Hi everybody. Sorry for the sporadic outages today. We ended up
needing to be moved to a brand new server. Our hosting company
suffered a hardware glitch and we were unable to keep the site up
while this was happening. Fortunately we are now back up and I do
apologize for the inconvenience. We had an eventful week that was,
with earnings season kicking off. Alcoa (
AA
) did not start the quarter off on a good foot. As we got toward
the end of the week, Google's (
GOOG
) results sent a lot of growth investors scampering for the
exits.
The pace of deal-making continues to remain robust as numerous
deals were done, but the potential for big deals are also making
news. Tyco International (
TYC
) is rumored to be in the sights for a potential acquirer. Late
Friday, Johnson & Johnson (
JNJ
) was rumored to be considering a deal for Swiss medical-equipment
maker Synthes Inc. that could be in the $20 billion price range.
Lastly, gold and silver prices have taken over the market in terms
of what the pundits are focused in on. I have been mentioning it as
well, but with more of a cautious tone. Silver prices especially
are a concern in the short term, trading nearly 60% above the
200-day moving average. In any parabolic move we see in the
markets, there is usually a reversion to the means at some point.
If you are looking to get exposure to the silver or gold market,
patience is likely your biggest ally at this time.
We made some changes to our recommended list this week, removing
several names as we continue to position the
"Best Dividend Stocks"
list as best as we can with the idea that the names that remain on
the list are still names we feel good about being capital into.
Dividend investing does not require a special talent, education
level, years of experience, luck, or much money either. It requires
a commitment from you as an investor that you will keep putting
money to work each month in the best ideas available. The material
you find on our Dividend.com site will help you start generating a
new income stream and be a key element in helping everyone build
wealth.
Speaking of wealth, every generation has a chance to change the
the fortunes of future generations. When you think about some of
the wealth goals we have - well-funded retirement, college
education for our kids (not a guarantee for future success of
course, but it is still a common goal for many families), nest egg
that continues to build as the years pass, and enjoy the
benefits/dividends of passive income in our income-producing
investments. There could be more, but these are some general goals
we all share. Getting back to creating fortunes for our future
generations, many of us could impact what principles are passed on
to our next generations. Look at the case of Carlos Slim,
considered to be the richest person in the world. His riches were
influenced by the moves his father made. His father became a
business owner back in 1911 when he established a dry goods store.
As he built up his capital, he was able to acquire prime commercial
real estate in Mexico City ten years later. The foundation was now
set for the next generation to do well. By the time Carlos Slim was
born in 1940, his father already was considered very successful.
Now you may think Carlos was born into wealth and that equated to
the success Carlos has had. As much as you can easily scrape over
this generalization, when you dig in to the differences of what
Carlos was able to do, you will see the lessons he learned from his
dad were certainly never intended to make Carlos the richest man in
the world. The key here to understand was that the seeds of success
were sewn into Carlos when it came to understanding business and
looking for ways to build income. Carlos Slim was an investor of
stocks at an early age, but then diversified into businesses. I
often talk about the entrepreneurial spirit and how it can
contribute to an acceleration of one's success, as long as the
approach to business is done with the proper due diligence. When
you look at the generations past regarding the Slim family, his dad
was able to build the foundation, but he did it on his own. There
was little help from the previous generation. Every one of us has
the ability to build the foundation for our future family
generations, and it doesn't take a lot of money to get this under
way. Having more money to start with doesn't hurt of course, but is
not as much of an obstacle as one would think.
You can do your own research to prove what I am saying is true.
Look around and see who is successful in your mind. Next, go up and
ask them about their story and how they were able to get to the
level of success they are now. You will be amazed to how far back
some of the stories may go. In my case, my dad went away from his
family to learn how to cut hair in a big city in Italy at age 14.
He made an early decision to want to learn a trade, but he didn't
stop his ambition just learning a skill. He decided to push out of
his comfort zone, coming to the U.S. in 1966, getting married and
opening a barbershop without even knowing how to speak english by
1968 (he was 26 years old at the time). He could have stayed in
Italy and established a business there, but he felt better
financial opportunities were to be had in America. He made a great
bet. Over the years, he had other opportunities he could have taken
regarding real estate, but he didn't pull the trigger. His best
real estate opportunity came at what ended up being an inopportune
time. The property he should wished he had pulled the trigger on
consisted of 6 stores and 12 apartment units (it was the location
of the barbershop). At the time the asking price was $300K, but he
had just purchased our first family home the year earlier.
Financially he was not able to do the deal on his own. He lobbied
his business partner and several family members, but no one felt
the need to join in on the opportunity (they all came to regret it
later as well). Unfortunately for my dad's sake, no one stepped up
and realized how great the real estate deal was. He never did buy
his dream building/property after that missed opportunity, but he
kept working hard and saved his money. I spent many a night at my
family dinner table hearing that story and seeing what it means to
miss an opportunity. The deal opportunity was back in 1980.
Everyone could imagine what the property is worth now and the cash
flow it would be throwing off today. Who knows, if he went ahead
with it, I may have developed the passion for real estate and
Dividend.com maybe would have never happened. As my mom would
always say, things sometimes happen for a reason. As I look at my
own road and what I am building with Dividend.com, the lessons I
have learned are plenty.
Almost none of us are born rich, and that's ok. It's the process
of becoming successful that is the part we all need to remember is
the most valuable. How often do we hear about kids that are born in
rich families who end up with troubled lives. This can be the
result of the "auto-pilot" syndrome where kids are not required to
learn about much, because their families are rich and they don't
have the need to hustle. It's very sad when you see these wasted
opportunities to pass on the seeds of success in a more fruitful
way. Nothing is guaranteed in our lives and success/being poor is
not a given as well, when you talk about one generation to the
next.
The investment we all make every day to learn as much as we can
to becoming successful and building wealth can pay an enormous
dividend not only in our own lives, but the lives in our own
family's future generations. The lessons are all around us. I'll be
sure to share as many as I have learned and continue to learn.
Many of our readers truly have been understanding my message of
taking charge of one's own nest egg responsibilities. We have a
very pro-active subscriber base and many of you have taken charge
of what happens to your money. I applaud you for that and for
understanding that investing does not have to be complicated. It
makes me feel really good about what we do here at Dividend.com.
Everyone has the ability to generate wealth and following our
strategy will allow you to get the power of compound interest
behind you! Thank you for sharing part of your Sunday with me and
please be sure to pass this post on to anyone you think we can get
inspired and educated about money, building wealth, and using
common sense to do so.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.