Morgan Stanley's Pick of FTSE Dividend Shares

The Morgan Stanley Bull
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As a frugal investor, I'm always open to receiving free advice and research. In this case, the corporate suits at Morgan Stanley have kindly provided a list of what they think are attractive, sustainable European dividend shares. 

Think of the kind of salaries that would have been paid to do this bit of research - I'm glad I'm not paying for it!

Anyway, as I don't take any currency risks in my investments (apart from the Pounds that I spend), I've skimmed off just the FTSE results.

The Millionaire Next Door (US)

'The Millionaire Next Door' was the result of a fascinating piece of social research into US millionaire households, trying to understand if there are any 'secrets' that can help the rest of us. The authors - Thomas Stanely and Willam Danko - spent 20 years interviewing members of this elite club and found some surprising characteristics. The resulting book was a New York Times Best Seller for over three years. For a summary and excerpts, see here and here - also the book's website.

Some of the findings are very relevant to a DIY Income Investor.

Portfolio Candidate: HomeServe (LSE:HSV)

Have you ever had a leak at home? Or had your boiler pack up? It's not fun at all, and people are willing to pay to soften the impact of such unhappy events.

As part of a current search for a suitable income-producing investment, I have identified HomeServe, which helps households to deal with these emergencies.

Portfolio Review: Centaur Media (LSE:CAU)

Centaur Media, a FTSE 250 publisher and event organiser, is one of my smaller legacy holdings - as it was not bought on yield grounds I have excluded it up to now from the DIY Income Investor portfolio.

It has fared poorly since purchase, so has not been a good investment. What is more, today its share price has just dropped nearly 15% - on no obvious news that I can identify. However, paradoxically, this means that the yield on Centaur Media has increased substantially;  following today's price fall the yield is now running at over 7% - bringing it firmly into high-yield territory.

So, is this one to shun or take a shine to?

Tortoise Investing

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Right about now is when many investors will be scared away from the stock market, to the point of selling up and hiding in a cave (aka 'buying gold').

But if you are following the DIY Income Investor approach you will be - to some extent - insulated from the unfolding drama. No guarantees, but successful investing is often about adhering to a mental discipline ('mind over stomach') rather than being particularly clever.

So where does the tortoise come in?