How to Get Over It

Don't miss any Bottom Line Secrets. Add our address, bottomlinesecrets@ebls.bottomlinesecrets.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. April 10, 2011 Blast Away High Cholesterol. Lose 67 Points in Just 28 Days The Best Stock-Picking Secret Ever The Secret to Living Better for Less How to Overcome Life's Disappointments Blood Pressure 'Switch' Found on Human Body... Dear healthwellness82@gmail.com, Though it’s never guaranteed that you’ll profit from any stock, there is one technique whose profit-making odds are very, very high--even during a recession. Learn what it is and how to use it from Chartered Financial Analyst and economic historian Bill Staton, author of the book Double Your Money in America’s Finest Companies: The Unbeatable Power of Rising Dividends. Do you hold resentment toward someone you love? Many of us do. Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of the best-selling book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, shares two surprising strategies to help you get past your hurt and offers rare insight into how you can turn resentment and a strained relationship into joy. All the best, Jessica Kent Editor BottomLineSecrets.com Blast Away High Cholesterol. Lose 67 Points in Just 28 Days The big drug companies don't want you to know about the alternative cures that can make their drugs obsolete. The alternative medicine believers think drugs and surgery are bad ideas. Guess what? They're both dead wrong. Finally, a maverick MD has dared to identify the world's best cures from both sides of the medical aisle. These are the real forbidden cures you want... Read on... The Best Stock-Picking Secret Ever Bill Staton, CFA Don’t talk to Bill Staton about newfangled investment strategies. His approach to maneuvering through the new decade is no different from what has worked for him and his clients for three decades. At the heart of that approach are dividends, the cash that a company pays directly to shareholders out of its annual earnings. To be a successful investor, you need to focus not just on big dividends, but on dividend payments that rise every year, which Staton considers an unparalleled predictor of stability and growth. How best to invest in dividend-paying stocks today... SEEK LOW RISK, HIGH GROWTH Despite a terrible past decade for stocks, they are the place to be in the next 10 years if you want to make decent investment profits. I expect that tight credit markets and rampant inflation in this decade will be awful for people holding cash and bonds. In fact, during any 10-year period of high inflation (10% or higher), stocks returned an average of about 6% annually, while bonds and cash both lost value. The trick is finding the best all-weather stocks, because there will be lots of volatility in the years it takes our current economy and financial system to recuperate. The best way to find these companies is to look for businesses that raise their dividends year after year. Rising dividends usually indicate not only that a stock is relatively low risk but also that it has strong growth potential. That’s because the company needs an exceptional track record and robust balance sheet to support ongoing dividend payouts. Of course, in recent years, some companies, especially financial institutions, suddenly found that they could no longer support generous dividends, and their stock prices plunged as much as, or even more than, the overall market. So I am wary of companies that seem uncertain whether they will raise dividends in the coming year. Even after the 2009 rally -- in which stock prices rose 65%, on average, from the low point in March to December 31 you still can find leading high-quality, dividend-paying stocks at reasonable prices, because they underperformed more speculative, lower-quality stocks. If the stock market rally fades, which is very possible, dividend-paying stocks will reduce the pain because they keep providing income. HOW TO CREATE A GREAT PORTFOLIO Here are the seven steps I suggest for perfecting your portfolio... Choose companies with a record of raising dividends for at least the past 10 years in a row. Only about 240 companies with publicly traded shares meet this stringent requirement. In 2008, for instance, I had to drop some wonderful dividend-paying stocks from my list, including Bank of America, Harley-Davidson and Wells Fargo, because these companies didn’t increase their dividends that year. Look for a "wide business moat." That means the company has some competitive advantage, such as a valuable patent or a trusted brand name. Buy at a bargain price. I wait for the stock to be at a price I consider undervalued. Look for companies trading at price-to-earnings ratios (P/Es) below the S&P 500 average (recently 14.7 times the next year’s earnings). For some diversification, select at least a half-dozen companies in different industries. Attractive dividend-paying stocks don’t have to just be stodgy stalwarts, such as utility companies, which provide the traditional route for dividend seekers. My portfolio includes industries such as technology and telecommunications. Invest the same dollar amount into each company. This helps ensure that you have ample diversification in case some industries suffer setbacks. Reinvest dividends quarterly. Buy more of what you already own as long as a firm keeps raising dividends. Sell only when a company fails to raise its dividend in a given year or you need to raise cash. This keeps you from turning over your portfolio unnecessarily and paying more taxes on gains than you need to. SIX OF MY FAVORITE STOCKS TODAY Over a period of several years, only a few large-cap stocks meet all my requirements and can beat the overall stock market’s returns with less volatility while providing substantial income. Consider building your 2011 core portfolio around these six stocks, which I find especially attractive today... Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) is one of the world’s largest makers and distributors of surgical and laboratory products, such as needles, blades and syringes. It has raised its dividend annually for the past 37 years. A new federal government mandate aimed at reducing infections among hospital patients will help drive sales growth. Recent share price: $75.37. Yield: 2%. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) offers systems hardware and software in more than 170 countries. It is well-positioned to take advantage of the advent of "cloud computing," using distant servers over the Internet for data storage and management to save money for businesses and make them more efficient. Recent share price: $161.60. Yield: 1.8%. McDonald’s Corp. (MCD). The world’s biggest food chain, McDonald’s dominates the recession-resistant fast-food industry. Its stock actually gained 8% in the 2008 meltdown, and it has been the best-performing Dow industrial stock for the period since 2002, up about 300%. In the next decade, the company’s expansion in high-growth foreign markets such as China, coupled with a weak dollar, will lift the stock price and support the healthy dividend. Recent share price: $76.38. Yield: 3.5%. Nucor Corp. (NUE). One of the dominant steel producers in the US held up far better than competitors during the global slowdown over the past two years. The company has established itself as the low-cost provider in the steelmaking industry. The urbanization of developing countries will provide robust export revenues in the future. Recent share price: $40.80. Yield: 3.5%. 3M Co. (MMM) manufactures some of the world’s greatest consumer products, such as Scotch Tape and Post-it notes, as well as dozens of other items from liquid-crystal display film to respirator masks. It has been increasing dividends for 51 consecutive years. Recent share price: $92.58. Yield: 2.5%. United Technologies Corp. (UTX) owns industry-dominating brands, including Otis elevators, Pratt & Whitney engines and Sikorsky helicopters. It currently is kept busy filling a backlog of $60 billion in orders. Recently, it made a key acquisition, picking up General Electric’s security business. Recent share price: $83.03. Yield: 2.3%. Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Bill Staton, CFA, a money coach and economic historian based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is founder and chairman of Staton Financial Advisors, which manages $65 million worth of stock portfolios for wealthy private investors. His model portfolio returned 9.4% annualized over the past decade, versus a return of -1% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. He is author of six books on financial topics, including Double Your Money in America’s Finest Companies: The Unbeatable Power of Rising Dividends (Wiley). www.StatonFinancial.com The Secret to Living Better for Less Insiders know how to live better and pay less -- in good times or bad. Imagine knowing... The magic word that takes 80% off electronics, appliances, cameras and much more Sneaky, hidden fees you don't have to pay Online secret that cuts 75 cents off every dollar you spend at the grocery store How to make yourself 100% identity theft-proof The most effective way to change someone's behavior How to get guaranteed income for life -- instantly. What kind of difference would this make to your life? Your ability to pay your bills? To live the life you want to have? Learn more... How to Overcome Life's Disappointments Rabbi Harold S. Kushner Most of us must face the disappointment of not having all of our dreams come true. The fact that we experience failure does not make us failures -- although the way in which we respond to our failures could do exactly that. Here’s what to do when you have trouble getting past life’s disappointments... Remember for whom you are working -- you. The promotion you had hoped for went to someone else... your family doesn’t appreciate the many things you do for them. It is natural to feel disappointment when things like this occur, but our mistake is to rely on others for validation. We should work hard because to do any less would be letting ourselves down. We should work hard for the sake of our own sense of integrity and knowing we have done our best. Understand that those who have never been disappointed are the real failures. People who achieve everything they set out to achieve in life obviously have set their bars too low. We achieve more if we aim high -- though this also means that we will be disappointed more often, because lofty goals are difficult to reach. Understand that disappointments are inevitable when we strive for greatness, and