I bought a pair of noise-canceling headphones from an airport vending machine. When I put them on and turned the switch, the dim from the airport disappeared. After my flight took off, I put the headphones back on. The hum of the jet engines evaporated. Every investor ought to own… Read More

Twenty million dollars’ worth of poker chips sat on the table.  I watched as bets went into the pot — $100,000 at a time. A single hand could cost upward of a $1 million.     The game was winner-take-all, and it had already gone on… Read More

We all watched in anguish as the S&P 500 dropped -40% from October 2008 to March 2009. Even the most diversified portfolios weren’t immune. For all the talk about foreign economies being “decoupled” from the U.S. economy, foreign stocks tumbled in lock step… Read More

The market rebound, which began in March, has so far increased the value of the S&P 500 by about +55%. Economic indicators are still weak, but the market tends to lead the recovery by several months. Despite the worry, cyclical stocks — those affected by the economic cycle — are… Read More

If anyone ever tells you that you must choose between dividends and capital gains, it’s now safe to laugh. A full 135 companies have increased their dividends AND decreased their shares outstanding through buybacks in each of the past five years. Stock buybacks… Read More

I doubt you’ve ever heard of John Wightkin. He’s the Director of Equity Research Applications of the Schwab Center for Financial Research. Sure that’s a fancy title, but John is doing some very important work in the field of income investing. In fact, John Wightkin just confirmed what I’ve been… Read More

Carl Icahn is up to his usual tricks. The “activist investor” has been involved in an attempt to gain control of the board of directors at Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB), a leading biotechnology company. His end game is to force a sale of the company. If he… Read More

A year ago the sky was falling. At least, that’s what some people thought. When pandemonium was at its height in September of last year, Warren Buffett encouraged investors to buy U.S. stocks in an op-ed for The New York Times. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A), Buffett’s holding company, arranged multibillion-dollar… Read More

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are required by law to pay 90% of their taxable income as dividends. In return, REITs can deduct shareholder dividends from their taxable income, so most REITs wind up paying little or… Read More

They say what’s past is prologue. So when history starts repeating itself like this, it’s wise to take notice. Mergers and acquisitions are picking up after a drought in activity for much of the past year. On Monday, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) said it would buy computer-services provider Perot Systems (NYSE:… Read More