Why are S&P 500 companies holding onto cash instead of paying its investors through dividends?

While Bernanke didn't explicitly tell investors to buy dividend stocks, the message is clear: investors who want to earn a decent income need to turn to alternative income investments.

Three stocks that pay high dividends that made big gains on Thursday.

As soon as interest rates rise, money will slosh back into bonds - leaving these dividend funds high and dry. This investment strategy is a  a safe alternative to dividends for income investors.

Dividend stocks aren't usually the champions of the stock market, but they certainly have more room to grow.

Today I'm going to tell you a personal story about how I learned the most important lesson of my investment career at a very early age.

After a five-year hiatus, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is reinstating its dividends. Are they built to last this time?

Regional banks simply make sense. They are not too big to fail. And that's a good thing.

Want to own a piece of history? All you need is $250 and an intense passion for the Green Bay Packers.

Disney's (NYSE: DIS) 50% annual dividend increase is its highest in at least a decade, and more increases could be on the way.

Gold stocks are not a place investors typically look for high dividend yields. No gold stock currently offers new investors even a 3 percent yield. But that could soon change.

With the global debt crisis worsening, European prime ministers seemingly dropping like flies, and unemployment still hovering around 9 percent here in the U.S., the market has rarely been more volatile.

It’s enough to send investors ducking for cover – or at least seeking a safer haven. Dividend stocks are a good place to start.

The discord in the Middle East has made some investors wary about putting money to work anywhere in the region, including Israel. But while the Arab world churns, Israel remains relatively stable and is a great place to find exciting technology companies.

The best thing is that many of these stocks pay dividends.

The bears' futile attempts to take stock prices lower have been good sport to watch. The first level of support on the S&P 500 is 1,280. The S&P 500 has closed above that level every day since January 12. That's 8 straight days.

Even last week, when it looked like a correction was looming -- after stocks sold-off on the good news from Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) -- the S&P 500 fell all the way to 1,271. But it didn't close there.

I said yesterday that it was tough to imagine Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) reporting good numbers this morning. And sure enough, Bank of America didn’t report good numbers.

In fact, BofA reported really bad numbers. At least that’s how I see a $1.4 billion quarterly loss. Apparently I’m in the minority, though, because BofA stock is up slightly this morning. But I think I can shed some light on why BofA isn’t getting hammered today.

What are you willing to bet on the likelihood that interest rates will stay low for the next year?

My supervisor raised this exact issue this morning. We were having a conversation about one of the investments we may recommend in an income newsletter we’ll be launching later this month.

Strong words for sure. If he’s right, this security will continue to pay solid 3.5% yields with the strong potential for capital gains.

If he’s wrong...well, the price of this investment could quickly and easily drop 50% or more. In light of the fact that this investment stands to benefit when interest rates drop, and that interest rates are already at rock-bottom levels, it seems like it might not be a good idea to buy it right now.

Seven months ago, this indicator flashed telling me that it was time to buy one specific energy commodity above all others. I recommended buying one simple investment to take advantage of the impending uptrend.

If you bought that investment then, you'd currently be sitting on a 25% gain and you would have collected an additional 4.2% in dividends.

The good news is that this indicator is flashing AGAIN, and I believe that if you buy this investment now, you'll be in a good position to capture similar gains over the next 6-9 months.

What am I talking about?

Well, on April 5, 2010 I wrote to you saying it was time to buy natural gas. Natural gas had just bounced off of year-to-date lows just under $4 per thousand-cubic-feet (MCF).

Most investors can't be bothered to buy physical gold. And I can't blame them.

It can be expensive and confusing to find the right vendor - and then you have to take delivery, and find a safe and secure place to store your gold.

But many of those same investors will eagerly gobble up shares of gold stocks.

If you're interested in buying gold stocks, you need to understand the biggest difference between the two types of companies you're going to encounter.

Of course, there are many non-arbitrary distinctions between different types of publicly traded gold companies- there are explorers, producers, refiners - and even gold royalty companies that don't explore, produce or refine a single ounce at all.

