In a move to settle edgy markets, the Fed recently postponed a highly-anticipated interest rate increase. But that doesn’t mean a hike isn’t still on the way. In fact, now is the perfect time for income-focused investors to start thinking about how your various investments will be impacted by the inevitable rise in interest rates. In a rising rate environment, there are a few industries and types of companies that are seen as less favorable than others. Take regulated utilities, for instance. Utility companies (or power companies) are regulated by states or municipalities and don’t have control over the rates… Read More

In a move to settle edgy markets, the Fed recently postponed a highly-anticipated interest rate increase. But that doesn’t mean a hike isn’t still on the way. In fact, now is the perfect time for income-focused investors to start thinking about how your various investments will be impacted by the inevitable rise in interest rates. In a rising rate environment, there are a few industries and types of companies that are seen as less favorable than others. Take regulated utilities, for instance. Utility companies (or power companies) are regulated by states or municipalities and don’t have control over the rates they charge their customers. They are subject to pricing caps, which limit their profit margins. So these utilities are typically reliant on debt and equity offerings to fund projects, such as network upgrades and expansions. That makes them extremely susceptible to liquidity challenges when rates go up. Another industry that is perceived to be hurt by rising rates: master limited partnerships (MLPs). This view, however, is not entirely accurate. Let’s look deeper. An MLP is a company that is structured to pass through its profits directly to its owners, or partners. That’s why they are also called “pass-through entities.” MLPs… Read More

I’ve found what really works when it comes to income investing. It’s a secret that could help you earn returns nearly triple most regular income stocks. In 2010, with $200,000 in actual cash fronted by StreetAuthority, I was given the go-ahead to build a real-money portfolio using the Daily Paycheck strategy. #-ad_banner-# The strategy is straightforward. I select the best income investments on the market, reinvest every cent of dividends I receive, and then watch my paychecks grow. It’s a simple way to invest, and many investors have probably heard about it… Read More

I’ve found what really works when it comes to income investing. It’s a secret that could help you earn returns nearly triple most regular income stocks. In 2010, with $200,000 in actual cash fronted by StreetAuthority, I was given the go-ahead to build a real-money portfolio using the Daily Paycheck strategy. #-ad_banner-# The strategy is straightforward. I select the best income investments on the market, reinvest every cent of dividends I receive, and then watch my paychecks grow. It’s a simple way to invest, and many investors have probably heard about it before. But until now, most have only seen this sort of strategy backtested — not put into practice in real life. The good news is that while we all know being paid dividends regularly — and reinvesting those payments — is “supposed” to work, the actual results have been much more exciting than even I expected. For instance, I’m now averaging more than $1,592 per month in dividends and have earned more than $87,000 in total dividends. But this strategy has also uncovered something surprising that could have a big impact… Read More

For the past few weeks, I’ve been telling my readers about an elite group of high-yielding stocks. I call them my “High-Yield Hall of Fame.” That’s because they are hands-down among the best performing, most reliable and most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet. And owning even a few of these stocks can help turn your income stream into a river of cash. Take a look for yourself, and you’ll see what I mean. These eight little-known income payers haven’t just outperformed the market over the past decade… they’ve absolutely annihilated it. Read More

For the past few weeks, I’ve been telling my readers about an elite group of high-yielding stocks. I call them my “High-Yield Hall of Fame.” That’s because they are hands-down among the best performing, most reliable and most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet. And owning even a few of these stocks can help turn your income stream into a river of cash. Take a look for yourself, and you’ll see what I mean. These eight little-known income payers haven’t just outperformed the market over the past decade… they’ve absolutely annihilated it.   Now with a track record like this, you’d think more investors would know about these elite stocks. Yet I’m willing to bet nine out of 10 investors haven’t heard about them. Why? Well, they aren’t the traditional “boring” dividend payers most people think of — after all, you can only get so far by following the herd with stocks like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. But the “smart money” has known about these stocks for years. I’m talking about billionaire investors like Jim Simons, legendary investment firms like Vanguard and Goldman Sachs… Read More

In 2014, Forbes ranked Sergey Brin as the 18th-richest person in the world. The Google co-founder is worth an estimated $29.7 billion. In 1979, Brin’s family left the Soviet Union because of religious persecution and immigrated to the United States. Soon, he would attend Stanford University, meet Larry Page, begin working on search engine algorithms… and the rest is history. Today, in the dawn of the 21st century, it’s worth asking: will the United States be the destination for the next Sergey Brin?  #-ad_banner-#This is important. Politically stable countries have a history of attracting the best talent and the most… Read More

