Amy, what do you see as promising areas for income investors in 2010? Despite this rally, I’m happy to say there are still plenty of chances to lock in strong — and frequent — dividends. One area I like is master limited partnerships (will lead to above-average… Read More

A handy fellow can still pick his own car parts at the local salvage yard. Meanwhile, the rest of us pay a markup for parts and service because we have neither the inclination nor the time to hunt down that gently used bumper, paint it and rig… 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

The key to boosting income lies in a security most investors might not be familiar with. Nevertheless, more than 1,250 of these securities trade on U.S. exchanges. They invest in every almost every possible sector and niche of the market (from stocks and bonds to… 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

One of America’s premier technology companies has a problem: Too much cash. You see, because of GAAP rules, it has to conservatively account for sales by spreading it over two years. But it gets the cash upfront. So its reported… Read More

Future historians may well define our current time on Earth as the “oil age.” It is estimated that the world consumes 80-85 million barrels of oil per day. And as industrialization expands across the globe on an unprecedented scale, long-term demand is on the rise. 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

Not a day goes by when we’re not bombarded by advertisements to save money on auto insurance. Geico, Allstate, Progressive, 21st Century… I’m not sure how they can all be the cheapest, but that’s entirely another story. The point is, these messages don’t really hit home with… Read More

The U.S. federal government has 1.8 million civilian employees. Add in postal workers, and that number swells to 2.5 million. The government also owns a lot of land — about 30% of the country, in fact — but in addition to Grand Teton National Park and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds… Read More