“Dividends are payments that companies make to share their profits with shareholders or investors. Dividends are often paid in cash, but they can also be issued as additional shares, called stock dividends. Either way, they help to provide investors with a regular income from their stocks. Not all stocks pay out dividends, so if receiving these regular payouts is important to you, you’ll need to choose stocks carefully.”
Whether you buy individual stocks or own stocks through a mutual fund or Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), you may be earning dividends as part of the growth in your portfolio. even when the stock market is down and all is doom and gloom in the media, your stocks may be paying out dividends and thus your portfolio may be growing slowly or at least not plunging.
Learn lots more about stock dividends from FinanceCharts at: https://www.financecharts.com/pages/5732-stock-dividends-what-they-are-and-how-they-work
Thanks to Heather Dropkin, a middle school librarian, and her bright 7th grade student, Emma, for bringing this website to our attention.