I flew into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico a few months ago and made the mistake of exchanging my money at the airport rather than a local bank or financial institution. If drinking the local water is mistake #1, then this one isn’t far behind. I was paid an exchange rate of just 15/1, so my $1,000 turned into 15,000 pesos. Had I walked a few blocks away, the going rate was closer to 18/1 — meaning I could have traded my dollars for 18,000 pesos instead.   #-ad_banner-#3,000 pesos buys a lot of Pacifico beer. And this isn’t just my… Read More

I flew into Cabo San Lucas, Mexico a few months ago and made the mistake of exchanging my money at the airport rather than a local bank or financial institution. If drinking the local water is mistake #1, then this one isn’t far behind. I was paid an exchange rate of just 15/1, so my $1,000 turned into 15,000 pesos. Had I walked a few blocks away, the going rate was closer to 18/1 — meaning I could have traded my dollars for 18,000 pesos instead.   #-ad_banner-#3,000 pesos buys a lot of Pacifico beer. And this isn’t just my experience — the Mexican peso has been one of the weakest currencies in the world for the past three weeks. Since November 8, its value has fallen more than 15% against the U.S. dollar. That selloff is largely being driven by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Investors are worried Trump will restructure trade agreements between the United States and Mexico or levy tariffs on Mexican exporters. If that happens, it could be a huge drag on the Mexican economy. The weak peso has caused somewhat of a panic in Mexican stocks. In the past three weeks the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped… Read More

Next time you see your landlord ask him or her to buy you a beer.  If they’re like the millions of other landlords across the country, chances are they are having another great year. U.S. rents have reached another all-time high in 2016. A recent report from Apartment List, a rental market research company, showed that national rents hit a new all-time high in August of 2016. Take a look below. And 2% is just the national average. In many cities, the influx of new residents is outpacing the construction of new apartments. There just isn’t any space… Read More

Next time you see your landlord ask him or her to buy you a beer.  If they’re like the millions of other landlords across the country, chances are they are having another great year. U.S. rents have reached another all-time high in 2016. A recent report from Apartment List, a rental market research company, showed that national rents hit a new all-time high in August of 2016. Take a look below. And 2% is just the national average. In many cities, the influx of new residents is outpacing the construction of new apartments. There just isn’t any space to build in downtown Chicago or Boston, yet rental demand is climbing 6% to 7% annually. That leads to a shortage of available units, which inevitably exerts upward pressure on prices.  A decent unit runs about $1,500 per month in Denver and $2,200 in Washington. #-ad_banner-#Those price gains are being driven by simple economics — rising demand and limited supply. And looking forward there doesn’t appear to be any quick solution. U.S. housing inventories are near a record low and new home buyers are struggling to save enough cash to make a down payment. Also, tightened bank lending standards have… Read More

According to the Labor Department, there were 5.8 million job openings a few months ago, matching the all-time high set in July 2015. That’s an encouraging sign. Whenever a company puts out a “Help Wanted” ad, it sends a signal that business is good.  #-ad_banner-#Of course, job creation also puts more disposable income in the hands of consumers, which account for two-thirds of the nation’s GDP. So I like the fact that HR departments are busy conducting interviews to fill positions.  But let’s face it, salaries can also be a big financial drain on a business. The average entry-level accountant… Read More

According to the Labor Department, there were 5.8 million job openings a few months ago, matching the all-time high set in July 2015. That’s an encouraging sign. Whenever a company puts out a “Help Wanted” ad, it sends a signal that business is good.  #-ad_banner-#Of course, job creation also puts more disposable income in the hands of consumers, which account for two-thirds of the nation’s GDP. So I like the fact that HR departments are busy conducting interviews to fill positions.  But let’s face it, salaries can also be a big financial drain on a business. The average entry-level accountant earns $48,000 a year. A new recruit for the marketing department will run $45,000. And a new computer hardware engineer will make $66,000.  These are median national figures, with salaries escalating in certain regions and for those with more experience on their resume. And let’s not forget about healthcare, pensions, payroll taxes and bonuses.  Some large companies have tens of thousands of workers on the payrolls, the equivalent of a small city. So you can see how labor is typically one of the biggest expenses chipping away at profit margins. Don’t get me wrong, any organization is only as good… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the parties vying for a piece of the country’s rich oil and gas resources.  Papua New Guinea is also blessed with valuable metals such as gold, copper, nickel and cobalt. High in the rainforests of Enga Province, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) pulled 493,000 ounces of the yellow metal from the Porgera Mine last year, and this is just one of sixteen large-scale mining projects in the country. Elsewhere, others are busy growing cocoa, coconut, and palm oil, the country’s top agricultural exports. Thanks to all these resources, the country enjoyed robust GDP growth last year that has been estimated at anywere… Read More

