Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Forget Earnings, Dividends Matter

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After a day in which Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 733 points for the second biggest drop in the index's history, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday that they need not be "as fearful this time around."

Cramer said the markets are "ever-so-slightly" better off now than they were just a week ago.

Why? He said the markets last week thought the entire banking system was going under, but they know that's not the case this week with the Treasury's rescue plan in place. This fact alone, he assured, should make today's retesting of last week's lows a little less scary.

Cramer told viewers to forget about earnings estimates, which he said can no longer be trusted, and stick with high dividend-paying stocks.

"Investing in non-dividend paying stocks is just a leap of faith," he said, noting that only the size and safety of a company's dividend matters in this volatile market.

Cramer also advised viewers not to purchase their stocks all at once. Instead he said they should follow the strategies in his book Real Money and scale into positions over time, buying on weakness.

"A good dividend pays you to wait," said Cramer, adding that is exactly what investors need to do in a scary market where the selling isn't likely to be over.

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