Analysts have been trying to predict when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will raise interest rates for years now, but no real steps have been taken… yet. The next chance for the Fed to decide to raise rates is coming up this month, and many believe it will actually happen this time.   So how do you react? Do you play it safe and settle for whatever short-term yield you can get, or roll the dice and bet on longer-term securities with higher payouts? The more cautious approach will earn you next to nothing in this meager environment. The… Read More

Analysts have been trying to predict when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will raise interest rates for years now, but no real steps have been taken… yet. The next chance for the Fed to decide to raise rates is coming up this month, and many believe it will actually happen this time.   So how do you react? Do you play it safe and settle for whatever short-term yield you can get, or roll the dice and bet on longer-term securities with higher payouts? The more cautious approach will earn you next to nothing in this meager environment. The average 12-month bank CD is currently paying a paltry 0.27%. A one-year Treasury will only get you double that, about 0.50% — that’s just $500 in annual income on a $100,000 investment. Good luck living off that. On the bright side, at least your principal will be secure if and when rates finally do start to climb. On the other hand, you can find corporate bonds paying almost ten times as much. The average 20-year A-rated corporate bond is currently yielding 4.4%. That’s $4,400 in annual income instead of $500. Now we’re talking. Unfortunately, these bonds won’t mature for another… Read More

The 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond is quite possibly the worst investment option out there right now… even your Uncle Dave’s coin and baseball card collection might offer better long-term returns. Let’s forget for a moment about the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates, possibly as soon as December (which will put downward pressure on bond prices). And let’s forget that the longer a bond’s duration, the greater its sensitivity to interest rate movements. So with every basis point uptick, nothing will feel the pain more acutely than the 30-year “long bond.” Let’s even forget that Uncle Sam’s credit rating has… Read More

The 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond is quite possibly the worst investment option out there right now… even your Uncle Dave’s coin and baseball card collection might offer better long-term returns. Let’s forget for a moment about the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates, possibly as soon as December (which will put downward pressure on bond prices). And let’s forget that the longer a bond’s duration, the greater its sensitivity to interest rate movements. So with every basis point uptick, nothing will feel the pain more acutely than the 30-year “long bond.” Let’s even forget that Uncle Sam’s credit rating has already been downgraded by at least one ratings agency in the past… Even if interest rates don’t rise and Congress miraculously balances the budget — a best-case scenario, if you own Treasurys — you’re still tying up your capital for the next three decades at a paltry rate of around 3%.  But here’s the kicker: when your principal is finally repaid in the distant future, those dollars will have lost much of their purchasing power. Just ask anyone who bought one of these bonds back in 1983. Let’s say they loaned the government $30,000 — enough money to buy three… Read More

When Carl Icahn speaks, people listen. In March, the legendary investor disclosed that he had bought a 52% ownership stake in a small digital marketing firm called Voltari (Nasdaq: VLTC) to his legion of 250,000 Twitter followers. One month later, the stock had already surged more than 800%. Granted, that is an extreme example. But you can understand why investors were quick to bid shares of the little-known company up so quickly. Icahn is the world’s 31st richest individual, with a net worth estimated at $21 billion. That personal wealth didn’t come from oil or computers or shipping. It came… Read More

When Carl Icahn speaks, people listen. In March, the legendary investor disclosed that he had bought a 52% ownership stake in a small digital marketing firm called Voltari (Nasdaq: VLTC) to his legion of 250,000 Twitter followers. One month later, the stock had already surged more than 800%. Granted, that is an extreme example. But you can understand why investors were quick to bid shares of the little-known company up so quickly. Icahn is the world’s 31st richest individual, with a net worth estimated at $21 billion. That personal wealth didn’t come from oil or computers or shipping. It came from activist investing. #-ad_banner-#The guy just made $2 billion on Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) alone, with the video streaming company’s shares soaring 12-fold during his ownership tenure. Icahn’s moves have greatly enriched his investors as well. With annualized returns of 17.4% since 2000, his fund has racked up a cumulative gain of 1,339% — crushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and even the legendary Warren Buffett. You can invest alongside Icahn through Icahn Enterprises (NYSE: IEP) a holding company with ownership stakes in a diverse array of industries, including automotive, energy, metals and gaming. The… Read More

