Evolutionary perspective The approach to psychology that stresses the importance of behavioral and mental adaptiveness, based on the assumption that mental capabilities evolved over millions of years to serve particular adaptive purposes.
How Stock Mutual Funds Pay Dividends. Stock mutual funds hold a portfolio of many stocks, in some cases hundreds or even thousands of different companies. These companies are distributing dividends throughout the year. However, it is generally impractical for mutual fund companies to distribute dividends to shareholders every time they receive them.
Dividends are quarterly cash payments that companies make to shareholders as an incentive to invest in the stock. To get the dividend yield, which is expressed as a percent, the average yearly payout is divided by the stock's latest price, or market value. A stock's dividend yield coupled with returns earned from a rising stock price comprise the investment's total return.