One important lesson I’ve learnt after investing for 16 years now is this: Dividend investing is not what you think it is. The thing is, many people believe the way to invest in dividends is simply owning a portfolio of “high dividend yielding” stocks. But this is a paradox of investing that few people realize. And I find this very dangerous. After I gave a seminar on investing one evening, a very senior man walked up to me. He owned just five stocks in his portfolio. All five had high dividend yield. He thought he could retire on them. Yet, he told me all his stocks in his portfolio were losing money. I asked: “How come?” He said all of his stocks paid him high dividends. But every year, his money kept dropping. When I dug further, I realized the companies he bought weren’t doing well in the first place — falling revenues,...