"I know you're not a beautician," subscriber Susan of Miami wrote me, "but I need your help to stop pulling my hair out." She continued, "I've asked some of my investor friends to tell me the difference between an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and closed-end fund (CEF), and what they offer the income investor. They can't. Can you?" Read More

In this month's update, Carla features a 9% yielding bond fund and one of the worlds most popular entertainment brands. Read More

If you've been following the 2010 World Cup, you've probably heard the saying more than once that the best offense is a strong defense. There are times in the stock market when it is safe to play aggressive offense. Between March and September of 2009, Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) went from a low of $0.35 to a peak of $2.13, a gain of more than +600%. Nor did it matter that at the time FNM was losing buckets of money or that analysts project it will lose -$7.88 per share this year! Read More

This month, Carla features a 13% yielding fund and new ETF that's the first of its kind. Read More

Some of my best article ideas come from you, the subscriber. One topic that many of you frequently ask me about is Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). That's not surprising. MLPs offer some of the best yields around. Even after a large advance in 2010, they carry average yields of around 7%, more than three times the average 1.9% yield of stocks in the S&P 500. Read More

This month, Carla features a double-digit yielder with a growing dividend and a high-yielding tech company. Read More

Recently, I took my 7-year old niece to see Alice in Wonderland. She loved Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. As an adult, it's been a long time since I believed in fairly tales, but now I think I found an industry sector which is a fairy tale come true for today's credit environment: Business Development Companies or BDC'S. Read More

This month, Carla features a REIT that yields 17% and another with a growing dividend that invests in healthcare properties. Read More

My Mom's friend "Lucille" recently made me an offer I couldn't refuse. "Carla," she said, "I'll make you a deal. Give me some investment advice and you can use my situation to address a problem that probably affects many of your readers. My problem is this: I pay far too much taxes on investment income." I don't generally offer personal investment advice, but Lucille has been a good friend of my Mom's for a long time. I wanted to help her and the idea of helping readers save on their taxes was attractive. I agreed. Read More

In this month's update, Carla features a closed end MLP fund yielding 7% and a double-digit yielding small-cap. Read More