A reliable investment strategy: Identify a widely diversified portfolio of high-quality stocks and build up additional holdings at favorable prices.
DRIPs can help you do that.
Even small investors can follow such a strategy by investing through dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs). That's because it takes ownership of only a single share of company stock to establish an account. Therefore, there is nothing to stop you from buying companies in a variety of industries.
As for buying at favorable prices, dollar-cost averaging virtually assures that you will buy most shares at favorable prices. And DRIPs provide an excellent way to dollar-cost average. These plans allow you to invest cash amounts to buy shares directly from the company. Once you are enrolled in a plan, you can invest amounts of as little as $25 or $50 (or many thousands of dollars) to buy shares or fractions of shares. That's different than the traditional way to invest, which is to pay brokerage fees to buy a certain number of shares.
Eaton Corp. (ETN)
Available from the Temper Enrollment Service: Yes

Industry: | Diversified manufacturing |
Minimum Investment: | $10.00 |
Maximum Investment: | $60,000/year |
Shares to qualify: | 1 |
Recent Price: | 79.72 |
Investing Fee: | $0! |
Fee for Dividends: | $0! |
! = Company pays fees
Information is based on an annual survey and updated when company changes become available.