A rules-based ranking system targeting simultaneous dividend income growth and portfolio value appreciation.
Most investing advice asks you to choose between growth and income. Total Growth Investing rejects the trade-off. The ranking system identifies companies that grow their dividend and their share price over multiple timeframes — the rare overlap where compounding works on both sides at once.
Stocks are scored quantitatively. Lower scores mean higher purchase priority. The system removes discretion from buy and sell decisions: you buy from the top of the list, sell what falls off the bottom, and let the math handle the rest.
The headline score. Weighs dividend growth, price growth, yield characteristics, and payout discipline across 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year timeframes. This is the score most readers will recognize from the TGI Ranked Watchlist.
Re-weights the same inputs toward sustained yield. Designed for portfolios closer to or in retirement, where the revenue stream matters more than continued price appreciation. Available at the HII Ranked Watchlist.
Isolates the price appreciation component for readers building a portfolio focused on long-term capital gains rather than current income.
Isolates the dividend growth component for readers building a portfolio focused on growing income over time.
The ranking system surfaces opportunities. The rules govern action. Without rules, even a good ranking system gets overridden by emotion the first time a stock looks "too good to pass up."
No single position exceeds 5% of total portfolio value. Once a position hits the cap, no further buys regardless of where it sits on the ranking list.
No single sector exceeds 10% of total portfolio value. The same cap logic applies — once a sector hits 10%, that whole sector is closed for new buys until the percentage falls back below the cap.
New capital flows into the highest-ranked stock that hasn't hit a cap. Positions that fall to the bottom of the ranking are sold and redeployed. The ranking system itself is the buy/sell signal.
The ranked watchlists are public and updated regularly:
Discipline builds, speculation crashes.Total Growth Investing