Among the many lessons I learned in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, one of the most important was to do my own research. You simply cannot get ahead by chasing whatever tickers are hot on CNBC and Twitter, or by taking the headlines in financial media for granted. But I must admit, it’s not always comfortable to think like a contrarian and focus on long-term income over a short-term adrenaline rush. It sometimes means sitting on stocks that may seem to “underperform” the high-octane tech stocks everyone’s gushing about. And it sometimes means thinking differently about performance by looking at what’s important to you vs.… Read more