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Health & Fitness

Hot Money

Sean Stein Smith MBA, CPA, CMA, Neighbor

Posted Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 8:39 pm ET

I think I can speak for about 99.99% of people living the northern NJ when I say that this heat wave is ridiculous. The temperatures have been in the 90′s for the last 2-3 weeks, and when you add the humidity, it becomes almost unbearable. Even with the air conditioning going full blast all day, there is only so cool that it can be. The weather is unusual, and when it comes to investment opportunities and what you can do to capitalize on them, unusual is good. As always, I strive to be your eyes and ears, and to be on the lookout for potential investment opportunities and what they mean for you.

When it is this hot out a few things happen. People use their air conditioners, a lot, and people water their lawns more often than they would normally would. In addition to making people uncomfortable and irritable, weather this hot does create potential investment opportunities. Electric utilities and water utilities both benefit from the increased usage of the services that they sell. It might be hard to think about investment opportunities when it this uncomfortable out, but I do encourage you to give this some thought; hopefully, from a cool place.

In addition to benefiting from this temporary increased period of heat and humidity, these types of utility investments are known for their price stability and dividend payments – cash to you. If you are interested in owning a security with those characteristics, these stocks might be worth a look.