| Dear Reader, Investors are wondering how to earn steady income while growing their portfolios safely. Today’s markets offer an uncertain rate of return so it’s especially important to have the right advice when you’re seeking safe, solid income from your investments. That’s why I sat down to interview Robert Ross, income expert and The Weekly Profit editor at Mauldin Economics. Robert’s been doing well with his unique approach to income investing. Just one of his picks is up 23.5% while paying a 2.4% dividend. Robert reveals the name of that pick plus one more in our interview. More importantly, he also shares the strategies he’s applying to outperform the markets as an income investor. I’ve attached the interview below so you can start learning from it right away. Your income enthusiast publisher, 
Ed D'Agostino
Publisher
 P.S. The interest in Robert’s strategies for finding safe and profitable dividend-paying stocks has been tremendous. Many readers have asked for direct access to Robert and his advice on navigating the market. That’s why we’re working on a way for you to ask questions and join the conversation with him. You’ll be hearing from us soon, stay tuned! In the meantime, here’s… An Interview with Robert Ross: Hi everyone, It’s Ed D’Agostino, publisher of Mauldin Economics. This issue of The Weekly Profit is going to be a little different. Today I’m sitting down with your editor and Mauldin Economics’ senior equity analyst, Robert Ross, to talk about income investing—which he calls the “unicorn of investing strategies.” Robert and I spent a lot of time discussing it in Dallas last week. And I thought you’d benefit from his insights. We’ll also hit on his proprietary stock evaluation system, why the defense industry is one of his favorites, and his biggest concern about the stock market right now. Let’s get to it. Ed: Robert, you’ve been our senior equity analyst for years. But your real passion is income investing. How did that develop? Robert: Well Ed, after watching what happened to various family members during the global financial crisis, I turned my focus entirely to income investing. I dedicated almost every working hour to figuring out how to help them and other ordinary investors avoid common investment traps. The process made me more risk averse, which led to income investing. Ed: That makes sense. But you were already honing your income investing chops before the global financial crisis, right? Robert: That’s right. Even before 2008, I was doing research for a former colleague on the relationship between interest rates, inflation, and dividend investing. The takeaway: You can create long-term wealth by holding safe and stable dividend-paying stocks. I found so much data to back this up. For instance, I’m sure our readers know about a group of stocks called the Dividend Aristocrats. These companies have increased their dividends for at least 25 years in a row. They’re basically the best of the best dividend-paying stocks. Dividend Aristocrats handed investors an average annualized return of 10.3% from 2005 to 2015, a period that includes the global financial crisis. That’s quite a bit better than the 7.3% from the S&P 500 during the same period. And it came with less volatility. The average volatility for Dividend Aristocrats was 13.9%, versus 15.1% for the S&P 500. Higher returns with less risk is the unicorn of investing strategies. And income investing is the only way I know that individual investors—meaning folks without access to Wall Street’s supercomputers—can… Click here to read on. | 