About John Kingham

Dear Fellow Investor,

Welcome to the UK Dividend Stocks website, which has been called "an oasis of sanity in a crazy financial world".

On this page, you'll find a brief overview of how I invest, my professional background and why this website exists. 

How I invest

I would describe myself as a defensive dividend investor who broadly follows Benjamin Graham's guidelines for defensive investors, which he wrote in the 1940s:

The selection of common stocks for the portfolio of the defensive investor is a relatively simple matter. Here we would suggest:

(1) There should be adequate though not excessive diversification. This might mean a minimum of ten different issues and a maximum of about thirty.

(2) Each company selected should be large, prominent, and conservatively financed. Indefinite as these adjectives must be, their general sense is clear.

(3) Each company should have a long record of continuous dividend payments.

(4) The price paid for each should be reasonable in relation to its average earnings for the last five years or longer. We would recommend a price not to exceed twenty times such earnings.

(5) The stock of a growing company, if purchasable at a suitable price, is obviously preferrable to others. We should recommend payment of a premium for the growth potential not to exceed about 50 percent of the value determined without it.

There is a lot of detail missing from those five points, but they still capture the spirit of what I'm trying to do.

For a more detailed overview of my dividend investing strategy, please read this blog post:

• A 5-Step Approach to Investing in Dividend Stocks

My professional background

Before I became an investment analyst and writer, I worked in the insurance industry for many years as a software analyst. Investing was originally just a hobby which grew into a serious passion that eventually became my career.

I started writing about investing in 2008 when I launched the now-mothballed UK Value Investor blog.

In 2011 I launched a paid monthly investment newsletter and in 2015 my first book, The Defensive Value Investor, was published by Harriman House.

From 2016 to 2020 I wrote the Dividend Hunter column for Master Investor Magazine and I currently write the UK Defensive Equities section of the Multi Asset Lab, which is published by The Property Chronicle magazine.

I launched this website in 2021 as my investment style had evolved towards dividend investing rather than value investing.

I also hold the Investment Management Certificate, which is issued by the CFA Society UK.

Why this website exists

I started writing about investing in 2008 for two reasons:

(1) There was a lack of sensible publications covering UK stocks. Most of what was out there was either fluff or hype, written to attract eyeballs for advertisers rather than helping readers become better investors.

(2) I wanted to exchange ideas with other investors so we could help each other improve.

These remain the purpose of this website, and I hope that comes through in every blog post and every issue of the monthly newsletter.

If you have any questions, please send them to me via the Contact Page.

Good luck with your investment journey,

John Kingham