Are you an income investor or a growth investor? It’s pretty much been accepted as common knowledge that a stock either offers great dividends, or great potential for price appreciation, but not both. If you look hard enough though — and far enough down the market cap scale… Read More

Financial planners suggest a few rules when it comes to investment strategies. If you may need to cash-in your investments soon, then you should be holding liquid safe investments such as Certificates of Deposit (CDs). And if you have a long time horizon, then you should move… Read More

As investors continually seek out new investment ideas, it can get very tiresome. Just when you’ve found certain appealing stocks, they move up to your price target or lose operating momentum, and you’re compelled to find the next idea. But what if you could hold a stock for the whole year, a whole decade or even a whole generation? Well, that’s how people used to invest. My grandmother bought shares of AT&T (NYSE: T) in the 1950s — and never sold them. The dividend income was surely appealing. And the capital appreciation helped… Read More

As investors continually seek out new investment ideas, it can get very tiresome. Just when you’ve found certain appealing stocks, they move up to your price target or lose operating momentum, and you’re compelled to find the next idea. But what if you could hold a stock for the whole year, a whole decade or even a whole generation? Well, that’s how people used to invest. My grandmother bought shares of AT&T (NYSE: T) in the 1950s — and never sold them. The dividend income was surely appealing. And the capital appreciation helped her stay well ahead of the forces of inflation. But if my Grandma were alive today, would she still be able to find a “forever stock?” After all, in recent years, even stalwarts such as AT&T have lost their luster: Ma Bell’s shares have fallen by half since 2002. You can still find “forever stocks” if you know where to look. The key ingredient is to seek out companies with long operating histories, that sell goods or services that won’t become obsolete, and routinely generate solid rates of return on their deployed capital. Read More

Savvy investors know how to be creative and seek rich yields in unusual places. With the average S&P 500 stock yielding less than 2%, you have to explore off the beaten path to find big dividends. Luckily, there are little explored corners of the investment world where great yields can still be found. You just need to know where to look. Carla Pasternak is an expert in this area. Every month her High Yield Investing newsletter searches out exceptional yields and, more often than not, she finds them in unusual places. Here are four high-yielding asset classes… Read More

Savvy investors know how to be creative and seek rich yields in unusual places. With the average S&P 500 stock yielding less than 2%, you have to explore off the beaten path to find big dividends. Luckily, there are little explored corners of the investment world where great yields can still be found. You just need to know where to look. Carla Pasternak is an expert in this area. Every month her High Yield Investing newsletter searches out exceptional yields and, more often than not, she finds them in unusual places. Here are four high-yielding asset classes Carla recently highlighted in her newsletter. Most are unfamiliar to the average investor, yet each offers hefty dividends. 1. Business Development Companies (BDCs) BDCs are the 21st century version of venture capital funds. There are only about three dozen of them out there, but most pay sizable yields, with a few exceeding 11%. BDCs make loans to small companies, often taking an equity stake as well, and pass the income along to their investors. BDCs paying great dividends right now include Black Rock Kelso (Nasdaq: BKCC), which yields 11%, and… Read More

On an unseasonably warm day this past November, two men you might have heard of — Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — visited the town of Gillette. This tiny city in northeastern Wyoming is home to less than 30,000 people. Yet, it was important enough to host… Read More

With the market soaring to two-year highs, is it time to play offense or defense?  Only hindsight will tell for sure. However, one thing is obvious right now:  The crowd is playing offense. As the prognosis for a stronger recovery has increased, investors have been gravitating toward… Read More

You’ve no doubt heard the Bush-era tax cuts have been extended. After much sound and fury, Congress voted to extend the tax breaks to all Americans, including those in the top income brackets. The tax cuts were set to expire at midnight on Dec. 31, but will… Read More

It’s that time of year. Millions of us are making New Year’s resolutions. Unsurprisingly, the most common resolution is to lose weight. I can’t think of but a handful of people who wouldn’t want to shed a couple of pounds. But despite our best… Read More

What worked for investors in 2010 won’t necessarily work in 2011. And in light of StreetAuthority’s recent look at “8 Valuable Lessons We Learned About Investing” in 2010, I decided to take a look at how I would apply some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years to 2011. Here are five things you should look out for this year… 1. Look out for portfolio creep One of the challenges of a rising market is to know when to take profits. Instead, many of us hold on to our winners and bring… Read More

What worked for investors in 2010 won’t necessarily work in 2011. And in light of StreetAuthority’s recent look at “8 Valuable Lessons We Learned About Investing” in 2010, I decided to take a look at how I would apply some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years to 2011. Here are five things you should look out for this year… 1. Look out for portfolio creep One of the challenges of a rising market is to know when to take profits. Instead, many of us hold on to our winners and bring in fresh ammo to buy yet more stocks. Before you know it, you’re holding 15 or 20 stocks. (I once counseled an investor that asked me to look at his statement — and I told him right away that the 40 stocks he owned were far too many.) With the ever-rising market of the last two years, some investors likely have been buying a lot more than they have been selling. Yet you really need to own just six to 10 stocks that have a truly diversified portfolio. So if you’re above that figure, you should spend… Read More

This New Year, income investors like me will likely be finding some of the richest dividend yields overseas. As a general rule of thumb, foreign stocks often have higher dividend payouts than their U.S. counterparts, and pay a much larger dividend as well. While lately there’s… Read More