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Making Money!  
Generating an Income!

Welcome to the Monthly Income Investing website. Everyone wants to make money and generate an income to live on.  But in this economic environment, when interest rates are at all time lows, and the Fed is announcing and promising extended periods of time to keep interest rates low, how does someone generate a meaningful income? How can you make money from investments?

The first question you need to answer is what type of investment or investing style do you need? What is your objective? And the answer to that question might well involve your age, employment status and/or financial needs:

• You are pre-retirement age and want to build a nest egg for the future;
• You have current extra expenses, like college costs, and need to increase your income;
• You want to generate extra money for that special vacation;
• You are retired and want more monthly income than Social Security and your pension provide today.

If any of the above are true for you, then I encourage you to think about the following.

Treasuries or bank CD’s are earning a pittance and not keeping up with inflation.  Buying Treasuries or depositing money in a CD is taking a step backwards in your wealth generation or income generation. Your purchasing power will, in all likelihood, be less at the end period of time than when you began.

There are no guarantees or “magic bullets” to garner investment profits and income. Nor is there a 100% sure-fire answer. But there are proven avenues to generating profits, given time.  The stock market has historically gained ground, given a long enough period of time.

• One of the safest methods to generate long term investment appreciation involves using DRIP, or Dividend ReInvestment Plans. A person investing $1,000 in any one of several dozen stocks 20 years ago would be worth 8, 10, or even 20 times the original investment today. And perhaps even more! But starting a DRIP today does not make money now or generate an income today. And you may not have 20 years to obtain the results you need now.

• Another generally recognized safe investment is mutual funds. Again, over the last 10 or 20 years, most reputable mutual funds have appreciated in value and returned profits to their investors. But again, investing in a mutual fund today does not make money now or generate an income today.

• A third investment method is buying corporate bonds.  Good, high grade corporate bonds can offer yields to maturity of 4%, 5%, 6%, 7% or more. This investment can offer relatively safe, moderate income generation. But, you are locking in your money for 15 years, 20 years or longer at a fixed rate. If the economy worsens or inflation takes off in galloping leaps, you are locked in to an investment that may no longer be suitable. To extricate yourself from the investment might involve a substantial loss of your original principal.

So, what are your choices? Well, let me take a moment and tell you about my story.

I was raised in NJ where my dad worked in NYC in the Wall Street area as a broker for various firms. He eventually became President of the firm where he was working and retired in the late 1970’s. I graduated college and worked in the health insurance industry for almost 40 years. The last 20 years was for a small, regional carrier located in the south.  In 2007, it was bought by one of the largest, national insurers.  After they assimilated us into their structure, in July of 2009, they began systematically firing the employees until over half the workforce was discharged. Being in Marketing, we were part of the very first wave. I found myself at age 61 very bitter and wondering, “What the hell do I do now?”  

After getting over the anger and adjusting to reality, I began to take stock of my circumstances. I soon realized there was not enough money in my 401k and IRA to live comfortably or as planned.  And I quickly determined that full time employment prospects were very dim, especially since I did not want to relocate. My dad had introduced me to investing and trading at a very early age and I had always maintained an investment account my entire working career. I soon found myself actively involved in investing my 401k and IRA monies as well as my brokerage account.

Over the last 2 years, I have refined my investment strategy and honed in on a direction that has worked for me. And worked very well for me!

So, the question becomes: how can you make money and generate an income in the short term? And how can I help you achieve your desired goals and objectives?