As you might expect, I get lots of requests from StreetAuthority readers looking to supercharge their income with payouts that are three to four times higher than the market average. I think one of my recent recommendations in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing, fits the bill (the stock has a yield of 8%).  #-ad_banner-#But I also receive letters from retirees willing to accept half of that in exchange for lower volatility and reliable “all-weather” performance. With capital preservation as the foremost goal, they don’t want to take risks with their nest egg. As such, these readers are mostly interested in… Read More

As you might expect, I get lots of requests from StreetAuthority readers looking to supercharge their income with payouts that are three to four times higher than the market average. I think one of my recent recommendations in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing, fits the bill (the stock has a yield of 8%).  #-ad_banner-#But I also receive letters from retirees willing to accept half of that in exchange for lower volatility and reliable “all-weather” performance. With capital preservation as the foremost goal, they don’t want to take risks with their nest egg. As such, these readers are mostly interested in rock-solid companies built to deliver consistent profit and dividend growth even in tough conditions.  We have a diverse audience in High-Yield Investing, so I try to provide a mix of recommendations that will speak to everybody. And the stock screen I’d like to share with you today is primarily aimed at more conservative investors. However, even younger subscribers with aggressive goals should tune in — because we’re looking at blue-chips that can help anchor your portfolio.  Why Consumer-Staple Stocks Belong In Your Portfolio There are many wild cards that could rattle the market in the weeks and months ahead…… Read More

Don’t look now, but commodities are finally making a big comeback.  If you peruse the Lifetime Wealth Generators and Undiscovered High-Yielders portfolios in my High-Yield Investing premium newsletter, you won’t find a single stock tied directly to the production of energy or metals. There are several midstream partnerships that transport the stuff, but none that actually dig it out of the ground.  #-ad_banner-#That underweighting has served us well, as commodities have been stuck in a multi-year swoon. Everyone knows that oil plunged from $100 to around $25 per barrel. And gold bugs were dismayed last November when the metal sunk… Read More

Don’t look now, but commodities are finally making a big comeback.  If you peruse the Lifetime Wealth Generators and Undiscovered High-Yielders portfolios in my High-Yield Investing premium newsletter, you won’t find a single stock tied directly to the production of energy or metals. There are several midstream partnerships that transport the stuff, but none that actually dig it out of the ground.  #-ad_banner-#That underweighting has served us well, as commodities have been stuck in a multi-year swoon. Everyone knows that oil plunged from $100 to around $25 per barrel. And gold bugs were dismayed last November when the metal sunk to a 6-year low of $1,070 per ounce, about half its former highs above $1,900.  Copper, platinum, coal, iron ore and many other resources have all been in the same leaky boat.  Just look at the PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking ETF (NYSE: DBC), which reflects the prices of everything from gasoline to zinc to sugar. From the beginning of 2014 through the end of 2015, the fund lost half its value, sliding from $25.08 to $13.36. Along the way, investors yanked out more than $1 billion in assets.  But this cyclical group is making a strong recovery in 2016. In… Read More

Barry Sternlicht knows a thing or two about real estate. The Harvard Business School grad got started early, buying up more than 7,000 residential apartment units in the early 1990s at fire-sale prices following the savings and loan crisis.  Soon after, he signed a mega-deal with real estate tycoon Sam Zell, exchanging many of these apartments for an ownership stake in Zell’s Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR). This transaction ultimately netted Sternlicht (and his investors) handsome triple-digit returns. But that was just the beginning for this savvy investor and the company he founded, Starwood Capital.  #-ad_banner-#Starwood later built an empire of… Read More

Barry Sternlicht knows a thing or two about real estate. The Harvard Business School grad got started early, buying up more than 7,000 residential apartment units in the early 1990s at fire-sale prices following the savings and loan crisis.  Soon after, he signed a mega-deal with real estate tycoon Sam Zell, exchanging many of these apartments for an ownership stake in Zell’s Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR). This transaction ultimately netted Sternlicht (and his investors) handsome triple-digit returns. But that was just the beginning for this savvy investor and the company he founded, Starwood Capital.  #-ad_banner-#Starwood later built an empire of luxury hotels, amassing a global portfolio of more than 1,200 resorts under upscale brands such as Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis, and Le Meridien. Incidentally, it sold this collection to Marriott last year for $13.6 billion.  Elsewhere, Starwood has made big investments in retail shopping malls in Sweden, suburban office parks in South Florida, and undeveloped land parcels in California. As I discussed last month with my High-Yield Investing premium subscribers, Starwood has also teamed up with Colony Capital to create Colony Starwood Homes (NYSE: SFR), which owns 35,000 rental homes. Sternlicht helped orchestrate this venture, which has already generated gains… Read More

