Credit Cards

When traveling around the world the last thing you want to think about is money.
Unfortunately, the dirty little paper notes, coins, and plastic cards are what takes us to our dream destinations.

Moody's released an industrywide report on credit card quality earlier
this week, and there's really only one takeaway from it: There's no
recovery in the credit card industry.

With all the controversy surrounding consumers' dependence on credit,
it's only natural to think that you'd be better off with fewer cards
weighing down your wallet.

With their tremendous financial benefits, credit cards have revolutionized the American way of life. Their universal application has done away with the need to carry cash or sign check books for every single purchase. But their successful application calls for certain precautions.

Let me get one thing out in front: Visa (NYSE: V)
is a phenomenal company. I mean really, really good. High-quality.
Strong moat. Well-managed. Sturdy balance sheet. The works. It's the
epitome of what you should look for in long-term investments.

The Federal Reserve released its monthly minutes yesterday, and for the first time in recent memory, some parts of the outlook were fairly chipper. "Financial market conditions," it states, have "generally strengthened, and surveys and anecdotal reports pointed to a pickup in household and business confidence."

Remember 2007? We called this the "subprime mortgage crisis," assuming the risks were contained to one relatively small section of the economy.

We're used to thinking of American corporations fighting one another, competing for market share and consumer dollars. But every now and then, often unbeknownst to us, they band together.