Have you ever driven yourself half-crazy looking for your car keys? You spend so much time looking for them — only to find them sitting in plain sight. They may not have been where you usually leave your keys, but there they are — right in front of you. You must have walked by them a dozen times. #-ad_banner-#The same thing happens to securities that pay irregular — or special — dividends. We like to 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… Read More

Have you ever driven yourself half-crazy looking for your car keys? You spend so much time looking for them — only to find them sitting in plain sight. They may not have been where you usually leave your keys, but there they are — right in front of you. You must have walked by them a dozen times. #-ad_banner-#The same thing happens to securities that pay irregular — or special — dividends. We like to 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 show something south of 2%, a stock’s “trailing yield” — the yield based on the company’s actual dividend payments over the last 12 months — may be much higher. There are various types of Wall Street Irregulars. There are quarterly irregulars, which… Read More

There aren’t too many investments in existence that are truly recession-proof. And even fewer are market-proof. U.S. government bonds, especially Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) and zero-coupon bonds — the hedges I discussed in this article — come quite close to being both. #-ad_banner-#Utilities, despite their reputation for being recession-resistant investments, are not quite there in terms of their portfolio-protection abilities. For one, demand for energy isn’t always steady. Because much of it comes from industrial uses, when a recession hits, overall energy demand usually declines. Furthermore, even a regulated-utility business model — while making these stocks safer — hardly guarantees… Read More

There aren’t too many investments in existence that are truly recession-proof. And even fewer are market-proof. U.S. government bonds, especially Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) and zero-coupon bonds — the hedges I discussed in this article — come quite close to being both. #-ad_banner-#Utilities, despite their reputation for being recession-resistant investments, are not quite there in terms of their portfolio-protection abilities. For one, demand for energy isn’t always steady. Because much of it comes from industrial uses, when a recession hits, overall energy demand usually declines. Furthermore, even a regulated-utility business model — while making these stocks safer — hardly guarantees growth. Power companies have to contend with regulation, capital expenditures, the costs of maintaining and upgrading our aging infrastructure, the advent of renewable energy, and the additional costs of providing enhanced cybersecurity. But they are indeed safer than much of the rest of the market. Society needs these businesses to always operate, and so the government strives to guarantee that regulated utilities have at least some certainty in their businesses. This is achieved via setting up a regulated return on investment for a regulated utility. Because utilities are largely domestic businesses, their results don’t depend on currency fluctuations. This domestic… Read More

Record-low unemployment and improving workforce participation are the economic drivers for one of my most recent stock picks. But it also has structural winds at its back: the cloud. #-ad_banner-#The “cloud” basically eliminates the need for a company-run server, making storing and accessing data and programs over the internet (versus the server or a personal computer) a breeze. This way, a company saves money on the computing resources and software, which are now “rented” as opposed to licensed or bought. Users can access the same program from almost anywhere, and their updates or changes will be saved for the rest… Read More

Record-low unemployment and improving workforce participation are the economic drivers for one of my most recent stock picks. But it also has structural winds at its back: the cloud. #-ad_banner-#The “cloud” basically eliminates the need for a company-run server, making storing and accessing data and programs over the internet (versus the server or a personal computer) a breeze. This way, a company saves money on the computing resources and software, which are now “rented” as opposed to licensed or bought. Users can access the same program from almost anywhere, and their updates or changes will be saved for the rest of the team members to see in real time. Plus, with the cloud, software and services are delivered on demand, and the user typically pays for a recurring subscription to the software-based service — in other words, users pay only for as much of the services as they need. These positives of the cloud model are especially useful for small- and midsize firms where resources are often limited. No wonder businesses are actively investing in and switching to the cloud-computing model. The best cloud providers — including my most recent pick — are able to ride the wave of this… Read More

We live in an age of scientific discovery. Investors understand this, of course, but nobody understands this better than cancer survivors. That’s why a new, pioneering cancer treatment called CAR T-cell therapy is so exciting. For one, there will be many more cancer survivors as the 21st century marches along. That’s the important part. Second, it creates a new opportunity for investors who learn about the treatment now and get in early before the rest of the crowd.  —Recommended Link— 1 Weird Trick To Collect Easy Payouts Deep in the heart of South Carolina, one teacher approaching… Read More