In 2014, Forbes ranked Sergey Brin as the 18th-richest person in the world. The Google co-founder is worth an estimated $29.7 billion. In 1979, Brin’s family left the Soviet Union because of religious persecution and immigrated to the United States. Soon, he would attend Stanford University, meet Larry Page, begin working on search engine algorithms… and the rest is history. Today, in the dawn of the 21st century, it’s worth asking: will the United States be the destination for the next Sergey Brin?  #-ad_banner-#This is important. Politically stable countries have a history of attracting the best talent and the most capital. It’s the difference between countries that lead the pack — and those that are seemingly always struggling to keep up. And for investors, politically stable countries have a demonstrated history of beating the market. The Fund for Peace is a federally-funded research institution dedicated to assessing global political risk. In 2005, it began publishing “The Fragile State Index.” The index uses 12 social, political and economic factors to rank 178 countries based on political stability. According to its 2014 update, Austria, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland are just a few of the countries that rank ahead of… Read More

It’s one of the most important concepts in income investing — yet it doesn’t get addressed nearly enough. Today, I want to change that. Because once you understand the power of this concept, it may change the way you think about dividends forever.  Calculating a security’s current yield isn’t hard. You take its total annual dividend payments, divide that by its current price and multiply by 100. Simple enough, right? Let’s take a look at one of the long-time holdings in my premium newsletter, The Daily Paycheck, to see this in action. Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) is a master… Read More

It’s one of the most important concepts in income investing — yet it doesn’t get addressed nearly enough. Today, I want to change that. Because once you understand the power of this concept, it may change the way you think about dividends forever.  Calculating a security’s current yield isn’t hard. You take its total annual dividend payments, divide that by its current price and multiply by 100. Simple enough, right? Let’s take a look at one of the long-time holdings in my premium newsletter, The Daily Paycheck, to see this in action. Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) is a master limited partnership (MLP) that currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per unit. Today, gas prices are 42% cheaper on average than they were a year ago. That means Americans are on pace to spend $100 billion less at the pump in 2015. #-ad_banner-#Now let’s do the math… MMP’s Annual Dividend: 4 X $0.74 = $2.96 MMP’s Current Price: $69.68 MMP’s Current Yield: ($2.96/$69.68) = 4.2% Now, I picked MMP as an example for a reason. It perfectly illustrates the point I want to make in today’s essay. You see, some income investors turn their noses up at yields below… Read More

“The market has already done the Fed’s dirty work.”   That’s a refrain you’ll hear quite often these days, because so many interest rate-sensitive sectors have already sold off sharply in anticipation of higher interest rates. When rates do finally start rising (perhaps as soon as mid-September considering the August employment report), investors will likely realize that they have over-reacted. After all, the Federal Reserve is expected to act “low and slow,” meaning that interest rates are expected to be boosted at a very slow pace over an extended period. That means that 12-18 months from now, rates… Read More

“The market has already done the Fed’s dirty work.”   That’s a refrain you’ll hear quite often these days, because so many interest rate-sensitive sectors have already sold off sharply in anticipation of higher interest rates. When rates do finally start rising (perhaps as soon as mid-September considering the August employment report), investors will likely realize that they have over-reacted. After all, the Federal Reserve is expected to act “low and slow,” meaning that interest rates are expected to be boosted at a very slow pace over an extended period. That means that 12-18 months from now, rates aren’t likely to be much more than 50 or 75 basis points higher than they are today. And by anybody’s math, a Federal funds rate under 2.0% is still extremely low by historical standards. Interest rate fears have really hurt sentiment in yield-focused investments such as the master limited partnerships (MLPs). A wide range of bargains have now emerged in that group, led by Enterprise Product Partners (NYSE: EPD).   Yet it’s hard to find any group that has been tarnished as badly as the business development companies (BDCs). These firms act as lender and investor to small… Read More

To sideswipe market volatility, investors often focus on companies that offer solid long-term growth and reliable dividends. Plenty of large companies fit that description, but so do some smaller ones. Take ABM Industries Inc. (NYSE: ABM), a venerable building maintenance firm with a $1.7-billion market value and annual revenues in excess of $5 billion. How stable is this company’s business model across business cycles? It has paid steady dividends for 50 straight years. #-ad_banner-#From Humble Beginnings To A Diverse Enterprise Despite having roots dating back 1909, ABM probably still isn’t on many investors’ radar screens. But you should get… Read More

