The truth will make you sick. Technically it’s public knowledge, but I can tell you — it’s Congress’ dirty little secret. Congress is rich. Unbelievably rich. And until just recently, insider trading laws didn’t apply to Congress. I don’t know which is worse: The fact that insider trading was legal for some of our nation’s wealthiest politicians… or that Congress refused to do anything about it for decades. “A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based… Read More

The truth will make you sick. Technically it’s public knowledge, but I can tell you — it’s Congress’ dirty little secret. Congress is rich. Unbelievably rich. And until just recently, insider trading laws didn’t apply to Congress. I don’t know which is worse: The fact that insider trading was legal for some of our nation’s wealthiest politicians… or that Congress refused to do anything about it for decades. “A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information they obtain. The legislation has languished since 2006,” according to The Wall Street Journal. That was, the legislation languished until “60 Minutes” — one of the most respected investigative journalism programs on television — dedicated a segment to the issue. Here’s a portion of what they had to say… “In mid-September 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average still above 10,000, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were… Read More

It’s a country that rarely gets any mention by the mainstream investing press. Sure, you hear about India, China, Russia, and Brazil. And for good reason — those countries are growing at incredible rates, which has made many investors rich already… and will make even more people wealthy in the years ahead. But for my money, I don’t know if there is a better place to invest than Chile. It’s small — its total… Read More

It’s a country that rarely gets any mention by the mainstream investing press. Sure, you hear about India, China, Russia, and Brazil. And for good reason — those countries are growing at incredible rates, which has made many investors rich already… and will make even more people wealthy in the years ahead. But for my money, I don’t know if there is a better place to invest than Chile. It’s small — its total GDP is roughly $325.8 billion. That’s about 50 times smaller than the United States’ economy. Meanwhile, only 17.2 million people call Chile home… giving it a smaller population than Florida. Right now, Chile’s economy is growing at a 5.5% annual rate. That growth is accompanied by perhaps the most fiscally conservative government on the planet. National debt in the United States sits at 72.5% of GDP. But Chile’s public debt totals just 12% of… Read More

“The Little-Known Wealth Secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and One-Third of The Richest Men on Earth” This wealth secret is amazingly simple. It has nothing to do with buying options contracts, short-selling, flipping real estate, or anything difficult like that. Truth is… you don’t even need a deep understanding of the markets. It sounds impossible, but there’s a small group of stocks that enjoy the support of “Rich Parents.” These special companies benefit… Read More

“The Little-Known Wealth Secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and One-Third of The Richest Men on Earth” This wealth secret is amazingly simple. It has nothing to do with buying options contracts, short-selling, flipping real estate, or anything difficult like that. Truth is… you don’t even need a deep understanding of the markets. It sounds impossible, but there’s a small group of stocks that enjoy the support of “Rich Parents.” These special companies benefit from the same preferential access to loans, financial support and profitable business advice as the world’s wealthiest families. Most importantly, because of their special advantages they could make you a small fortune in the stock market, as they’ve done for investors over the last 10 years… Read on to learn more about  Top 10 Stocks’ “Rich Parents” stocks and how you can benefit from the little-known wealth secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and one-third of The richest men… Read More

Every year, I read dozens of books on investing, finance, economics and related topics. At last count, my Kindle contained well over 100 books about these subjects, and that doesn’t count the scores of paperbacks and hardbacks overflowing from my bookshelf and piled up in the corner of my office, threatening to collapse upon some hapless visitor. #-ad_banner-#I’ve even co-authored two investing books myself, one on energy and the other on emerging markets, but… Read More

Every year, I read dozens of books on investing, finance, economics and related topics. At last count, my Kindle contained well over 100 books about these subjects, and that doesn’t count the scores of paperbacks and hardbacks overflowing from my bookshelf and piled up in the corner of my office, threatening to collapse upon some hapless visitor. #-ad_banner-#I’ve even co-authored two investing books myself, one on energy and the other on emerging markets, but I digress. The sad truth is that among all these books, less than a dozen were truly memorable. Some were entertaining to read on a long-haul flight, but memory of those titles often faded before I jumped into a taxi at my destination. But there are a handful of books that make wading through all those forgettable titles worthwhile. These must-read titles contain truly useful information and analysis that prompt me to think about investing in a new way or develop new strategies and themes. “Shareholder Yield: A Better Approach to Dividend Investing” by… Read More