​As someone who was taught as a kid to hate waste, I love efficiency. That means doing little things that enable me to run my household for less — and deposit the savings into my portfolio. I wouldn’t necessarily call it penny pinching, just a conscious effort to maximize the return from every dollar spent. As an investor, I look for managers with the same mindset because even minor improvements with multi-billion dollar organizations can mean a big difference on the bottom line. #-ad_banner-#​Take UPS (NYSE: UPS), for example. In an effort to increase efficiency, the… Read More

​As someone who was taught as a kid to hate waste, I love efficiency. That means doing little things that enable me to run my household for less — and deposit the savings into my portfolio. I wouldn’t necessarily call it penny pinching, just a conscious effort to maximize the return from every dollar spent. As an investor, I look for managers with the same mindset because even minor improvements with multi-billion dollar organizations can mean a big difference on the bottom line. #-ad_banner-#​Take UPS (NYSE: UPS), for example. In an effort to increase efficiency, the company has used technology to optimize delivery routes, calculating that a reduction of one mile per driver per day can save $50 million a year. You can’t get at the heart of this important concept by looking at familiar measures like operating margins and earnings. Those earnings must be placed in the proper context. Suppose there are two popular restaurant chains vying for a spot in your portfolio. One posted $515 million in net income last year, while the other earned $710 million. We can’t draw many conclusions from this information alone, except that the second business… Read More

For the past 40 years, this firm has become an elite source of income for investors, thanks in large part to the 543 consecutive monthly dividends it has paid. I’m willing to bet most of you have never heard of it. Yet the company I’m referring to has become the very definition of a monthly dividend-paying stock. It’s never missed a single one of its monthly dividends since 1969, shelling out more than $3.5 billion to shareholders during its 40+ year run. And that payout has increased 81 times during that span as well. I’m talking about Realty Income Corp… Read More

For the past 40 years, this firm has become an elite source of income for investors, thanks in large part to the 543 consecutive monthly dividends it has paid. I’m willing to bet most of you have never heard of it. Yet the company I’m referring to has become the very definition of a monthly dividend-paying stock. It’s never missed a single one of its monthly dividends since 1969, shelling out more than $3.5 billion to shareholders during its 40+ year run. And that payout has increased 81 times during that span as well. I’m talking about Realty Income Corp (NYSE: O). Despite this impressive and consistent track record, you may be wondering why you’ve never heard of the company before. That’s because Realty Income is a real estate investment trust (REIT).  The average investor on the street has probably never heard of this lucrative asset class, but it’s exactly the kind of off-the-radar investment I look for to deliver market-beating income in my premium advisory, High-Yield Investing.  You see, thanks to their unique structure, REITs are obligated by law to pass along 90% of their income to investors — in the form of dividends.  That means a company like… Read More

For the past few weeks, I’ve been telling my readers about an elite group of high-yielding stocks. I call them my “High-Yield Hall of Fame.” That’s because they are hands-down among the best performing, most reliable and most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet. And owning even a few of these stocks can help turn your income stream into a river of cash. Take a look for yourself, and you’ll see what I mean. These eight little-known income payers haven’t just outperformed the market over the past decade… they’ve absolutely annihilated it. Read More

