Wednesday, May 7, 2025
A special dividend announcement in my inbox reminded me it’s that time of year: special dividends season. For certain types of stocks and funds, special dividends point to a high probability of future dividend increases. That’s a big help in a year when falling share prices made us wonder about the stability of our investment […]
A recent Wall Street Journal article stated that Americans missed out on $42 billion of interest income because of where they keep their money. The culprits are the low-yielding savings accounts offered by America’s big banks. As luck would have it, there are much better places to put your money. Places that will generate much […]
With the Federal Reserve ratcheting up interest rates, preferred share prices have tumbled. The lower prices offer the chance to lock in excellent yields of 10% or even more – all from secure dividends. However, there are some crucial features of preferred shares that you need to understand first. Let me show you how to […]
I have never believed you can see the future by comparing current economic factors to the past. The current economic conditions validate my belief: they are so different that making that type of comparison would not provide valid signals. Instead of trying to guess the future based on history, let’s look at the last three […]
Along with a bear market for stocks, 2022 has, according to Morningstar, been the worst year ever for the bond market. Bond values have fallen up to 30% this year, putting a bigger dent in many retirement accounts that hold bond ETFs. Fortunately, in the current, higher interest rate world, you can invest safely in […]
You may have seen the quips about how this year the 401k accounts of many have become “201k” accounts this year due to the bear market for both stocks and bonds. Hardly funny. So if you want to be able to stop worrying about your retirement income, read on… 2022 has proven the traditional retirement […]
For the holiday, I traveled to be with my elderly parents. They are at an age when medical issues start to catch up and make life challenging. Helping them for the last few years has taught me some lessons that we all should heed, whether we are still working or in retirement. My parents are […]
A recent article on mortgage-backed securities (MBS) had me going, “huh?” The story covers MBSs being very popular when mortgage rates were less than 3%, but now with rates over 7%, large, institutional buyers are staying away. That’s one reason why mortgage rates are so high, despite MBSs in theory being more profitable today. That’s […]
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine massively disrupted the European energy scene. The crisis revealed what I believe will be the energy story for the next decades: liquefied natural gas (LNG) is the fuel source to power the globe. A recent report from Texans for Natural Gas highlights how the LNG market has shifted dramatically in response […]
In late 2021, when it became apparent that inflation would stay persistent and increasing, I started to get a lot of questions about where to invest. When inflation rears its ugly head, there is no magic list of investments that help you beat inflation all of the time. While it would be good if there […]
