Author Archive: Michael Foster

Vanguard is killing it. They’re now the biggest money manager in the world, with a whopping $4 trillion in assets under management.

It’s a feel-good story for a lot of investors, since the low-fee index fund juggernaut has marketed itself as the humble alternative to the high-rolling Wall Streeters who have become the target of public ire since the global financial crisis.

The feel-good story is simple. Vanguard has low overhead, pays its executives relatively modestly and passes those savings on to investors. Because of lower fees, the investors win; because of economies of scale, Vanguard wins; and because of the efficient-market hypothesis, which says hot-shot analysts can’t consistently outperform the stock market in the long run, the only people who don’t win are those evil banksters.… Read more

Plenty of investors buy corporate bonds because they think they’re safe investments.

That makes sense. After all, you do get your principal back at maturity. But corporates still have plenty of risks—particularly now, with interest rates arcing higher.

That’s why I’m recommending another asset class that’s set to deliver even higher yields and fatter capital gains—with much less to fear from interest rates. More on that in a moment.

First, let’s unpack these ideas one by one, starting with why so many investors just can’t kick their corporate-bond habit: corporates tend to offer higher yields than stocks while giving you exposure to the same companies.… Read more

In a crazy bull market like this, you may feel like it’s impossible to lose.

That’s a dangerous feeling. Because there are a few loser stocks out there—although admittedly there are far more winners than losers.

Still, if you’re holding on to one of the big loser stocks right now, you can’t be blamed for feeling bad about it. How can you be losing money when the S&P 500 is up a whopping 18% from a year ago?

You might even be thinking about giving up on stocks. You might think the market is rigged and there’s no way for anyone off of Wall Street to compete.… Read more

I know I don’t have to tell you that risk management is one of the keys to successful long-term investing.

But here’s the strange thing: most responsible, risk-conscious investors underperform the market—and not by a little.

Why?

Because the reality of risk management is not the conventional wisdom frequently peddled by financial advisors. They warn that taking on too much risk will threaten your life savings, so you need to choose an extremely conservative fund and invest for the long term.

That’s close enough to the truth to sound convincing—but unfortunately it’s wrong. (I’ll show you two funds that upend the “conventional” wisdom—and deliver consistent market-beating gains—in just a moment.)… Read more

Utilities are a particularly enjoyable sector for income investors because they offer sustainable and growing dividends—if you choose the right companies.

This boring and predictable model means utilities tend to attract risk-averse investors who jump out during times of extreme caution—even when there’s really nothing to be cautious about. That’s why the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU) erased much of its 2016 gains in the second half of the year, when the months leading up to the presidential election led to market panic.

Surprising Volatility

What’s even more interesting is that utilities continued to fall even after Donald Trump won and the so-called “Trump rally” began.… Read more

Let’s face it: people make a lot of stupid mistakes.

You see it every day: they turn on to the freeway without signaling. They fall for obvious scams. They throw money away on useless things.

But here’s the good news: It’s possible—even easy—for savvy investors to profit from humanity’s lousy judgment.

How? By being a contrarian.

Contrarian investing means heading away from the crowds: buying heavily when everyone is fleeing in fear and selling when everyone says the asset is a sure thing. (I’ll show you 2 unloved funds ready to pop—plus 2 overbought names ready for a fall—in just a moment.)… Read more

Things are tough for contrarian investors these days.

Back in August, for example, I recommended buying financial stocks. It was an easy call to make.

At the time, the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) was down 4% from a year earlier, and the worst performers had fallen much further. I specifically saw value in Wells Fargo (WFC), KeyCorp (KEY) and PNC Financial Services (PNC), which had fallen 14.5%, 17.6% and 12.0%, respectively.

I bought heavily into these three stocks at the time, expecting financials to recover over the short term, especially if Trump won the election.

Here’s how they’ve done since then:

Financials Rebound With Gusto

The strong recovery since August has convinced me to back off on financials, since the market has finally seen in these firms what I saw in them last summer.… Read more

I love passive investing—but not for the reason you might think.

I love it because, as I’ll demonstrate in a moment, it’s caused plenty of stocks to become mispriced, creating opportunities for active stock pickers who do their homework.

This makes the market more of a meritocracy: the people who work harder, smarter and spend more time and energy on their investments can get a higher return than those who buy index funds like the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and call it a day.

Why?

Because the more people buy VTI and other index products, the more they drive up the prices of all the stocks in that index.… Read more

Let’s say you want to lock in a passive retirement income of $80,000 per year.

If you go with what most investors mistakenly see as the safest route, long-term US Treasuries, you’re going to need $3.3 million. That’s because 10-year Treasuries are paying a wimpy 2.4% interest rate today.

Investors who buy Treasuries often shrug off numbers like that. “So what?” they say, adding that Treasuries are about as low-risk as you can get.

Too bad they’re wrong.

If you buy into Treasuries and want to resell them before they mature—perhaps to deal with a big expense that comes out of nowhere—you have a pretty good chance of losing money.… Read more