delivered a dividend pay rise to investors for 24 years and counting.

In 2017, Soul Patts forked out an annual total of 54 cents per share. But by 2023, this had grown to 87 cents – representing a CAGR of 8.27%.

This record alone speaks for itself.

The post These 3 ASX shares have unstoppable dividend growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Bell Potter names the best ASX tech stocks to buy in FY25
• 1 ASX stock that’s just right for beginner investors
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• If I were 60 I’d buy these ASX shares for dividends

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Brickworks, Technology One, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited, and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Brickworks, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited, and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Technology One. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a better session on Friday. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is up a solid 0.65% to 7,811.1 points.

Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here’s why they are falling:

Abacus Group (ASX: ABG)

The Abacus share price is down 3% to $1.15. This has been driven by the commercial property company’s shares going ex-dividend this morning for its upcoming final dividend. Last week, the company declared a 4.3 cents per share unfranked dividend. This brought its total dividends for FY 2024 to 8.6 cents per share. Eligible shareholders can look forward to receiving this final dividend in a couple of months on 30 August.

Bannerman Energy Ltd (ASX: BMN)

The Bannerman Energy share price is down 9% to $3.26. This ASX uranium stock is falling today after it received firm commitments for a two-tranche placement of approximately 25.8 million new shares to new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors. Bannerman Energy advised that these funds were raised at a 7.8% discount of $3.30 per new share, which will raise gross proceeds of approximately $85 million. The funds raised from the placement will be applied towards the development of the Etango-8 Project in the Erongo Region of Namibia.

Immutep Ltd (ASX: IMM)

The Immutep share price is down a further 9% to 30.5 cents. Investors have been selling this clinical-stage biotechnology company’s shares since the release of topline results from the TACTI-003 Phase IIb Trial on Thursday. Immutep’s trial is evaluating eftilagimod alfa (efti) in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as first-line treatment of recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients (1L HNSCC). Although the company reported positive results, it didn’t include a p-value with them. This decision seems to have left investors fearing that the results were not statistically significant.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

The Pilbara Minerals share price is down 3% to $3.16. This is despite there being no news out of the lithium miner today. However, it is worth noting that ASX lithium stocks have been rebounding this week. Today’s decline could have been driven by profit taking from some investors. Especially after lithium miners on Wall Street tumbled into the red during overnight trade. Pilbara Minerals’ shares are down by a disappointing 33% since this time last year amid concerns over falling lithium prices.

The post Why Abacus, Bannerman Energy, Immutep, and Pilbara Minerals shares are falling today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why is this ASX 300 uranium stock sinking 10% on Friday?
• Will the blistering rally for ASX uranium shares charge on into FY 2025?
• Macquarie names 6 ASX shares to buy in July after tax-loss selling
• Why APA Group, Immutep, NAB, and Immutep shares are sinking
• Why did this ASX healthcare stock just crash 47%?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Insider buying often signals confidence in a company’s future, and a few cheap ASX shares have caught investor attention recently due to notable insider activity.

This kind of buying activity can be a strong indicator of growth potential – especially when it comes from those with deep knowledge of the business. While each of these shares discussed here has faced recent challenges, the recent insider purchase could signal this belief.

Here’s a look at these five cheap ASX shares being bought by insiders this week.

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

IDP Education has been facing headwinds, with its share price down 23% in 2024 and 37% over the past year. Changes to student visa rules have disrupted the student placement and education company’s key markets.

Despite this, non-executive director Tracey Horton bought 1,300 shares on 7 June for around $15.15 each.

Further, Citigroup also purchased around 3.27 million IDP shares in June, bringing its stake to more than 18.87 million shares, or 6.77% voting power.

Currently, the seemingly cheap ASX share is valued at $15.37 apiece, having climbed 3% into the green so far this week.

Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX: DRR)

Deterra Royalties recently experienced a 10% drop after announcing a significant acquisition in the lithium sector.

The company noted it made a $276 million offer to UK company Trident Royalties Plc in June, equal to roughly 93 cents per share.

Despite the initial market reaction, the company’s shift towards green metals looks like it’s being viewed favourably by institutional investors.

