Time is running out. Congress has 42 days to decide what they’re going to do about the “Bush Era” Tax cuts. If they don’t act by December 31st, income taxes will rise across the board. Long-term capital gains could also increase. If the tax cuts aren’t renewed, capital gains rates could go up to as much as 20%. And for people in the top income (single filers making over $200,000 and $250,000 for join filers), you could also pay an extra 3.8% Medicare tax… Read More

Time is running out. Congress has 42 days to decide what they’re going to do about the “Bush Era” Tax cuts. If they don’t act by December 31st, income taxes will rise across the board. Long-term capital gains could also increase. If the tax cuts aren’t renewed, capital gains rates could go up to as much as 20%. And for people in the top income (single filers making over $200,000 and $250,000 for join filers), you could also pay an extra 3.8% Medicare tax on all investment income. In other words, the top tax rates could be as high 43.4% for dividends and 23.8% for capital gains.#-ad_banner-# In recent issues of Dividend Opportunities, I’ve told you how you can escape the tax hikes by investing in tax-exempt municipal bonds. #-ad_banner-# However you play it though, the tax hikes will affect some of our favorite dividend-paying companies. Right now, dividends and capital gains are both taxed at the same 15% rate. That could change. In the face of… Read More

Subscribers send me dozens of questions and comments every month. While I can’t always address each one individually, I do read them all. One question we income investors are asking ourselves right now is “Should I own bonds?” The answer is yes, but for reasons I’m about to explain, you will need to be cautious. After all, major stock market averages are soaring, with both the S&P 500… Read More

Subscribers send me dozens of questions and comments every month. While I can’t always address each one individually, I do read them all. One question we income investors are asking ourselves right now is “Should I own bonds?” The answer is yes, but for reasons I’m about to explain, you will need to be cautious. After all, major stock market averages are soaring, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow surpassing all-time closing highs set back in October 2007. The bull run in stocks is also flying in the face of continued uncertainty about interest rates staying low if a divided Federal Reserve starts to phase out its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program — not to mention trouble in Japan and already high valuations for many dividend-paying stocks. So that leaves one question: Why do many analysts still think equities will keep… Read More

How high can stocks go? Since breaking through a record closing high on March 5, the Dow Jones industrial average has continued to post fresh highs. The broader S&P 500 index has more recently done the same. … Read More

Interest rates near zero and record-low U.S. Treasury yields make finding good income investments a bit harder these days. Don’t get me wrong — it’s still possible to find attractive yields, but you need to know where… Read More

I have never advised my readers to invest in Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A). And it’s not because a single share of the Class A stock costs $164,690 or because I think it is… Read More

I’d bet most income investors know about the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index. To be included in this index, an S&P 500 company must have raised its… Read More

The last time you could get a 7% yield from a CD was in the 1980s. Today, you’d be lucky to find a CD that pays more than 1.5%. Stocks yield a bit more — the typical… Read More

On average, they’re yielding nearly 8%. That’s almost four times the yield of the S&P 500. Try getting that amount from a money market or savings account.#-ad_banner-# But that’s not the half of it. In tandem with those high yields, the capital gains have been great too. The average total return for these forty securities is 39.4%. The best performer has gained… Read More

On average, they’re yielding nearly 8%. That’s almost four times the yield of the S&P 500. Try getting that amount from a money market or savings account.#-ad_banner-# But that’s not the half of it. In tandem with those high yields, the capital gains have been great too. The average total return for these forty securities is 39.4%. The best performer has gained 254.5%, yet still yields 4%. This isn’t the performance of some secret index or an exclusive hedge-fund’s holdings. It’s what is currently happening within the portfolios of my High-Yield Investing advisory. What’s the secret to that sort of performance? How can you build a similar portfolio for yourself? Don’t get me wrong — I do an enormous amount of research and watch my holdings and the market like a hawk. But much of… Read More

Some people built their fortunes by reinvesting dividends. My mother was one of them. For example, she parlayed a $2,500 investment in Bristol Myers (NYSE: BMY) into $65,000 simply by reinvesting dividends into shares of… Read More

7,070,719,529. This was the number of people on this planet as of early March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By the time you read this number, however, it will be completely out of date. Hundreds of people are added to the… Read More