Research & development (R&D) is often referred to as the lifeblood of a company. And for good reason. Without enough ideas circulating through the system, even powerful market leaders can wither up and die. By contrast, forward-looking organizations with a culture of innovation typically find ways to elevate their products, engage customers, and generate market-beating returns for shareholders. I classify…
A handful of companies have prospered in both good times and bad, rewarding their shareholders at every turn. Of course, I’m talking about the Dividend Aristocrats. It takes 25 straight years of dividend hikes to join this elite club. This is an exclusive society. Out of 6,000 publicly listed stocks trading on major U.S. exchanges, just 69 qualify for membership.…
The following analysis doesn’t play favorites with donkeys or elephants, nor does it serve Kool-Aid of any ideological flavor. This is a market-minded survival guide for those trying to navigate today’s political-induced chaos, with their retirement savings intact. Here are five risk-reduction moves that keep you invested but also protect you from calamity. This post originally appeared at Investing Daily.
The stock market’s heightened volatility this year is a painful reminder of how quickly Wall Street can go from bullish to bearish. When that happens, taking withdrawals from your retirement account after its value has declined can put you at risk of running out of money. During times like these, having a reliable income source that is not dependent on…
In investing, we like to believe that logic rules. We run the numbers, study earnings reports, model cash flows, and read balance sheets. And over the long haul, those fundamentals do matter. But in the short term? The market isn’t always rational. It’s often driven by something far less tangible—perception. Markets don’t wait for the dust to settle or for…
How would you like a little insurance in case one of your stocks takes a turn for the worse? If that sounds appealing, consider a protective put. At its core, a protective put is exactly what it sounds like—protection. It allows you to hang on to the potential gains from a stock you own, while setting a floor beneath your…
We’ve all been known to flip-flop on occasion. As a protestor outside nuclear power plants during the 1970s, I used to chant “Hell no, we won’t glow!” The bumper sticker on my Volkswagen Beetle declared: “Split wood, not atoms.” Yet here I am, decades later as a financial analyst, avidly recommending investments in the nuclear industry, for both moral and…
The words dividend cut strike fear into the hearts of even the most hardened investor. Not only do they reduce future income, but they also typically trigger capital losses as investors abandon the shares. That’s a painful double-whammy. So it’s important to look for some of the telltale signs. After all, avoiding a loss is just as important as booking a gain.…
Some things never change. Especially when those things have been buried beneath the surface of our planet for millions of years. I thought about that while filling my car with gasoline the other day. The petroleum from which it is made never changes, even though the vehicles into which it goes have evolved enormously since the automobile was invented 140…
Welcome to another installment of “How to Invest While the World Burns.” If you’ve glanced at a headline lately, or accidentally made eye contact with your 401(k), you know we’re living in an age of economic performance art. Amid Beltway buffoonery, mercurial trade policies, and worsening fears of recession, investor confidence is hanging by a thread…and that thread is fraying…