Rising stock prices often have a way of covering up significant woes. Many journalists and market prognosticators had all but buried the Eurozone debt crisis, declaring that bankrupt member nations had discovered a viable path forward. Not surprisingly, the facts are starting to trip up the rhetoric. Spain’s economy shrank 0.7% in the final quarter of [...] [...more]
There’s a tendency in the financial media to wrap-up calendar years with a focus on the “winners” and “losers.” Inevitably, a large number of unsophisticated investors will allocate money to the so-called best performers, while avoiding any commitment to the underachievers. Herein lies one of the biggest mistakes that ETF enthusiasts make. Specifically, they view success [...] [...more]
MLP ETFs, ETFs for 2012’s 2nd Half, Income-Oriented ETFs, Risk Management and ETFs, High Dividend ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 7-1-2012 [...more]
ETFs for 2012, 2012 ETFs, 2012 Investing Preview, Gold ETFs, MLP ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 01-01-2012 [...more]
I represent hundreds of families as the president of my Registered Investment Adviser, taught financial concepts to classrooms around the world, spent years as the CFP on a national talk radio show and receive countless e-mails from wisdom seekers. Yet I would not be able to tally the number of investors who I have encountered in my lifetime. However, there [...] [...more]
As popular as dividend stocks have become — as attractive as REITs may be – the pipeline partnership possibility is finally getting widespread recognition. In fact, Energy MLP ETFs/ETNs like JP Morgan Alerian MLP (AMJ) have been beating the total return competition. What makes an Energy MLP ETF (ETN) particularly worthwhile? For one thing, owning a diversified basket of energy infrastructure partnerships lets you tap into an oligarchical [...] [...more]
Master Limited Partnership ETFs, MLP ETFs, Drug ETFs, Pharmaceutical ETFS, Emerging Market Infrastructure ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 11-6-2011 [...more]
There are 4 exchange-traded vehicles with sufficient volume that a master limited partnership (MLP) enthusiast should consider. More specifically, for those investors who do not wish to pick individual securities, there are several diversified MLP products offering the possibility of capital appreciation and the certainty of a solid income stream. First, a quick primer on energy pipeline partnerships. Energy MLPs typically own the [...] [...more]
Are you wondering if the market can go significantly higher by year end? Maybe your question should take the U.S. market’s remarkable resilience into account. Specifically, the S&P 500 has not closed in bear market territory. In fact, the large-cap barometer would have to close below 1096 to get there. Yet, with the exception of a few scary moments, the gauge has demonstrated its [...] [...more]
Two weeks earlier, the U.S. stock market (S&P 500) sat near 1340. By the close of Monday’s bell, the market finished at 1119… a startling -16.5% breakdown. Perhaps more shocking, however, was the indiscriminate selling of several long-time, non-volatile income producers. For example, in the same period, iShares S&P Preferred (PFF) tumbled -14.1%. Considering the fact that preferred shares [...] [...more]
