There are hundreds of companies that are traded on Wall Street that offer high dividend paying stocks for investors to take advantage of. What are dividends? Dividends are a way for a company to share the profit of the company with it’s shareholders. Many times a company has grown so much that they don’t need to put so much into research and development, so they will pass a portion of it to it’s shareholders on a quarterly basis (four times a year).

in doing so, an investor can make money even if the company’s stock price doesn’t change. Let’s say you buy shares in company XYZ for $100 per share and the company offers a 10% dividend. Which means that the company will give it shareholders $10 a year for each share you own. So four times a year you will receive $2.50 every three months for each share. After one year of owning the shares, your actual price per share is $90. If the price hasn’t moved over the same period, you are still up 10% on your investment. How could you go wrong with that? So where can you find stocks that pay dividends? When you do your research on a particular company, you will find the information in their chart overview.

There are also many different ETF’s that are built around this concept, but why pay a fee for something you can do yourself. Typically you can also do better than the ETF’s since you are able to get in and out easier than the big boys.

Be aware though that Washington and the present Administration is looking to raise capitol gains taxes which will include dividend payouts. Of course if it’s your IRA retirement account, it won’t affect you. Look into it for yourself to see if dividend stocks are right for you. it’s just another way to increase your profits. Espaecially when the stability of the markets are highly in question.

There are those investors who feel confidant that deflation has already begun, and that would prove to be gold bearish. A few of them will indicate television advertising, claiming that after the public catches on to an investment, it is time to sell. Yet different investors believe that because of the government running the printing presses overtime to create more money, the value of gold will keep going up. Gold more or less proves to be protection against a declining dollar, and its performance is based on other country’s currencies and economies as much as it is on those of ours. Could our economy perform sufficiently for us to build up our currency’s value, or might we have to maintain a weaker dollar to be able to compete internationally? Perhaps more involved than before in history, this involves a complex series of actions and reactions.

Despite all of the background noise going on, a constant concept emerges. The majority of both gold bears and bulls concur with gold maintaining the upward trend over both the medium time frame, as well as internationally. A number of investors today feel certain that one day the specter of hyperinflation will rear its ugly head, causing GLD, and also UGL (ProShares Ultra Gold), to both be solid investment ideas for all long term minded investors.

However, all too often people are afraid to put their money to work in the stock market because it seems like a confusing place. Many worry that their money might evaporate away if a stock goes under. For example, if you invest in a gold ETF fund, and the price of gold collapses, then you’re busted — you lose your investment. The same goes for Oil ETFs, the natural gas ETF and others. While this fear is legitimate if you are invested in only one stock, there are ways to diversify your money and to grow it without having to learn the complexities of the market. This way is by investing in a high yield ETF.

A high yield ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an investment vehicle in which your money is given to a professional who manages the money for you by placing it into a number of high yielding stocks. A high yield stock means a stock that pays a high dividend relative to it’s share price. By investing in this kind of ETF you are allowing compound interest to work in your favor in order to significantly grow your money over time.

Conservative style investors might be particularly drawn to high yield ETF’s because of the glamor of the high dividend. Investors have the option of receiving their dividend (share of the company’s earnings) in the form of a check every three months, or in the form of reinvestment in the stock. Reinvestment in the stock gives you a bigger share each time and is generally thought of as the smarter move financially, unless you are using the money as income.

While ETF’s are a relatively new product of Wall Street, they are in many ways similar to mutual funds. They allow you to not have to worry about studying the stock market before investing. You may simply place your money into these funds on a set schedule (i.e. monthly, weekly, etc.) and allow it to grow over time for you. This makes your investing automatic, rather than focusing on random ETF news and sound bites. Naturally you should never jump into an investment halfheartedly. If you want your money to work for you and compound over time, then you are going to need to stick to your investment plan.