Mandatory filings show The Vanguard Group starting an initial position in Deterra, purchasing 26.59 million shares of the company through its various entities.

This sees it owning 5.029% of the company as of 21 June 2024. The cheap ASX share is priced at $4.02 each at the time of writing.

BUBS Australia Ltd (ASX: BUB)

Bubs Australia has been in the headlines following strong sales growth in the United States. According to my colleague Bernd, Bubs’ weekly scan revenues have surpassed US$1 million, and the company has become the top-selling infant formula product on Amazon USA.

CEO Reginald Weine is optimistic about sustained demand and future growth. On 24 June 2024, Weine acquired 50,000 shares at $0.125 each. Bubs Australia shares are currently trading at $0.128 each, down 10% in the last month.

Starpharma Holdings Ltd (ASX: SPL)

Starpharma Holdings has also faced challenges in 2024. The cheap ASX share is down nearly 47% this year and 68% in the past 12 months.

Recent filings show that as of 21 June 2024, investment fund Allan Gray reduced its voting power to 9.28% after disposing of 5.35 million shares from its position this week.

Some of this new supply looks to have been soaked up by two directors – Lynda Cheng, and Robert Thomas – who this week purchased 110,555 shares at 9 cents per share, and 200,000 ordinary shares at 8.9 cents apiece respectively.

Currently, Starpharma shares are priced at $0.087 each.

WAM Leaders Limited (ASX: WLE)

WAM Leaders has seen steady insider buying from director Geoffrey Wilson. Mr Wilson is also the chairman of listed investment company (LIC) WAM Capital Ltd (ASX: WAM).

Between 24 June and 27 June 2024, Wilson acquired over 18,000 shares. The purchases were made on market across several trades, ranging in size from $11.1 million to $15.6 million.

The investments bring Wilson’s stake to 13.05 million shares in the cheap ASX share. Today, WAM Leaders is valued on market at $1.28 apiece with a trailing dividend of 9.1 cents per share.

The post 5 potentially cheap ASX shares being bought by insiders appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Macquarie names 6 ASX shares to buy in July after tax-loss selling
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Top ASX passive income shares to buy before June 30
• Insiders are buying these ASX shares after selloffs
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Idp Education. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Concerns about the supermarket industry could be overdone according to analysts at Goldman Sachs.

Its analysts note that “investor sentiment on supermarkets has been soft calendar year to date.”

However, the broker is “more optimistic vs the market” and feels now is a great time to snap up Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares.

What did Goldman say about supermarkets?

There have been two dark clouds hovering above Woolworths and other supermarket operators in recent months. One is the regulatory review of the industry, and the other is concerns over negative jaws. In respect to the regulatory review, Goldman said:

Regulatory review headwind on Supermarkets benign to date with latest Senate Inquiry recommendations largely expected by the market and the adoption of the mandatory code of conduct with suppliers to not materially impact current ways of working (note the ACCC inquiry is still ongoing). Our earlier report showed the last supermarket inquiry resulted in immaterial EPS impacts for WOW and MTS. Similar to what we observed in 2008, WOW began re-rating post trough in May 2024, ~ T+80-100 days after the announcement of ACCC/Senate inquiry.

As for negative jaws, which is a term to describe costs rising quicker than sales, the broker feels this concern is overdone. It explains:

“Negative Jaws” concern overdone as our analysis and channel checks suggest still resilient ~3% industry topline supermarket growth from improving volume and positive response on NPD while there are ample levers for GPM expansion through business model mix (eComm and Retail Media) and margin optimisation levers (NPD, Private Label, Cost-Out) to offset still mid-single digit opex inflation. Net net, we expect across the 3 stocks ~2-4% EBIT growth in FY25 then to accelerate to ~6-8% CAGR for FY24-27e.

Buy Woolworths shares

In light of the above, the broker has reiterated its buy rating with an improved price target of $40.20.