consider your life successful if you accomplish just a fraction of your goals. Escape the isolation of disappointment. We feel alone when we lose a loved one... suffer a life-threatening illness... or experience a major financial setback. Our loneliness then drives us further into despair. Example: My wife and I saw only happy families around us when one of our children was seriously ill. Not until after our child had died did we discover that other families we knew had gone through similar ordeals. A tragedy does not separate us from everyone else. Sharing our grief brings us closer to the brotherhood of the afflicted, a huge club consisting of everyone who has ever endured pain or inequity. Our misfortune even makes us qualified to help other grieving people. Assisting others can get us past the sense of helplessness that often comes with major disappointments. Keep disappointments in perspective. Try to remember what was worrying you two weeks ago. Many people cannot. Most disappointments are less consequential than we feel they are at the time. Psychiatrist George Vaillant, MD, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which followed 800 men for five decades, found that it is not the bad things that happen to us that stay with us in life -- it is the good people we meet along the way. People who handle misfortune best are the ones who focus not on what happened to them but on all the people who rallied around them when it happened. Fashion a new dream. There’s no reason that you have to let the failure of one dream stop you from dreaming -- and trying. The experience you have gained can help you create a new, more realistic and achievable dream. Example: When Al Gore lost the presidential election, he recast his dream. He moved from politics to environmentalism, producing a highly acclaimed documentary on global warming called An Inconvenient Truth. His success and impact have been tremendous since his “failure.” Get angry with God. Some people consider it wrong to get angry with God. I believe that if we cannot get angry with God, then we have a constrained, artificial relationship with God. When the world disappoints you, go ahead and blame God. Vent your anger, and bemoan the inequity. Voicing unhappiness with life’s disappointments brings you closer to moving beyond them. God does not mind. He will continue to stand by you no matter how angry you become. God understands that you really are getting mad at your misfortune, not at Him. WHEN OTHER PEOPLE DISAPPOINT US The friends, coworkers and loved ones on whom we rely sometimes will disappoint us. Two ways to forgive them... Don’t focus on the mistake. Before ending a relationship based on a single failure -- however great -- consider this person in full. Think about who he/she has been in the past and who he can become in the future. Example: A husband cheats on his wife. The wife might choose to end the relationship, but she also might choose to view this as a single error from a loving but flawed partner. Consider forgiveness a favor that you do for yourself. People often believe that if they forgive those who have wronged them, the transgressors “get away with” the misdeeds. But forgiveness benefits you more than the transgressor. Offering forgiveness removes a heavy burden that you have been carrying around. It cleanses your soul and eases your pain. The sooner you forgive, the sooner you can move on from your disappointment. Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Harold S. Kushner, Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts. He is author of numerous best-selling books, including When Bad Things Happen to Good People and, most recently, Overcoming Life’s Disappointments (both from Anchor). Blood Pressure 'Switch' Found on Human Body... Chicago, IL: A recent study conducted by the Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago identified a small spot (the "Atlas area") on the body that appears to control blood pressure. In minutes, a single touch lowers blood pressure back to healthy levels. Top number drops 14 points, bottom number drops 8 points. No drug on Earth can match this instant miracle. Who knew it was this simple? It’s almost like a switch that allows doctors to dial down your blood pressure in minutes. Learn more... Important: Help your friends get much more out of life -- forward this E-letter to them. Better: Send it to many friends and your whole family. This is a free weekly e-mail service of BottomLineSecrets.com and Boardroom Inc. Boardroom Inc. 281 Tresser Boulevard Stamford, CT 06901-3229 ATTN: Web Team You received this e-mail because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as healthwellness82@gmail.com. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. Disclaimer: Bottom Line Secrets publishes the opinions of expert authorities in many fields. But the use of these opinions is no substitute for legal, accounting, investment, medical and other professional services to suit your specific personal needs. Always consult a competent professional for answers to your specific questions. Bottom Line Secrets is a registered trademark of Boardroom Inc. Subscribe |  Unsubscribe | Update My E-mail Preferences Change My E-mail Address | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright (c) 2011 by Boardroom Inc.