“My wife was trying to sleep and she’s waking up and saying “What’s wrong with you?” What could I tell her, that I was cracking up over a financial book—?”

“As I approach retirement in a few years, I’m very encouraged by the cash flow my portfolio can generate. If I can generate nearly 8% cash flow in the worst bear market in 70 years, and with minimal capital gains, I’m feeling pretty good about the future.”

In the midst of financial crisis, market upheaval, and world-class uncertainty, at least one financial book provides an easily implemented strategy for safer investing. The Brainwashing of the American Investor is more than just “the book that Wall Street does not want you to read”.

It’s a book that might have helped you avoid many of the errors that have made this crisis so painful at a …

Crash! The 2007 thru 2008 financial crisis halved 401(k), IRA, and Mutual Fund values in a matter of months. For many, retirement dates had to be pushed back; for others, new jobs had to be found. The tragic flaw? No income allocation in the investment program. Market value builds egos; income pays the bills.

Few employers cautioned Savings Plan participants that 401(k)s are just not defined benefit programs. Few mutual fund distributors suggested to benefit departments that their programs were missing something of critical importance.

Throughout the meltdown, all investment securities fell in market value. But the vast majority of income securities, including closed end income funds (CEFs), have continued to pay interest and dividends. Market value builds over-confidence; income pays the bills.

The Working Capital Model (WCM) is a comprehensive system for investment management that is based on uncompromising rules of engagement. …

Most people enter the investment process tip first. They hear something, grab an idea from a popular blog, accept a Cramerism or some motley foolishness, and think that they are making investment decisions. Rarely, will the right-now, instant-gratification, Internet-generation speculator think in terms that go beyond tomorrow’s breaking news.

It just doesn’t work that way in the long run. Investing takes place in an uncertain environment with at least three important cycles working their way through time at different rates of speed. Each should have an impact on investor decision-making. More often than not, short-term thinking and impulse decision-making are ineffective long-term investment strategies—

Today, in the midst of a cyclical “perfect storm”, how many Wall Streeters have the cold-blooded temperament required to focus on anything other than dwindling market values, depressing economic news, and income securities that just don’t …

Now that the primaries for both US political parties are over, it is time for investors to begin to evaluate the likely tax change scenarios under the new government that will soon be installed.

All signs are that taxes will rise, but how much and in what ways will differ depending on who is president and which party controls the House and the Senate.

None of the changes are likely to be favorable to investors in general.  Accordingly, there will probably be shifts in what is more or less attractive to investors, with resulting changes in money flow and returns for types of investments.  Company behavior may change as well.

For example, dividends are a case in point.  After the tax laws changed to reduce taxes on dividends, equity income became more popular, several high-yield funds were launched, and companies increased dividend payouts.

If dividends taxes are increased, there may be a shift toward