There is a difference between being a successful investor and just wanting to be one: Understanding value.

There are several ways to value a company. Find one that makes the most sense to you.

Here are the methods I use to value a company and my current estimated valuation for Visa.

My point-counterpoint section links to other well-conceived articles on Visa that both support and differ from my view.

Are you a successful investor?

This is more than just a rhetorical question. It is what defines how comfortably one will be able to retire, or if s/he will be able to retire at all. As we all know, it starts with saving. But what to do with those accumulated savings? Results are what defines success as an investor —not just short-term gains but those long-term compounded annual returns over a period of five years or more. Many money managers occasionally out-perform the market indices like the Dow Jones industrial average (Private:DJI), the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY), or the Nasdaq (NASDAQ:QQQ), but very few can do so consistently, year after year. Fortunately for me, I have found a tool that helps me with that conundrum. I will share more about that later in the article.

My focus is on dividends, since I am already of retirement age, having begun drawing my pension back in 2002. I retired early to allow myself the privilege of being involved in the raising of our two children. The plan was that I could do some consulting on the side, out of our home, and make enough to pay the bills. It worked, and we were able to allow our retirement nest egg to grow. Many investors do not realize that over the very long term, reinvested dividends make up over 40 percent of the total return on the S&P 500. Read that again — it is important to me and should be to you, whether you need the income or not.