Based on the current Woolworths share price of $34.06, this implies potential upside of 18% for investors over the next 12 months. Goldman concludes:

Based on GS latest forecasts, we observe WOW is trading at a 12m forward PE of 22.7x vs historical avg (since 2016) of 23.6x while COL is trading 21.4x 12m forward PE compared to avg since listing of 21.5x. This 1.3 PE point premium for WOW relative to COL compares to LT avg of 4.1. Given WOW 8.2% EPS CAGR for FY24-27e vs COL of 6.5%, we believe this represents an attractive buying opportunity for WOW.

The post Supermarket concerns ‘overdone’: Buy Woolworths shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 super strong blue chip ASX 200 shares to buy in July
• Where to invest your Westpac dividends
• 2 ASX 200 retirement shares to buy in July
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• The Woolworths share price is down 16%: Time to buy the stock?

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Sometimes, people like me can make investing seem way too complicated.

Hopefully not me, personally – over the last dozen years of my professional life, I’ve aimed to make investing as simple as possible for our readers and members – but the finance industry writ large is built on algebra, jargon and a lack of transparency!

After all, if you could do it yourself, why would you need to pay massive fees (every year, and often calculated as a percentage of your portfolio!) to someone in a fancy office to do it for you?

(Before the financial advisers write in, there is absolutely a role for advice on getting started, staying the course, and making sure you have your financial house in order. But the aggregate fees charged by the industry are astronomical, compared to the value most people will get, over time. And yes, partly that’s the compliance burden… a topic for another day!)

Anyway… back to my point: investing doesn’t need to be anywhere near as complicated as it can seem, from the outside.

To wit, today’s headline, ‘How good are stocks, hey?’, comes not from me, or from a member of the investing team.

Instead it comes from Ed, the producer extraordinaire of one of our podcasts, The Good Oil.

We were chatting (by text message… Ed is a bit younger than me!) about investing, this morning. We talked about how easy it is to buy shares, how good low-cost, broad index-tracking ETFs are, and the beauty of shares compounding away in the background without us having to do any work to make it happen.

Which is when Ed replied: “How good are stocks, hey?”.

Now, in the interests of full disclosure, Ed did suggest we make that the new Motley Fool company slogan… which I’m not sure will pass muster with the marketers… but he’s not wrong.

And sometimes it’s as simple as that.

No, not entirely: you do have to open a brokerage account, and choose your ETFs and/or shares, of course. And you do have to have the patience to leave them alone to compound away over time (resisting the urge to tinker can be hard!), hopefully adding money regularly.

But that’s really not much, when you think about it.

Then all you have to do is wait. Go to work, hang out with friends, play with the kids, go for a walk, watch TV… just live your life, and let your shares do their thing.

To what end?

Well, here are two stats I’ve shared over and over: 

1. A hypothetical $10,000 invested in an ASX-tracking ETF three decades earlier would have turned into more than $130,000 by June 30 last year.
2. A hypothetical $10,000 invested in an ETF tracking the US market three decades earlier would have turned into more than $176,000 by June 30 last year.

Absolutely astonishing numbers. And how could you have got that return?

Just by reinvesting the dividends and otherwise leaving it alone.

And if you’d added more, over the duration, you’d have even more, today.

How good are stocks, hey?

Now, the corporate cop would – very reasonably – expect me to mention that shares can be (are!) volatile over the short term. And some lose money. A few lose a lot of money.

All true. That’s the risk you take if you try to speculate over short time periods and/or don’t diversify your portfolio appropriately.

And there is no guarantee that the future will look like the past, either.

So there’s that.

But also, unless humanity has reached its creative and productive peak, I think it’s pretty likely that we’ll continue to find new ways to improve our lives and the lives of others, and that our system of democratic capitalism is far from done.

In which case?

In which case, I think it’s likely that, to quote Twain again, history may not repeat, but it’ll rhyme.

If it does, that means there are gains on offer for the patient, consistent, diversified investor. 

How good are stocks, hey?

Fool on!

The post How good are stocks, hey? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Supermarket concerns ‘overdone’: Buy Woolworths shares
• Why did the BHP share price go backwards in June?
• Why is this ASX 300 uranium stock sinking 10% on Friday?
• Guess which ASX All Ords stock Mitsubishi just bought 5% of?
• IAG shares jump 7% after cutting a deal with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire

Motley Fool contributor Scott Phillips has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.