Remember when big banks paid big dividends? Before the financial crisis Citigroup (NYSE: C) paid a quarterly dividend of $0.54; last quarter’s dividend was $0.01. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) paid a per-share $0.64 quarterly dividend as recently as late 2008; December’s quarterly dividend… Read More

Everyone likes a good list to start a new year. Whether it’s a “Top 10” of this or a “Best of” that, it’s always a fun exercise. But when it comes to picking stocks, nothing is as easy as it looks. If you’re an investor looking for… Read More

A technology that this company is exploring can literally rock the earth, and possibly heat a city. More on that later. First, consider Iceland — the country, not your backyard during this coldest U.S. winter in decades. Iceland is home to the famous Blue Lagoon outdoor spa,… Read More

Governments like to print money. It’s one of the immutable laws of the universe. Like gravity, or the certainty that Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will pay a dividend next quarter. Paper money can be traced back to the year 960. Read More

As the debate surrounding health care reform begins to wind down, it’s clear that big changes are coming. And while it’s easy to note the companies that are fearful of the proposals, it’s far more advantageous for investors to figure out who is chomping at the bit. Read More

It wasn’t just bad, it was a bloodbath. The just-ended year not only gave us the back half of one of the worst economic downturns in the past century, it also marked the long-anticipated end to a storied chapter in American history as General Motors and Chrysler… Read More

Falling rents, asset values and transaction volumes during 2009 have been tough on the real-estate sector and on real-estate investment trusts (will continue to, Fitch still has a negative outlook on the domestic REIT sector for 2010. Happily, things are better in Canada. While… Read More

Here I sit, bundled up in a turtleneck shirt and bulky sweater. The trees outside my window have lost their leaves and my lawn has turned a brownish green. As I look out at this stark scene, my mind wanders to the warm sunny beaches of Bermuda, about 1,100 miles… Read More

As the world evolves, so, too, does the landscape for income investors. Emerging markets — any country in the process of rapid growth and industrialization — were once the exotic purview of Wall Street’s high-risk trading desks. Read More

Foreign stocks simply can’t be ignored. Thirty years ago, U.S. markets accounted for about 70% of the world’s stock market capitalization. That figure has fallen to about 40% today and is likely to keep falling with the rise of Brazil, India, China and others. Read More