John D. Rockefeller once had this to say about happiness. “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends come in.” Old man Rockefeller had it right. At a time when investors crave regular income, dividend ETFs are in demand, and when they  “come in”, they

[MORE]

By Brian O’Connell (June 2011) With the economy seemingly on a slower pace, if not stalled out completely, anxious Americans – and anxious investors – are turning back to basics. That means more buying more consumer staples, more bonds, and more consumer industrials. That’s right  ̵

[MORE]

By Brian O’Connell Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Financial service exchange traded funds (ETFs) haven’t had a banner year so far. How bad is it? Put it this way – if financial ETFs were a major league baseball team, they’d be the Mets. According to the Russell 2000 Index

[MORE]

By Brian O’Connell Exchange traded funds (ETF’s) are big business – no doubt about that. According to a recent study by Black Rock International, at the end of February 2011, the global ETF industry had 2,557 ETFs with 5,802 listings and assets of $1.3 trillion (in U.S. dollars) from 140 p

[MORE]

By Brian O’Connell What to make of the current inflationary economic climate? To hear a government economist tell it, it’s basically “nothing to worry folks. Nothing to see here.” That’s pretty much what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a press conference on April 27. Bern

[MORE]

A little over a year ago I told you about Four Easy Ways to Trade Gold With ETFs. Since then, gold has shot up from below $1,000 to as high as $1,265.30 this past Monday. Is it going still higher? If so, you need to know how to take advantage of the trend. Today I’m going to review some ways y

[MORE]

You may have noticed that crude oil prices plunged over the last few weeks. On May 3, the June crude oil futures peaked at more than $87. Then on Monday, May 17 the same contract slipped below $70. That’s a decline of about 20 percent in only ten market days! Of course we could go back in hist

[MORE]

Every week I tell you about exchange traded funds (ETFs) that you can use for various investment purposes. You could be wondering, though, what’s the best way to buy them. So in today’s column I’ll give you some practical information that will help you implement whatever ETF invest

[MORE]

Last week the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs (GS) alleging fraud. And the news hit Wall Street like a volcano! Of course the SEC sues companies all the time. Goldman Sachs isn’t just any company, though. Goldman is big — very big — a f

[MORE]

I’m a consumer. You’re a consumer. In fact, just about everyone you know is a consumer. But in these tough economic times, we often have to prioritize. On the other hand, not everyone is closely watching every penny they spend. Some people are making — and spending — more money than

[MORE]

« Older Entries