At CEF Insider, we regularly pound the table on top-notch US closed-end funds (CEFs).

And we still see America as our “go to” for huge yields, income and big gains. But if you take a pass on other parts of the world, you’ll miss a proven way to cut your risk (thanks to the tremendous variety in the global economy) and big upside too.

That’s why we constantly keep our eyes trained on the horizon. And today, one particular place has caught our attention: Asia.

For a long time, Asian stocks were a sucker’s bet, for a couple reasons.

The biggest?…
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If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times: if you want big dividends, you can forget about getting big price upside, too.

Clearly, whoever came up with this “wisdom” is clueless about closed-end funds, where hefty 7%+ yields are common. Fast double-digit gains, too—especially if you follow the one true CEF profit indicator I’ll show you now.

It’s called the discount to net asset value (NAV), and you can find it on any online fund screener. In plain English, it’s the difference between a CEF’s market price and its “true” value—or what its underlying assets are worth.

Sounds simple, right?…
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Most investors with $500,000 in their portfolios think they don’t have enough money to retire on.

They do – they just need to do two things with their “buy and hope” portfolios to turn them into $3,279 monthly income streams (or much more):

1. Sell everything – including the 2%, 3% and even 4% payers that simply don’t yield enough to matter. And,
2. Buy my 8 favorite monthly dividend payers.

The result? $3,279.69 in monthly income every month (from an average 7.6% annual yield, paid every 30 days). With upside on your initial $500,000 to boot!

And this strategy isn’t capped at $500,000.…
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Remember when I said there were more than 2,400 closed-end funds, mutual funds and ETFs beating the S&P 500?

Well, today we’re going to dive into three of those funds. Unlike many of their cousins, these aren’t one-hit wonders.

All three boast outsized dividend payouts far larger than those of any S&P 500 stock: all the way up to 8.3%!

They also give you instant diversification and world-class management. You can see that in each fund’s stock-picking prowess, which is translating into gains that crush the S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY):

Leading the Index by a Mile

So let’s dig deeper to see how these funds tick and what place they might have in your portfolio.…
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Last week, we outlined a smart, sound retirement income strategy funded by dividends alone. Now, let’s talk growth.

We’re already well ahead of the flawed 4% fallacy – the notion that you can (or should) sell some capital every year for retirement income. With our “no withdrawal” technique, we’re already keeping our capital intact – and collecting 8% yields to boot!

Believe it or not, we can do even better with some savvy asset allocation. If you’re not yet as filthy rich as you hoped you’d be by now, don’t worry – we still have plenty of time to get you there.…
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Back in February 2016, I wrote an article titled “4 Reasons to Buy This 9.2% Yielding Equity Fund”. That fund was the AGIC Equity and Convertible Income Fund (NIE).

Since then, NIE has done this:

Almost 50% Gains in a Year and a Half

Oh, and did I mention that NIE pays a 7.4% dividend? That’s right: $100,000 in this fund gives you $616 per month in cash.

Despite the conventional wisdom about dividend yields, that high yield doesn’t come with high risks. Not only has NIE been growing its dividend since 2009, but that income stream is well covered by the fund’s investments—again, thanks to its big returns, as we see in the chart above.…
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I’m going to get straight to brass tacks. Let’s discuss 2 closed-end funds with up to 18% upside in the next 12 months, plus yields up to 5.8%. Both are leading a blockbuster trend almost everyone has missed.

I say “almost” because if you’re a canny contrarian (and if you’re reading this I’m betting you are), you probably know what I’m going to say.

I’m talking about the quiet rebound in actively managed funds (that is, funds with real humans in charge), including CEFs.

So far this year, more than half of active managers are beating their benchmarks. And when human stock pickers take the lead, they keep it, like they did from 2001 to 2011.…
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Today, I’m going to warn you about five stocks with yields of 7% or more that should be avoided at all costs. They are my next “dividend disaster” candidates that are likely to either reduce their payouts, or lose 20% or more in price, or both.

Big current yields have nothing to do with safety. Consider these year-to-date performances from high-yielding companies that started 2017 with juicy yields, but at some point cut or suspended their dividends:

• Windstream: Yielded 7.5%, lost 75%
• Mattel: Yielded 5.5%, lost 45%
• GNC: Yielded 7%, lost 26%

I warned you to sell Mattel late last year, before its dividend cut.…
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One thing investors ask me about all the time is return of capital, or ROC.

In a nutshell, these folks are mainly worried that ROC is simply a fund taking your money and paying you a dividend from your money without actually making a positive return on it.

Worse, they’re doing this after taking out their fees, which are much higher than the fees you’d pay on an index fund!

Before you get your pitchfork out, know that this perception of ROC is wrong. In reality, return of capital is often very good for investors.

For starters, ROC isn’t simply a fund taking your money and giving it back to you.…
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How much money do you need to retire on dividends alone?

This is a better question to ask than the typical “magic number” formula that most “first-level” thinking firms tout. Let’s review why their approach is fatally flawed, so that we can derive a more reliable method of our own based in actual reality (and funded by actual dividend payments.)

Fidelity Says What?

You should aim to have 10 times your final salary in savings.

But why? I suppose they are claiming that, if you earned $100,000 in your final year working, that you’ll want to earn this much in income every year for the rest of your life.…
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