Safe Income, Month after Month
By Charles Delvalle
Investors love to get large dividend checks. But you should be very wary of companies that pay 15 to 20 percent dividends. Nine times out of 10, they are new companies, often paying out more than they earn in order to attract investors. But once these companies run out of cash, they understandably lower their dividends (which will, inevitably lower the stock price). So not only will you lose when your 15 percent dividend falls ... you'll lose again when the company's stock drops.
Before investing in any dividend-paying company (or any company, for that matter), make sure it is fundamentally sound. Verify that the company has a long history of increasingly high dividend payments - the longer the better. And make sure its payout ratio (which measures the percentage of a company's earnings that go to dividends) isn't over 70 percent - or, in the case of a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) or Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), that it isn't over 90 percent.
[Ed. Note: Charles Delvalle is a contributing editor to ETR's Investor's Daily Edge newsletter.]
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Smoking Tobacco? Chewing It? What's Worse?
By Jon Herring
In Message # 1576 I told you about a long-term study of over 40,000 men and women which showed that even "light smoking" (less than five cigarettes a day) tripled the risk for lung cancer and heart disease. But it's not just cigarette smokers who are at risk.
A recent study of almost 30,000 people in 52 countries suggests that chewing tobacco can double the risk of heart attack - while those who chew and smoke increase their risk more than fourfold. It also shows that secondhand smoke is even more dangerous than originally thought. Just one to seven hours of weekly exposure to secondhand smoke increases heart attack risk by 24 percent, while 20 hours of exposure increases it by 62 percent.
These studies send a very clear message: You need to kick the tobacco habit. Completely!
The good news is that light smokers who quit have very little added risk of heart attack three to five years later. Heavy smokers who quit see a rapid decrease in risk, but still have some extra risk even 20 years later.
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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1826, 09-05-06], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
Investors love to get large dividend checks. But you should be very wary of companies that pay 15 to 20 percent dividends. Nine times out of 10, they are new companies, often paying out more than they earn in order to attract investors. But once these companies run out of cash, they understandably lower their dividends (which will, inevitably lower the stock price). So not only will you lose when your 15 percent dividend falls ... you'll lose again when the company's stock drops.
Before investing in any dividend-paying company (or any company, for that matter), make sure it is fundamentally sound. Verify that the company has a long history of increasingly high dividend payments - the longer the better. And make sure its payout ratio (which measures the percentage of a company's earnings that go to dividends) isn't over 70 percent - or, in the case of a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) or Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), that it isn't over 90 percent.
[Ed. Note: Charles Delvalle is a contributing editor to ETR's Investor's Daily Edge newsletter.]
______________________________
Smoking Tobacco? Chewing It? What's Worse?
By Jon Herring
In Message # 1576 I told you about a long-term study of over 40,000 men and women which showed that even "light smoking" (less than five cigarettes a day) tripled the risk for lung cancer and heart disease. But it's not just cigarette smokers who are at risk.
A recent study of almost 30,000 people in 52 countries suggests that chewing tobacco can double the risk of heart attack - while those who chew and smoke increase their risk more than fourfold. It also shows that secondhand smoke is even more dangerous than originally thought. Just one to seven hours of weekly exposure to secondhand smoke increases heart attack risk by 24 percent, while 20 hours of exposure increases it by 62 percent.
These studies send a very clear message: You need to kick the tobacco habit. Completely!
The good news is that light smokers who quit have very little added risk of heart attack three to five years later. Heavy smokers who quit see a rapid decrease in risk, but still have some extra risk even 20 years later.
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1826, 09-05-06], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
posted by Oak Stone at 7:56 PM
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