As the editor/writer for three income-focused investment services here at Investors Alley, I interact a lot with the subscribers to my services. I receive a lot of positive feedback, probably because my somewhat unique investment strategies work. I also invest alongside my subscribers.

I am an income-focused researcher and investor. I decided long ago it was easier to determine future dividend payments than to guess the direction of stock prices. Cash income returns into your brokerage account are investment profits that can never be lost.

Here is a quick overview of each of my services and how they help income investors:

The Dividend Hunter focuses on building a high-yield portfolio. I provide a recommendations list of about 30 high-yield investments. To further help, I dedicate a lot of newsletter space teaching subscribers about portfolio management. Performance-wise, there is an 8% average yield from the recommendations list. Dividend Hunter has a low annual subscription rate and is an excellent resource for those investors who are new to or really anyone interested in high yield investing.

With the Monthly Dividend Multiplier service the focus is on classic dividend growth strategy that is put on steroids. I provide a recommended portfolio of dividend growth stocks, with suggested weighings and periodic rebalancing. The goal is to take a lump sum and grow it over the next five to 10 years—for example, if you have some capital you would like to double between now and an upcoming planned retirement or other event. The model portfolio has consistently outperformed the S&P 500. (Note: on Monday I showed how you can beat the S&P with dividend stocks.)

For Weekly Income Accelerator, I teamed up with our options expert Jay Soloff to offer an income generation covered call service. The covered call strategy is the most conservative out of the dozens used by options traders, and it is the only options strategy allowed for IRA accounts. We make trade recommendations that have produced excellent returns for subscribers. Trading options is more work than just buying stocks, but we provide both the education and recommended trades so that anyone willing to put in the time can earn the returns.

I think investors get some excellent guidance from these services, and we work to produce research and investment ideas that match up with the investment goals and risk tolerance of my readers. I follow the same trade ideas I give our subscribers, and have the majority of my investment portfolio in all the same stocks and options trades I recommend to subscribers.

My recommendations are mostly for long-term investments, so I am not front-running the recommendations to make a few extra bucks. I slowly accumulate the recommended stocks, starting with a few shares after the recommendations go out to subscribers.

Owning the same investments that my subscribers hold helps me understand what they see and feel in their brokerage accounts. It also gives me a greater level of accountability to my readers. We share the victories and the losses. When something doesn’t work, I see it in my investments, and I can make changes to the recommendations. I have found that owning the same stocks has helped me guide subscribers through the more turbulent times in the stock market.