As a value investor, I hate to overpay. That’s not just true of stocks, but pretty much anything else… tools, lawn equipment, you name it. My kids call that cheap, but they don’t really understand.  #-ad_banner-#The goal isn’t just to buy the cheapest option in any particular category. In some cases, I buy the top-of-the line model. What matters is the relationship between price (what you pay) and value (what you get). In short, I strive to get my money’s worth and maximize my returns.  But how do we determine value? Price… Read More

As a value investor, I hate to overpay. That’s not just true of stocks, but pretty much anything else… tools, lawn equipment, you name it. My kids call that cheap, but they don’t really understand.  #-ad_banner-#The goal isn’t just to buy the cheapest option in any particular category. In some cases, I buy the top-of-the line model. What matters is the relationship between price (what you pay) and value (what you get). In short, I strive to get my money’s worth and maximize my returns.  But how do we determine value? Price is right there in black and white, but value can be much harder to quantify. Usually, the best way to approximate what an asset is worth involves comparisons to similar items.  In real estate, home appraisals are based on comparisons to other properties of similar age and square footage in the surrounding neighborhood. And if you’re trying to assess the value of a pre-owned 2009 Honda Accord, there are resources to see what other buyers have paid for that particular make and model. Armed with this information, you have a much better idea of… Read More

Most people know the name Wayne Gretzky. #-ad_banner-#For years he was nearly universally regarded as the best hockey player in the world. Yet his astounding success had very little to do with superior athletic abilities. “A good hockey player skates to where the puck is,” Gretzky would say. “A great hockey player skates to where the puck is going.” Although investing doesn’t require the same physical prowess as hockey, this same principle is key to identifying stocks at the cusp of a big upward move. You see, the… Read More

Most people know the name Wayne Gretzky. #-ad_banner-#For years he was nearly universally regarded as the best hockey player in the world. Yet his astounding success had very little to do with superior athletic abilities. “A good hockey player skates to where the puck is,” Gretzky would say. “A great hockey player skates to where the puck is going.” Although investing doesn’t require the same physical prowess as hockey, this same principle is key to identifying stocks at the cusp of a big upward move. You see, the key lies in spotting big picture themes that are likely to unfold, and then understanding the likely winners or losers based on these long-established relationships in the global market. Let’s be clear: I’m not talking about localized events that could be gone tomorrow, but big-picture developments that could take months or years to play out. For example, when the world began recognizing the potential of fracking and horizontal drilling to optimize the extraction of natural resources from shale rock formations, it was obvious that well-positioned oil and gas producers would benefit. But, those who… Read More

Currently, the Federal Reserve is crushing savers and income investors by keeping interest rates near zero. #-ad_banner-#But the good news is that there are dozens of safe ways to make 10 times more than you would by investing in a CD or a Treasury bill. In fact, there are currently 288 stocks that yield more than 10%, 173 that yield more than 12% and 95 yielding 15% or more. While not all stocks yielding double digits are good investments, owning a handful of reliable dividend payers is the safest, easiest way to build wealth. Read More

Currently, the Federal Reserve is crushing savers and income investors by keeping interest rates near zero. #-ad_banner-#But the good news is that there are dozens of safe ways to make 10 times more than you would by investing in a CD or a Treasury bill. In fact, there are currently 288 stocks that yield more than 10%, 173 that yield more than 12% and 95 yielding 15% or more. While not all stocks yielding double digits are good investments, owning a handful of reliable dividend payers is the safest, easiest way to build wealth. n fact, 156 years of data prove that owning dividend paying stocks and reinvesting those dividends beats all other investment approaches hands down. If you’re skeptical consider this: Anyone who invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 in 1950 would have $1,033,799 today as long as they reinvested the dividends. Without dividend reinvestment, that figure shrinks to a measly $117,471. So why does investing in dividend payers make such a difference? Because these are the stocks that often perform the best, even during periods of extreme market turmoil. Take… Read More

I probably don’t have to tell you this, but the odds are stacked against you when it comes to “beating the market.” By nearly 6 to 1 in fact… Investment analysts, advisors and fund managers — the so-called experts — spend their entire working lives and billions of dollars on research vowing to “beat the market” in any given year — yet the vast majority of them fail… Just look at mutual fund industry’s record. In the past three years, just 14% of actively-managed mutual fund managers matched or exceeded the… Read More

