The banking industry still has a rocky road ahead of it as it struggles to shake the hangover headache from the financial meltdown that tipped the U.S. economy into recession. A quick check of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s website paints… Read More

I attended an investment conference last week and listened to a number of business updates from leading financial institutions. The vast majority are staying extremely conservative with their lending activities and are waiting for more tangible signs of an economic recovery before they start shifting gears from surviving the credit… Read More

As income investors, we can get caught up in yields… almost to a fault. But there is something else you should be studying that could make just as big a difference to your long-term returns: dividend growth. That’s because dividend… Read More

A 10% yield is high in any market. In today’s market, it’s stratospheric. The S&P 500 is only yielding 2% and a three-year CD currently pays about 1.77% on average. Is a 10% yield too good to be true? Often it is. A… Read More

Everywhere I turn, I see headlines about the “bond bubble.” “The Great American Bond Bubble” — August 18, 2010, The Wall Street Journal “The Unstoppable Bond Bubble” — August 16, 2010, Fortune Clearly, the demand… Read More

Back in the 1970s, with interest rates hovering above 10%, investors could earn a lot more money by simply owning bonds instead of stocks. Now, with interest rates at all-time lows in the modern era, the bonds vs. stocks debate is getting turned on its head. With bond yields stuck at low levels, stocks are comparatively much more attractive. That point has been noted by the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at a wide range of blue-chip companies. These companies are increasingly realizing that they can alter their balance sheets to… Read More

Back in the 1970s, with interest rates hovering above 10%, investors could earn a lot more money by simply owning bonds instead of stocks. Now, with interest rates at all-time lows in the modern era, the bonds vs. stocks debate is getting turned on its head. With bond yields stuck at low levels, stocks are comparatively much more attractive. That point has been noted by the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at a wide range of blue-chip companies. These companies are increasingly realizing that they can alter their balance sheets to provide some much-needed support to their flagging stock prices. And that’s a buy signal you shouldn’t ignore. When leverage is appropriate For a long time, many companies (especially in the field of high-tech) preferred to hold lots of cash and carry no debt. High cash balances were seen as a sign of strength in case any major economic slowdowns forced companies to burn cash to keep afloat. (Memories of the imploding dot-com bubble of a decade ago die hard.) Yet as we saw in the recent economic crisis, most large tech companies such as Microsoft… Read More

I don’t want my readers being caught off guard. January 1, 2011 could be one of the most important dates in a long time for income investors. As I discussed last week, if Congress doesn’t act by that date, dividend… Read More

The stock market has not been a great place to invest in the past decade. In fact, the S&P 500 is lower now than it was 10 years ago. Bonds, on the other hand, have been a much better place to invest. The Barclay’s Capital U.S. Aggregate… Read More

The Bush tax cuts are pre-set to expire at the end of this year. If nothing is done before then, taxes will increase for everyone earning more than $37,450 a year. So far, nothing has been done. On May 23, 2003, Congress signed the Jobs and Growth… Read More

It’s coming. You know it is. Another recession. A “correction.” A one-day meltdown. Whatever you call it, the stock market is a fickle goddess to those who hear her siren’s call. Question is, how secure do you feel about being prepared for when —… Read More