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So let’s just suppose that you actually want to retire at some point in the future. If you’re like most people, you’re probably a little behind in funding that retirement--especially after the wealth-gutting market of the last year--and you’re wondering if you can catch up. We clearly believe that investors who are willing to invest the time, energy and (of course) money in a disciplined and systematic way can indeed make AND KEEP big money over time.

A recent survey by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) showed that the percentage of investors who think stocks will rise over the next six months plunged to its lowest level in more than a year.

We’re going to be laser focused on earnings for the next three weeks given that 11 of our positions will report within that time frame.

With the market having come back strong since its swift retreat in early June the immediate threat of a larger correction has diminished. The S&P 500 index is back above its 50-day line and within a couple percentage points of its all-time high.

It’s been another sideways week in small-cap land. The S&P 600 index is essentially unchanged from last week, and despite some cross-currents under the surface, is holding firm just above 910.

Remain bullish, but continue to take things on a stock-by-stock basis. Some potholes based on earnings, rotation and news flow are certainly possible, but overall, the bull market is in good shape and most leading stocks act well.

Market continues to climb a wall of worry. I don’t know if this is the last hurrah of the bull market. A final push before a major retreat. But I do know that we should be mindful of the risks out there.

Most of the stocks in our Cabot Dividend Investor portfolio are behaving quite well; two stocks streaked to new highs in the last few days. I have no changes to the portfolio this week.

Today’s letter begins by answering recent questions from several readers, questions that you might have been wondering about as well, like what’s wrong with the U.S. dollar and who can you trust?

My investing idea today is a stock that showed up in Cabot Top Ten Report a few weeks ago ... and has since traded extremely tightly. It’s a big, “bull market” stock--Franklin Resources (BEN), the huge asset manager that operates Franklin Templeton Investments with more than $400 billion of assets under management.

Tim Lutts’ list of five programs that aren’t working and five things that are.

The markets are demonstrating impressive resiliency in the face of the coronavirus. You can’t fight the market but I remain a bit more guarded since this disruption will have to hit profits down the road for some companies.

This week is a reminder that markets don’t always go up. The big surprise was that it took so long for global markets to wake up to the threat.

The market is forward looking. It senses an end to this pandemic crisis and a reopening of the economy sooner rather than later. That’s good news. And I agree. The end-of-the-world pessimism that caused the market crash is being tempered. It’s a very good thing.

Small-cap healthcare stocks have been the best performing sector this year, and these three stocks stand above the crowd.

After two straight years of summer swoons in the stock market, “Sell in May and Go Away” has become one of the most popular sayings on Wall Street. And with markets down between 5% and 9% for the month so far, the Sell in May crowd is growing larger than...

After a rough week last week small caps have bounced back over the last two sessions and have the potential to close at a three-week high today. I’d like to see the S&P 600 Index close back above 1230 (at 1224 now) before turning more bullish.

There is no shortage of data pointing to just how bad this market is. With year-to-date (YTD) performance for the S&P 500, Nasdaq and S&P 600 of -17%, -27% and -18%, respectively, this is one of the worst YTD starts in decades.