Those of us who grew up in the tail end of the cash period in the U.S. (when you paid for things in cash and not with a credit card) might have a tough time seeing this week’s idea as an essential.
But it has become exactly that…Credit cards.
Yours truly may have been one of the last converts to them. It wasn’t until about 2003 that I started using them for the bulk of my spending. And now I use my card for over 90% of my purchases. It’s just too easy!
John Deere, or, as it’s publicly traded, Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), has been one…
Most of you know I like my retirement portfolio ideas in essential industries: products you have to have to live. Well, today’s idea isn’t exactly essential, but it never seems to have a bad year either… the movies.
Even during the Depression, the movies saw strong sales and earnings, and it seems the tougher the times the more people want the escape of a good movie.
One of the best ways to not end up broke is to align yourself with great companies and stay there. That means a long-term investment horizon. If you don’t already have a long-term investment outlook, get one.
The names to own aren’t brain surgery or front-page news by any means: GE (NYSE: GE), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), you know the drill.
One of the nagging questions the retired and the about-to-retire ask is whether to pay off a mortgage or continue to meet the monthly nut. The current market of ultra-low interest rates, less than 1% on money markets and savings, makes this a much easier decision than in the past.
And now, it’s also a way to get a guaranteed 4.5% to as much as a 6.5% return on your money.
What would you do if your pension were cut by 50%?
A small town in Rhode Island recently did exactly that: cut the retired police chief’s, policemen’s and firemen’s pensions by 50%.
And that’s the same scenario being thrown around by retirement experts for public employees in the wake of the Detroit bankruptcy.
In 2012, the median annual cost of a room in a nursing home was $84,000.
But depending on where you live, it can be as high as $120,000. And this is for a basic, no-frills operation. Add anything to it and the price skyrockets.
The future cost of these facilities, when you and I will need them, really starts to get scary when you consider the pressure that will be put on them in the next 30 years as the boomers age.
The annual report from Social Security is in and… it isn’t good.
Social Security, according to the report, is indispensable for the middle class. It provides at least half the income for 64% of the retired. And it has become as important for the middle class as the less affluent; a point that is often overlooked when its future is being discussed.
One of the best-known names in the country is shaping up to be one of the best bets for a retired person’s portfolio. For years it had been thought of as one of the best growth plays, but it is shifting to a great dividend payer, too – Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
I know the recent quarters haven’t been as hot as in years past, but this company has paid a dividend since 1973 and has increased it every year for the past 39 years. And its most recent dividend increase, in March of this year, was 18.2%.
In my 30 years in the markets I have learned many things, but one of the hardest to accept was that if the mainstream press is talking about it, it already happened – or it never will.
Most mainstream money news sources are worthless.
That’s bad enough, but the effects of this worthless mainstream information…