Intuition suggests that dividend policy should be irrelevant. Investors desiring a cash payout from their stock portfolios can simply sell stock and pay themselves a cash "dividend." Investors who do not want a cash dividend can reinvest dividends received. However, several factors complicate this simple argument. As such, financial managers find that there are logical arguments that favor a high dividend payout and equally logical arguments that support a low dividend payout. Still other arguments indicate that dividend policy is irrelevant. All three points of view are addressed in this chapter.