Seeking Hefty Yields Overseas

For most dividend investors, their search often ends at the U.S. border; however, there are great investment opportunities for dividend investors in foreign companies.

The article linked below specifically takes a look at BHP Billiton (BHP), Endesa Chile (EOC), Novartis (NVS), Unilever (UN) (UL), and Vodafone (VOD).

(Seeking Alpha): 5 Foreign Dividend Stocks That Provide Diversity & Offer Growth Potential

A Model Dividend Portfolio

 
With the stock market beaten down and struggling for stability. Here is an article that outlines how to build a portfolio based on dividend paying stocks that will return 5%. The stocks included were also screened in an attempt to find companies that have a chance of increasing earnings in the future and that will be unlikely to experience reduced payments to investors.

(Seeking Alpha): A 5% Portfolio With Income Growth Opportunities, Reduced Risk to Dividend Cuts

Start a Portfolio & Focus on Building Positions Over Time

If you are a recent college gradate, a parent or relative of a child, or just an enterprising student and you’ve decided to begin an investment portfolio for yourself or a family member I salute you, and I want to help you.
Too many Americans are unaware of the importance of investing early on in their lives, and the impact that early investing can have on your financial future.
I began to understand the importance of putting your money to work early in life during an economics class I took during my senior year of high school. Towards the end of the school year, when the vast majority of the course’s curriculum had been covered, my teacher took a day to teach the class a little about investing and compound returns.
She showed us a slide that demonstrated that if you invested you money wisely, and were able to achieve a decent return on that investment, then you had the ability to build more wealth by investing less money than if you were to stockpile even large amounts of cash and hide it under your mattress.
The chart looked similar to this. (The figures in bold, green font show that the account that invested $3,000 annually and achieved a 7% return surpassed the account that saved $5,000 annually after 15 years).



The next chart displays the effect that a 5% return would have on growth, as opposed to the 7% return showed above. (The figures in bold, green font show that the account that invested $3,000 annually and achieved a 5% return surpassed the account that saved $5,000 annually after 21 years).



The third and final chart shown below demonstrates the potential for building wealth by showing side-by-side the differences between merely saving $3,000 each year and investing $3,000 each year and achieving a 5% annualized return. The result is more than three times the amount money at the end of a forty-year period for the investor as opposed to the saver.



Remember.
It is crucial to understand the importance of investing early for yourself or the family member that you are beginning the portfolio for. Recognize the fact that you are not trying to strike it rich on a single trade, understand that the most advantageous “investing” strategy for the long term is to focus on building positions over time. If you invest in mutual funds you will have the option of reinvesting both capital gains and dividends back into the fund; likewise, if you invest in dividend paying stocks you can choose to have your dividends reinvested into additional shares. Reinvesting dividends is typically more beneficial for long-term growth than receiving cash dividend payments.
For more tips on how to identify favorable investment opportunities, pick high quality stocks, and build a solid portfolio read some of the articles I have previously written including "Bolster Your Portfolio With Dividend Stocks" and "5 Indicators of a Great Investment Opportunity".

Also, for additional investing advice, stock picks, and financial news visit my blog Above The Noise and follow me on Twitter @ATN_Investing

Don't Buy Into The Doom & Gloom Surrounding the Market

It seems every couple of months an issue presents itself in the global economy that people assume will lead to a worldwide economic crisis. Guess what? The bark is always bigger than the bite.

In his legendary book, "The Intelligent Investor", Benjamin Graham explained the difference between "investing" and "speculating" by stating that

"An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis promises safety of principle and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative"

If you take the slow, steady, conservative approach to building wealth, short periods of turmoil should never get in the way of you being able to achieve your long-term investing goals.

(Kiplinger): Why I'm Still Buying Stocks

Brasil Telecom (BTM): A Rising Telecom Star

Telecom stocks are well known for the above average dividend yields. When you think about phone companies AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile probably come to mind. You might even think of Century Link and Windstream; however, you probably don't give a lot of thought to Telecom stocks in emerging markets.

The article linked below examines why you might want to add Brasil Telecom (BTM) to your investment portfolio.

(Seeking Alpha): Brasil Telecom: Undervalued, Dividend-Paying Stock for Emerging Markets Exposure

Develop an Investing Strategy & Stick To It

Let's be honest, we all love being able to turn on the TV to watch our hundreds (if not thousands) of channels and grab our iPhones or iPads in order to check our E-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. However, the constant and overwhelming bombardment of all kinds of information can make investing decisions, or finding any reliable sources of information, rather difficult.

