In his latest newsletter, John Mauldin is harking on several recent phenomena in the financial world. The one I am most interested in is the Inverted Yield Curve. It is a situation that he has commented on since December 20005 in his newsletter when he looked at the probability of a recession. In this newsletter, several quotes jump out about the likelihood a recession this year:

…the studies suggest we should see a recession as early as the late second quarter of this year, or more likely in the third quarter…

and

But a yield curve does not cause a recession. It simply tells us that something wicked this way comes. Something is out of kilter in the economy. Looking back at past recessions, it has been different things, so we can’t look to history with any sense of reliability to say, “This is it!”

Now, I’m not really an economist, but it is interesting to note that you can go into a bank and put your money on a CD or deposit. Take a look at the one year rates and two-year rates from E-trade right now. Look for yourself…

Period Interest APY
3 Month 4.88% 5.00%
6 Month 5.12% 5.25%
1 Year 5.26% 5.40%
2 Year 4.88% 5.00%
3 Year 4.88% 5.00%
5 Year 4.93% 5.05%

So something is going on. Could John be right? Well, I guess we’ll see. Right now, though, if you are opening a CD to create an income stream, the optimal rates seem to be at 1 year right now.

Daily Wealth is running an article on here about the probably the most famous female investor in the world

Since January 2000, the IQ Trends portfolio has returned 19.1% per year… that’s including the worst bear market in 20 years. The secret to her incredible track record? It’s all based on dividends.

It’s good to hear that other people are doing well creating streams of incomes for themselves or their clients. I like this quote: “When a company pays out a dividend, it’s saying, “We have cash we don’t need.” A strong dividend payment, therefore, is almost always the mark of a healthy business that generates lots of cash.”

And I like the fact that she emphasizes buying companies’ stocks IF their dividends run above 5%, suggesting that the company is on ‘sale.’ She also likes to purchase companies with inexorably rising dividends. In my book, this is a great tip because, the dividends rise, and your cost basis begins to look even cheaper!

So I researched a list of stocks with dividends above 10%, then got the basic information from Yahoo! Finance:

Symbol	Last Trade		Change		EPS (ttm)	P/E	Change	Div/Shr	Yield
AFN	11:30AM ET	11.57	0.08	0.69%	N/A	N/A	0.08	0.37	N/A
AHM	11:30AM ET	32.25	0.01	0.03%	4.023	8.02	0.01	3.94	N/A
BPT	11:31AM ET	72.12	0.52	0.72%	9.20	7.84	0.52	8.49	N/A
BTE	11:28AM ET	17.05	0.35	2.01%	1.74	9.78	0.35	1.43	N/A
CRZ	11:27AM ET	27.49	0.16	0.59%	1.96	14.03	0.16	1.26	N/A
CVF	11:18AM ET	24.55	0.07	0.29%	N/A	N/A	0.07	2.29	N/A
DHT	11:29AM ET	15.16	1.05	6.48%	-0.20	N/A	1.05	1.74	N/A
EGLE	11:35AM ET	17.65	0.05	0.28%	1.25	14.13	0.05	2.08	N/A
ERF	11:31AM ET	41.67	0.10	0.24%	4.26	9.78	0.10	4.07	N/A
FORTY	Jan 23	12.32	0.00	0.00%	0.07	176.00	0.00	1.43	N/A
GMR	11:31AM ET	35.74	0.13	0.36%	7.09	5.03	0.13	4.80	N/A
GNI	10:40AM ET	119.00	0.65	0.55%	9.18	12.96	0.65	10.30	N/A
PCU	11:31AM ET	58.00	0.21	0.36%	6.123	9.47	0.21	5.125	N/A
PHI	11:30AM ET	54.76	0.06	0.11%	4.46	12.28	0.06	1.52	N/A
PVX	11:30AM ET	10.26	0.09	0.87%	1.06	9.68	0.09	1.27	N/A
PWE	11:31AM ET	29.01	0.06	0.21%	3.60	8.07	0.06	2.12	N/A
SFF	11:28AM ET	29.85	0.26	0.88%	3.90	7.65	0.26	4.02	N/A
TMA	11:31AM ET	25.70	1.64	6.82%	2.58	9.98	1.64	2.72	N/A
TNH	11:31AM ET	36.30	1.29	3.43%	1.07	33.78	1.29	1.92	N/A
USMO	11:35AM ET	20.83	0.25	1.21%	1.44	14.45	0.25	3.65	N/A
VLCCF	11:35AM ET	24.65	0.20	0.80%	3.07	8.04	0.20	3.60	N/A
AAV	11:30AM ET	10.86	0.44	3.89%	0.897	12.11	0.44	2.342	N/A
ACH	11:30AM ET	23.93	0.53	2.26%	11.80	2.03	0.53	1.25	N/A
AIP	Jan 23	43.75	0.00	0.00%	0.41	105.68	0.00	1.00	N/A
CNE	11:31AM ET	12.93	0.13	1.00%	1.313	9.85	0.13	2.265	N/A
ELRN	10:44AM ET	12.85	0.01	0.08%	-0.47	N/A	0.01	N/A	N/A
FDG	11:31AM ET	21.48	0.04	0.19%	3.826	5.62	0.04	3.623	N/A
FRO	11:31AM ET	32.90	0.25	0.75%	6.89	4.78	0.25	7.00	N/A
GMR	11:31AM ET	35.74	0.13	0.36%	7.09	5.03	0.13	4.80	N/A
HTE	11:31AM ET	21.08	0.11	0.52%	-4.15	N/A	0.11	3.68	N/A
MTR	9:31AM ET	57.40	0.21	0.36%	6.13	9.36	0.21	5.24	N/A
NAT	11:30AM ET	34.71	0.01	0.03%	4.204	8.26	0.01	5.85	N/A
NEW	11:31AM ET	30.46	0.10	0.33%	6.72	4.53	0.10	7.30	N/A
NFI	11:31AM ET	21.83	0.23	1.06%	3.24	6.74	0.23	5.60	N/A
PDS	11:30AM ET	22.70	0.28	1.22%	0.826	27.48	0.28	3.322	N/A

You should be able to link from the symbol to the information, but you have to check out the history of dividends pages (it doesn’t seem to be working well, but if you enter the data manually, it works), eg. PDS dividends page here.

MutualWin is an interesting website that allows members to refer a friend and claim ‘free cash’ on many categories of products: from cell phones to gym memberships to apartment rentals – from right across the Web.

Referral deals provide a great financial incentive for blog owners and investorbloggers looking to create a passive income stream.

A good example from the website shows how it works:

Let’s say your cell phone company is offering a $100 bonus if you sign up a friend. It sounds like a great deal – unless all of your friends already have phones. MutualWin lets you post your offer so that other customers can see it. If one of them is interested and signs up for service, both parties split the bonus, even if you and the other person have never met. That means $50 for each of you, simply for clicking a button.

This is an intriguing way to earn money for a number of reasons:

1. some deals are valued for $100s of dollars;
2. the reach of the internet can help refer many people; and
3. there’s quite a range of different types of promotions available.

If you earn money on this system, do leave a comment here! I’d love to hear any successes from this!

This is So NOT sponsored.