On May 28, 2003, former President Bush signed into law the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. One major provision of this law was to reduce the tax rates on certain dividends from as high as 38.6% down to 15%. But unless this tax break is extended, which seems… Read More

Something’s got to give. At a time when the aging of the U.S. population is beginning to accelerate, the construction pace of new housing and care facilities for seniors is shrinking. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of Americans 65 and older will grow +36%, compared with a growth rate… Read More

People in the United States only hear about “the middle class” in an election year, when candidates promise not to raise taxes. The rest of the time, Americans don’t think much about the middle class, even though that’s where most people find themselves. That hasn’t been the… Read More

Only 313 U.S. companies have increased sales every year for the past decade. These are companies that have improved every year since 1999 — growing through three presidents and two bear markets. Some of the biggest names that have pulled off this financial feat… Read More

In Las Vegas, they say the house always wins. But that’s about to change. In an industry with few dividend payers, Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) is changing the paradigm. Wynn recently announced that its board approved a $0.20 per share quarterly dividend. The first… Read More

Canadian royalty trusts (CanRoys), which typically own oil and natural gas wells, have provided investors with high yields for years. You see, these trusts avoid taxation at the corporate level provided they pay the bulk of their income to unitholders. The Canadian government created this incentive to encourage investment in… Read More

Brazil has been one of the best places for U.S. investors for a long time. During the past five years, the Bovespa Index, Sao Paulo’s premier index, has gained +167.0%, or +21.7% compounded annually. The… Read More

In the study of physics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. That’s not a bad way to define the term when descrialink_72192ng a company’s earnings, either. When a company’s per-share earnings grow, it means revenue is growing… Read More

Cash is king. You’ve heard it before. So it makes sense that companies with growing free cash flow could thrive in just about any environment. This screen looks for the money — and the dividends. First, companies need to have cash on the… Read More

I’d bet that most Investor Update readers know about the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index. To be included in this index, an S&P 500 company must have raised its dividend annually for at least the past 25 years. Read More