It is imperative for investors to develop a strategy and a set of investing principles that they will stick to through thick-and-thin. You need to have already planned out your path so that when the fork in the road presents itself there is no decision to be made, and no inclination to panic. If we buy into hype surrounding investing trends and strategies that you hear about from CNBC, Fox Business, The Wall Street Journal, or any other source for that matter, we inevitably get ourselves into trouble.

Examine your investment goals and let those goals dictate your investing and speculating activities. Develop criteria that your investments must met prior to investing. If you like a stock but believe that it's share price is too high, keep track of it or place a buy order should it reach your desired price.
Examples of criteria that you might establish:

Dividend Yield > 4%
Dividend Growth (5 Year Average) > 5%
P/E (TTM) < 12

Here are a number of articles that can help you begin to define your investment strategy and criteria.

Market Watch: Be an investor or a trader, but not both, by Chuck Jaffe

Seeking Alpha: Bolster your portfolio with dividend stocks, by Evan Sundermann

Seeking Alpha: 5 indicators of a great investment opportunity, by Evan Sundermann

Google's Purchase of Motorola Shakes Up the Smartphone Game

On August 15th, Internet search giant Google announced plans to purchase phone maker Motorola. Motorola's Droid smartphones and Xoom tablet have been the closest thing to competition for Apple's iPhone and iPad. Google seemingly entering into the smartphone / tablet business with their latest acquisition could change the game significantly.

No company has been able to rival the success of Apple's iPhone and iPad, two of the products that have propelled the company's status as one of the world's largest and most powerful company. Google also gained Motorola's nearly 24,000 patents in their acquisition of the company. It will be interesting to see what Google has planned for the smart phone game.

Read more about Google's acquisition of Motorola on Fortune:

(Fortune): Is Google buying Motorola for its 24,000 patents?

5 Indicators of a Great Investment Opportunity

Once you have decided yo invest some of your hard earned money into the stock markets, selecting the company or companies that you want to invest in can be a daunting task. Use the criteria listed in the article linked below to learn how to screen stocks to find the best possible investments. Also, work on developing a list of your own criteria and characteristics that you would like to see in a company prior to investing.

(Seeking Alpha): 5 Indicators of a Great Investment Opportunity

3 Misunderstood Dividend Stocks Primed For Success

Sometimes, without even knowing it, we make assumptions about a company and its business model. It's kind of like typecasting an actor, like how ever since the Matrix Trilogy the only movies Keanu Reeves can get are sci-fi flicks that feature some sort of alternate reality or alien invasion. It's important to keep up with financial news and press releases in order to ensure that you don't miss out on information that could lead you to a lucrative investment.

In addition, when you are preparing to invest, make a list of companies that you are interested. One of the first things you should do with this list is visit websites for companies that conduct a business that you don't total understand. You should never invest in a company whose business model you don't understand.

Three companies that I have decided to shed light on are Intel, Whirlpool, and Xerox.

(Seeking Alpha): 3 Misunderstood Dividend Stocks Primed For Success

Bolster Your Portfolio With Dividend Stocks

With market volatility and economic uncertainty it is increasingly difficult to achieve capital gains by buying low and selling high. In order to strengthen your portfolio by focusing on building positions over time you ought to turn to dividend paying equities.

Dividends can provide investors with steady inflows or cash or they can be reinvested into additional shares of the company's stock through Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs).

This article will help teach you how to put your money to work and grow your wealth by adding high-quality dividend paying stocks to your portfolio.

(Seeking Alpha): Bolster Your Portfolio With Dividend Stocks

How to Thrive During a Downturn

The Dow Jones was hit hard during the first week in August, punctuated by a 634 point drop on Monday, August 8th following S&P's downgrade of U.S. credit from AAA to AA+.

Due to recent turmoil in economies across the globe and the high level of volatility in equity markets, consumer and investor confidence is exceedingly low. Massive sell offs have put the stock market in a downward spiral. This recent downturn has led to low share prices and undervalued stocks, creating opportunities for investors to buy strong, healthy stocks at bargain prices.

It is difficult for some to muster the confidence needed to invest and put money into the stock market during uncertain times, but if you have the stomach for it you have an opportunity to achieve a great return on your investment.

This article outlines an investing strategy for tough economic times

Seeking Alpha: How to Thrive During a Downturn