Have you ever stopped to consider all of the potential risks you could run into during your day? I don’t recommend it; it’s not a pretty picture. Every day, we face an almost infinite number of risks — yet we rarely think about them. It makes sense — if we constantly ran through a list of all the risks we face during our day-to-day activities, many of us would never do anything. For instance, think about letting your kids sign up for a soccer league. There are potential risks associated with driving to and from the field, unknown risks from… Read More

Have you ever stopped to consider all of the potential risks you could run into during your day? I don’t recommend it; it’s not a pretty picture. Every day, we face an almost infinite number of risks — yet we rarely think about them. It makes sense — if we constantly ran through a list of all the risks we face during our day-to-day activities, many of us would never do anything. For instance, think about letting your kids sign up for a soccer league. There are potential risks associated with driving to and from the field, unknown risks from other parents whom you know nothing about, general risks associated with being in public, risks of being exposed to someone who is sick… and we haven’t even gotten to the risks associated with actually playing soccer! Instead of being crippled by fear of risk, we buy auto, home, health and life insurance to protect ourselves from significant risks that are difficult to quantify. But when it comes to investing, few take a similar approach. Rather than thinking about specific risks and setting up safeguards accordingly, many investors are content to just sit on their hands and tell themselves, “I’m focused… Read More

Last week, like many analysts, I was closely watching events in Saudi Arabia. An important oil facility had been attacked, and initial reports indicated that 5% of the world’s supply of oil was knocked offline in the attack. Oil was set to spike when markets opened, and it did. By the end of the week, prices were back into the trading range that contained prices for most of July and August. —Recommended Link— The Real Reason Most Americans Can’t Retire by 65 If you’re following traditional retirement advice that made sense 50 years ago… You… Read More

Last week, like many analysts, I was closely watching events in Saudi Arabia. An important oil facility had been attacked, and initial reports indicated that 5% of the world’s supply of oil was knocked offline in the attack. Oil was set to spike when markets opened, and it did. By the end of the week, prices were back into the trading range that contained prices for most of July and August. —Recommended Link— The Real Reason Most Americans Can’t Retire by 65 If you’re following traditional retirement advice that made sense 50 years ago… You may be missing out on the most effective retirement strategy today. Here’s all you need to know to retire as early as this year. For now, oil is on the back burner for traders. In part, that’s because the Federal Reserve pushed its way into the headlines. We knew the Fed would make the news as it held a regularly scheduled meeting. As expected, the Fed cut the target range for the federal funds rate by 0.25%, for a new range of 1.75% to 2%. What was unexpected was the dissent associated with the decision. Three of… Read More

It’s that time again — where I make an informed prediction on what companies could announce a dividend hike in the coming month.  As a refresher, I scan the market for noteworthy special distributions on the horizon, as well as for potential dividend hikes over the next four to six weeks. I give special attention to outsized double-digit increases and reliable dividend-payers that have been steadily growing payouts for a decade or more. I flag these stocks first for my premium High-Yield Investing readers, and then share them with the public.  Here’s what I’m looking at right now… 1. Starbucks… Read More

It’s that time again — where I make an informed prediction on what companies could announce a dividend hike in the coming month.  As a refresher, I scan the market for noteworthy special distributions on the horizon, as well as for potential dividend hikes over the next four to six weeks. I give special attention to outsized double-digit increases and reliable dividend-payers that have been steadily growing payouts for a decade or more. I flag these stocks first for my premium High-Yield Investing readers, and then share them with the public.  Here’s what I’m looking at right now… 1. Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) – You gotta love the fall. The air is suddenly crisp and the leaves begin to turn. The World Series gets underway. And cash generators like Starbucks reward their faithful shareholders with dividend hikes. The upscale coffee vendor raised its distributions to $0.25 from $0.20 per share in November 2016 and then to $0.30 in November 2017. Last year’s increase came a bit early (in August), lifting the payout to $0.36 per share. Perhaps management just couldn’t wait to surprise investors. At the time, it upped its capital return program by $10 billion, pledging to return $25 billion… Read More

Pot stocks are all the rage these days. And it’s not hard to see why… Now that the laws have changed in many states,  it seems that everybody wants to get in on the action. After all, it’s not often you get a chance to get in on the ground floor of an industry that’s becoming a reality right before our eyes – and one that’s benefiting from advances in legislation and popular demand to boot. Longtime readers may remember that we’ve been covering this trend off and on since 2014 — the year Colorado’s recreational cannabis legislation went into… Read More

