Wwith Washington likely to be gridlocked the next couple years, companies can look forward to a period of relative stability on the tax and regulatory front. And dividend-paying equities are cheap, trading at big discounts to bond prices and interest rates despite reviving payout growth.

Unfortunately, market history shows clearly that each of today’s major worries has the potential to trigger a sizeable selloff, if things go wrong enough. Consequently, it’s more critical than ever for investors to follow the scouting motto with their portfolios: Be prepared.

Source: Investing Daily

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