A brief case study in reaching for yield

I am often shocked at how much income investors will stick their neck out for yield. I spend most of my time looking at stocks so I often will note how I think investors are reaching for yield by going after utilities, REITs, etc… But if you really want to […]

Income investor dashboard 2011 performance

2011 was definitely a wild and wacky year for investments. Volatility and uncertainty returned to the markets with a vengeance. In my mind, 2011 was the year of the contrarian in spades. Usually being contrarian pays off handsomely but 2011 delivered in that regard more than usual. Can you remember […]

October income investor dashboard

September turned out true to historical form, as one of the weakest months for stocks, In last month’s report I said that there was a good chance stocks would test the August lows. The August lows were not only tested this month but broken causing even more pain for stocks […]

September income investor dashboard

Here is the updated income investor dashboard for September. Prices are as of the market close on Friday September 2nd. August overall had one general theme; stocks bad, bonds good. See the dashboard below. August was one of the worst months on record for stocks. Markets are trading mainly on […]

MLP valuation at the end of Q1 2011

With the end of Q1 2011 upon us, and earnings reports to start coming soon, I thought it was a good time to re-look at MLP valuations, specifically the top 5 market cap MLPs and the Alerian MLP index. I posted on year end 2010 values in this post. Below […]

Thoughts on investment outlook

I mentioned in a previous post on my macro investment outlook of another lost decade for stocks, i.e. that 10 yrs from now the S&P 500 would be at the same level it is today. This investment outlook is based on my thoughts for overall economic growth, which drives profit […]