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If you're watching the stock market with a combination of awe and dread, you're not alone. The new highs are impressive. But you probably realize we're long overdue for a correction, too. Sadly, most don't know where to put their money to insulate themselves from the inevitable. If you're one of them, I have some good news. I've discovered a country that minted 43,000 new millionaires last year, and it's about as far off Wall Street as you can get. Best, it's enjoying 23 years of uninterrupted growth. If you're looking for protection, capital gains, and oversized dividends, click here to get the lucrative details.
| | | 9/17/2014 By David Dittman 
I've discovered five stocks hiding in plain sight that could make you a millionaire.
But you'll never hear about them in the press. And Wall Street has sleepwalked right past them.
Why?
Because they're located in a country that's 14 time zones away from Wall Street. But these winning picks are just as easy to buy as any U.S. stock.
So where am I talking about?
Here are some hints: - According to Forbes, this country's citizens are the third-happiest in the world (America barely cracks the top 10)…
- …that's likely because they're the richest people on the planet. Their median wealth stands at $219,505—five times higher than our median wealth of $44,911;
- This country's stocks are considered the world's most profitable. Its stock exchange has remained strong for 110 years. Its equity market is the eighth-largest in the world.
I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I'm talking about Australia.
You read that right.
A place that makes most Americans think of vegemite sandwiches, kangaroos and the Outback is the richest country on Earth.
And here's something else most investors don't know: last year, Australians grew their wealth by more than a billion dollars a day.
That growth minted 43,274 new millionaires.
By now you must be wondering what their secret is … and how you can take advantage of it yourself.
That's where my top 5 picks come in.
They're the same opportunities ordinary Australians use to get rich … and I've just put the finishing touches on a special report that gives you everything you need to know about them.
Make no mistake: each has the potential to turn you into a millionaire.
I'll tell you more about this report—including how you can get your own free copy—in a moment.
First, let me show you the forces driving the economy of the richest (and just about the happiest) citizens in the world.
4 Keys to Australia's Stunning Growth
Before I continue, I want to make something crystal clear: I'm not Australian. I'm from America.
And I love our country.
There's nowhere on Earth I'd rather live.
But I'm agnostic when it comes to where I invest my money. And right now Australia is showing investors some very profitable opportunities.
But rather than just telling you to consider adding Australian stocks to your portfolio, let me show you a few differences between our country and theirs that make it a better place to invest.
At the end, you can decide for yourself if you want take part in their success story.
Sound good?
Great. Let's keep going. - Aussie Advantage #1: Government—Australia's government has only shut down once, in 1975. America? We've been hit by 18 crippling shutdowns since 1976, resulting in $24 billion in lost economic output;
- Aussie Advantage #2: Taxes—Individual taxes can't go higher than 45% in Australia, while they can be as high as 56% in the U.S. And the Australian government allows deductions that lower taxes on dividends;
- Aussie Advantage #3—Banks: Australia's banking system is among the world's five safest, on par with Switzerland. Ours barely makes Standard & Poor's top 25 list;
- Aussie Advantage #4: GDP Growth: Australia has notched 23 straight years of economic growth, while our latest streak is only four years long. Economists expect Australian GDP to grow 3.1% this year—82% more than our paltry 1.7% rate.
I could go on and on with reasons why you should put some of your money into Australian stocks.
I could tell you about the study from the think tank the Heritage Foundation that measures economic freedom. It ranked Australia third. We came in 12th.
The Aussies are beating us at economic freedom? It's arguably a principle we invented!
Maybe that's why the Australian Trade Commission reported that foreign investors have $2.5 trillion invested in Australian stocks. Or why foreign investors plowed $155 billion—a 55% increase—into their stock market in the past three years.
Meanwhile…
Alarm Bells Are Ringing in America
Here at home, more and more experts are warning us about America's stock market.
Like former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who said: "The stock market has recovered so sharply for so long, you have to assume somewhere along the line we'll get a significant correction."
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is on the same page. Here's what he says about U.S. stocks:
"In my mind, it's time to be cautious about the U.S. stock market. While we are having a great year, I am being very selective about the companies I purchase."
The bottom line: Now is a perfect time to diversify some of your money into a country whose economy has grown for 23 straight years … a country that outperforms the U.S. on virtually every financial front … a country that created 43,274 new millionaires last year.
If you agree, your timing couldn't be better.
