May 24, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
In today’s Dividend Edition, I have three investment ideas that will hold particular appeal for anyone who’s ever had to make mortgage payments. That’s because these ideas are all ways for you to make money off others’ mortgages! We’ll start with the lowest-risk, lowest-yielding idea and work our way up.
My first idea is a mutual fund that is available at a big discount right now, giving it a yield of about 2.6%. Here’s the recommendation, from The Kelly Letter Editor Jason Kelly, via the Dividend Digest: Read More »
May 21, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
Last Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security seized bank accounts belonging to Mt. Gox, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange.
Apparently Japan-based Mt. Gox and its U.S. subsidiary failed to register with the Federal government as a currency exchanger or money transmitter, as required by U.S. law. Read More »
May 14, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
The Market Outlook section of our latest Investment Digest issue featured the chart below, from InvesTech Research. In addition, InvesTech Editor James Stack wrote:
“The greatest profits in a bull market are made by long-term investors. Yet new highs in an aging bull market always tend to make conservative investors nervous. Read More »
May 10, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
Interest rates have been at historically low levels for years now, which makes it easy for companies to raise money by issuing debt (which is supposed to help the economy grow) but makes it hard to live off the income from a portfolio of safe treasury and investment-grade bonds—as many retirees always expected to do.
Today, investors who need a regular income stream from their portfolio are broadening their ideas of what kind of investments belong in an income-generating portfolio. Read More »
May 7, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
Are you interested in energy stocks, high yields or utilities? Then don’t miss the advice in today’s Investment of the Week, the latest installment in our Dick Davis Digest Contributor Interview Series.
Today I’m talking to Roger Conrad, a long-time Digest Contributor who has just launched three new investment advisories. Energy And Income Advisor, produced with Elliott Gue, covers the energy sector from growth stocks to high-yielding MLPs. Read More »
April 30, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
How do you know when it’s time to sell a winning stock?
Most investors have asked themselves (or me and my fellow Cabot editors) that question on at least one occasion.
When a stock has appreciated—a lot or a little—since you added it to your portfolio, it can be hard to decide whether to lock in the profits or hold out for even more upside. In fact, we know from our conversations with subscribers that selling winners is one of the hardest decisions for most investors to make. Read More »
April 23, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
Last Tuesday I asked how you feel about your taxes. Are they too high or too low? Are they fair? (You can read the whole issue here.) Many of you agreed with me that your taxes feel unfair, and you gave a variety of reasons.
A reader named Bob Bottini thinks inefficiency is the problem, and wrote: “Chloe—I think my taxes are both too high and unfair. The fed gov’t is totally out of control with spending. They see a problem and believe it can be fixed by throwing money at it! Read More »
April 19, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
What Are Call Options?
A call option has two parties: one investor who sells, or “writes” the call option, and one investor who buys it.
The writer agrees to sell a stock at a specified price, the strike price, in the future. If he already owns the stock, it’s a covered call. (If he doesn’t, it’s a naked call, which is much riskier and which we won’t discuss here.) Read More »
April 16, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
On his way to mail a large check to the IRS yesterday, my husband stopped to get a cup of coffee, and was irked to see a woman in front of him pay for her $4 latte with food stamps. “That’s my tax money!,” he called me to complain.
His attitude is representative of the 45% of Americans who don’t think their taxes are fair—a 12-year low, according to Gallup data released just yesterday: Read More »
April 9, 2013
Written by Chloe Lutts Jensen
In today’s Investment of the Week, J. Royden Ward, editor of Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter explains his approach to finding the winning undervalued stocks and recommends two high-quality undervalued stocks.
“My best stock screen approach, which is easy to create, searches for companies with all of the following:
“S&P (Standard & Poor’s) Star Ratings of 4 or higher, S&P Fair Value Rankings of 4 or higher, S&P Earnings/Dividend Ratings of A- or higher, S&P Beta Ratings below 1.40, and Dividend Yields greater than 1.0%. Read More »
