Interest rates, as measured by 10-year U.S. Treasury rates and a number of other interest rates, have been declining for more than 30 years. As the chart below shows, interest rates move in trends that last for decades. Eventually, this trend will reverse as all trends do, and while it… Read More

I’ve been glued to the news this entire election season, but one heated exchange at the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney piqued my curiosity. Here it is from the Washington Post’s full transcript, edited to show concisely a portion of their conversation about… Read More

Dividend-growth stocks can do wonders for an investor’s portfolio over time. The power of compounding can turn today’s ho-hum yield into a stellar return if the growth rate of the dividend is high. … Read More

There is a big difference between a great company and a great stock. And nowhere is it more apparent than in the high-growth cloud-computing sector. Companies that specialize in cloud services and infrastructure have seen big gains in sales and earnings in the past… Read More

A British prime minister in 1845 described them as those who “bamboozle one party and plunder the other.” Since then, common folk everywhere have wanted to eradicate them. The object of this scorn? Middlemen — people or companies that buy or handle goods from producers and sell or deliver them… Read More

Guess which commodity has performed the best during the past 10 years. Is it corn, its price spiked by ethanol production and the drought? Copper needed by China for its infrastructure build-out? Cattle, with overseas markets demanding higher quality protein? The answer… Read More

For an income investor, peace of mind comes from being able to offset monthly expenses with dividend income. This can be easily accomplished by owning monthly dividend stocks.  There are many advantages to owning stocks that pay out monthly, rather than quarterly… Read More

December 31st, 2012… It’s a date that every income investor in America is surely aware of. On that day, the “Bush” era tax cuts are set to expire. If Congress doesn’t intervene, dividends will be taxed as… Read More

Most of my clients in their 50s and 60s are looking for consistent, stable companies that can survive in this volatile market environment. As they approach retirement, many of these clients prefer stocks that can provide them with additional cash to supplement… Read More

They’re some of the most overlooked income investments. I’m willing to bet that nine out of 10 investors don’t even consider them when they’re buying an income stock… That’s a shame because if you know what to look for, these securities can be some of the most powerful portfolio builders… Read More