I probably don’t have to tell you this, but the odds are stacked against you when it comes to “beating the market.” By nearly 6 to 1 in fact… Investment analysts, advisors and fund managers — the so-called experts — spend their entire working lives and billions of dollars on research vowing to “beat the market” in any given year — yet the vast majority of them fail… Just look at mutual fund industry’s record. In the past three years, just 14% of actively-managed mutual fund managers matched or exceeded the market’s performance according to Standard & Poor’s. So how are the small minority beating the market? After years of research, we’ve found that more often than not, investors who keep these two rules in mind when choosing stocks have been proven to collect higher dividend yields and consistently beat the S&P 500… #-ad_banner-#Dividend payers beat non-dividend payers. It probably comes as no surprise that, over time, investing in companies that return money to shareholders in the form of dividend payments make a much better investment than putting money in stocks… Read More

Have you ever noticed the abundance of articles with catchy titles? “Five Favorite Stocks Of The 1%” “Secret Money Management Tricks Of The Super-Wealthy?” #-ad_banner-#It’s easy to see the appeal of these articles for everyday investors. After all, that’s the whole purpose of investing — to build wealth. Who better to assist with that aspiration than the rich? Surely, they know a few things we don’t. I worked with affluent high net-worth clients for years, and while most are knowledgeable about business and… Read More

Have you ever noticed the abundance of articles with catchy titles? “Five Favorite Stocks Of The 1%” “Secret Money Management Tricks Of The Super-Wealthy?” #-ad_banner-#It’s easy to see the appeal of these articles for everyday investors. After all, that’s the whole purpose of investing — to build wealth. Who better to assist with that aspiration than the rich? Surely, they know a few things we don’t. I worked with affluent high net-worth clients for years, and while most are knowledgeable about business and industry, that doesn’t always mean they are financial gurus. These articles are often entertaining and informative, but they typically don’t have a real impact on my portfolio. But when a decorated portfolio manager, such as Mario Gabelli, says to avoid telecom and overweight commodities, or when Franklin Templeton’s Mark Mobius says it’s time to double down on emerging-market debt, I pay attention. I’m a voracious reader of annual reports and other shareholder communiques where fund managers enlighten us with their commentary and outlooks. But really, the simplest and most direct way… Read More

October 17th was a good day for investors. The Dow, reeling from a six-day slide, rebounded with a powerful 250-point gain. But for one small group of stockholders it was an especially great day. Shares of Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) rocketed more than $16 per share, hitting $208.59 in heavy trading. #-ad_banner-#This pop was triggered by the declaration of a dividend… but not just any dividend.    The board approved a one-time special dividend payment of $7.57 per share in connection with the firm’s restructuring into a… Read More

October 17th was a good day for investors. The Dow, reeling from a six-day slide, rebounded with a powerful 250-point gain. But for one small group of stockholders it was an especially great day. Shares of Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) rocketed more than $16 per share, hitting $208.59 in heavy trading. #-ad_banner-#This pop was triggered by the declaration of a dividend… but not just any dividend.    The board approved a one-time special dividend payment of $7.57 per share in connection with the firm’s restructuring into a real estate investment trust (REIT). This isn’t the only cash windfall that EQIX shareholders will be receiving. The company, which owns large data centers, is planning another special dividend in 2015 that will be even larger. It’s no wonder why the shares continue to attract attention, up almost 10% since the original announcement. This is the type of situation that investors love to be involved with. In fact, subscribers of my premium advisory service High-Yield Investing were able to cash in from the same exact scenario recently with a stock I… Read More

We all like to see rising dividend yields. And that only happens for one of two reasons: either the quarterly payout increases or the share price decreases. The first cause is typically met with shareholder applause. The second… not so much. #-ad_banner-#Yet, temporary dips in share price can be far more effective in sending yields quickly skyward — turning a normal 2% payer into a 3% payer, juicing a 3% yield to 4%, and bumping a 5% payout to 6%, 7% or even more. And they can do so in a matter of days or weeks — expediting a process… Read More

We all like to see rising dividend yields. And that only happens for one of two reasons: either the quarterly payout increases or the share price decreases. The first cause is typically met with shareholder applause. The second… not so much. #-ad_banner-#Yet, temporary dips in share price can be far more effective in sending yields quickly skyward — turning a normal 2% payer into a 3% payer, juicing a 3% yield to 4%, and bumping a 5% payout to 6%, 7% or even more. And they can do so in a matter of days or weeks — expediting a process that can take years through the “preferred” route of dividend hikes. Take SeaDrill Ltd (Nasdaq: SDRL), a former member of my High-Yield Investing portfolio that I sold back in January for a 47% profit. Since then, the stock has plunged from $40 to $22.51 at the time this article was written. Back then, the annualized dividend of $3.92 per share was throwing off a yield of 9.8%. Nothing wrong with that. But today, thanks to market panic (and a minor two-cent hike in the quarterly payment), the yield has been driven into the stratosphere at 17.5%. How long would it… Read More