In the world of income investing, dividends reign supreme. Treasuries and CDs are offering historically low yields and are no longer considered the ultra-safe cash generators that they once were.  —Sponsored Link— Meet The Man Who Could Soon Put 2,800% In Your Pocket Imagine the type of money you could make with a powerful CEO in your hip pocket. Imagine a man with over 100 IPOs behind him and an almost half-billion dollar revenue stream working for you — see how to profit here. There’s a little-known… Read More

In the world of income investing, dividends reign supreme. Treasuries and CDs are offering historically low yields and are no longer considered the ultra-safe cash generators that they once were.  —Sponsored Link— Meet The Man Who Could Soon Put 2,800% In Your Pocket Imagine the type of money you could make with a powerful CEO in your hip pocket. Imagine a man with over 100 IPOs behind him and an almost half-billion dollar revenue stream working for you — see how to profit here. There’s a little-known group of stocks that offer huge dividend payouts, but their yields are not displayed to the public on financial websites like Yahoo! Finance or Morningstar. This phenomenon is due to a glitch in the way the financial media reports certain companies’ financial information.  I call this group of stocks “Hidden High Yielders.” And if you know where to look, you can find companies yielding three, six, even seven times more than the yield posted on financial websites.  #-ad_banner-#​ For Hidden High Yielders, their true payout is actually much higher because there are dozens… Read More

My wife and I are planning to visit Europe soon. Deciding exactly where to go is proving difficult: historic German castles and biergartens, quaint Irish country inns, moonlit Italian dining… There are just too many things to see.  Regardless of whether we fly to Munich, Dublin or somewhere else, our budget will stretch much further these days thanks to the strong dollar.  Two years ago, the dollar was equivalent to 0.70 euros. Today, the same greenback will get you 0.90 euros. So if you set aside $1,000 in spending money back then and went to a bank to exchange it,… Read More

My wife and I are planning to visit Europe soon. Deciding exactly where to go is proving difficult: historic German castles and biergartens, quaint Irish country inns, moonlit Italian dining… There are just too many things to see.  Regardless of whether we fly to Munich, Dublin or somewhere else, our budget will stretch much further these days thanks to the strong dollar.  Two years ago, the dollar was equivalent to 0.70 euros. Today, the same greenback will get you 0.90 euros. So if you set aside $1,000 in spending money back then and went to a bank to exchange it, you would have walked out with 700 euros to spend. Today, the same outlay will put 900 euros in your pocket.  ​ This favorable exchange means my wife and I can enjoy better meals, stay in nicer hotels, and visit more attractions — all without spending a single extra dollar. You can see why travelers love this strong dollar. Unfortunately, large businesses hate it. U.S.-made goods exported overseas have become more expensive for foreign buyers. Compounding matters, any sales based in euros, yen or rupees are being converted back into fewer dollars — causing revenue and profit to shrink… Read More

I recently announced a major shift in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing. To put it simply, I’m going global. Now, a decent number of the current holdings in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing, are based abroad. But we simply haven’t made looking for foreign yielders a major focus. We’re going to change that. #-ad_banner-#Most investors automatically assume that U.S. dividend payers are the best. Not so fast. As I’ll explain in a moment, by only looking at American companies for income, you’re severely limiting your choices. By changing the directive of my newsletter from primarily U.S.-focused to a global focus… Read More

I recently announced a major shift in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing. To put it simply, I’m going global. Now, a decent number of the current holdings in my premium newsletter, High-Yield Investing, are based abroad. But we simply haven’t made looking for foreign yielders a major focus. We’re going to change that. #-ad_banner-#Most investors automatically assume that U.S. dividend payers are the best. Not so fast. As I’ll explain in a moment, by only looking at American companies for income, you’re severely limiting your choices. By changing the directive of my newsletter from primarily U.S.-focused to a global focus means I now have the freedom to leave no stone unturned in the search for income. That means my subscribers can now rely on one source to build a well-rounded portfolio and truly earn the highest dividends the world has to offer.  The Case For International Income For a variety of reasons, the average publicly traded large-cap U.S. firm carries a lower dividend yield than those in many other countries. That doesn’t mean you can’t find plenty of excellent high-yield opportunities on American soil; some of the world’s best high-income stocks are U.S.-based. But to truly maximize the income-generating… Read More