Check Your Bills: Beat the Market by Investing in Companies You Use

Anthony Planas

5 years ago

Story Highlights:

If you’re too focused on the next big trend, you could miss investments that create great cash flow.
Owning a share of the companies you cut a monthly check to can help you offset higher energy prices.
Build a basket of companies that provide services such as insurance, power, disposal and internet.

“Only two things are certain in life: death and taxes.”

It’s an old adage my grandfather repeats at nearly every family gathering. But I’d like to expand that list to include insurance, energy bills, water, disposal fees, internet and phone bills.

Few things in life are as reliable and consistent as bills for any of these services. And nearly every one of them is an investment opportunity.

Read on to learn how you can invest in your monthly bills for some of the best buys on Wall Street.

Invest in Companies You Use and Make Money

I like to own the same companies I cut a check to every month.

Dividends feel like a rebate, and share price growth softens the blow of rate increases. You can profit a bit from everyone else having to pay more too.

Let’s see what a basket of these companies might look like:

The Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) for insurance.
NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) for power.
Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) for disposal.
Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA) for internet.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) for the phone line.

In a five-year period, an equal-weighted portfolio of these companies returned 140.3%! That’s more than double what the broader S&P 500 Index returned.

These aren’t hard-to-find companies, either. After all, you cut a check to a name just like one of these every month. Your list will likely look a bit different.

But many are considered blue-chip companies. They have a strong track record for stable growth.

In the Real Wealth Strategist newsletter, we recommend natural resource companies. Many are the same energy producers that pump the oil that ends up in your car or the natural gas that powers your home.

These aren’t flashy companies, but with strong dividends, they can help offset higher energy prices.

Good investing,

Anthony Planas

Internal Analyst, Banyan Hill Publishing

P.S. Watch the video below to catch my latest marijuana market update. Unlike the companies listed above, the marijuana market is a fast-paced and riskier sector. Stay up to speed on all of the latest breaking news by subscribing to my YouTube channel.