Because now I want to show you…
How to Become the 43,275th Millionaire
Your Australian profit adventure begins with the free report I mentioned earlier. It's called "The Secret to Becoming a Millionaire: 5 Australian Stocks That Can Make You Rich."
One of the companies you'll read about is Millionaire Maker #2, your best chance to profit from Australia's super-safe banking system.
But here's the thing: This isn't a stodgy, grow-at-3%-a-year kind of bank. Far from it.
Thanks to an aggressive push into Asia, it delivered an 11% year-over-year earnings surge. That led to a massive 14% dividend hike.
Best of all, its domestic mortgage lending has grown faster than its competition's for the past 14 quarters. And its home loan sales have increased 16% this year. It now owns 15% of the country's mortgage market.
That safe domestic growth gives it the cash it needs to keep expanding into new markets.
Subscribers to my Australian Edge research service who got in on this stock when I first recommended it are sitting on a total return of 104.5%.
That's not hard to believe when you know it sports a 7.6% yield … and the share price is up 14.8% since February.
My advice? Pick up some shares now, before the price goes beyond a reasonable level.
You get full details on this winner and four others in "The Secret to Becoming a Millionaire." It's yours free just for taking Australian Edge for a no-obligation test drive.
This one-of-a-kind report gives you the names and ticker symbols of companies that have already delivered us total returns up to 123% and yields as high as 12%!
Now is your chance to experience gains like that for yourself—and I can't wait to help you get started.
That's why I hope you'll take advantage of my special offer and…
Go here for instant access to my top 5 "millionaire makers."
Editor's note: Still unsure? Let me put your mind at ease about one thing that may be causing you to hesitate: getting in on any of these opportunities really does amount to an easy trade at any brokerage. It's just as easy as buying a U.S. stock.
No matter if the bull market is about to die, or if it keeps going up for another six months—or even a year—it makes sense to insulate yourself from the inevitable downturn the experts have warned us about. Australia is the perfect way to do that.
Don't miss this chance to try out a different way of investing.
Claim your free copy of this extraordinary report now. | | |
Instead of just looking for a safe, dependable place to insulate some of your portfolio from the overheated domestic market, why not go for it all? I'm talking about safety AND massive gains. I've discovered a country that's enjoyed 23 years of uninterrupted economic growth. It's home to the richest people on the planet. And last year it minted 43,000 new millionaires. I'll give you my top five picks from this surprising hotbed when you click here.
| | | 9/17/2014 By Chad Fraser 
The world just can't get enough of Australia.
Or at least that's what one might conclude after looking at the latest tourism numbers from the country. They show that international visitors spent A$30.1 billion in Australia in the year ended June 30, up 7.0% from the previous year ($1 Australian = $0.90 U.S.).
China continues to be a fast-growing tourism source, with 709,300 Chinese visitors landing in Australia in 2013, up 14.4% from 2012. Tourism Research Australia sees that figure topping one million by 2020.
But tourists from other Asian destinations continue to arrive en masse, as well. That includes those from Malaysia (up 24% in the year ended May 2014), Hong Kong (up 23.3%) and India (up 20.5%).
That growth is being driven by two key factors: the fact that Australia is at most an eight-hour flight for most Asian tourists, and the rapid rise of the continent's middle class. According to Reuters, Asia will be home to 64% of the global middle class by 2030, up from 30% now.
Aussies Take to the Skies
Meanwhile, more Australians are hopping on a plane, with 5.4 million choosing an overseas holiday in the year ended March 2014. That's up 8% from a year ago and more than double the number who ventured overseas in 2006.
A stronger Australian dollar has helped support that growth. As well, international airfares remain at record low levels, a trend that's expected to continue.
"The prices and affordability are exceptional and extraordinary, and this will continue to drive growth," said Graham Turner, managing director of the Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd. (ASX: FLT), in a recent Sydney Morning Herald article.
Another factor? According to a recent report from Credit Suisse, Australians are the world's richest people, with a median wealth of US$219,505. As of the end of 2013, 1.1 million of the country's 23.1 million citizens were millionaires.
Australia's Asian Gateway
All of this adds up to sunny skies for Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD, OTC: SYDDF), which is Sydney's only international airport and Australia's largest, with 37.9 million passengers trooping through its three terminals in 2013.
Sydney Airport is one of five stocks we recommend in our new special report, "The Secret to Becoming a Millionaire: 5 Australian Stocks That Can Make You Rich." (See below to get your free copy today.)
The company's pricing is subject to a less rigorous regulatory framework than some of its peers in Europe and the U.S., as it negotiates commercial agreements directly with airlines. The airport was government-owned until its privatization in 2002.
