Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are required by law to pay 90% of their taxable income as dividends. In return, REITs can deduct shareholder dividends from their taxable income, so most REITs wind up paying little or… Read More

When Ray Davis applied for his loan, he expected the application to be a 200-page document that might take weeks to fill out. It turned out it was only two pages long. Davis was shocked. The two pages had a lot of white space. Americans have heard about some banks’… Read More

Companies are clinging to their cash these days. It’s not hard to see why. Cash is harder to come by in a recession. And this new mindset toward cash reverses a trend. Shareholders, fed up with a long period of stingy dividends, put pressure… Read More

Anheuser-Busch InBev moved its American Depositary Receipts from the Pink Sheets to the New York Stock Exchange and now carries the ticker “BUD.” InBev’s a great company with strong global brands, the largest brewer in the world. But for income investors,… Read More

Chinese stocks have soared this year on the wave of upbeat news coming out of the country, which has also boosted the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index by +48.3% since the start of the year. That’s more than… Read More

I’m going to share some advice I think you’ll find valuable. You see, after one of the most brutal bear markets in recent history… a bear market where stocks fell, bonds fell, oil fell, housing fell, Bear… Read More

Two dozen S&P 500 members yield 6% or more, about one in 20 companies listed on the market’s benchmark. Here are those companies: Company Ticker Yield Frontier Communications FTR 14.4% Windstream Corp. WIN 11.1%… Read More

Wall Street loves to make things hard. People are mystified by the black arts practiced in the world’s financial capitals. These sorcerers hold a secret that everyone from a lowly financial adviser to a big-time deal maker doesn’t want you to know . . . The secret: It’s not hard… Read More

Stocks have been on a tear the past few months — no doubt about that. Investors who bought in at the market’s March 6 ebb have seen a +52.8% return in the the S&P 500. Even investors who entered the market at the beginning of the year have seen a… Read More

You might not be familiar with the cigarette brands Liggett Select, Grand Prix, Eve, Pyramid or USA. But these brands have helped turn the company that makes them into an income powerhouse. Investing in cigarette companies isn’t for everyone. Millions die from tobacco-related illnesses each year, and that understandably turns… Read More