Look, we all know the old “truism” of investing: Want higher returns? You’d better be prepared to take on higher risk.

That’s not always true, however. In fact, sometimes markets do strange things, and a so-called “conservative” investment can turn around and deliver stunning returns. This is even more common in the world of closed-end funds (CEFs), where even stranger things can happen than in the “regular” stock world.

That’s in part because CEFs are a small market, so they tend to draw more individual investors, but fewer hedge funds and big banks. That can cause CEFs to overreact to some changes in the economy and markets and underreact to others, setting the stage for those strange moves I just mentioned.… Read more

Small-cap stocks have been so miserable for so long that even a healthy beating of their large-cap peers across 2026 hasn’t been enough to give them any buzz.

Good news for us, and anyone else looking for 6.7%-16.3% yields on the cheap.

It’s been a rough decade for the “junior mint” shelf of stocks! Mega-caps have been the flavor du jour. In fact, by the S&P 600’s count, small caps have only topped their big brothers once since 2016—and that was a “lesser loss” in 2022!

Wall Street is understandably skeptical that 2026’s outperformance is a sign of a bigger pivot.… Read more

We don’t often see the European Union as a major driver of stock returns.

I mean, American investors usually see the EU as stuffy and overregulated—when they think about it at all! But I urge you to reconsider, because this could be about to change.

When it does, funds with exposure to the continent—including an 8.5%-yielding closed-end fund (CEF) called the Allspring Global Dividend Opportunity Fund (EOD)—could catch a lift.

Let me be clear: This potential boost from Europe is only one reason to take a look at EOD. The main one is the fund’s discount to net asset value (NAV, or the value of its underlying portfolio).… Read more

Three investors walk into a bar and start talking retirement. But just two of them volunteer their honest opinions.

The third sits there and haughtily judges them!

First up, a 75-year-old retiree. He looks at what the S&P 500 (America’s ticker!) offers these days. Today, it’s never paid less. Our veteran investor shrugs and gives up on dividends: “Not much you can do about these paltry yields.”

His counterpart is a 79-year-old who was told as a young man that he would care more about his dividends as he aged. Yup. (Spoiler alert! “They” were right, the man says. More from him later.)… Read more

It’s September—traditionally the weakest month for stocks—and we contrarians are responding.

We’ve got the (ugh!) midterms coming up. Tariff unpredictability has returned. And scorching long-term bond yields have (so far) resisted Treasury Secretary Bessent’s efforts to rein them in.

Let’s be honest: Things are going to get volatile.

Our plan? Go on offense and defense at the same time.

Of course, income is at the center of our strategy. We’re tapping market choppiness with an 8.8%-paying fund that loves volatility and sports a payout that gets stronger the longer the chaos lasts.

In fact, this fund—the Nuveen S&P 500 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (SPXX)—is already hiking payouts, to the tune of 25% with the July payment.… Read more

Right now—today—we’re looking at a terrific buy window on 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs). Concerns over higher interest rates have put some of these often-ignored income plays on sale.

So today, we’re going to take a closer look at them. We’ll start by debunking a CEF myth called “return of capital,” or ROC, that has caused many investors to miss out on the sustainable high income streams these funds offer.

Let me be clear on what they’re missing out on. On average, the S&P 500 yields about 1% today and posts total returns of about 8.5% per year. That means a million bucks in the S&P 500 will earn about $85,000 in profit on an annualized basis, but just $10,000 of that would come in the form of dividends.… Read more

This company handed nearly one-third of its value back to shareholders last year. I’m talking about 30.5% of the market cap back to its owners!

By contrast, the S&P 500 yields 1.0%, an all-time low. So we’re talking about a stock that is dishing 30 times the dividend yield of “America’s ticker.”

The headline yield on Albertsons Cos. (ACI) doesn’t do its “total yield” justice. It reads 5.5%. Sure, but the grocer also offered an additional 25% rebate via buybacks. This number is invisible to every yield screen, stock scanner, and (yes) AI prompt asking about dividends. Which is great for contrarians like us searching for value!… Read more

Let’s talk about this latest pop in Treasury yields and what it really means for those of us looking to save for (and generate reliable income in!) retirement.

Because the truth is, it means something completely different than what the mainstream media is trying to sell us. In fact, this situation sets up an opportunity for us to lock in high yields—I’m talking north of 6%—the longer it keeps up.

To be sure, the yield on long-term government debt is on the rise. At around 5.2% as of this writing, yields on 30-year Treasuries are now just below a high not seen in 19 years.… Read more

You didn’t think the US Treasury Secretary was just going to sit back and watch interest rates rise, did you? Of course not. We careful contrarians knew better!

This country can’t afford high rates. Not on a $40 trillion debt pile! The interest payments are already too much for Uncle Sam to handle.

Yet the bond market decided to test Secretary Bessent, who replied emphatically.

Or did he?

I’ve argued in these pages that rising long-term rates would not be allowed. At some point, they would draw a reaction from the Treasury Secretary. And now that we have the reaction, I ran the numbers to see what happens during similar bond operations to the one Bessent just announced.… Read more

Investors just don’t understand Home Depot (HD).

They see the world’s biggest home-improvement retailer as a proxy for the real estate market: When home sales are strong, the thinking goes, more people buy homes—and go on to renovate them.

Makes sense. But it’s only half the story (at best!).

It’s true that many people—your income strategist included—locked in a sweet mortgage rate during the pandemic. So why would they give that up for today’s budget-busting 30-year rates?

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that, as mortgage rates have climbed this year, HD’s stock has slipped, erasing a big gain in early 2026 (see in purple below):

Rising Mortgage Rates Squeeze HD’s Stock

It’s left HD shares just below where they were at the start of 2026, while the S&P 500 has popped just shy of 12%, as of this writing.… Read more