Eq: Large Cap

(New York)

The so called Dividend Aristocrats are a select group of companies that have continually raised their dividends for 25 consecutive years. This year, three new companies joined the prestigious club—Praxair, Roper Technologies, and A.O. Smith. They join a list which includes 8 companies which have raised dividends for an eye-watering 54 straight years. Those names include 3M, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Dover. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF is up 5.7% this year despite investors generally losing their appetite for dividends.


FINSUM: This group does not get talked about much these days, but what a rock solid pool of solid income stocks for capital preservation and moderate growth.

(New York)

Vanguard has been leading the race to the bottom in fund fees for years. It has also been immensely successful doing so. Until now, most fund providers had only fought back by cutting their own fees, but now they are getting more defensive. For instance, Fidelity, which is the largest 401(k) manager, will now charge clients an extra 0.05% fee for all funds invested in Vanguard products. Fidelity says that “A small number of fund families have not compensated Fidelity for certain services, and this pricing change is designed to address that disparity with the intention of providing fairness across all of our business relationships … This is about leveling the playing field”.


FINSUM: This is a good way to push back against Vanguard, but considering it is retaliatory, the fee does seem quite minor!

(New York)

The stock market is rich, with prices sky high and valuations closing in on their historical peak. The conundrum, though, is that while there is a lot risk, there may yet still be a long way for the market to rise before falling. How to play it? The answer is the options market. Because the incredibly long period of low volatility, options prices are very low, which means if one uses a solid options strategy, there is a potentially inexpensive and effective way to play the market.


FINSUM: This seems like a smart way to play further upside, while keeping costs down, especially if you are already long stocks to a major degree and want to take some chips off the table.

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