IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A 0 to 10 score for each dividend-paying holding, built from its payout ratio, dividend cover, yield level and per-share dividend trend.
WHY IT HELPS
Flags dividends that look stretched before a cut arrives, and shows how much of your forecast income sits in the holdings that look weakest.
HOW IT'S CALCULATED
Four factors score points: payout ratio (3 points under 60 percent, 2 under 80, 1 under 100, 0 above), dividend cover (3 points at 2x or more, 2 at 1.5x, 1 at 1x, 0 below), yield (2 points under 6 percent, 1 under 9, 0 above — an unusually high yield often prices in a cut), and dividend trend (2 points if the mean of the last four per-share dividends is more than 1 percent above the four before, 0 if it is 10 percent or more below, otherwise 1). Factors with no data are excluded from both the score and the maximum, and the result is rescaled to 0 to 10, so a holding is never marked unsafe for missing data; the data coverage percentage is shown on the row. Trend uses per-share amounts, not the totals you received, so buying or selling shares does not read as a cut. Bands are Strong at 8 or above, Stable at 6, Watch at 4, Fragile below 4. The headline score is weighted by each holding's forecast annual income (value times yield), and income at risk is the forecast income from Watch and Fragile holdings.
Educational content only. It is not personal financial advice.