In case you haven’t heard, inflation is on its way. Unprecedented levels of government debt and deficits will likely weaken the value of the dollar at some point, thus raising the prices of everything it buys. But, the Federal Reserve says… Read More

Inflation fears and rising interest rates are riling the fixed-income market. I’ve got a solution. But before I go into too much detail about this idea, it’s important to see exactly what’s going on. Treasury yields, which can serve as a… Read More

When I recommended this stock nearly two years ago it was paying a 14.4% yield. In most cases, yields this high aren’t safe. But this company is different. In short, it borrows money at very low interest rates, invests… Read More

It’s one of the biggest rallies I’ve seen, and it’s coming from one of the most unlikely places: an income security. I first learned about master limited partnerships (MLPs) working with Carla Pasternak, the Chief Strategist for High-Yield Investing. Carla’s been… Read More

If you are an income investor, you may think overseas investing is best left to the pros. But you’d be wrong. A bit of research shows plenty of low-risk opportunities for U.S. investors seeking high yields in the global market. Investing globally is a good idea because it provides a chance to participate in the faster-growing economies of emerging markets like Brazil, which International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts will grow 4.5% this year – much faster than the U.S. growth rate of 3%. Looking abroad also provides more choices and the ability to… Read More

If you are an income investor, you may think overseas investing is best left to the pros. But you’d be wrong. A bit of research shows plenty of low-risk opportunities for U.S. investors seeking high yields in the global market. Investing globally is a good idea because it provides a chance to participate in the faster-growing economies of emerging markets like Brazil, which International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts will grow 4.5% this year – much faster than the U.S. growth rate of 3%. Looking abroad also provides more choices and the ability to diversify risk across multiple economies and geographies. #-ad_banner-#In addition, investing overseas often earns better returns. For example, the S&P gained 23.5% last year, but returns for emerging markets in Brazil, India and China were 80% or higher. The developed markets of Australia and Canada returned more than 30%. Foreign stocks also tend to have better yields because overseas companies typically distribute more of their cash flow back to investors. The yield on the S&P 500 currently averages less than 2%, but stocks in the developed markets of Europe and… Read More

About 15 years ago I was held prisoner of war in Hartford, Conn., at a large, rookie broker re-education facility. While trudging to class each day, I passed by the headquarters of quite a few famous insurance companies. All were familiar except one: Phoenix. I did some research and learned that, at the time, it was a mutual company (owned by the policy holders) and not publicly traded. However, its investment management arm did trade publicly via master limited partnership (MLP) units. They were clearly trading at a deep discount… Read More

About 15 years ago I was held prisoner of war in Hartford, Conn., at a large, rookie broker re-education facility. While trudging to class each day, I passed by the headquarters of quite a few famous insurance companies. All were familiar except one: Phoenix. I did some research and learned that, at the time, it was a mutual company (owned by the policy holders) and not publicly traded. However, its investment management arm did trade publicly via master limited partnership (MLP) units. They were clearly trading at a deep discount to their actual value, so I bought what few shares I could. In less than a year, after collecting a couple dividend payments, Phoenix bought back all of the units they didn’t own and I made a nice little profit. Fast forward to now. Phoenix (NYSE: PNX) has long since demutualized. The investment arm was spun off a couple of years ago as a free-standing entity: Virtus (Nasdaq: VRTS). Phoenix’s common shares trade at an abysmal sub-$3.00 level The company just can’t seem to get out of its own way. The… Read More

I want to show you a chart. It’s nothing complex or hard to understand. In fact, I take pride in how simple it is to read. You’ll be surprised to learn that the money I made (shown in the chart below) is the result of just a… Read More

There aren’t many companies that can say they’ve paid dividends every year for the past four decades. Fewer still are those that have raised their dividends in every single one of those years. Of that elite group, I know of only one company that has hiked its… Read More

Many income investors focus mainly on yield when they should be giving at least equal weight to dividend growth, as well as prospects for future gains. Why is dividend growth so important? The answer is simple: Even modest yearly increases in the dividend… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit… Read More

Let’s see if this describes your investing during the past few years: In 2008, you got out of the market, but only after your retirement account lost 35%. Then, even after the market started to rally, you just couldn’t pull the trigger to get back in. The memory of those sleepless nights was still too fresh.  But sitting on the sidelines hasn’t been without pain. As the market rebounded, your money-market fund paid an average of 0.07%, meaning you were on pace to double your money in 990 years. Savings and certificate of deposit rates were only slightly better. If this describes what you went through, don’t worry. You’re not alone. As of last week, more than $2.7 trillion dollars sat in stingy-yielding money-market mutual funds. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I have a way to earn considerably more on your cash… Millions of investors, one simple solution I recently asked some of my Daily Paycheck subscribers about their investing experience during the past few years… Turns out, many of them were in the same boat. They used… Read More