They’ve officially become more popular than dividends. Top companies are shelling out these extra payments in droves. The goal is to give shareholders more bang for their investment buck than dividends alone. They are a favorite of Warren Buffett and many other billionaire investors. There’s a good chance you’ve received one of these “tax-free dividends” before and didn’t even realize it. That’s because they’re buried in a company’s financial statement. But since 1982, when the SEC enacted a rule called 10b-18 as a measure of boosting the economy, these “tax-free dividends”… Read More

They’ve officially become more popular than dividends. Top companies are shelling out these extra payments in droves. The goal is to give shareholders more bang for their investment buck than dividends alone. They are a favorite of Warren Buffett and many other billionaire investors. There’s a good chance you’ve received one of these “tax-free dividends” before and didn’t even realize it. That’s because they’re buried in a company’s financial statement. But since 1982, when the SEC enacted a rule called 10b-18 as a measure of boosting the economy, these “tax-free dividends” have become a favored form of payment among shareholders. And companies have responded. Just look at the chart below to see how companies have been paying shareholders since 1982, especially since 2005 (hint: it hasn’t been just with traditional dividends)… Now, not every company pays these “tax-free dividends.” So just which companies are making these extra payments… and how can you start receiving them today? The easiest way to identify which companies are making “tax-free dividend” payments is to explain the payment method itself. As I mentioned, its roots trace back… Read More

Around the office, we call them “secret wealth investments.” That’s because they’ve been almost exclusively used by the wealthiest investors and institutions for decades now. #-ad_banner-#Yale has used them to generate average returns of 30% every year for their endowment funds since 1973. High net-worth individuals have used them to beat S&P 500 investor returns by an average of 7 percentage points every year for the past decade. And because federal law has stipulated that only millionaires with annual incomes above $200,000 per year can invest in them,… Read More

Around the office, we call them “secret wealth investments.” That’s because they’ve been almost exclusively used by the wealthiest investors and institutions for decades now. #-ad_banner-#Yale has used them to generate average returns of 30% every year for their endowment funds since 1973. High net-worth individuals have used them to beat S&P 500 investor returns by an average of 7 percentage points every year for the past decade. And because federal law has stipulated that only millionaires with annual incomes above $200,000 per year can invest in them, about 94% of investors have been blocked out of this private-market investment. That is, until we found a backdoor way for all investors to invest in them… If you’ve been reading StreetAuthority for the past couple of weeks, you know some my colleagues and I are big fans of these ultra high-yield investments. Some of these “secret wealth investments” I’m referring to are known as private equity firms. And over the last decade, they’ve slowly become open to individual investors. Today, roughly a dozen of these firms sell shares on the… Read More

October 4, 2011 wasn’t a particularly momentous day. In Waxahachie, Texas, a chemical plant was still smoldering from a fire the day before. In New York, “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators had completed a march dressed as corporate zombies. #-ad_banner-#But the day did mark a major inflection point for the markets, when the S&P 500 closed at 1,123. And stocks have been rising ever since. Yesterday, the benchmark index touched of 2,011. That’s a powerful increase of 79.1%. There have been more impressive runs. But the truly remarkable aspect of this advance is that it has been virtually uninterrupted. October will… Read More

October 4, 2011 wasn’t a particularly momentous day. In Waxahachie, Texas, a chemical plant was still smoldering from a fire the day before. In New York, “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators had completed a march dressed as corporate zombies. #-ad_banner-#But the day did mark a major inflection point for the markets, when the S&P 500 closed at 1,123. And stocks have been rising ever since. Yesterday, the benchmark index touched of 2,011. That’s a powerful increase of 79.1%. There have been more impressive runs. But the truly remarkable aspect of this advance is that it has been virtually uninterrupted. October will be the three-year anniversary of the last market trough. And during this stretch, we haven’t had a single correction (defined as a pullback of at least 10%) — not one in the past 36 months. But that could be changing… All bull markets are punctuated by the occasional pullback. It’s not a matter of if, but when. According to Forbes, there have been 16 bull markets since the Great Depression. In that 80-year span, only 3 of those lasted longer than five years — all were so-called “super-bulls.” Our current bull market last experienced a correction in October 2011, but… Read More