More traffic from Asia, along with a long history of rising revenue and earnings, caught the attention of Australian Edge chief strategist David Dittman, who added the stock to the advisory's Aggressive Portfolio in December 2013.
"[Sydney Airport's] financial and operating results in the 21st century are evidenced by long-term resilience and supported by strong growth in passenger numbers," he wroteat the time. "This traffic growth is now driven to a large degree by Chinese tourism."
Investors who purchased shares then have seen a 24.4% total return in just nine months. And Dittman feels Sydney Airport has plenty of altitude to gain yet.
Strong Results in First Half
In the first half of 2014, Sydney Airport's revenue rose 5.7%, to A$568.4 million from A$537.9 million in the first half of 2013.
Overall passenger numbers were up 2.3% from a year ago, to 18.6 million. The international passenger count increased 4.5%, to 6.4 million, while domestic traffic rose 1.2%, to 12.2 million.
The gains were helped by cultural and sports events, like the Chinese New Year, a Rotary conference in Sydney and the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia. Correspondingly, the airport saw more travellers from Asia and markets like the U.K., France and the U.S.
Revenue increased across Sydney Airport's operations, including aeronautical revenue (up 5.7%), retail (up 7.4%), property and car rental (up 6.8%), and car parking and ground transport (up 5.7%).
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 6.1%, to $A459.5 million. The company paid an interim distribution to unitholders of A$0.115 a share on August 15, up from A$0.11 a year earlier. The stock currently boasts a 5.4% yield.
The company aims to pay out 100% of its free cash flow as distributions, and remains on track to deliver a full-year distribution of A$0.235, in line with its earlier guidance.
Second Airport Might Be an Opportunity in Disguise
Sydney Airport could face new competition after Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government recently approved a one-runway airport at Badgerys Creek, 50 kilometers west of Sydney's central business district.
However, as part of the company's privatization deal, it acquired the right of first refusal to build and operate a second airport; it plans to start formal consultations with the government on September 30.
The government says the private sector must assume construction costs of around A$2.5 billion, but the Abbott administration has pledged A$2.9 billion to expand and upgrading several major roads that would eventually lead to the airport. The government wants to see shovels in the ground in 2016, with the first planes landing sometime in the middle of the next decade.
Most analysts feel that Sydney Airport will likely work with the government on the project, including Dittman.
"A second airport could provide the company with a long-term growth opportunity, since western Sydney's population is expected to rise by 50% over the next 20 years, to 3 million from 2 million," he wrote in an April 16 Australian Edge article.
The new airport's distance from Sydney's city center could bring other benefits, such as a lack of a curfew, where Sydney's operations are strictly limited between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The new airport could also become a hub for growth-oriented budget airlines.
No matter what Sydney Airport ultimately decides, Dittman sees clear skies ahead.
"Proximity to Asia and its growing middle class, with a high propensity to travel, and increased airline capacity put Sydney Airport in a prime position to grow for the long term," he wrote in his new special report.
Who Else Wants the Secret to Becoming a Millionaire?
Fact: Australians grew their wealth by more than $1 billion dollars a day last year---enough to mint 43,275 new millionaires!
So what's their secret?
The 5 winners Australian-investing expert David Dittman reveals in his new special report. They're the same stocks ordinary Australians use to get rich. And they're just as easy to buy as any U.S. stock.
The time to get in is now.
Get full details here. | | |
If you're getting nervous about the market hitting new highs virtually every day, you're not alone. Most smart investors know the party can't last forever. But what you may not know is how to protect yourself. If the idea of protecting your wealth involves massive capital gains, oversized dividends, and unparalleled safety, you're going to love what you see when you follow me here.
