When investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), investors are sometimes surprised by the hefty tax bill. REITs and MLPs are taxed at ordinary income tax rates if they are in taxable accounts, which takes a big bite out of the total return for many. But there is a way to get around this tax bill if an investor has capital losses he can use. I call this strategy dividends to capital gains conversion.

It used to be so simple for those approaching retirement. Start trimming the portion of your retirement portfolio dedicated to equities and move into laddered, safe fixed-income. Just 10 years ago you could get a 6% yield on a 10 year U.S. Treasury bond. Now you don’t even get 2%. With yields rising around the world on government debt, the risk/reward tradeoff for long-term fixed income is weighted way too heavily on the risk side these days.

With short-term interest rates still sitting at near 0%, more and more investors have begun to seek out companies paying a reasonable dividend yield. But as many have pointed out, including myself, it’s not just about the yield. The consistency and growth rate of the dividend are of utmost importance as well. With that in mind, let’s take a look at two solid companies with low debt, dividend yields above 4%, and a strong five year dividend growth rate above 8%.

The continued volatility in European bond markets is not surprising. Many of us predicted that the euro was doomed as soon as members of the euro zone pushed their public debt above 100% of GDP. Now their behavior is coming home to roost as markets are sending bond yields ever higher.

There are so many strategies for investors that are tossed around these days that it’s easy to forget one of the most important ideas: Those who are younger should be taking more risk in their retirement portfolios than those who are approaching retirement. There are a few reasons for this. First, those of us who won’t retire for another 25 years simple won’t need the money in our retirement accounts any time soon. So the day to day gyrations in the markets have much less impact on our levels of stress and our decision making. Second, because younger folks are much less concerned about day to day movements in their retirement portfolios, they are much less likely to panic and move in and out of the market. And lastly, it has been proven again and again that given enough time, higher risk means higher returns. The key phrase here is “given enough time”.