Regular StreetAuthority readers have probably heard us talk about “Forever Stocks” before. These are stocks of solid, blue-chip companies that pay rising dividends and hold sustainable competitive advantages. The idea is that you can essentially buy them, forget about them, and hold them… Read More

As interest rates collapsed in the past few years to multi-decade lows, investors had no choice but to flee low-yielding government bonds and bank CDs for higher-yielding, dividend-paying stocks. From master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to foreign government bonds, it’s been an era of profitable investing. Yet… Read More

As interest rates collapsed in the past few years to multi-decade lows, investors had no choice but to flee low-yielding government bonds and bank CDs for higher-yielding, dividend-paying stocks. From master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to foreign government bonds, it’s been an era of profitable investing. Yet signs are emerging that this trend may start to reverse course. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has spiked higher since the beginning of May to roughly 2.2%, and if we continue to see robust monthly employment reports, then these rates will probably climb steadily higher as the year progresses. Simply put, the economy is… Read More

There are things in life we all wish we’d never heard of: bacon-flavored toothpaste, tramp stamps, combovers, meat from a can. That sentiment is true in the investing world, too, especially for those of us who have been burned once or twice. But remember, information is the best asset, and knowing more is always better than knowing less. Ask yourself how many kinds of bonds you can name, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Here are a few more that… Read More

There are things in life we all wish we’d never heard of: bacon-flavored toothpaste, tramp stamps, combovers, meat from a can. That sentiment is true in the investing world, too, especially for those of us who have been burned once or twice. But remember, information is the best asset, and knowing more is always better than knowing less. Ask yourself how many kinds of bonds you can name, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Here are a few more that you’ve probably never heard of. Step-Up Bonds A step-up bond has a coupon that increases (“steps up”), usually at regular intervals, while the bond is outstanding. Government agencies, as well as Fannie Mae and Sallie Mae, issue these bonds.#-ad_banner-# Consider a five-year step-up bond issued by Company XYZ. The coupon rate might be 7% for the first two years,… Read More

Not many people know that Warren Buffett collects a 50% dividend yield on his shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). That’s because it seems impossible. If you or I were to buy shares today, we’d earn a yield of less than 3%. #-ad_banner-#How does Buffett do it? Did he cut a behind-closed-doors deal with the legendary soft drink maker? Did he receive special dividends? To get a yield that high, you might even be tempted to think… Read More

Not many people know that Warren Buffett collects a 50% dividend yield on his shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). That’s because it seems impossible. If you or I were to buy shares today, we’d earn a yield of less than 3%. #-ad_banner-#How does Buffett do it? Did he cut a behind-closed-doors deal with the legendary soft drink maker? Did he receive special dividends? To get a yield that high, you might even be tempted to think he did something unethical to get it.  But actually, it’s none of the above. The answer is much simpler than you might think. He uses a simple tool that many successful investors use. It’s one you can use today to potentially earn yields as high as 10%, 20% or more on a handful of your investments in just a few years. Let me show you how it works…  When most investors want a big dividend check, they look at stocks with the… Read More

Even the best companies have their skeptics. If you’re a regular reader of StreetAuthority, you’ve probably seen me recommend chip-manufacturer Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) before. In fact, I’ve even hailed it as one of the “10 Best Stocks to Hold Forever,” as the company contains three key market-beating traits and a few future growth catalysts, which I’ll show you in a moment. #-ad_banner-#Understandably, many investors are not just skeptical of Intel’s prospects — they are outright bearish on the stock‘s future prospects. This email from one of my… Read More

Even the best companies have their skeptics. If you’re a regular reader of StreetAuthority, you’ve probably seen me recommend chip-manufacturer Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) before. In fact, I’ve even hailed it as one of the “10 Best Stocks to Hold Forever,” as the company contains three key market-beating traits and a few future growth catalysts, which I’ll show you in a moment. #-ad_banner-#Understandably, many investors are not just skeptical of Intel’s prospects — they are outright bearish on the stock‘s future prospects. This email from one of my Top 10 Stocks subscribers outlines some of that skepticism: “I am a new subscriber and novice investor. I appreciate your research, knowledge and acumen in your approach to purchasing equities, but I do have a question regarding your consistent recommendation of Intel. “Other than the tremendous amount of cash that the company hordes, how can you recommend this purchase when PC sales are down 11% worldwide? I don’t see a lot of growth… Read More

