Most people don’t have a million dollars to invest. It doesn’t matter. What I’m going to show you applies no matter how much money you have to invest — whether it’s $100 or $100 million. #-ad_banner-#But there is a sad truth about a million dollars. Even that heady amount wouldn’t earn you much in regular income — if you put it to work in the “traditional” ways… $560. That’s the most you will get each month if you put that $1 million into a 1-year CD, which, according to BankRate.com, is yielding just 0.67%. For comparison, the average Social Security… Read More

Most people don’t have a million dollars to invest. It doesn’t matter. What I’m going to show you applies no matter how much money you have to invest — whether it’s $100 or $100 million. #-ad_banner-#But there is a sad truth about a million dollars. Even that heady amount wouldn’t earn you much in regular income — if you put it to work in the “traditional” ways… $560. That’s the most you will get each month if you put that $1 million into a 1-year CD, which, according to BankRate.com, is yielding just 0.67%. For comparison, the average Social Security check is $1,266 per month. In other words, you’d earn more from Social Security than you would from $1 million. It’s a similar story with a number of other investments… 10-year Treasury Note — Sitting near historically low levels, if you loaned the federal government $1 million, with annual yields at 2.9%, you’d only earn $29,000 a year… or $2,900 a year on $100,000. Savings Accounts — With a maximum yield of 1%, the absolute best you’ll get from a savings account according to BankRate.com right now is $10,000 a year. Corporate Bonds — If you invest in the right… Read More

When I was a teenager, my father took me to an empty parking lot to practice driving on ice and snow. Skidding is an eerie feeling. When you first lose control of the car, your gut reaction is to step on the brakes. Read More

Lackluster retail results have inspired recent headlines such as “Tepid U.S. Retail Sales Raising Doubts About Economy” and “Consumer Caution Hits Sales at U.S. Retailers.”#-ad_banner-# The latest wave of quarterly financial… Read More

These days, you can do a lot of investment research from home. Nearly every financial document and economic report can be accessed online. But I still believe in the benefits of “boots on the ground.” If I’m investigating a retail stock, I visit store locations. If I’m researching an equipment manufacturer, I want to see its products operate and talk to its customers. And given my master limited partnership (MLP) holdings, a recent trip to… Read More

These days, you can do a lot of investment research from home. Nearly every financial document and economic report can be accessed online. But I still believe in the benefits of “boots on the ground.” If I’m investigating a retail stock, I visit store locations. If I’m researching an equipment manufacturer, I want to see its products operate and talk to its customers. And given my master limited partnership (MLP) holdings, a recent trip to one of the nation’s top shale plays was long overdue. In the late 19th century, Williamsport, Penn. was known as the “lumber capital of the world,” and had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. The street where the lumber barons built their homes, on a hill overlooking the Susquehanna River, is still called “Millionaire’s Row.” Lumber may have built Williamsport over a hundred years ago, but it is natural gas that is responsible for its riches in this century. In 2010, Williamsport was the seventh-fastest growing metropolitan area in… Read More