We live in an age of scientific discovery. Investors understand this, of course, but nobody understands this better than cancer survivors. That’s why a new, pioneering cancer treatment called CAR T-cell therapy is so exciting. For one, there will be many more cancer survivors as the 21st century marches along. That’s the important part. Second, it creates a new opportunity for investors who learn about the treatment now and get in early before the rest of the crowd.  —Recommended Link— 1 Weird Trick To Collect Easy Payouts Deep in the heart of South Carolina, one teacher approaching retirement just collected a $4,416 check approved by the government. He’s not on disability, and he’s not collecting Social Security. Instead, he’s using this 1 weird trick to collect easy payouts with little to no risk. Anyone can use this trick to boost their bank account. if they know how to do it right. Get the details right here. In short, CAR T-cell therapy is a radically new medical technology that promises hope where there was none. CAR T-cell therapy uses the body’s own defenses to fight cancer. It’s built upon the patient’s healthy cells, which are the foundation… Read More

In less than three weeks, the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting. That’s when the direction of the country’s monetary policy will be decided. As usual, the Fed’s action will be watched not only for cues about the direction of interest rates but also in terms of their reading of the economy. After all, no one has more data at their disposal than the Fed.  #-ad_banner-#First things first. Come September 17 and 18, investors will be expecting yet another interest rate cut. This won’t be coming out of the blue: Policymakers have been indicating as much… Read More

In less than three weeks, the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting. That’s when the direction of the country’s monetary policy will be decided. As usual, the Fed’s action will be watched not only for cues about the direction of interest rates but also in terms of their reading of the economy. After all, no one has more data at their disposal than the Fed.  #-ad_banner-#First things first. Come September 17 and 18, investors will be expecting yet another interest rate cut. This won’t be coming out of the blue: Policymakers have been indicating as much in recent days. After all, interest-rate policies are focused on the economy, which is slowing all over the world. The markets now expect a quarter-point cut at the September meeting.  As you well know, at the conclusion of the July 30-31 meeting, the Fed made the first rate cut in more than a decade. After the widely expected quarter-point cut, the benchmark rate now sits in a range between 2% and 2.25%. That action, however, failed to prop the U.S. stock market: The S&P 500 index declined about 2.9% in August, thanks to the newly emerged trade-related uncertainties.  Over the… Read More

Think fast: what’s the largest U.S. company? No, it’s not Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Despite dominating the headlines, being almost universally beloved and trading within a few points of its all-time high, Apple does not sit at atop the market-capitalization list. This honor currently belongs to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), a company whose imminent death because of the slowing PC market was predicted by more than one analyst more than once over the years. They were wrong. With a total market value that exceeds $1 trillion, MSFT is currently the king of the markets.  Like Apple, MSFT trades within a spitting distance… Read More

Think fast: what’s the largest U.S. company? No, it’s not Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). Despite dominating the headlines, being almost universally beloved and trading within a few points of its all-time high, Apple does not sit at atop the market-capitalization list. This honor currently belongs to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), a company whose imminent death because of the slowing PC market was predicted by more than one analyst more than once over the years. They were wrong. With a total market value that exceeds $1 trillion, MSFT is currently the king of the markets.  Like Apple, MSFT trades within a spitting distance of the stock’s all-time high. Over the past five years, while shares of AAPL more than doubled in value, the value of MSFT more than tripled. Yes, the PC market has slowed, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices on the consumer side and growth in the cloud on the enterprise side. And yet, Microsoft is the largest company that trades in the United States. What gives? —Recommended Link— The Incredible Dividend Map. Where Stocks Yield 67% a Year What’s the highest-yielding stock you’ve ever owned? Did it pay you 8%… 10%…… Read More

We are a nation of drivers. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation says that the United States is home to nearly 272.5 million cars, almost a million buses and more than 12 million trucks. As drivers and investors, our attention is turning to the future of self-driving cars and on the progress and setbacks that autonomous driving research encounters. But the drive to create a fully autonomous car — and all the investor attention that these efforts enthuse — should not detract us from the progress achieved in other areas of transportation technology. One such area concerns unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)… Read More

We are a nation of drivers. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation says that the United States is home to nearly 272.5 million cars, almost a million buses and more than 12 million trucks. As drivers and investors, our attention is turning to the future of self-driving cars and on the progress and setbacks that autonomous driving research encounters. But the drive to create a fully autonomous car — and all the investor attention that these efforts enthuse — should not detract us from the progress achieved in other areas of transportation technology. One such area concerns unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — also known as drones. While drones as a group are not autonomous in the full sense of the word, these helicopters or planes have no human pilots and are controlled by onboard computers or by a pilot on the ground via remote control. —Recommended Link— Secret “Paycheck Program” Just Discovered… It’s delivering up to 30 checks each year… Checks for $29,799… $62,046… and even up to $225,326 are being raked in using this program. If you’re looking for reliable cash, you need to act right now. This is instantly valuable, so don’t miss out. … Read More