Is your portfolio on track to yield 26% in 2026?

If not, why not?

Of course, most stocks and funds don’t pay 26% on their own. But it’s a quick fix to get many of them to.

This makes a big difference to our retirement goals: a 26% return on a million-dollar portfolio is $260,000 in cash flow per year! Without tapping the principal.

Or $130,000 in cash flow on $500K. You get the idea. With 26% coming in, it’s a lot easier to retire.

How can we boost our investment income like this? Let’s take boring ol’ SPY—SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)—as our first example.… Read more

Investors are scared—and that’s setting up a terrific opportunity for us in 8%+ yielding covered-call CEFs.

That’s because volatility fuels the income these stout funds get from their option strategies. And that income flows right into our dividend checks.

I’ve got two 8%+ payers delivering growing “option-boosted” dividends for you below.

And thanks to the market’s relative calm these last few months, these funds are bargains. But the last four years of history say we’re likely headed into a storm. That’s because three of those years started with stocks tripping over their shoelaces.

I think 2026 will make it four out of five.… Read more

The bankruptcy of auto-parts supplier First Brands has hit a corner of the market known for high dividends. Does that make these assets bargains?

Maybe. But we need to be careful here, and avoid making the mistake of “reaching for yield”: that is, buying yields that are high for a reason: the stock price has plunged.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The corner of the market I’m talking about is business development companies (BDCs), which loan money to small- and mid-sized firms.

Investors first got worried about BDCs a couple months ago, when the First Brands story broke. The news raised alarm about the private-credit market (where BDCs operate).… Read more

Small-cap stocks have finally started to wake up lately, which could be a bullish sign as we head into 2026. Let’s remember that a smaller market capitalization does not necessarily mean a diminutive dividend—today we’ll discuss four small caps that yield between 7.1% and 13.3%.

It’s been a “lost decade” for small caps, which have lagged their larger brethren. 2020’s COVID reopening rally in small caps was intense but short-lived—rising interest rates, renewed interest in safer mega-cap stocks after two bear markets in three years, and a rush into predominantly large-cap AI stocks have left small caps on the outs going into this year.… Read more

When most people think about the soaring stock market, they’re really only thinking back to the end of 2022, when it feels like it all started.

I know. 2022. A year we’d all like to forget.

But looking back only that far ignores the fact that the S&P 500 is a long-term wealth generator—a really long-term wealth generator, in fact. Over the last century, it’s posted a 10.6% annualized return.

Over the last 10 years, it’s done even better, returning a robust 14.6%.

I bring this up because it’s easy to lose sight of that these days, with the news cycle constantly amping up the fear, most recently on worries about an AI bubble.… Read more

Let’s get our 2026 dividend shopping finished ahead of time, shall we?

Come January, we’ll have plenty of company from vanilla investors, rushing to “figure out the new year.” Trends. Predictions. Buy this!

But there’s no reason to wait. We already know some of the key dimensions of 2026. Interest rates, for one, are on their way down. Fed Chair Jay Powell has delivered two rate cuts to end the year, with more to follow.

Whether or not Powell personally delivers them doesn’t matter to us. Powell is on his way out. But the Fed show will go on, with a ringmaster ready to roll.… Read more

The spreadsheet jockeys on Wall Street have it all wrong—and their blunder is dragging down the average investor’s returns (and income!).

Their mistake? Looking at “old school” measures, like the recent spate of soft jobs reports, and jumping to the conclusion that the economy is hitting the skids.

Trouble is, this take is totally disconnected from reality, especially when it comes to the nation’s small businesses. Because these mom-and-pop shops are still upbeat—and many of them are looking to grow.

The proof is in the numbers. First up, even though small biz optimism did tail off a bit in October, according to the NFIB Small Business Survey, it’s still above its historical average, where it’s been for the past six months.… Read more

When it comes to our favorite income investments—8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs)—there are a lot of misconceptions out there.

It’s critical that we put those right, because they’re causing some investors to miss out on CEFs, and the big (and often monthly) dividends they provide. And I know I don’t have to tell you that in turbulent times like these, high payouts like those are a lifesaver.

Two of the biggest misunderstandings surrounding these funds are:

• CEFs have higher expense ratios than passive funds, and …
• You’re better off to buy stocks, such as Microsoft (MSFT), direct, on the open market, than through CEFs.

Monthly bills are no problem for careful contrarian readers banking 9.1% yields in monthly divvies. Let’s discuss this rare but excellent dividend breed, the company or fund that pays monthly instead of quarterly.

Only 6% of dividend payers dish monthly. The rest are quarterly or annually, which will likely not be in time to cover your upcoming cell phone bill.

My monthly email from carrier Verizon arrives in a day or two. Another $267.26 will be debited from my account automatically on the 20th.

Fortunately, Verizon notes that there is “nothing I need to do” thanks to AutoPay. As if the automatic payment implies it costs any less money!… Read more

I often get asked about crypto. My response often surprises people: I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.

That might sound odd given crypto’s massive popularity (though many holders are no doubt regretting their buys these days, given the swan dive Bitcoin and its ilk have been on).

Nope, I avoid Bitcoin because I (and readers of my are interested in dividend income. And you won’t find any of that in crypto. Plus it’s far more volatile than we’d like. All of this is why, when we want tech exposure, we look to CEFs holding top-quality tech stocks.… Read more