Let me start with a prediction: the S&P 500 will gain about 5% this year—not great, but not bad, either. This isn’t really a Nostradamus-level call: I’m simply annualizing the gain the market has posted so far in 2025, as of this writing. We can think of this year as the middle stage of the business cycle—where inflation is cooling, the labor market is softening, and consumer spending is starting to slow (emphasis on starting to). In other words, it’s the perfect setup for us to make sure we’re well diversified by looking at assets beyond stocks. At the top…

In trading on Friday, shares of SiriusXM Holdings were yielding above the 5% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $1.08), with the stock changing hands as low as $21.59 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market’s total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the iShares Russell 3000 ETF (IWV) back on 5/31/2000 — you would have paid $78.27 per share. Fast forward to 5/31/2012 and each share was worth $77.79 on that date, a loss of $0.48…