| | | 9/17/2014 By Robert Rapier 
Each year in January, I outline my expectations for the upcoming year in the energy sector. Four of the five predictions I made for 2014 look like pretty safe bets at this point. The one that had gone against me for most of the year was the prediction that crude prices would average less in 2014 than in 2013. Given the changes in the supply/demand picture around the world, it seemed to me a pretty safe bet that oil prices would drift moderately lower this year. I felt this would be especially true for the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) given the record rate of expansion of US oil supplies, combined with the fact that crude oil exports from the US have been banned since 1975 to all countries besides Canada. Rapidly increasing US supplies combined with US demand that has been flat in recent years is a recipe for lower prices. Over the past five years US oil production has increased by 3.22 million barrels per day (bpd). In fact, nearly 84% of the global oil production increase over that time span took place in the US. The rest of the world lagged far behind the US in growing oil production, yet most of the demand growth has been taking place in developing countries. Despite the export ban, new US oil supplies still add to global oil supplies in two ways. The first is that they diminish US oil imports, increasing the supply available for other countries. Second, US oil refiners are allowed to export finished products, and those exports have risen sharply in recent years. Most of the increase in exports has been in the form of diesel, something that the US produces in excess. So with a flood of new production in the US (another of my 2014 predictions) -- and year over year US oil production is running about a million barrels a day higher -- I felt like the short term favored softening oil prices. But the opposite happened. In 2013, the average closing price of WTI was $97.98/barrel (bbl). By the second week of February, the price of WTI had risen above $100/bbl, and would stay there almost continuously until the end of July. But then WTI prices started to decline, and as I write these words the most recent closing WTI price was $91.18/bbl. The average daily closing price for 2014 through the first week of September was $100.60. While it's possible that my prediction for WTI could still end up being correct, that will require WTI prices to average about $92/bbl or less for the remainder of 2014. For Brent, the 2013 average was $108.56/bbl. Just like WTI, the price of Brent rose above last year's average and remained there until July. And also like WTI, Brent has been declining since -- trading most recently at $96.57/bbl. But with a year-to-date average of $107.52, and with prices much lower than that at present, my prediction for Brent looks fairly safe at this point. In any case, both WTI and Brent are finally trading around where I thought they would trade for most of the year. I think the current supply/demand fundamentals are pretty consistent with current prices. But might oil prices fall lower? In the short term, just about anything is possible. Speculators can certainly affect the price of oil over the short term and, as the Energy Information Administration recently reported, net WTI speculative futures positions rose sharply from January to about March of this year, and then remained elevated until around the first of July. From there, net long positions declined to lows last seen in May 2013.  Source: Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook
Speculators can drive down the price of oil very quickly, as quickly as they can run it up. In 2008 we saw WTI decline by $100/bbl in less than six months. But consider that the last time the monthly average for WTI was below $80/bbl was four years ago this month. Since then, the world's oil demand has grown by about 4 million bpd, despite oil prices that averaged nearly $100/bbl over that time span. My point is this: despite short-term fluctuations, the world has become very much accustomed to oil at $100/bbl. Over the past three-year period, the average price of Brent crude, a global marker for internationally traded crudes, was over $110/bbl. Yet global demand grew by an average of 1.2 million bpd in each of those years. Thus, for long-term investors positioned in quality companies, the current dip toward $90/bbl isn't of huge concern. As long as US oil production can continue to advance at its recent pace, the price of oil will probably trade in a range of $100 +/- $15/bbl. Numerous oil companies will continue to be highly profitable at those prices -- particularly those that are growing their output and thus driving the US production increase. There is little risk in oil trading at $80/bbl for long if it reaches that low point, because marginal production will start to be shut in. Further, OPEC maintains significant power to move the world's oil markets, and the budgets of many OPEC countries are now dependent upon $100+ oil. Therefore, they will also move to ensure that oil prices don't remain depressed for long. Notably, Tuesday's rebound in oil prices came after OPEC's secretary general said the exporters' cartel may cut output quotas next year. However, short-term traders or those with a lower appetite for risk need to ensure that they understand which companies are at greatest risk if oil prices trade below current levels for very long. The riskiest bets in a time of softening oil prices are oil companies that are highly leveraged, and those insufficiently hedged against falling oil prices. Conclusions The current correction in oil prices may be causing some angst for those with oil stocks in their portfolios, but long-term demand growth in developing countries will continue, and global oil production will struggle to keep pace. I have said for a few years that I expect the price of WTI to trade mostly between about $80/bbl and $120/bbl as long as US production continues to climb, but when prices do break out they will break to the high side. While there has been an overall correction in the energy sector as oil prices have declined, this has created some real bargains in the industry. In next week's Energy Strategist I will identify the companies most at risk in the event that oil prices remain depressed, as well as those that now look like bargains. This article originally appeared in the The Energy Letter column. Never miss an issue. Sign up to receive The Energy Letter by email. | | |
According to a report by Credit Suisse, Australians are the richest people on the planet. That's not hard to believe when you discover their wealth grew by $1 billion a day last year. This explosive growth minted 43,274 new millionaires. If you want to know their secret – including how to use it to build your own fortune – click here.
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