A stock offering 10% dividend yield looks like a shortcut to financial independence — you could hit your FIRE number at half the required portfolio. But an unusually high yield is often the market screaming a warning, not offering a gift. When a company's fundamentals deteriorate and the share price collapses, the yield formula spikes mechanically, creating a "yield trap." The dividend gets cut, the share price falls further, and you're left holding a stock that pays nothing on a shrunk portfolio. This episode walks through real examples — Vodafone's 10.8% yield followed by a 50% cut, AT&T's 47% cut, and Intel's 66% cut — revealing the five red flags: payout ratio above 100%, declining earnings, rising debt, sector headwinds, and management silence. You'll also discover why dividend growers outperformed high-yield stocks by nearly 2.4x over 50 years, and how a modest 3% yield growing at 8% per year eventually beats a flat 6% yield. Use Nestor's dividend history and growth trend features to see which of your holdings are growing their income and which are flashing warning signs.From the team behind Nestor – Dividend Trackerhttps://www.nestordividendtracker.co.uk