Master limited partnerships (MLP) have long been my favorite income-oriented group. The stocks offer an unbeatable combination of high tax-advantaged yields, steady cash flow profiles and the potential for significant income growth over time.

Plankton and tuna both live in the same ocean, but biologists evaluate them using very different criteria because one is a fish and the other is a drifting micro-organism.

Are we done with the hullabaloo yet?

Every day, it seems, there’s a bunch of noise signaling that we’re doomed, that any second the market will meet its end and the economy will soon follow. Then…poof, all that hysteria’s set aside and folks back up their trucks, screaming with glee that everything’s OK. And for whatever reason–be it some Federal Reserve rumor or petrodollars from the Persian Gulf–all is well.

When it comes to our favorite investments, we’re all about getting paid. Getting paid means investing in companies that treat us the way we should be treated–as owners, not just fodder. This helps us avoid getting into real trouble that might make us call out for help with the now common ominous phrase, “Houston, we have a problem.”

The Alerian MLP Total Return Index is up 153 percent over the past five years, double the S&P 500’s 75 percent gain.

We got the interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC), and now all’s well with the markets, right?

For the most part, initial public offerings (IPOs) have been bad news for individual investors; all the hype surrounding new stocks routinely leads to inflated prices.

A common feature of all publicly traded partnerships (PTPs) is that they’re flow-through entities; PTPs pay no corporate-level tax and pass through the majority of cash flows directly to investors as distributions.

The news continues to turn bullish for the energy patch. US motor gasoline inventories are still far lower than average for this time of year as we head into the peak summer driving season. It’s no wonder gasoline prices are soaring.