It started out as an experiment. It wound up being one of the greatest investment discoveries we’ve ever found. #-ad_banner-#A little more than three years ago, StreetAuthority co-founder Paul Tracy approached me with an idea. He wanted me to build a portfolio of dividend stocks that would pay out more than 30 dividend checks a month — one for every day of the year. In order to show he was serious, he gave me… Read More

It started out as an experiment. It wound up being one of the greatest investment discoveries we’ve ever found. #-ad_banner-#A little more than three years ago, StreetAuthority co-founder Paul Tracy approached me with an idea. He wanted me to build a portfolio of dividend stocks that would pay out more than 30 dividend checks a month — one for every day of the year. In order to show he was serious, he gave me $200,000 and a dedicated brokerage account to get started. I must admit, I was a little skeptical at first. The idea seemed too good to be true. But three and a half years, more than 1,260 dividends and over $47,920 worth of income later, the results have been far better than anyone could have imagined. Since I started my portfolio back in December 2009, my initial $200,000 investment has grown to $280,631, giving me a total return of 40.3%. Even better, the payments I received from my portfolio in 2012 averaged about $1,357 per… Read More

Over the past few years, I’ve written repeatedly about the compelling long-term opportunities presented by emerging markets. These economies possess superior long-term growth prospects but trade at a considerable discount to more mature markets in Europe and the United States.  Still, it’s hard to understate the importance of “long-term” in that outlook. Emerging markets are quite volatile and can quickly rack up short-term losses. Indeed, in recent weeks a number of emerging markets have tumbled sharply, in large part due to concerns of an economic slowdown in China that is dampening demand for exports… Read More

Over the past few years, I’ve written repeatedly about the compelling long-term opportunities presented by emerging markets. These economies possess superior long-term growth prospects but trade at a considerable discount to more mature markets in Europe and the United States.  Still, it’s hard to understate the importance of “long-term” in that outlook. Emerging markets are quite volatile and can quickly rack up short-term losses. Indeed, in recent weeks a number of emerging markets have tumbled sharply, in large part due to concerns of an economic slowdown in China that is dampening demand for exports in countries such as Australia, Brazil and South Africa. I wrote about the issue in this recent column. For a while there, global investors were dumping emerging-market bonds just as fast as they were selling emerging-market stocks. Then a light bulb went off: Investors realized that bonds are a lot safer in a slowing economy — for a pair of reasons. Those two factors:… Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. And I’m certain you’ll see it pushed in the mainstream financial media soon. #-ad_banner-#I’ll tell you why you should ignore their advice in a moment, and instead seize the opportunity that will be presented because of it. But first, let’s look at the situation we’re dealing with in the markets.  The official transcript of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s press conference two weeks ago contained 7,267 words, but the 10 that stuck out most to me were: “If the incoming data are broadly consistent with this forecast…” In… Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. Read More

The recent threat of Fed “tapering” has been putting many investors on edge lately — hence the triple-digit market swings we experienced last week.  At the same time, the “conventional wisdom” I’ve seen come with this news is clouding judgment, telling income investors — wrongly — to sell a certain asset class in the market right now. This is exactly the sort of “conventional wisdom” myth that costs investors big time over the long run. And I’m certain you’ll see it pushed in the mainstream financial media soon. #-ad_banner-#I’ll tell you why you should ignore their advice in a moment, and instead seize the opportunity that will be presented because of it. But first, let’s look at the situation we’re dealing with in the markets.  The official transcript of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s press conference two weeks ago contained 7,267 words, but the 10 that stuck out most to me were: “If the incoming data are broadly consistent with this forecast…” In… Read More

Interest rates remain near historic lows. And when they eventually rise, bond prices will fall, as the two move opposite to each other. The question of how much they will fall over the long… Read More

What if you could receive regular income without getting a second job or selling some of your assets?#-ad_banner-# Regular passive income is among the aspirations of many long-term investors. The good news is that it’s possible for you to build up a regular income when you approach investing with a specific strategy in mind. When you put together a long-term investing plan centered on cultivating income, you are more likely to succeed over time. Read More

What if you could receive regular income without getting a second job or selling some of your assets?#-ad_banner-# Regular passive income is among the aspirations of many long-term investors. The good news is that it’s possible for you to build up a regular income when you approach investing with a specific strategy in mind. When you put together a long-term investing plan centered on cultivating income, you are more likely to succeed over time. And that long-term income strategy should include dividend stocks. Perhaps the biggest difficulty with dividend stocks is figuring out how to buy enough shares of an investment so that your payouts actually provide you with an amount you can live on — or that can at least supplement your lifestyle. With that in mind, here are four golden rules for building income. 1. Be Realistic Few of us have tens of thousands of… Read More

