This column will explain another form of investment strategy called "Drip Investing". This strategy is good for individuals with limited income who can use their dividend income to purchase fractional shares in a stock they own. Companies participate in the drip program to help those low-income wage earners get a start. You can start with one share and place that share in the drip program. It is another way to grow a portfolio of stocks.
Here is what happens: Companies declare dividends mon
Sometimes there’s just no explaining Albany. That’s really been true over the past six years of New York State government under one-party control.
It’s been head scratching, to say the least. Infuriating might better describe the current state of affairs. And the current situation is chaos.
Take the latest on public safety which, since Governor Cuomo and the Albany Democrats taking majorities in both houses of the Legislature, has been driven into the open arms of criminals and other b
To the kid with cancer of the bones. Who is up late tonight because his meds won’t let him sleep. To his mother, who is beside him, rubbing his tummy.
Mothers have been rubbing tummies since the dawn of the man.
To the man who raises palmettos in South Alabama, whose wife passed yesterday morning. The same man who is starting a pecan orchard because it’s what she always wanted.
To the woman who is the janitor for the Baptist church. Who clocks out of her other job to push her cart
Sometimes we hold onto the pain from hurts long ago... holding tight to a grudge. It doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all us. It’s quite likely the other person has no clue why we might be upset at them.
Life is full of hurts and offenses… some are made accidentally without realizing we’ve done the offending, while at other times we intentionally get even with someone for the pain they’ve caused us. Oh, what a vicious cycle!
Then there is the pain and guilt we feel for our offens
There is no greater prayer than The Lord’s Prayer. Actually, it’s the perfect prayer… from Jesus Himself, given to His disciples as part of His great Sermon on the Mount.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and
He was a good kid. You could just tell.
He was maybe 11. Twelve at the most. He was in the supermarket. He had his little sister balanced on his hip. You don’t often see boys carrying toddlers out in public.
The kid was filling a shopping buggy. He was reaching for a bag of tortilla chips on the top shelf. I saw one of the older ladies in our aisle reach upward and remove a bag of Tostitos for him.
They were Tostitos Scoops. The greatest invention by the chip industry, and perh
Spring is here; the Vernal Equinox has come. Now if we could only adjust spring weather-makers like the Santa Anna winds, the high or low systems layering in the clouds, and turbulence churning out in the open seas and off the Great Lakes. Our fragile and lovely little blue planet is enduring some violent and damaging storms. An eon or two of calm would be welcome. However, the snowdrops are just pushing through the cold ground; signaling spring. Yesterday it was 72 degrees and they are speaki
The warning signs on New York’s dashboard keep flashing “Pay Attention”:
Pay attention to the financial industry – an industry on which the state’s fiscal and economic well-being is make or break. This industry moving out of New York State, including the most recent Goldman Sachs announcement of its continued relocation of employees and operations to Texas, is alarming.
Pay attention to the fact that over the past several years, New York State has been marked as a national leader
When I became interested in the stock market, buying stock was extremely expensive. Then, Scottrade developed the concept of charging a minimal amount for a trade, which became popular with those who could not afford the fees stockbrokers charged.
These are the four firms I have dealt with in the past seventy years: Baker-Weeks & Co., Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, and then Chas. Schwab. Eventually, Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade. The last three were all banks and neither has a platf
by Michael Weiser
Anyone who has lived in this decade can tell you that the United States of America has had some hard days. During another bitter election season, there were many dispiriting moments. Civil dialogue about the many issues we face was all but absent.
Especially troubling was a November 4th Wall Street Journal report that civics teachers not only steered clear of the election but also avoided discussing any current political issue in their classrooms.
Political campa
Repeatedly in this column over the past six years, ever since the approval in 2019 of the all-Democrat climate agenda known as the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act” (CLCPA), I have shared warnings – my own and those of many others – that New York State is going too far, too fast.
It keeps turning out that we haven’t just been crying wolf. It hasn’t just been a chorus of so-called “climate deniers.” Not at all. In fact, over the past year we have been joined by plenty of voic
Don’t shoot the messenger. But in America, one third of children have never handwritten a letter.
And it’s not just kids. Nearly 40 percent of adult Americans haven’t written a letter in the last five years, while 43 percent of Millenials have never sent one in their lifetime. Whereas recent studies show that Generation Z can’t read cursive and has no idea what the heck Grandma’s letters say.
