Lloyd A Vermont Sr. is a self-taught dividend investor.

As a student, I made and lost my first 'stock market' investment in 1958, when a Canadian promoted a hotel along the Palisadoes Strip toward the Norman Manley Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, and invited anyone interested to subscribe to the project. Everyone thought it could not help but be successful. Unfortunately, he (Canadian) did not follow through and the hotel was not built. He eventually returned to Canada and subscribers lost their 'investment'. This was before the advent of the Jamaica Stock Exchange which came into being in 1969.

Beginning with Carreras Ltd, the first company to offer its shares at the equivalent of 25 cents (1963, Certificate # 333) in newly independent Jamaica, and followed by the Bank of Nova Scotia in Jamaica (1967) at the equivalent of J$1.0/share (Certificate # 01860) I have participated in selected IPOs on the Jamaican market and have remained a shareholder, from inception, in many of them. I have similarly participated in selected Junior Market IPOs including the original three denominated in US Dollars.

I am a 'buy and hold' investor who invests on behalf of myself, my children, grandchildren , nineteen (19) 'god children' and advise friends on a pro bono basis. (Sunday Dec 25, 2016 was investment hand-over day to my god-children who are now young adults. I am joint owner with them because, where this safe- guard is not in place, some parents have sold this 'teaching investment' without my knowledge and consent)

Apart from my involvement with the shares of selected listed companies, I similarly have some awareness of the unit trust/mutual fund market having been one of the first investors in both the former Jamaica Unit Trust in the early 1970s as well as the second oldest such Fund on the island.

I voluntarily share my investing perspective and experience freely with anyone who is interested. In this regard, in 1994 I wrote my first investment Primer as a Christmas Gift to my friends and acquaintances as a way to encourage more of them to become stock market investors. It is titled "Playing the Equities and Money markets-It's easier than you think". And, in 2008, a more 'ambitious' volume titled "How To Become A Successful Stock Market Investor".

In 2016, I was invited to speak 'stock market' to the many folks from my home town who now make New York, USA, their home. The request has been made for a follow up Presentation in 2017.These, and other presentations, wherever invited, are on a pro bono basis.

Dividend income that is not used to support my living expenses are reinvested at source to grow my share count, mostly in the same stock that pays it. To me, stock market investing is not exactly as easy as breathing but, neither does it need rocket science IQ. I believe that anyone who can check the accuracy (or otherwise) of his or her pay envelope already has all the smarts to be a successful investor over the long term and I would like to see more people everywhere, realizing this transforming truth and using the market as one of the many routes through which to build inter-generational wealth.

A Personal Message To The Caribbean Diaspora
Lloyd A Vermont Sr.Chairman & Chief Executive Officer