high quality stocks

The best blue chip dividend stocks offer both capital gains growth potential and regular dividend income. The dividend yield is certainly one of the most concrete indicators of a sound investment. It is the percentage you get when you divide the current yearly dividend payment by the share or unit price of the investment.

High quality companies and traditional ETFs can serve as simple investment options with lower risk.

The safest dividend stocks consistently provide the “cash payouts” that strong companies give back to their shareholders. They are a major part of the Successful Investor approach to making money in the stock market.

Looking back over the past few decades, I’d say that some of my most useful and profitable investment principles came from things I’ve read or experienced that had nothing to do with the stock market.

I’ve already written about my first experience as a substitute newspaper delivery boy, filling in at age 11 for the 13-year-old who delivered the papers on our street....

We think conservative investors can hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is by choosing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus.


The best of those funds continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks.


Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as buys, and two we feel you should continue to hold.


ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $47.90 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.


The fund’s geographic breakdown follows: China, 29.8%; South Korea, 15.0%; Taiwan, 11.6%; India, 8.1%; Brazil, 7.4%; South Africa, 6.7%; Russia, 3.6%; Mexico, 2.9%; Malaysia, 2.5%; Thailand, 2.4%; Indonesia, 2.1%; and Poland, 1.2%.


Its top stocks are Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 5.4%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea ), 4.6%; Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 3.8 %; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 3.7%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet ), 1.9%; China Construction Bank, 1.6%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 1.2%; China Mobile, 1.20%; Baidu (China: Internet ), 1.1%; and Ping An Insurance Group (China), 1.0%.


iShares launched the ETF on April 7, 2003....

It’s important to take a close and critical look at stocks expected to rise. There could be hidden dangers, but also hidden opportunities

Hot Canadian penny stocks may seem appealing, but there may be significant issues behind the investment Hot Canadian penny stocks do sometimes pay off, but there are many pitfalls to avoid.

The six ETFs we update below mainly hold high-quality stocks that are widely traded on Canadian and U.S. ex- changes. Each fund tracks the performance of a major stock market index. That’s different from ETFs focused on narrower indexes or themes such as solar power and bio- technology.

Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these investments....

Here are three reasons to avoid high-risk investments—and advice on buying blue-chip stocks instead

It’s important to learn the key qualities of top blue chip stocks before you add them to your portfolio