It’s a country that rarely gets any mention by the mainstream investing press. Sure, you hear about India, China, Russia, and Brazil. And for good reason — those countries are growing at incredible rates, which has made many investors rich already… and will make even more people wealthy in the years ahead. But for my money, I don’t know if there is a better place to invest than Chile. It’s small — its total… Read More

It’s a country that rarely gets any mention by the mainstream investing press. Sure, you hear about India, China, Russia, and Brazil. And for good reason — those countries are growing at incredible rates, which has made many investors rich already… and will make even more people wealthy in the years ahead. But for my money, I don’t know if there is a better place to invest than Chile. It’s small — its total GDP is roughly $325.8 billion. That’s about 50 times smaller than the United States’ economy. Meanwhile, only 17.2 million people call Chile home… giving it a smaller population than Florida. Right now, Chile’s economy is growing at a 5.5% annual rate. That growth is accompanied by perhaps the most fiscally conservative government on the planet. National debt in the United States sits at 72.5% of GDP. But Chile’s public debt totals just 12% of… Read More

We all know the value of investing in dividend stocks. That’s why I was intrigued by StreetAuthority expert Amy Calistri’s unorthodox idea about investing in stocks with low dividend yields. Her point: Lower-yielding stocks can outperform their higher-yielding counterparts. Amy’s not saying that all low dividend yield stocks were identical. In fact, she provided a four-step test for screening prospects to determine a stock‘s dividend track record, ensuring… Read More

We all know the value of investing in dividend stocks. That’s why I was intrigued by StreetAuthority expert Amy Calistri’s unorthodox idea about investing in stocks with low dividend yields. Her point: Lower-yielding stocks can outperform their higher-yielding counterparts. Amy’s not saying that all low dividend yield stocks were identical. In fact, she provided a four-step test for screening prospects to determine a stock‘s dividend track record, ensuring it had a low payout ratio and high revenue growth, as well as a compelling story for future growth. I ended up with three stocks I could confidently rate good, better and best. Here’s how I got there. I was expecting quite a few would survive the first test of paying and increasing dividends, and I wasn’t disappointed. I found 726 possible names on FINVIZ.com, which had a record of at least five years of increasing dividends. To add my own stamp to… Read More

“The Little-Known Wealth Secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and One-Third of The Richest Men on Earth” This wealth secret is amazingly simple. It has nothing to do with buying options contracts, short-selling, flipping real estate, or anything difficult like that. Truth is… you don’t even need a deep understanding of the markets. It sounds impossible, but there’s a small group of stocks that enjoy the support of “Rich Parents.” These special companies benefit… Read More

“The Little-Known Wealth Secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and One-Third of The Richest Men on Earth” This wealth secret is amazingly simple. It has nothing to do with buying options contracts, short-selling, flipping real estate, or anything difficult like that. Truth is… you don’t even need a deep understanding of the markets. It sounds impossible, but there’s a small group of stocks that enjoy the support of “Rich Parents.” These special companies benefit from the same preferential access to loans, financial support and profitable business advice as the world’s wealthiest families. Most importantly, because of their special advantages they could make you a small fortune in the stock market, as they’ve done for investors over the last 10 years… Read on to learn more about  Top 10 Stocks’ “Rich Parents” stocks and how you can benefit from the little-known wealth secret of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and one-third of The richest men… Read More

Income investors have two equally important objectives when it comes to investing — obtaining high amounts of income and limiting risk. Many survivors of the 2008 bear market learned this the… Read More

These days, you can do a lot of investment research from home. Nearly every financial document and economic report can be accessed online. But I still believe in the benefits of “boots on the ground.” If I’m investigating a retail stock, I visit store locations. If I’m researching an equipment manufacturer, I want to see its products operate and talk to its customers. And given my master limited partnership (MLP) holdings, a recent trip to… Read More

These days, you can do a lot of investment research from home. Nearly every financial document and economic report can be accessed online. But I still believe in the benefits of “boots on the ground.” If I’m investigating a retail stock, I visit store locations. If I’m researching an equipment manufacturer, I want to see its products operate and talk to its customers. And given my master limited partnership (MLP) holdings, a recent trip to one of the nation’s top shale plays was long overdue. In the late 19th century, Williamsport, Penn. was known as the “lumber capital of the world,” and had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. The street where the lumber barons built their homes, on a hill overlooking the Susquehanna River, is still called “Millionaire’s Row.” Lumber may have built Williamsport over a hundred years ago, but it is natural gas that is responsible for its riches in this century. In 2010, Williamsport was the seventh-fastest growing metropolitan area in… Read More