I’m new to the DRIP world. What’s the difference between what you call No-Load Stocks™ and dividend reinvestment plans?
A An easy way to answer your question is by saying that all No-Load Stock™ plans are DRIPs, but not all DRIPs are no-load stocks. More than 1,100 companies offer dividend reinvestment plans. These plans allow investors to buy shares directly from companies. Shares are purchased with dividends that the company reinvests for participants. In addition, most DRIPs permit optional cash investments that participants send directly to companies to purchase additional shares. The one catch is that in most DRIPs, an investor already must be a shareholder of record of the company in order to participate in the plan. No-load stocks differ from other DRIPs in that no-load stock plans permit investors to make their initial purchase of stock directly from the company. No-load stock plans come in two varieties — plans that are open to all investors and “limited” no-load stock plans that are available only to certain investors, usually customers of the corporation or residents in the state or states in
