Dividends from a quality, well-diversified portfolio are much more predictable than capital gains and best of all, they are passive.[More...]

1) I like PartnerRe — they invest in their people; they limit their risks; they keep their balance sheet strong.  So it was with pleasure when I saw they had bought back the majority of some of their their junior debt at 50+ cents on the dollar.  Good move.2) The short-term performance model for financial stocks recommends insurance brokers and reinsurers here. No surprise, because both of them face little risk on the asset side of the balance sheet.  For insurance brokers, short–term performance favors BRO, AOC, and EHTH.  For reinsurers, short-term performance favors VR, RNR, GLRE, and AWH.  Personally, I would consider BRO and AWH. Very soundly run firms.3) There are troubles with life insurers <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123724618986248517.html"[More...]

Stock Symbols: PKG,AXP,BRO,ELS,FDEF,FWRD,IEX,LNCR,MCBC,NBR,RVSB,TXN,EFX,LOGI,LRY,NFLX,RE,VLTR,HXL,JDAS,MRTN,BXS,WASH[More...]

Ticker: FIZZ,MER,AMD,ATR,AVCT,BANF,BHLB,BRKL,BXS,CBST,CLMS,COF,CYT,FBC,FFIN,GILD,GOOG,IBM,ICUI,INDB,INFA,LEG,MBTF,MSFT,PBCT,PMCS,SWKS,SYK,TPX,VMI,WERN,WINA,WIT,ZION,BRO [More...]