If you’ve paid close attention to the markets here lately, it may seem like many companies — as well as investors — have caught “dividend fever.” And for good reason. With interest rates near record lows and companies sitting on record amounts of cash, it’s been prime season for dividends. Times are good, and companies are feeling generous. Companies have been hiking their payouts at a steady pace in recent years and show no… Read More

If you’ve paid close attention to the markets here lately, it may seem like many companies — as well as investors — have caught “dividend fever.” And for good reason. With interest rates near record lows and companies sitting on record amounts of cash, it’s been prime season for dividends. Times are good, and companies are feeling generous. Companies have been hiking their payouts at a steady pace in recent years and show no sign of letting up. In fact, FactSet Research analyzed the broad spectrum of publicly traded U.S. stocks and found that companies paid out nearly $1.1 trillion in dividends in 2012. That’s roughly 20% higher than a year earlier. The prospects for 2013 are looking even better. According to a recent report by Standard & Poor’s, companies are on track for a record year for dividend payments. Companies boosted dividend payments by 12% in the first quarter alone… Read More

I’m going to show you a simple strategy that has never lost money in the market. A recent study by mega-investment firm Oppenheimer proved just as much. Don’t worry, it’s not some “too good to be true” story. But there are some caveats. First, I could tell 100 people about this strategy… and I’d guess 99 of them would flat ignore it. That’s despite the evidence I’ll show you backing it up. “That strategy is for suckers.” “Its time has passed.” “You have to be an idiot… Read More

I’m going to show you a simple strategy that has never lost money in the market. A recent study by mega-investment firm Oppenheimer proved just as much. Don’t worry, it’s not some “too good to be true” story. But there are some caveats. First, I could tell 100 people about this strategy… and I’d guess 99 of them would flat ignore it. That’s despite the evidence I’ll show you backing it up. “That strategy is for suckers.” “Its time has passed.” “You have to be an idiot to think that would work today.” I know some people will say this — because they already have. We asked some of our regular readers to give us their thoughts on this strategy. Those were the type of responses I heard from some people. I was shocked. Second, you can’t use this strategy for every stock. Use it on the wrong ideas, and you can still lose money. But across the market as a whole, it hasn’t failed once in the past 60 years. The truth is, you… Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. And I’m certain you’ll see it pushed in the mainstream financial media soon. #-ad_banner-#I’ll tell you why you should ignore their advice in a moment, and instead seize the opportunity that will be presented because of it. But first, let’s look at the situation we’re dealing with in the markets.  The official transcript of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s press conference two weeks ago contained 7,267 words, but the 10 that stuck out most to me were: “If the incoming data are broadly consistent with this forecast…” In… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and financial backing.#-ad_banner-# That’s because Nat is short for Nathaniel. His full name is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild. He’s the latest descendant of the legendary Rothschild family… one of the world’s most powerful dynasties since the late 18th century. For over 200 years, the secretive family has had a hand in just about every major world event. Whether it’s bringing down Napoleon… building the Suez Canal… financing the California Gold Rush… or ushering in the railroad era… look closely and you’ll find Rothschild fingerprints everywhere. Early on, the family made it a point to pass the… Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. And I’m certain you’ll see it pushed in the mainstream financial media soon. #-ad_banner-#I’ll tell you why you should ignore their advice in a moment, and instead seize the opportunity that will be presented because of it. But first, let’s look at the situation we’re dealing with in the markets.  The official transcript of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s press conference two weeks ago contained 7,267 words, but the 10 that stuck out most to me were: “If the incoming data are broadly consistent with this forecast…” In… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and… Read More

Let me tell you about a guy I know named Nat. Nat’s known for enjoying the finer things in life. His 40th birthday was held at a marina in billionaire hotspot Montenegro. Palm trees were flown in from Uruguay. Caterers were brought in specially from London. Billionaires from across the globe were in attendance. How did Nat join the billionaire elite? On the surface, he appears to have built his more than $1.5 billion personal fortune in the metals and mining industries. But look a little deeper and you’ll see that Nat’s biggest advantage has been his family’s reputation and financial backing.#-ad_banner-# That’s because Nat is short for Nathaniel. His full name is Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild. He’s the latest descendant of the legendary Rothschild family… one of the world’s most powerful dynasties since the late 18th century. For over 200 years, the secretive family has had a hand in just about every major world event. Whether it’s bringing down Napoleon… building the Suez Canal… financing the California Gold Rush… or ushering in the railroad era… look closely and you’ll find Rothschild fingerprints everywhere. Early on, the family made it a point to pass the… Read More