Pot stocks are all the rage these days. And it’s not hard to see why… Now that the laws have changed in many states,  it seems that everybody wants to get in on the action. After all, it’s not often you get a chance to get in on the ground floor of an industry that’s becoming a reality right before our eyes – and one that’s benefiting from advances in legislation and popular demand to boot. Longtime readers may remember that we’ve been covering this trend off and on since 2014 — the year Colorado’s recreational cannabis legislation went into effect. In fact, the earliest piece I could find where we covered the burgeoning legal marijuana industry was a piece called “The Most Controversial Essay We’ve Ever Published.” In re-reading that piece, I was amused by how much we were stumbling over ourselves trying to reassure readers that we weren’t taking a stand on the issue — but merely making a prediction and offering thoughts on how you could invest, if you were so inclined. My, how things have changed since then… —Recommended Link— 1400% Gains in 48 hours… on pot stocks? In just a… Read More

I spent most of Tuesday morning perusing the U.S. Commerce Department’s August retail sales report. It’s not exactly light reading – I’d prefer a Clive Cussler novel any day. Still, this spending barometer reveals quite a bit about the state of the economy in general and carries broad implications for several of my holdings. #-ad_banner-#While the data can be choppy from month to month, it’s pretty clear that the U.S. consumer is in a good mood right now. Various consumer confidence surveys are giving conflicting readings. Taken together, they suggest attitudes remain upbeat, but with a… Read More

I spent most of Tuesday morning perusing the U.S. Commerce Department’s August retail sales report. It’s not exactly light reading – I’d prefer a Clive Cussler novel any day. Still, this spending barometer reveals quite a bit about the state of the economy in general and carries broad implications for several of my holdings. #-ad_banner-#While the data can be choppy from month to month, it’s pretty clear that the U.S. consumer is in a good mood right now. Various consumer confidence surveys are giving conflicting readings. Taken together, they suggest attitudes remain upbeat, but with a growing level of unease. However, that anxiety has had a negligible impact on the collective pocketbook. Retail expenditures climbed 0.4% in August from the prior month. That might sound tepid. But in a $20 trillion economy, even fractions of a percent equate to billions of additional dollars going into cash registers. The growth rate was also double what economists were expecting (which has been the norm lately). Actual results have overshot economists’ projections in four of the past five months. August’s robust growth comes on top of an upwardly-revised 0.8% increase in July, about three times what the market was… Read More

This week, the most important image isn’t a chart of the stock market… It’s a pair of pictures telling a fast-paced story about oil prices. The first is a daily chart of oil futures. The second of the pair is a satellite image of thick black smoke rising from Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing facility – that explains the price jump at the far right of the futures chart. —Recommended Link— Former Intelligence officer rocks the world of pot stocks with bombshell from SEC In just a few days, we’re going to pull back the veil… Read More

This week, the most important image isn’t a chart of the stock market… It’s a pair of pictures telling a fast-paced story about oil prices. The first is a daily chart of oil futures. The second of the pair is a satellite image of thick black smoke rising from Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing facility – that explains the price jump at the far right of the futures chart. —Recommended Link— Former Intelligence officer rocks the world of pot stocks with bombshell from SEC In just a few days, we’re going to pull back the veil on the biggest opportunity in pot stocks we’ve ever seen… On September 24 at 1 p.m. we’re releasing an exclusive interview that will rock the world of pot stocks. And anyone smart enough to follow along could walk away with an extra $260,000 in the next 12 months. Reserve your seat now. Here’s the first chart. And here’s the second. You may have seen this image over the weekend. Initial reports indicated Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched drone attacks on the facility, resulting in about half of Saudi’s processing capacity being taken offline. I have a third picture to show… Read More

Ever thought about getting solar panels installed on your roof?  If you’ve ever been interested in seeing what it might cost, or what the payoff would be to install solar on your home, check out Google’s Project Sunroof. Simply enter your address and it will tell you what it will cost to install solar and what the payoff over time would be. It also shows a google map of your house and how much sunlight it receives. Pretty cool, right? I came across this nifty little tool when researching a company in the solar energy space… Read More

Ever thought about getting solar panels installed on your roof?  If you’ve ever been interested in seeing what it might cost, or what the payoff would be to install solar on your home, check out Google’s Project Sunroof. Simply enter your address and it will tell you what it will cost to install solar and what the payoff over time would be. It also shows a google map of your house and how much sunlight it receives. Pretty cool, right? I came across this nifty little tool when researching a company in the solar energy space back in April. My subscribers and I ended up adding it to our portfolio thanks to an even better tool: the Maximum Profit system. Bringing Solar To The Masses The company in question, Enphase Energy (Nasdaq: ENPH) plays an important role in the solar process. In short, they will help you manage, convert and store the energy that those panels collect from the sun. The company’s aim is to help advance the worldwide potential of renewable energy. Over the years, solar power has become a more viable option as the technology has improved, which in turn has lowered the… Read More