Many years ago, I lived near the Culinary Institute of America, the alma mater of many of the world’s most celebrated chefs. After years of classes, the students’ final proving ground was cooking for the institute’s public restaurants. In the 1970s and 1980s, the institute’s premier restaurant was the Escoffier Room. It was expensive. And if you wanted to dine there, you had to plan ahead. In many cases, reservations had to be made a year in advance. Every night, students were expected to deliver culinary perfection. And for the unlucky student assigned… Read More

Many years ago, I lived near the Culinary Institute of America, the alma mater of many of the world’s most celebrated chefs. After years of classes, the students’ final proving ground was cooking for the institute’s public restaurants. In the 1970s and 1980s, the institute’s premier restaurant was the Escoffier Room. It was expensive. And if you wanted to dine there, you had to plan ahead. In many cases, reservations had to be made a year in advance. Every night, students were expected to deliver culinary perfection. And for the unlucky student assigned to the souffle station, the pressure was immense. In chef Anthony Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential,” he tells how students prayed every night, hoping to avoid the assignment to make the puffy egg-based dish, which had a tendency to collapse if conditions weren’t perfect. To add insult to injury, the domineering head chef would berate any student responsible for a fallen souffle, loud enough for all to hear. The Federal Reserve is now standing in front of the economic equivalent of a souffle station. The Fed is likely to maintain historically low short-term interest rates… Read More

On Monday, I explained to readers how a simple trading tool could have shown investors when to sell American Capital Agency (Nasdaq: AGNC) near its peak back in September 2012. And before that I showed readers how the same trading tool could have been used to sell Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) before its crash started in November. Today, I want to show you a stock you can buy right now according to the same indicator… But first, let me explain a little more about this trading tool. It’s called… Read More

On Monday, I explained to readers how a simple trading tool could have shown investors when to sell American Capital Agency (Nasdaq: AGNC) near its peak back in September 2012. And before that I showed readers how the same trading tool could have been used to sell Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) before its crash started in November. Today, I want to show you a stock you can buy right now according to the same indicator… But first, let me explain a little more about this trading tool. It’s called relative strength, or RS. I know for many individual investors that may sound overly technical, but it’s really very simple. #-ad_banner-#Relative strength is a factor I use to find stocks that are outperforming the market now. You see, value investors often pride themselves on patience. Relative strength helps eliminate the need for this virtue. Buying value stocks only when RS is high can help you avoid the value trap that comes from buying… Read More

Lodging real estate investment trusts (REITs) are in the early stages of what promises to be a multiyear recovery that is creating profit opportunities for dividend investors.#-ad_banner-# A key hotel metric, revenue per available room (RevPAR), is forecast to rise 6% this year and next year, reversing a trend of double-digit declines during the recession. The… Read More

Lodging real estate investment trusts (REITs) are in the early stages of what promises to be a multiyear recovery that is creating profit opportunities for dividend investors.#-ad_banner-# A key hotel metric, revenue per available room (RevPAR), is forecast to rise 6% this year and next year, reversing a trend of double-digit declines during the recession. The premium hotel segment is expected to experience even stronger gains, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study. These gains are being fueled by an improving U.S. economy, increasing business and vacation travel, and anemic growth in the supply of new hotels. The lodging sector struggled during the recession, and difficulties in obtaining financing kept hotel developers on the sidelines. As a result, the domestic supply of new hotel rooms grew only 0.5% in 2011 and 2012, well below the 25-year average annual growth rate of 2.6%. There has not been… Read More

Today, I want to share a little history lesson with you. It comes from one of the worst periods of human history but makes a point about human innovation that can’t be said enough — that given enough time and capital, we’re capable of some pretty remarkable things. And the good news for investors like you and me is that we can use this universal truth to profit handsomely… The Great Famine was among the worst episodes of starvation in recorded history. #-ad_banner-#Crops were devastated after an abrupt… Read More

Today, I want to share a little history lesson with you. It comes from one of the worst periods of human history but makes a point about human innovation that can’t be said enough — that given enough time and capital, we’re capable of some pretty remarkable things. And the good news for investors like you and me is that we can use this universal truth to profit handsomely… The Great Famine was among the worst episodes of starvation in recorded history. #-ad_banner-#Crops were devastated after an abrupt change in weather patterns in the early 1300s. Many seeds that were planted simply rotted in the soil. Livestock couldn’t be fed due to lack of grain, and malnourished stock succumbed to disease. Famine began to spread from poorer peasants to wealthier nobleman and merchants. Even King Edward II had trouble finding food for himself. Millions starved and died. By 1400, Britain’s population stood at an estimated 2 million people, off as much as two-thirds from its peak less than a century earlier. But over time, something happened that… Read More