We can argue about the merits and drawbacks of being a responsible citizen-investor with regard to those commodities, but I don't think there's a person alive who really feels proud to invest in the topic of today's article. And trust me, I've heard from some squeaky wheels when I write about these types of topics.

And while it might be true that there's a certain degree of 'right' and 'wrong' that we need to grapple with when it comes to investing, it's my sole job as the author of this publication to bring quality investment opportunities to your attention.

I make no statement or value judgment about my personal feelings towards this commodity I'm about to mention or the company that sells it - I'm just doing my job. In fact, I've avoided writing about this topic for the very reason that it's icky. It's almost universally viewed as "bad." Popular opinion could scarcely be worse.

I don't write this letter in a vacuum - thankfully my analysis and scrawlings are propped up and influenced by true giants in the commodity investing field. If you've been a reader for very long you probably know that I closely follow the work of the legendary commodity investor Jim Rogers.

Unfortunately, Jim doesn't have a daily blog I can peek at. But I've increasingly been looking at a semi-daily letter published by prognosticator and economist David Rosenberg of the investment firm Gluskin Sheff.

(You can sign up to receive Mr. Rosenberg's letter for free by clicking here now - I strongly recommend it.)

Though he's not specifically a commodity analyst, he's currently a precious metals bull, so I find myself agreeing with his analysis most of the time.

Mr. Rosenberg recently revealed an interesting strategy that I know some of you will be quite interested in.

I firmly believe that Ben Bernanke and I share a common viewpoint. We both have no idea what he's going to do four months from now.

There's simply too much uncertainty. We don't know what's going to happen with the multitude of economic indicators and whether they'll spell success or failure for his policies.

So let's back up and look elsewhere for certainties. I think I've found some bullish news for commodity investments.

Why?

As of this writing, there seems to be little chance that President Obama and his colleagues in the Senate and Congress will extend the Bush Administration's tax cuts.

Personally I think taxes as well as government, both state and Federal, should be cut to the bone.

I’ve long advocated that responsible citizen-investors should eat their own cooking.  If you go to McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) three days a week, it only makes sense to be a McDonalds shareholder.  If your lifestyle choices are reflected in your portfolio, then you’re already in a good position to understand the fundamentals of the companies you own.  Conversely, if you’re buying companies that you don’t understand, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

And there are other benefits.  If you’re a consumer of, say, crude oil, why not invest in companies that reap the reward of your diligent consumption of gasoline, heating oil, and other petroleum products?

According to AAA, the average car uses 533 gallons of gasoline every year.  At $3 a gallon that means it costs about $1,600 a year to run the average car for a year.

So the question is: how can you get $1,600 a year from oil companies?

Remember what a dividend is? It’s an old-fashioned way of creating shareholder value by giving shareholders money.

Dividends have gone out of fashion with the focus on high-tech growth stocks. Investors are looking for capital gains on their investment, not dividend yield. But there is a way to make high-growth tech stocks pay dividends right away – with an investment in Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC).

Hercules has a current dividend yield of 9.9%, one of the highest among Nasdaq stocks. The specialty finance company has carved out a niche in “venture debt” – it makes loans of $1 million to $30 million to private technology and life sciences companies that are backed by venture capital or private equity firms.

Hercules has paid a dividend every quarter since it went public in June 2005 – it just declared its eighth consecutive quarterly dividend, $0.30, for the second quarter, ended June 30. The reason: it has to pay dividends, because it is organized as a business development company (BDC), making it a registered investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the same act that governs mutual funds. To maintain this status, which exempts it from paying corporate income tax, the company must distribute 90% of its net taxable income as dividends.

Of course, you have to have income to pay dividends. Though its track record is still short, Hercules has made its high-risk loans with minimal losses – of the $700 million loan commitments made since its founding in 2003, the gross loss has been $5 million and the net loss, after bankruptcy workouts, has been $1 million. One of the reasons for this strong record is that Hercules has forged relationships with more than a hundred top venture capital and private equity firms to provide it with a high-quality deal flow.