(By Nilus) A little more than five years ago I launched my Income Superstars newsletter — devoted entirely to dividend-paying stocks and other income-boosting investments.
The reason was simple: I recognized that many retirees, near-retirees — and yes, even conservative younger investors like me — were looking for better ways to generate richer, safer, growing streams of income.
At the time, the Federal Reserve's target rate stood at 5.25 percent and 10-year Treasuries were paying about the same.
And if you had asked most people back then, they would have said those rates were pretty low!
Yet here we are, half a decade later, and most people would kill to get a 10-year Treasury yield of 5 percent!
That's Because Washington Has Essentially
Robbed Conservative Investors Blind …
Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have not only pushed their targeted interest rate to near zero, but they continue to dream up new and inventive ways to further manipulate the debt markets through endless rounds of "quantitative easing."
Case in point: The extension of their so-called "Operation Twist" less than two weeks ago.
Because of these concerted (and unprecedented) efforts, today's 10-year Treasury bond won't even give you 2 percent a year in interest.
In fact, you can BORROW money for a 30-year mortgage at about 3.5 percent right now!
Most investors don't seem to care, of course.
Here's a chart of the Dow Jones CBOT Treasury Index, which is a composite of 30-year, 10-year and 5-year U.S. Treasury bond futures …
As you can see, lots of folks have been plowing headlong into "risk-free" government debt of all stripes … even despite the pathetic yields they're getting in return.
Yet these people SHOULD care.
The Fed's actions — and the resulting low interest rates — are essentially stealing money from responsible savers and retirees all across the country and using the proceeds to bail out banks, reckless borrowers, and a whole host of people folks who hardly deserve the help.
To make matters worse, this activity is virtually guaranteed to continue for a couple more years … at the very least.
There's No Better Time to Declare Your Own
Income Independence Than Right Now!
There's absolutely no reason you have to accept today's low interest rates … especially not when doing so is simply giving Washington more money to squander away on blown budgets, bridges to nowhere, or misguided bailout policies.
Instead, I want you to know that what I saw five years ago is still true right now — plenty of American companies continue to offer investors much fairer returns on their investment dollars.
That's right. You can go out there right now and buy solid dividend-paying companies that offer yields two or three times as high as Treasury bonds.
Moreover, you will probably see those dividend payments GROW with each and every successive year. That means a higher and higher yield based on your original investment.
And perhaps the best part is that investing in these firms is arguably doing a lot more to stimulate the U.S. economy than all the government's failed attempts have.
In my view, choosing reasonable returns and growth over empty government guarantees isn't at all unpatriotic. In fact, voting with our investment dollars is perhaps the most American thing any of us could ever do.
Best wishes,
Nilus
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