There’s an adage that suggests investors should “sell in May and go away.” It’s based on the theory that the market underperforms from May to October. And there have been a few academic studies that have been able to detect a seasonal pattern to market performance. There are common sense reasons why the stock market may languish over the summer months. Fewer stocks get transacted during the summer because more traders and retail investors take vacations. That can make the market more volatile, leading more investors to sell before a potentially bumpy summer. Likewise, many companies tend… Read More

There’s an adage that suggests investors should “sell in May and go away.” It’s based on the theory that the market underperforms from May to October. And there have been a few academic studies that have been able to detect a seasonal pattern to market performance. There are common sense reasons why the stock market may languish over the summer months. Fewer stocks get transacted during the summer because more traders and retail investors take vacations. That can make the market more volatile, leading more investors to sell before a potentially bumpy summer. Likewise, many companies tend to produce less during the summer months, when more of their employees take vacations. It’s been shown that companies are less likely to beat analyst expectations during a seasonally slow quarter. #-ad_banner-#If I weren’t an income investor, maybe I’d rue the summer months like growth investors do. But for me, May has become the month when I start making my watch list for summer purchases. I look forward to any opportunity to buy dividend payers at lower prices and higher yields. And that goes for my automatic dividend reinvestments as well as outright purchases. Read More

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared with readers two crucial types of dividend stocks that make up my three-part Daily Paycheck Retirement Strategy. By using the right combination of dividend stocks, I’ve been able to collect more than $70,000 in… Read More

In a recent issue of StreetAuthority Daily, I told you all about my strategy for maximizing income by investing in stocks that fall in the high-yield ‘sweet spot’. They aren’t the absolute highest yielding stocks on the market, but this special group of stocks has outperformed all others, and returned an average of 14% per year over the past 86 years. And while these stocks are a key part of my portfolio — and consistently provide me ample dividend checks — “maximizing income” is just one aspect of my 3-part Daily Paycheck Retirement System. Read More

In a recent issue of StreetAuthority Daily, I told you all about my strategy for maximizing income by investing in stocks that fall in the high-yield ‘sweet spot’. They aren’t the absolute highest yielding stocks on the market, but this special group of stocks has outperformed all others, and returned an average of 14% per year over the past 86 years. And while these stocks are a key part of my portfolio — and consistently provide me ample dividend checks — “maximizing income” is just one aspect of my 3-part Daily Paycheck Retirement System. #-ad_banner-#I like to call this second group of stocks “Fast Dividend Growers.” These are the few companies that I think you could buy today and potentially hold for the rest of your life. And while you hold them, they can shower you with bigger and bigger dividends year in and year out. These stocks have one very distinct characteristic — Fast Dividend Growers are generally dominant companies with growing cash flows that you can depend on to pay — and increase — their dividends year after year. In other words, you… Read More

The story was picked up by major news sources a few years ago as a “cute” human interest feature. You might have seen the headlines, like “How a Secretary Made and Gave Away $7 Million.” But for me, this wasn’t some light news piece. This was a story that resonated deeply with me. I didn’t know Grace Groner, from Lake Forest, Illinois. From the stories, she was a woman who lived frugally. Her passing was of interest because her three shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) grew into more than 100,000 shares through decades… Read More

The story was picked up by major news sources a few years ago as a “cute” human interest feature. You might have seen the headlines, like “How a Secretary Made and Gave Away $7 Million.” But for me, this wasn’t some light news piece. This was a story that resonated deeply with me. I didn’t know Grace Groner, from Lake Forest, Illinois. From the stories, she was a woman who lived frugally. Her passing was of interest because her three shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) grew into more than 100,000 shares through decades of dividend reinvestment. In total, her estate came in at roughly $7 million. #-ad_banner-#And while I didn’t know Grace Groner, I did know Lillian Calistri. The last time I saw Aunt Lillian was in 1990. I remember that a nephew had the misfortune of addressing her as “Lillian.” She promptly looked us all in the eye and said, “You will continue to call me Aunt Lillian.” We were all over 25 years old at the time, but in Lillian’s world, adulthood was no excuse for bad manners. Read More

Like my dad, Anthony Ralys was from Massachusetts, joined the Army Air Corp during World War II and served on a B-24 bomber. Also like my dad, Ralys was a first-generation American. Ralys’ parents emigrated from Lithuania, while my dad’s parents emigrated from Armenia. #-ad_banner-#Recently, I learned they had something else in common: investing. After the war, Ralys returned home, married, and ran the local barbershop for 38 years. He died on June 16, 2014, at age 89. This month, it was discovered that Ralys left $1.4 million to his hometown library in Athol, Massachusetts. Everyone who knew him was… Read More

Like my dad, Anthony Ralys was from Massachusetts, joined the Army Air Corp during World War II and served on a B-24 bomber. Also like my dad, Ralys was a first-generation American. Ralys’ parents emigrated from Lithuania, while my dad’s parents emigrated from Armenia. #-ad_banner-#Recently, I learned they had something else in common: investing. After the war, Ralys returned home, married, and ran the local barbershop for 38 years. He died on June 16, 2014, at age 89. This month, it was discovered that Ralys left $1.4 million to his hometown library in Athol, Massachusetts. Everyone who knew him was stunned to learn he had an investment account — let alone one that was worth seven figures. According to a local newspaper, Anthony and his wife started investing in municipal bonds early on in their lives. It was unusual for people like my dad and Anthony Ralys to invest when they were young. According to a census conducted by the New York Stock Exchange in 1952, only about 4.2% of Americans owned stock. But even that small group was mostly made up of well-heeled individuals. The wealthiest 10% of families owned 83.2% of stocks (based on value) in the 1950s. Read More

I’m worried for the future, and what it holds for retirees. Apparently I’m not alone… #-ad_banner-#A recent survey found that 61% of all respondents feared outliving their retirement savings more than they feared death. I understand why people are anxious. Retirement accounts got hit hard by market events like the dot-com bust, the housing meltdown and the subsequent financial crisis. Some people stopped investing entirely because they were afraid to put their life savings at risk. But at the same time, savings accounts and certificates of deposit aren’t… Read More

I’m worried for the future, and what it holds for retirees. Apparently I’m not alone… #-ad_banner-#A recent survey found that 61% of all respondents feared outliving their retirement savings more than they feared death. I understand why people are anxious. Retirement accounts got hit hard by market events like the dot-com bust, the housing meltdown and the subsequent financial crisis. Some people stopped investing entirely because they were afraid to put their life savings at risk. But at the same time, savings accounts and certificates of deposit aren’t even beating inflation. They’re just not the right tools with which to build a healthy retirement. That’s why I’ve spent the last several years developing… refining… and perfecting a new kind of retirement plan. I designed it specifically for those in or approaching retirement with three main goals in mind: To maximize income, maximize growth, and minimize risk… all while collecting an average of one or more dividend “paychecks” per day. That’s exactly why I call it the Daily Paycheck Retirement Strategy. The system I designed is… Read More