It's impossible to say which income investment is the very best one.
You Must Determine Your Best Income Investing Portfolio
Investing is not a one-size-fits-all, simplistic activity. And because I'm not a registered financial adviser, so I can't give personalized financial advice anyway.
No, this is about giving you general guidelines that you must apply to your personal, particular financial situation.
Look at Your Entire Financial Situation
That includes your age (more exactly -- whether you're already retired or how many years you have remaining until you'd like to retire -- and it's okay with me if that's age 35 instead of 65!); your marital status; how many dependents you have beside yourself, if any; how much and what kind of debt you have; your current income from a job or business or other source; whether you have a three to six month emergency fund set aside; how much money you have saved already and what form is it in (IRA, 401(k) plan, brokerage account, mutual funds) and what type of financial securities you already own (bonds, individual stocks, mutual funds of growth stocks, index funds, and so on); what other major expenses you're expecting in the future (such as college costs or health care costs; how well you're covered by health, life and disability insurance; what savings options you have available through a job or business (self-employed people have different kinds of retirement accounts available to them); your satisfaction with your job, including your ambitions and potential to make more money in the future; how closely is your income dependent on the value of your home currency; where you live (people in states with high income taxes, such as New York and California, will find municipal bonds more attractive) and the lifestyle you'd like to live.
In short, get your financial house entirely in order in all other ways. It's tough to build a terrific retirement portfolio when half your net income goes to pay interest on your house, car and credit cards.
Fixed Income and Growth Income Types of Investments
I divide income investments into two basic categories: fixed income and those where the income will probably (nothing is every guaranteed) rise in the future.
Fixed Income = Bonds
Fixed income comes from bonds: Treasury and various bonds from the federal government and related agencies; municipal bonds and corporate bonds.
These are all different in various ways, but -- with the exception of government TIPS bonds -- share the characteristic of their income remaining fixed. This means they do not protect your against inflation.
However, they have the general advantage of paying more money now, and of the income being guaranteed (to the extent of their financial means).
Growth Income = Stocks
Securities with income that generally grows in time are all various forms of stocks.
In general, they do not pay as much now. Recently, the dividend paying stocks of the S&P; 500 had an average yield of about 2.5%. And there's no guarantee they will raise their dividends in the future.
However, it's possible to pick and choose to get better yields than that.
You Can Find Stocks That Pay High Yields
There are indexes of high quality companies that have raised their dividends every year for years -- both U.S., Canadian and companies around the world.
Real Estate Investment Trusts and Master Limited Parternships are required to pay out 90% of their income out to their owners.
Master Limited Partnerships are Perhaps the Best in Many Ways
MLPs in particular are great, because they make money from the transportation of energy. They charge a price fixed by the federal government, which goes up by MORE than the cost of inflation every year.
Utility Stocks Also Benefit From Energy Use
Utility stocks are also high regulated, guaranteed profits they pay out to their shareholders. With established, popular businesses.
You Can Diversify Across the World
Master Limited Partnerships exist only in the United States, but you can also profit from Real Estate Investment Trusts and utility companies around the world.
No World Currency is 100% Safe
The more your income consists only of your home country's currency, the more you need to diversify into other major world currencies. The U.S. dollar is in desperate shape, but the euro has major problems; and so does the yen and the British pound. And the Australian and Canadian dollars are too dependent on natural resource demand.
Only the Swiss can afford to be complacent about their currency.
Just as With Conventional Wisdom, Bonds are for the Older, Stocks for the Younger Folks
The older you are, the more you want to emphasize fixed income investments for higher current income, to have more money now.
(However, remember that thanks to medical advances you're probably going to live a lot longer than you think.)
The younger you are, the more you want to emphasize growth income investments so you'll have a higher income in the future when you really want it.
Take Action Now
One final word. Thinking, wishing, dreaming, reading, thinking, researching and so does not help you. The best income investment is the one you actually add to your portfolio.
Author Information: You can build a permanent, income generating retirement portfolio. Click here to get the information you need to effectively make money from your investments whether the markets go up or down. If you're ready to discover how an income investment can help you retire with financial security, visit this page, enter your email address into the form and click on the Submit Button. Then go to your inbox and verify that. It's free for the taking. http://www.incomeinvesthome.com/. justhost promotional code
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