Ep. 140: Trust the Raise, Not the Headline

5 sources under one throughline — trust the raise, not the headline: a growing, cash-covered dividend is a signal you can verify; reported earnings and engineered yields can lie. (1) AngelOne types-of-dividends (cash/stock/scrip/liquidating — the form tells you something); (2) Russ's POOL (Poolcorp ~$330->under $200, still raising, 64% recurring, Berkshire exited Q1'26) + Hershey (never cut in ~100yrs) — both raised into 40%+ drawdowns; (3) our own Realty Income (O) piece — raising the monthly dividend through a rate re-rating, judged on AFFO/operating cash flow (low-70s% covered) not GAAP payout; (4) TipRanks HWC/ESEA/WMB fresh dividend growers w/ Sept ex-div dates; (5) Dividend Informer 'AI earnings mirage' — capitalize-vs-expense inflates S&P 500 profits, so verify the cash. Trimmed 3 of 8 JMc URLs: 2 covered-call/structured-ETF issuer interviews (Canadian TECI + XFunds VOY) and the Doug $500k-retirement call (off-spine).