The WSJ Fund Track column manages to cover Franklin Rising Dividends (FRDPX) with nary a mention of another dividend focused mutual fund nor the near certainty that taxes on dividends will jump higher on January 1. Rising taxes on dividends would seem to be a downer for dividend paying stocks, but the reporter Aparajita Saha-Bubna sees financial services firms upping their dividend payouts in the wake of the about-to-be-passed financial services reforms.

Saha-Bubna holds out the possibility that investors who feel burned during the financial crisis may move to dividend focused stocks and funds such as Franklin Rising Dividends which already has $2.3 billion in AUM. Though, haven't investors already had more than 18 months to make that move?

Fund PM Taylor focuses on companies with steady and strongly growing dividends which have a low enough payout to see more increases. Oh yes, he does not see financial services firm stocks returning to the fund anytime soon. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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