On behalf of all of us at The Smart Investor, we’d like to wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year! The New Year ushers in yet another major festival for many Singaporeans – the Lunar New Year. For many of us, it also means it’s time to give out red packets containing cash to our parents and our children.

Filling your red packets with dividends

This is where dividends can be helpful. If you own companies that dish out dividends, this stream of passive income can help to fill up your red packets instead of dipping into your cash kitty. If your dividend stream is large enough, you could even have some spare cash left over to spend on the festivities. For instance, my family usually books a Chinese restaurant for our reunion dinner on the eve of the Lunar New Year. The dividends received will go a long way to paying for this annual dinner,  ...