To sideswipe market volatility, investors often focus on companies that offer solid long-term growth and reliable dividends. Plenty of large companies fit that description, but so do some smaller ones. Take ABM Industries Inc. (NYSE: ABM), a venerable building maintenance firm with a $1.7-billion market value and annual revenues in excess of $5 billion. How stable is this company’s business model across business cycles? It has paid steady dividends for 50 straight years. #-ad_banner-#From Humble Beginnings To A Diverse Enterprise Despite having roots dating back 1909, ABM probably still isn’t on many investors’ radar screens. But you should get to know this firm. It has come a long way from humble beginnings as a one-man window-washing service. Janitorial services have long been the heart and soul of ABM and still generate about half of revenue. The rest of the sales base is derived from a diverse lineup of service offerings such as maintenance and management of electrical and climate-control systems (with a focus on energy efficiency), security services, landscaping and parking management. Today, ABM serves thousands of customers with many types of nonresidential properties, from office buildings and educational institutions, to airports and stadiums. Dodger Stadium, Cornell University and… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple… Read More

#-ad_banner-#Let’s have a little fun…  Can you name all of the Hall of Fame players from the 1927 New York Yankees?  Unless you’re a die-hard Yankees fan, or a lover of baseball history, chances are probably not.  Yet the ’27 Yankees are widely considered the greatest team in baseball history. They were even dubbed “Murderers’ Row” because of how terrifying their lineup was to opposing teams. Now, if you are a baseball fan, I bet you could name a couple members of this team. Babe Ruth… Lou Gehrig… But what many people tend to forget is that they also shared the team with four other Hall of Fame players.  I’m talking about guys like Tony Lazzeri and Waite Hoyt. These names don’t come up in conversations among casual fans today, but make no mistake: without them the 1927 Yankees would’ve been nothing more than an average team with a few good players. Now think about how this ties in with investing, especially in terms of building… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their… Read More

#-ad_banner-#There are more than 14,000 stocks currently trading on American exchanges.  That’s 14,000 decisions you have to make when deciding whether to invest your money in small-cap stocks or blue chips, dividend payers or long-term growth stocks.  Narrowing down your choice to the perfect investment can be daunting, especially when trying to balance high reward potential with the lowest possible risk.  But I’ve found a collection of stocks that can practically make your decision for you. They offer better yields, higher returns and less risk than the broader market… And every investor should consider adding these eight stocks to their portfolio today.  I call these eight stocks “Hall of Fame” investments. Not because their best days are behind them, but because these firms boast qualities that rank them among the best performing, most shareholder-friendly companies on the planet.  Here’s a look at the stocks that made my “Hall of Fame” list:  The first reason you should consider investing in one or more of these powerful companies is that these stocks are market-beaters. In a side-by-side comparison, these eight stocks crush the broader market by a wide margin. Over the past 10 years, while the S&P 500 has returned… Read More

The other morning, I drove myself half-crazy looking for my car keys. It must have taken me almost a half hour to find them. And when I did, they were sitting — in plain sight — on my hall table. The reason I had trouble finding my keys, of course, was that they weren’t where I usually put them. I’m so used to looking in the same places that I walked right by my hall table without a glance. #-ad_banner-#The same thing happens to securities that pay irregular — or special — dividends. Read More

The other morning, I drove myself half-crazy looking for my car keys. It must have taken me almost a half hour to find them. And when I did, they were sitting — in plain sight — on my hall table. The reason I had trouble finding my keys, of course, was that they weren’t where I usually put them. I’m so used to looking in the same places that I walked right by my hall table without a glance. #-ad_banner-#The same thing happens to securities that pay irregular — or special — dividends. I call them “Wall Street Irregulars.”  These dividend payers offer above-average yields, yet most investors skip right over them. That’s because popular investment resources like Yahoo! Finance rarely reflect the total yield these companies offer. Most brokerage and investment websites only take a stock’s most recent dividend payment and multiply it times the payment frequency to get a stock’s annual dividend. The websites then use the computed annual dividend to calculate the yield. So while the “posted yield” — the yield investors see listed — may… Read More