I enjoyed the article. Not so much for the discussion of CSL, but I thought his investing philosophy was interesting.

I like the idea of viewing your portfolio as a means to solve problems in your life, rather than simply to make money

Mark makes a good case @thunderhead

And nothing wrong with buying a quality company for the long term, that can steadily raise it's dividend payout to you most years.

The key for me though would still be around the price you pay to enter (assuming it's not already a hold for you). As Howard Marks has said so eloquently...the key to investing isn't buying good things, it's buying things well!

So, at the current PE of 29, it's still on a multiple that's almost double the ASX200 (which is at about 16 right now). As I mused in your bear case post on CSL, if they only deliver single digit EPS growth from here on, with the long term trend now of declining ROE/ROC and net margins, it's not hard to imagine the multiple coming back to say 20. And if that plays out your dividends aren't going to be enough to beat the market for a fair while yet.