Many income investors focus mainly on yield when they should be giving at least equal weight to dividend growth, as well as prospects for future gains. Why is dividend growth so important? The answer is simple: Even modest yearly increases in the dividend… Read More

The drug industry is staring at a $30 billion hole. That’s the annual sales volume of major drugs that are set to lose patent protection in the next 18 months. Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) cholesterol reducer Lipitor, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) blood-clot preventer Plavix, Merck’s (NYSE: MRK) asthma medication Singulair, and Abbott’s… Read More

Exactly one quarter ago, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 11,000, I asked a simple question: will the next move be to 12,000 or back to 10,000? Well, the bulls ruled the day, and the market has tacked on another 9% gain since then. This rally seems to never end.   The sharp rise off the March 2009 bottom made clear sense. So many good companies were selling at such low valuations that you needed to ignore the noise and simply pick the best apples from the barrel. Yet the most recent move in the… Read More

Exactly one quarter ago, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 11,000, I asked a simple question: will the next move be to 12,000 or back to 10,000? Well, the bulls ruled the day, and the market has tacked on another 9% gain since then. This rally seems to never end.   The sharp rise off the March 2009 bottom made clear sense. So many good companies were selling at such low valuations that you needed to ignore the noise and simply pick the best apples from the barrel. Yet the most recent move in the market is a bit more puzzling. The markets were approaching fair value last spring, then pulled back and have since gone on to post another impressive rally. The Dow has rallied roughly 20% in the past five months, which works out to be a nearly 50% annualized gain. At a time where you should expect 10% to 15% annual market gains — at best — we should be truly grateful. We should also take a more cautious posture. Here’s why. Factors behind the move As I noted, the market would potentially rally… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit rates were only slightly better. If this describes what you went through, don’t worry. You’re not alone. As of last week, more than $2.7 trillion dollars sat in stingy-yielding money-market mutual funds. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I have a way to earn considerably more on your cash… Millions of investors, one simple solution I recently asked some of my Daily Paycheck subscribers about their investing experience during the past few years… Turns out, many of them were in the same boat. They used… Read More

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

If you think the “lost decade” of stock returns seen in the United States since 2000 is bad, you probably haven’t been paying attention to Japan.   Japan’s stock market officially peaked on December 29, 1989, and has yet to recover more than 20 years later. But many… Read More

In a bid to stay relevant (and stay afloat), major free news publications are starting to tighten the noose, putting their content behind a paid firewall. It worked for News Corp’s (NYSE: NWS) Wall Street Journal, because that publication can be considered as a necessary asset for the business community, and thus can easily be expensed by many readers. The rest of the pack may not be so lucky, as we’ll soon find out with The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT). Rumors circulate that the “Old Gray Lady” will soon announce a $20 per month… Read More

In a bid to stay relevant (and stay afloat), major free news publications are starting to tighten the noose, putting their content behind a paid firewall. It worked for News Corp’s (NYSE: NWS) Wall Street Journal, because that publication can be considered as a necessary asset for the business community, and thus can easily be expensed by many readers. The rest of the pack may not be so lucky, as we’ll soon find out with The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT). Rumors circulate that the “Old Gray Lady” will soon announce a $20 per month subscription plan for regular visitors to nytimes.com that also want to be able to read the paper on the Kindle and the iPad. (All signs point to a March launch). Standalone web-only access through a browser is rumored to be priced at $10. That’s $120 a year. The price may be appealing to die-hard readers like myself, but surely unappealing to many that appreciate the Times’ impressive website, but would likely balk at such a cost. This leads to my major concern about The New York Times — and its stock. Shares have rallied in recent… Read More

By most measures, the U.S. economy is in a steady recovery mode. The national unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in December and many cyclical industries, including airlines, industrial manufacturing and even automobiles are reporting improving operating trends. Home foreclosure rates continue to drop, as do credit card… 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

Investors often make one key mistake: They look to bag profits after an investment has made an impressive move. That makes sense — if the reasons to buy that stock have changed, or if the stock is now too pricey in relation to future earnings. But there are… Read More