All stocks are a matter of opinion. I recall reading no one is right all the time. To make money you just need to be right more often then you are wrong.

Are you asking about T? I hold some. Some of what I hold is worth more than I paid for it. Some is worth less than my cost not counting the dividends. I bought the new lower priced shares intending to have as many shares at a lower cost and have the taxman share part of my loss. To date it has not reached my sell price. Preserving the high dividend? Promises do not mean much. Right now they are borrowing money to pay the dividend. There are always buyers and sellers. If, you are buying perhaps you will end up with the shares I am selling when they hit my ask price.

We all want safety and stocks that only go up and of course pay a great dividend. Reality is so truly rude and real.

I didnt think my comment was snide, when I need investment advise would want to go to people who are knowledgeable not a bunch of anonymous folks who may or may not have a clue on stocks.

That old joke is about the Brooklyn bridge an made fun of uneducated immigrants. It is way above my ability to raise money however it could be a good investment at the right price.
Scrap value? I seem to recall reading the cables are not steel but are wrought iron which is not as strong as steel but is rust resistant. Steel production no longer starts with wrought iron to which you add carbon to make steel. Most real wrought iron comes from scrap. I can't help it. At the right price the Brooklyn Bridge would be a steal.

We tend to think alike until we read an try to make it make sense. Knowledgeable vs dismissing others. We tend to dismiss people who do not repeat what we do not realize we are repeating as being wrong or more often we choose other demeaning adjectives.

Knowledgeable? Buffet is knowledgeable personified. We have even coined the term Buffet like. I find the reality amusing. Buffet has said that was a mistake I lost 45 million dollars on that-oops. My reality, was I to lose 45 million there would be a lot of people wondering how they could have been so stupid as to lend me that much money.
Buffet does not even trade in the same market where we prawns swim. Also amusing
Buffet is 86 years old. Buffet says he buys stocks for long term. Is he in different world? Buffet is a math genius. Does he simply refuse to see an actuarial table?

Diversified? Our most recent collapse, was it 2006. Real Estate took a dive. Stocks took a dive. Bonds took a dive. Antiques took a dive. The only thing that held it's value was gold. No I did not have gold then and I do not have gold now.

We think gold and real estate always go up. I remind all of us, including me EXCEPT WHEN THEY DON'T.

I love getting investment advice from TOTV. I put it right behind getting legal advice on TOTV. Of course, the medical advice is outstanding. Given all that I have learned here about medical advice, I think I am ready to do open heart surgery on myself. Right after that, I will follow the legal advice and then the investment advice that others have so thoughtfully provided on TOTV.

There is a reason why people rely upon experts. Unless one thinks they have greater knowledge than those who have trained to be "experts" in their fields and who have spent a huge number of years in their education and in excess of 40 hours per week immersed in their field of expertise, I should think it might be worth the money to consult the "experts" not typists posting in TOTV. Thank god, Amazon was slow in delivering the scalpels!

If you have money in a savings account, which is paying less than 1 percent interest, you may want to allow that same money to earn 6 percent interest, or more, with high dividend stocks. Research these 3 stocks : EPD, UTG, T. Or, just continue to lose asset value due to inflation.

For over 30 years I have gradually bought T. It mostly has moved within a ten point band and I have added to my position when I felt it low. T is only about 5% of my portfolio. I would not bet the farm on it but it has provided a high dividend yield during a long historically low interest period

Any answer here would be to short to be of any real value. I currently hold (T) a commitment to hold the dividend and not cut it, is a statement. It is not binding or a guarantee. Depending on when I bought my shares some are worth more than I paid and others are worth less than I paid. Neither counts the dividend I do not drip dividends. My view since we no longer pay commissions dripping makes zero sense.
As far as the dividends, (T) is borrowing money to pay it-not a good business model.

I have decided to sell my most expensive shares and take the tax loss. In every stock trade there is a buyer and a seller. If, you are buying and it hits my price your shares may well be very local.

Often a four line post on complex subjects leaves out simple good manners. It is true to all that interest on safe cash after inflation and taxes is negative numbers. However, reality
money to buy stocks, invest or more true gamble that it will not go down from your buy price, has to come from somewhere-that is cash.

OP asked for thoughts, not advice.

Re: telling your friends
I am very cautious about doing that. If, they follow your advice they will tell everyone how smart THEY are. If, they lose money they will tell everyone how dumb you are. One way or the other it is a lose not a win for you.

To me AT&T is not a purchase for growth. It is a purchased to buy and hold for its dividend. It's current dividend yield is 6.77% That is the reason I would purchase the stock. However, I would wait until after Monday, May 4 as that is the dividend payout date for this quarter ($0.52) and the stock will usually drop by that amount on the payout date.

Seems to me that is a distinction without a difference.

Nah, you weren't rude
 

Nah, you weren't rude, more like direct, which some people don't like as much.

My wife is a very beat around the bush type, particularly in typing emails to customers, vendors, and colleagues, not wanting to be just direct and to the point.

I tend to be direct as well, some times too much, but I also know my audience so that if I know the person to whom I am directly speaking and they are not the direct type, then I don't do the direct type, but this is a bbs, web site, and anyone can be offended by anything, and that's where differing opinions makes the world go round.

corp finance guy

AT&T will be coming into a lot of money in January. They just screwed over thousands of retirees by reducing benefits. Drastically lowered life insurance coverage payouts, Death benefit payouts and Health insurance coverage. These are existing retirees they are hurting.