The coming year marks the 20th anniversary of the first use of “Dogs of the Dow” as an investment strategy, which focuses on the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). In theory, these high yielders have been oversold (as… Read More

Despite the recent financial crisis, worldwide industrialization is increasing at a never before seen pace. Asia and Latin America are the fastest growing regions of the world, led by China and Brazil. These two hyper-growth regions make perfect trading partners. China doesn’t have enough raw materials to… Read More

On average, they’re yielding 7.5%. That’s more than three times the yield of the S&P 500. Try getting that amount from a money market or savings account.   But that’s not the half of it. In tandem with those high yields, the capital gains have… Read More

The secret is out.  As an investment, sin wins. Most companies engage in what we think of as “respectable” businesses like building computers, selling appliances or discovering new cures for diseases. But there are companies that aren’t so squeaky clean. These so-called “sin” stocks… Read More

As the Director of Income Research behind High-Yield International, it’s my duty to find the best income investments all over the world. And what I’m finding is that few places can compare to the yields and growth we’re seeing in South America right now.   One country I’ve… Read More

There are a lot of folks that visit Washington, D.C. in April to see the famous cherry blossoms. The same goes for touring New England when the leaves start to change in the fall. But one season that seems ignored despite being every bit as beautiful —… Read More

You’ve likely been wondering what’s going on with the market. The S&P 500 is up about +12% since the start of September, yet unemployment is still high, the U.S. deficit is still enormous and the overall economic picture is still hazy. What’s behind it all? I think most of the answer lies in QE2. No, not the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner. QE2 is what the business media is calling the pending second wave of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve. To stimulate the… Read More

You’ve likely been wondering what’s going on with the market. The S&P 500 is up about +12% since the start of September, yet unemployment is still high, the U.S. deficit is still enormous and the overall economic picture is still hazy. What’s behind it all? I think most of the answer lies in QE2. No, not the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner. QE2 is what the business media is calling the pending second wave of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve. To stimulate the economy, the U.S. Federal Reserve has set short-term interest rates at all-time lows. But the economy is still sluggish and unemployment remains stubbornly high. To further stimulate the economy, the Fed has stated that it is likely to try a little-used tool called quantitative easing. Quantitative easing is used to hold or push down long-term interest rates. To do this, the central bank buys long-term Treasury bonds, keeping their prices higher — and yields lower. The hope is that by… Read More

It may not seem remotely conceivable that the burning of garbage would be a viable or even appealing option for creating energy, but it is. There is an entire industry devoted to it, known as waste-to-energy, or WtE for short. The process involves the incineration of waste to create either electricity or heat energy — and it could be big business. Incinerating waste is not a new industry, but recent technological advancements mean new facilities can literally be state-of-the art. Given the increased efficiencies,… Read More

It may not seem remotely conceivable that the burning of garbage would be a viable or even appealing option for creating energy, but it is. There is an entire industry devoted to it, known as waste-to-energy, or WtE for short. The process involves the incineration of waste to create either electricity or heat energy — and it could be big business. Incinerating waste is not a new industry, but recent technological advancements mean new facilities can literally be state-of-the art. Given the increased efficiencies, WtE has become a viable alternative energy option that is arguably as “green” as other sources of energy that are considered truly green, such as wind or solar energy. For starters, WtE reduces the need for landfills that pollute the environment and are not a long-term solution for disposing of waste. Technologically, WtE facilities already meet strict emission standards, and firms in the space are constantly working to make them safer to the environment. Finally, as with any alternative energy, WtE reduces the dependency on foreign oil and dirtier options to create energy, such as coal. Read More

Emerging markets have certainly been the place to be. In the past 10 years, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NYSE: EEM) has returned an astounding average of +21.5% a year, compared to +5.1% for the S&P 500. However, this outperformance has been lost on many dividend investors who have likely considered emerging markets an exotic indulgence of growth investors. But emerging markets are an increasing force on the world stage that can’t be ignored — even by income investors. Read More

Emerging markets have certainly been the place to be. In the past 10 years, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NYSE: EEM) has returned an astounding average of +21.5% a year, compared to +5.1% for the S&P 500. However, this outperformance has been lost on many dividend investors who have likely considered emerging markets an exotic indulgence of growth investors. But emerging markets are an increasing force on the world stage that can’t be ignored — even by income investors. These nations represent 40% of the world’s population and already control two thirds of its industrial output. And their influence is growing. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says emerging markets accounted for nearly all of the world’s growth last year, and they’re forecasted to grow at nearly three times the pace of the rest of the world in 2010. Investors don’t normally associate dividends with emerging markets. Many companies in these fast growing economies have used excess cash to fund expansions rather than pay dividends in the past. But things… Read More

Right now a little fewer than 40 million Americans — that’s almost 15% of the country — has reached retirement age. But that’s the tip of the iceberg. Every day, almost 8,000 Americans turn 65. In just a decade, seniors in the United States will number 55 million. That’s a… Read More