Finance & Investment News
This bull market never stops charging. Now in its ninth year, the current winning streak has delivered a 342% cumulative gain in Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index since its 2009 low. In 2017 alone, the Dow Jones industrial average has hit a new record closing high more than 40 times.
Stocks with long track records of annual dividend increases offer investors a sense of comfort. Shareholders can all but count on their income going on – and going up – year after year. With a little creativity, income investors can extend this sense of security to a month-by-month basis, as well.
Tech stocks weren’t born during the dot-com boom of the 1990s. In fact, many of today’s biggest publicly traded technology companies got their starts decades earlier. One of the most storied names in Big Tech dates back more than a century.
With stocks in the stratosphere, many investors have happily put off rebalancing as they watch their portfolios rise. Those same investors won’t be smiling when stocks fall back down to earth. It could be time to do some strategic selling.
While large- and mega-cap stocks are often the most headline-friendly, it’s small- and mid-cap stocks that offer real value to individual investors. That’s precisely because many of those small-cap stocks aren’t put at risk by widely read headlines. This creates opportunities for savvy investors who know where to look.
(Reuters) – Wall Street continued its record run on Thursday, powered by a barrage of strong quarterly earnings, particularly from Facebook and Verizon.
DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected quarterly net profit, helped by cost cuts, and promised to cut production in the second half to curtail its burgeoning U.S. inventory of unsold vehicles.
A couple of months ago, I remember reading a piece written by fellow Seeking Alpha contributor, Damon Verial, titled, “Top 5 Dividend Stocks For Young Investors”. As a young investor myself, I was drawn to this premise and enjoyed reading Mr. Verial’s piece. However, as interesting as it was to hear his story and learn about some of his stock selection methods, I didn’t agree with a single one of his picks. Since then, I’ve wanted to write a “Top Stocks For Young Investors” type piece myself, but got sidetracked with work and several other more actionable ideas during recent weeks. Well, fast forward to mid-July and I’ve got a bit of time on my hands. What’s more, in recent weeks, somewhat coincidentally, I’ve had a couple of my contemporaries come to me, explaining that they’ve got a bit of cash stashed away, and would like to start investing with it. I’m always flattered when people seek out my opinion with regard to the stock market. I love portfolio management and spend a great deal of time and energy honing my craft as an investor. With that said, I always caution these people, whether they be friends or family or simply followers here at Seeking Alpha, that I am not a professional in the financial industry and am not in a position to give them investment advice. In my opinion, every portfolio is highly subjective. What’s right for me may not be right for you. We all have different dreams and goals and financial situations and obligations. We all have different tastes and timelines and risk tolerances. No two investors are the same, but that’s OK. The market is a vast expanse and there are many ways to skin the cat with regard to seeking financial freedom. But, even with all of that in mind, I still wanted to put together my own article in the same vein as Mr. Verial’s, putting together a list of my favorite potential picks for a young investor in today’s market. I’ve structured my piece a bit differently, but all in all, the idea is the same. In the comment section below, I hope that you’ll list your own as well. This premise should make for a great, entertaining, debate.
When thinking about how I wanted to put this piece together, I decided to go ahead and mimic a young investor who was just starting out. This situation is somewhat similar to several that I’ve been asked about and I imagine it’s a situation that many younger investors can relate to.
source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4088360-top-5-dividend-stocks-young-investors