The New York Times says that “The age of proper correspondence writing has ended…”
“Let
In about two days I will be celebrating my 93rd birthday. Recently I have been reflecting on my life increasingly. I am happy to share a brief history of how I became the person I am.
My parents were both in their teens when they arrived from Naples, Italy. From what I have learned, most marriages in those days were pre-arranged. I was the last of ten children, two of which passed on in their early childhood from causes unknown to me. I have a surviving brother, who is 100+ years old and li
During the season of Lent, we tend to reflect a little more intently on Christ’s mission and sacrifice for us. Since He gave so much in giving His life to redeem us, it seems we could easily give up even a little for Him. Though the traditional idea of giving up something for Lent has not been something I have done, my friend and distant cousin, Carolyn, got me thinking more deeply about the season of Lent.
A few years ago, as Carolyn read her “Catholic Weekly” magazine with its daily d
Dear Kid,
Don’t grow up. Don’t turn into an adult. That’s my advice. Resist adulthood. Be a kid forever.
Right now, a lot of adults are angry in America. To be fair, we have a lot to be angry about. But adults can behave badly when they are angry. So please forgive us.
Because the truth is—and I shouldn’t be telling you this—adults can be pretty stupid.
Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean we’re “stupid” in a negative sense. Truly, I don’t. After all, just because someone is st
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.” Charles Dickens*
‘Tis the month of shamrocks, aquamarines, and the vernal equinox. I’ll soon pull out my recipe for Irish tea cake to go along with a hearty stew, in lieu of corned beef and cabbage. I’ve just never been thrilled with cooked cabbage. My family (except for one sister-in-law and her daughters) has no Irish background that we know of.
Over the past several years, New York State has become notorious for politically driven, far-left ideology overriding reality, ideology overruling common sense, and, ultimately, ideology overturning the common good.
That’s been true on immigration, climate, fiscal practices, criminal justice, and other arenas of public policy which have become dominated by the one-party, largely far-left, highly politicized control of government.
The current crisis in our correctional facilities is now
Three days ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about one thousand points, causing me great pleasure. Why? Because as a seasoned investor, these fluctuations provide a smorgasbord of stocks at deep discounts. Schwab’s platforms allow you to arrange your portfolio to show all of the big losers according to the sum of money they have lost.
This column offers you a way to look closely at the stock you’re considering buying by using information easily available in your brokerage account.
Wisdom... that value within our heart and soul which helps guide our steps on this path called life. An entity more precious than gold. Lady Wisdom’s knowledge often comes from experience, by learning and gaining insight the hard way… you know, those mistakes that can either break or make us. She brings a common sense, discernment, shrewdness… an innate understanding of what’s right and wrong. But this sound judgment can be lacking when we become distracted or enticed by what seems so right,
by Jeff Minick
Actress, mother of two, and school activist Sophie Winkleman began her recent address on children at the 2025 Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference in London by describing a recent scene from a packed London bus. Standing over a young man and a young woman, both intent on their smartphones, Winkleman noticed that each was on a dating site, “reading profiles of men and women who presented as extremely similar to the two of them.”
She concluded:
"Our bus rea
My last column covered the steps you need to take to get set up with your stock brokerage account and banking arrangements. This column will give you some tips for selecting stocks
for your portfolio.
My preference for stocks is limited to Consumer Staples, Healthcare, Utilities and Communications, to name a few. Also, because I am a Dip Buyer (buying stocks when their price dips below what I first paid for it), I also focus on the dividend yield of the stock which is, simply put, when so
Americans are arguing right now. And believe me, I get it. There is a lot going on. Everyone has differences of opinion.
But I wondered if we Americans couldn’t put aside our disagreements for a moment, and agree on a few things we love.
I’ll start.
I love quilting. Quilting bees, quilting circles, quilting parties. Americans didn’t invent quilting, but it’s an American artform nonetheless.
I used to watch my mother quilt with dogged persistence. Day after day. Month afte
Approaching final negotiations over a new state budget, it’s critical to begin stressing that this year’s budget must address the right priorities – and one of the top priorities, in my view, is the future of our local roads and bridges.
It’s a priority that I and local Assemblyman Phil Palmesano, together with many of our Senate and Assembly colleagues regionally and statewide, have long worked to strengthen. Since 2013, in fact, we have stood together with New York’s county and town high
