You're welcome, Jim. Enjoy!
Can you find the link to Jeff's dividend growth story from earlier in the year?
Excellent. You're looking at the first edition. Currently I have the next one in production to be finished at the end of July.
I can't imagne natural gas will be this cheap forever, but I said that two years ago and it's gotten cheaper. So, if that counts for you as bloody, that's my guess.
If any investment qualifies for the blood in the streets title today, it would be European stocks. And, guess what, there are quite a number of high-quality European blue chips with decent dividend yields. Incidentally, our columnist Jeremy Siegel has a column making the case for Europe in our August issue, and No Load Fund Analyst, one of the best newsletters out there, just upped its exposure to euro stocks.
I agree with Manny there. European business and European governments are not the same.
Definitely an important distinction, Jeff.
Here are 3 European stocks with nice yields: AstraZeneca, British drug maker; Royal Dutch Shell, an energy giant; and Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products company. No fly-by-night outfits here
Thanks. The magazine has its Kiplinger 25 and the new newsletter contains the Kiplinger Income 25, so we are on the record with our picks
Since you mentioned the Kiplinger Income 25, do you want to tell our readers a little more about that? It's one of our newest ventures.
I'll let Jeff talk about the Kip Inc 25. It's his baby
It's 25 income investments---real estate, oil and gas, bond funds, high-dividend stocks-- patterned after our franchise 25 favorite mutual funds. Look for info
at Kiplinger.com
Let's move on to our next question from Sandeep.
That actually touches on what you were talking about earlier, Manny.
If you want short duration and a yield better than the supposed 2% inflation, I'd find a GNMA fund with as low of expenses as you can. Or pair it with a bank-loan fund.
It's really hard to answer that question. How about something with a bit more risk than a GNMA fund but one that also invests in mortgage securities? One of the bond fund's in the Kiplinger 25 is DoubleLine Total Return. It yields a little less than 6%. The manager, Jeff Gundlach, is a wizard in this area. He mixes mortgages with govt backing with lower-rated mortgage securities.
Two good options, Jeff and Manny.
I should add that it's hard getting much more than 6% in today's environment. You can't even get that much from an emerging-markets bond fund. Only way you can get more is from a junk bond fund
Let's see if you have any insight for our next reader, Shallenges.
Afraid I don't know anything about that. Sorry.
One reason emerging markets bond funds yield so little is that many investors have decided that those nations are less risky than countries from the developed world. My, how times have changed
I don't know Lending Club either, but either it's very, very, very risky or it's too good to be true
Alright, before we move on to our next question, let's touch on something I'm sure many of our readers are wondering about: Treasury bonds.
Plus, some of the emerging countries like Brazil and Mexico are reducing interest rates to try and keep up growth. Used to be emerging nations didn't dare cut rates beacuse their currencies would crumble. But now they have more serious economies and actually don't mind seeing their exchaneg rates ease a bit.
Jeff, I know you're not a fan of T-bonds right now.
Depends what they are for. But not for income.
Here's a comment from Jim.
Jim, I understand you completely. You're worried about an unexpected blow-up. It can happen. Back in the 90s, there was a very hot bond fund called something like Managers Intermediate Mortgage. Was run by a guy named Worth Bruntjen. He delivered great returns using derivatives and then one day they blew up on him. This suggests to me that we need to study DoubleLine even more closely to make sure that it's not likely to blow up.
When you're ready Jeff and Manny, here's one from Elizabeth.
Still generally fine; the spread between junk and Treasuries is wide enough for comfort, and the performance record of high yield is extraordinary. I would be more confident with an experienced manager or team now though and not an index fund or ETF.
Here are those links Manny is talking about: Insights for Investors from the 2012 Morningstar Conference and 3 Ideas for Good Yield
I'm a moderate risk investor and have experienced investing in local and foreign equities, sovereign bonds and corporate bonds. But I do shy away from more sophisticated products like derivatives and those that require leverage. My philosophy that when there is "blood on the street" (eg JP Morgan London Whale, etc), there are still opportunities to be made. There must be some investment that one can invest in that can reap substantial gains 5 to 10 years down the road. Can you recommend anything specific?
