In this month’s issue of Money Magazine, I came across an article entitled “When the Wilder Ride is Worth It”. The article was addressing how sometimes a company’s stock and dividend payment can be a better prospect for stable income than its bond. To make this comparison, they looked at the return of the bond against the dividend appeal (which was largely based on it's payout ratio) and any inherit stock risk based on the company itself. Whenever I find an article like this about semi-guaranteed income, I tend to pay extra special attention to it - and with good reason. Strategies such … [Read more...] about Can the Dividend Payout Ratio Help You Pick a Good Stock?
Stocks & Investing
Reader Debate – Would You Borrow Money to Invest in Stocks?
I wanted to try something different on My Money Design and throw a question out to my readers to debate. I’m very interested to see what the outcome will be. The inspiration for this topic comes from a stellar comment that was left on my “How Much Money Would I Make If I Rented Out A House?” post. The commenter, Richard, laid out some great plans for how he was going to build his wealth empire. Essentially, he was going to borrow money to put together a real estate portfolio. This is the classic old mantra of using “other people’s money” to get rich, and it is certainly a path where a … [Read more...] about Reader Debate – Would You Borrow Money to Invest in Stocks?
Types of Investment Funds – Open-End and Closed-End Funds
The following post is a contribution from Gary, a personal finance blogger who focuses on investing, saving, real estate, credit and debt, career and education advice, budgeting, and insurance at Gajizmo.com. Gary has worked at an internet company on their M&A team, as well as two private equity firms, and has a Real Estate Broker’s License. Investment funds allow small and large investors to pool capital together and enjoy higher investment returns with lower risks than private brokerage accounts. Mutual funds offer many benefits, such as easy diversification of securities, … [Read more...] about Types of Investment Funds – Open-End and Closed-End Funds
How to Invest a Million Dollars and Why You’ll Need to Know How Someday
If you had a really large sum of money, would you know what to do with it? Would you really?? This might seem like one of those “pass the time” type of discussion topics, but I’m afraid that sooner rather than later a great deal of us are going to need to know how to invest a million dollars or so. It will be kind of like handling a bazooka and not really being sure what to do with is. Why do I think this will be happening? … [Read more...] about How to Invest a Million Dollars and Why You’ll Need to Know How Someday
Rethinking My Strategy for What Stocks to Buy This Year
One thing you will learn in investing is that nothing is ever absolute and that rules are made to be broken. With that said, I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to what stocks to buy this year and my previous declaration to use the Dogs of the Dow strategy. As I get closer to actually making a purchase, I’m starting to reconsider my initial plan and may have an alternative solution that would make more sense. Here’s is where my mind is at: … [Read more...] about Rethinking My Strategy for What Stocks to Buy This Year
P2P Investing Denied! What Should be My Next Passive Income Ambition?
And so it was over before it even began … The tires on my P2P investing (peer to peer) efforts quickly went flat last week when I discovered some very important information. To bring everyone up to speed, I had wanted to start off 2013 by adding a new form of passive income to my money design. Last year blogging income and dividend stocks were valuable additions. This year out of the available choices I had listed, P2P investing was the one that stood out. It intrigued me in a number of ways: • Potential higher net rates of return than a stock market index fund • A steady stream of … [Read more...] about P2P Investing Denied! What Should be My Next Passive Income Ambition?
My Stocks with High Dividends Income Report – December 2012
What a great time of the year to receive the next installment of my “truly” passive income. By luck, it just so happens that my next series of payments from my dividend paying stocks was scheduled to be paid in December. Couldn’t we all use a little extra cash right before Christmas as the bills start rolling in? Over on the left are the results of my third batch of quarterly dividend payments received for Quarter 4 (Q4). … [Read more...] about My Stocks with High Dividends Income Report – December 2012
My Picks for Vanguard Mutual Funds for Our Roth IRA
The end of the year is full of things to do: Celebrate the holidays with family, prepare for the winter, get your tax information together, etc. But one very important chore we often forget to perform is re-evaluating our investment portfolios. Unless you review them, how do you know if the investments you own are performing well? Are they still helping you to reach your goals? Are there better choices out there? This is exactly what I’m looking to do with our Roth IRA funds. Both my wife and I both have a Roth IRA through Vanguard which we max out every year. Our belief is that … [Read more...] about My Picks for Vanguard Mutual Funds for Our Roth IRA
My Dividend Payment Income Report – September 2012
As many of you know, 2012 is the first year that I have really overhauled my stock investment strategy and changed my focus to simply collecting high-quality dividend paying stocks. Just like any dividend investor can tell you, dividend payment income is a pretty remarkable source of “truly” passive income. I prefix passive income with “truly” because the income they generate literally requires no effort on my part. I simply collect the payments each quarter! As of this month, I am happy to report the second installment of my quarterly dividend payments received. Please see the image on … [Read more...] about My Dividend Payment Income Report – September 2012
Getting the Highest Dividend Stocks Using the Dogs of the Dow
Finding the best, most reliable, and highest dividend stocks the market has to offer doesn't have to be a chore. Let the winners step forward and do all the work! All you need is to use a well-known stock picking method known as the Dogs of the Dow investment strategy. The Dogs of the Dow is based on two simple premises: 1) Out of all the dividend stocks out there to buy, the top performing blue chip companies from the Dow Jones Industrial Average will be your best bet for producing stable returns. 2) By buying the highest dividend stocks while the yield is high, you’ll likely be … [Read more...] about Getting the Highest Dividend Stocks Using the Dogs of the Dow