Three nights ago, I awoke from my sleep with a start. Slowly, the dream returned. I was walking downtown and passed a newspaper box. I remember it was bright red. I peered inside to see the headline. It was "Fed Funds Rate Raised to 5.5%." Alarmed, I tried to read the date. In my dream, it was blurry--perhaps 2012 or 2013. The numbers were indistinct. When I woke up, I felt distressed. I went to my computer and verified what I already knew. I remembered that Australia, Norway and Israel had already raised rates. Economists expect China, India, Brazil, South Korea, and Canada to jack up rates sometime in mid-2010. Read More

Preferred dividends offer the safety most income investors want. Before dividends can be distributed to common share holders, preferred stock holders must be paid. If a company has weak earnings, it may cut or suspend the common dividend, but so long as it's profitable enough to cover the preferred dividend, its payment is not an option. Preferred dividends are safer, and often their yields are higher as well. Read More

Mid-Month Update — April 2009 To supplement our monthly High-Yield Investing newsletter, we publish a regular “Mid-Month Update” near the middle of every month. We use this mailing as a way to keep you abreast of recent events surrounding our model portfolios. To ensure uninterrupted delivery of… Read More