Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In 2014

LONDON --�To me, capital growth and dividend income are equally important. Together, they provide the total return from any share investment, and as you might expect, my aim is to invest in companies that can beat the total return delivered by the wider market.

To put that aim into perspective, the FTSE 100 has provided investors with a total return of around 3% per annum since January 2008.

Quality and value
If my investments are to outperform, I need to back companies that score well on several quality indicators and buy at prices that offer decent value.

So this series aims to identify appealing FTSE 100 investment opportunities, and today I'm looking at�Lloyds Banking Group� (LSE: LLOY  ) (NYSE: LYG  ) , the U.K.-focused financial services and banking company.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In 2014: Gladstone Capital Corporation(GLAD)

Gladstone Capital Corporation is a business development company and operates as a closed-end non-diversified management investment company. It invests in debt and equity securities of small and medium-sized private United States businesses. The company primarily invests in various categories of debt of private companies comprising senior notes, senior subordinated notes, and junior subordinated notes.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In 2014: American Independence Corp.(AMIC)

American Independence Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the health insurance and reinsurance businesses in the United States. The company provides specialized health coverage and related services to commercial customers and individuals. It offers various insurance products comprising medical stop-loss, fully insured health and dental, and short-term statutory disability. American Independence Corp. offers its products and services through managing general underwriter and agency subsidiaries, independent brokers, producers, and agents. The company was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in New York, New York. American Independence Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Independence Holding Co.

Top 10 Insurance Companies To Own For 2014: Stewart Information Services Corporation(STC)

Stewart Information Services Corporation provides title insurance and related information services required for settlement by the real estate and mortgage industries. It operates in two segments, Title Insurance-Related Services and Real Estate Information. The Title Insurance-Related Services segment offers services that include searching for and examining documents, such as deeds, mortgages, wills, divorce decrees, court judgments, liens, paving assessments, and tax records, as well as provides titles insurance for residential and commercial properties, undeveloped acreage, farms, ranches, and water rights. This segment serves attorneys, builders, developers, home buyers and home sellers, lenders, and real estate brokers. The Real Estate Information segment offers products and services, which primarily include lender services, title technology, foreign and domestic government services, mapping, title information, Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 tax-deferred property e xchanges, pre-employment services, and online filing and transaction management. Its customers include mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, mortgage investors, government entities, commercial and residential real estate agents, land developers, builders, title insurance agencies, and others interested in obtaining property information, as well as accountants, attorneys, investors, and employers. The company has operations primarily in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, central Europe, Mexico, central America, and Australia. Stewart Information Services Corporation was founded in 1893 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In 2014: Genesis Land Devel Com Npv (GDC.TO)

Genesis Land Development Corp., a real estate development company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, development, subdivision, construction, sale, and leasing of land, residential lots and homes, and commercial properties in Alberta and British Columbia. It operates in four divisions: Land Development, Single-Family Home Building, Multi-Family Home Building, and Commercial Development. The Land Development division principally develops residential lots in the cities of Calgary, Airdrie, Edmonton, and Cochrane, Alberta; and in Prince George, Kamloops, and Radium, British Columbia. The Single-Family Home Building division builds and sells single-family homes. The Multi-Family Home Building division builds town homes and apartment complexes. The Commercial division engages in selling, leasing, and developing commercial, industrial, and office properties. The company was formerly known as Genesis Capital Corp. and changed its name to Genesis Land Deve lopment Corp. in October 1998. Genesis Land Development Corp. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Top 5 Financial Companies To Invest In 2014: Camden National Corporation(CAC)

Camden National Corporation operates as the holding company for Camden National Bank, which provides commercial and consumer banking products and services to the individuals, businesses, municipalities, non-profits, and commercial customers. The company offers various deposit products, including NOW accounts, transaction accounts, time deposits, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, brokered deposits, and demand deposits. Its loan products comprise residential mortgage loans, commercial business loans, commercial real estate loans, and various consumer loans. The company offers its products and services through a network of 37 banking offices and ATMs in the Maine counties of Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo, and York. In addition, it operates nine Union Trust branches in Hancock and Washington counties, Maine. The company, through Acadia Financial Consultants, provides full-service broke rage and insurance services, including college, retirement, estate planning, mutual funds, strategic asset management accounts, and variable and fixed annuities. Camden National Corporation, through its subsidiary, Acadia Trust, N.A., offers various trust, trust-related, investment, and wealth management services, as well as retirement and pension plan management services to individual and institutional clients. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Camden, Maine.