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Dividend Increases · Weekly Dividend Increases This Week (July 13-17, 2026) Three Dividend Achievers raised this week. One of them, a 17-year streak from Cummins with a 10 percent hike, is the story worth sitting with. WEEKLY SERIES · JULY 17, 2026 · 5 MIN READ Mid-July is usually a quiet stretch for dividend increases. Most Achievers and Aristocrats run annual raise cycles in Q1 or Q4, so July tends to deliver a handful of raises rather than a flood. This week fits that pattern, but it also delivered one raise big enough to actually think about. Cummins bumped its quarterly dividend 10 percent to $2.20 per share, extending a 17-year streak. That's a real signal from a cyclical industrial that just finished a year with $2.8 billion in earnings on $33.7 billion in sales. NNN REIT quietly hit its 37th consecutive annual increase, which puts it in a club of just three publicly traded REITs at that milestone. And Home...

Investing · SPCX Investing in SPCX: Is SpaceX Stock Worth the Price? Investing in SPCX means buying rockets, Starlink, and an AI bet in one stock. Here's what the price actually assumes before you buy in. ANALYSIS · UPDATED JULY 2026 · 6 MIN READ On June 12, 2026, SpaceX rang the opening bell on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX. Shares priced at $135, valuing the company near $1.77 trillion, the largest IPO in history by a wide margin. A month later, the stock had round tripped from an intraday high of $225.64 back down below where it started. That whiplash is the real backdrop for anyone researching investing in SPCX right now. This isn't a sleepy dividend stock you buy and forget about. It's a rocket company, a satellite internet provider, and an AI bet, all trading under one ticker, and Wall Street clearly hasn't agreed on what that combination is worth.

Back in 2017, I wrote an article titled "ETF vs. Mutual Fund Investment Strategy" that explored the fundamental trade-offs for the passive investor. At the time, the choice was defined by clear barriers: high minimums for "Admiral" shares, the lack of fractional ETF units, and the inability to automate ETF trades. Fast forward nine years to Q1 2026, and the landscape has undergone a complete transformation. The barriers have largely evaporated, leaving us with a new question: Does the distinction even matter anymore?

North American markets are currently expensive. The S&P 500 is trading at a premium driven by multiple expansion in a handful of tech giants, while the real "Yield" and "Appreciation" have moved across the ocean. International diversification is no longer an optional hedge; it is the only way to avoid domestic over-valuation. This analysis breaks down the structural components and diversification profiles of Vanguard’s International Dividend Appreciation (VIGI) and International High Dividend Yield (VYMI) ETFs.

As we enter the second quarter of 2026, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) remains one of the most polarizing tickers in the consumer staples sector. For some, it is a fortress of reliability and shareholder value; for others, it is a dangerously over-extended stock trading at a valuation usually reserved for hyper-growth technology firms. With a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio consistently hovering near 55, the central debate for 2026 is whether Costco's operational execution can continue to outrun its premium price tag.

As we navigate the opening chapters of 2026, the global financial landscape is defined by a paradoxical mix of stubborn inflation and aggressive technological disruption. Within this volatility, Berkshire Hathaway has emerged not just as a participant, but as the ultimate architect of defensive value, pushing its cash reserves to a historic $347 billion—a figure that represents more than just a savings account, but a strategic fortress designed to withstand the structural technical debt of the modern market.