Below are our latest blog posts for the week of May 11th.  Click on the links below to view the full article.

Income investors have known this day would come eventually – just as you shift all of your focus to U.S.-based markets where the momentum was strongest, the tide turns to overseas strength. Emerging markets in particular have been a well-documented story of “great fundamental theme, awful price action”.

Nevertheless, the tide has turned this year on many dividend paying stocks in emerging market countries, which makes it a perfect time to review your existing international positions to determine if changes are needed.

Leveraged ETFs promise the benefits of fast profits with little concern towards common-sense investing risks. In fact, a good friend and colleague of mine recently wrote an article titled When Do Leveraged ETFs Make Sense? The argument is that for a small portion of your portfolio, these funds can make you a quick buck as long as you are willing to bet boldly.

I will take the other side of that debate and point out that there are a number of important facts you need to know before deciding to invest in these vehicles.

Published on NASDAQ.com

The proliferation of publicly traded real estate investment trusts (or REITs) has created access to a global menu of high dividend paying securities.  This creates a highly coveted asset class for income oriented investors to park their capital outside of the traditional methods of stocks and bonds. In addition, accessing these REITs has never been easier through low-cost exchange-traded funds that allow you to hone in on specific sectors, geographies, or broad-based themes.

In our monthly ETF chart roundup video, we analyze the current trends of the market.  This month has a particular emphasis on interest rates and income-generating securities. The important themes to watch are dividend paying stocks, long duration bonds, corporate bonds, high yield, emerging market bonds, REITs, and preferred stocks. Recorded after the market close on May 6, 2015.

P.S. Did you know our core actively managed ETF portfolio minimums start at just $100,000?

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