For the past few weeks, I’ve been telling my readers about an elite group of high-yielding stocks. I call them my “High-Yield Hall of Fame.” That’s because they are hands-down among the best performing, most reliable and most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet. And owning even a few of these stocks can help turn your income stream into a river of cash. Take a look for yourself, and you’ll see what I mean. These eight little-known income payers haven’t just outperformed the market over the past decade… they’ve absolutely annihilated it.   Now with a track record like this, you’d think more investors would know about these elite stocks. Yet I’m willing to bet nine out of 10 investors haven’t heard about them. Why? Well, they aren’t the traditional “boring” dividend payers most people think of — after all, you can only get so far by following the herd with stocks like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. But the “smart money” has known about these stocks for years. I’m talking about billionaire investors like Jim Simons, legendary investment firms like Vanguard and Goldman Sachs… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple members of this team. Babe Ruth… Lou Gehrig… But what many people tend to forget is that they also shared the team with four other Hall of Fame players.  I’m talking about guys like Tony Lazzeri and Waite Hoyt. These names don’t come up in conversations among casual fans today, but make no mistake: without them the 1927 Yankees would’ve been nothing more than an average team with a few good players. Now think about how this ties in with investing, especially in terms of building… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their portfolio today.  I call these eight stocks “Hall of Fame” investments. Not because their best days are behind them, but because these firms boast qualities that rank them among the best performing, most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet.  Here’s a look at the stocks that made my “Hall of Fame” list:  The first reason you should consider investing in one or more of these powerful companies is that these stocks are market-beaters. In a side-by-side comparison, these eight stocks crush the broader market by a wide margin. Over the past 10 years, while the S&P 500 has returned… Read More

If you’re going to be a landlord, then it’s crucial to find good tenants — ones that will never bounce a check, always pay on time and stick around for the long-term.  I’ve found a company that rents to the absolute most dependable tenant you can find: The U.S. Government. You see, although Uncle Sam owns nearly 10,000 buildings, he’s also the nation’s largest renter.  And as it turns out, renting to the government is quite profitable. Think about it… Government tenants tend to stay in the same office for decades without moving around, and they don’t bounce rent checks. Read More

If you’re going to be a landlord, then it’s crucial to find good tenants — ones that will never bounce a check, always pay on time and stick around for the long-term.  I’ve found a company that rents to the absolute most dependable tenant you can find: The U.S. Government. You see, although Uncle Sam owns nearly 10,000 buildings, he’s also the nation’s largest renter.  And as it turns out, renting to the government is quite profitable. Think about it… Government tenants tend to stay in the same office for decades without moving around, and they don’t bounce rent checks.   That’s why I like Government Properties Trust (NYSE: GOV) so much. As a top landlord to Uncle Sam, this real estate investment trust (or REIT) throws off ample cash flow, translating into a rock-solid 10% dividend yield for investors who buy the stock today.  That’s a lot of reward for very little risk.  The company leases office buildings to well-funded government agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for… Read More

#-ad_banner-#I’m fortunate to live in a city with generally strong economic activity and new business development. Still, even in the shadow of new construction, there are businesses dying off.  A few days ago I stopped in for lunch at a local place, only to see an “Out of Business” sign on the door. A few miles away, a well-known chain restaurant finally threw in the towel and moved out of its location as well. I also noticed across the street, yet another chain-restaurant location is now vacant.  Still, we have an abundance of casual dining options in my city. And… Read More

#-ad_banner-#I’m fortunate to live in a city with generally strong economic activity and new business development. Still, even in the shadow of new construction, there are businesses dying off.  A few days ago I stopped in for lunch at a local place, only to see an “Out of Business” sign on the door. A few miles away, a well-known chain restaurant finally threw in the towel and moved out of its location as well. I also noticed across the street, yet another chain-restaurant location is now vacant.  Still, we have an abundance of casual dining options in my city. And just like in nature, the cruel reality is that some businesses will feast while others starve. The weakest must find a way to differentiate themselves and attract customers — or risk extinction.  That’s true everywhere — and it’s especially important to keep in mind when investing. I’ve been thinking about this a great deal lately as I re-read the profound insights of Michael Porter, the legendary business school professor at Harvard. He is a leading authority on competitive strategies and when he’s not teaching classes or writing books, he mentors newly-appointed CEOs at large corporations. Frankly, the key messages Porter… Read More