Author Archive: Brett Owens

Let’s talk about a terrific 12.2% dividend that is paid monthly.

The source of this income? Safe US Treasuries and a methodical scraping of option premiums for additional yield.

We’ll talk about this monthly payer—including fund name and ticker—in a moment. First, let’s get caught up on the Treasury market.

You may have tuned out Treasuries as a potential investment when DOGE austerity efforts gave way to the Big Beautiful Bill. Uncle Sam, already a $36 trillion debtor, dug himself deeper into financial quicksand.

Who wants to lend to that guy? Certainly not bond investors, who demand higher compensation—higher percentage payouts—to offset the credit risk posed by Sam’s ugly balance sheet.… Read more

Could the Fed cut rates—and actually cause interest rates to rise?

Absolutely. In fact, it’s a setup I see as very much in play. Today we’re going to talk about a 15%-yielding (!) stock that’s well-positioned to benefit.

Powell Vs. the 10-Year, Round 2

How would this “rate split” come about? To get at that, we need to bear in mind that the Fed only controls the effective Federal funds rate. That’s the “short” end of the yield curve—or the rate at which financial institutions lend to each other.

Meantime, the “long” end—pacesetter for consumer and business loans (including mortgages—more on those shortly) is tied to the 10-year Treasury yield—and has a mind of its own.… Read more

The market-at-large is expensive by historical metrics. So let’s look past the pricey, low-yielding ETFs in favor of cheap dividend stocks.

That’s right, good ol’ value investing bargains. With high yields too! We’re talking about divvies of 5%, 8% and even 11% that we’ll discuss in a moment.

The spring market dip sure was brief, wasn’t it? The S&P 500 sank into near-bear territory in roughly a month, then snapped back just as quick.

Now? If We’re Buying the Market, We’re Buying Even Higher

In doing so, Mr. and Ms. Market took valuations to high levels. The S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 22.1 remains in rarefied air, last reached during the COVID rebound, and before that, the dot-com bubble.… Read more

The US is quietly monetizing its $36 trillion deficit (printing money to pay for it). Just around the edges.

For now.

Which supports more upside for this 69% dividend that is powered by Bitcoin. And Uncle Sam’s money printer.

Yes, Fed Chair Jay Powell is stubbornly sticking with high rates. Vanilla pundits claim a “hawkish” Fed is supportive of the US dollar. Yes, but—let’s look past Powell’s hollow words for his actions!

Behind the scenes, the Fed is quietly “buying” up to $25 billion monthly from Treasury auctions. Without Fed involvement, less demand would mean higher rates to attract buyers.… Read more

We’re more than halfway through Year 1 of Trump 2.0, and I stand by what I said before Inauguration Day: This administration has ushered in a stock picker’s market.

In other words, investors who make smart moves into, and out of, individual dividend payers will do the best in the coming three-and-a-half years.

That puts holders of SPY, which must hold the entire S&P 500, in a jam. The S&P 500 trades at a nosebleed 25-times earnings, and SPY has no manager to shift away from overbought names and toward overlooked bargains. That’s dangerous ground.

With that in mind, let’s run through four tickers (all of which, yes, are SPY holdings) I urge you to avoid—or dump if you’re sitting on them now.… Read more

Worried about a market pullback?

Let’s discuss seven sturdy dividends with yields up to 8%. These are “low beta” stocks which means they stand tall when the market sinks. Low beta stocks may still go down, but they tend to regress less than average.

And generally speaking, the lower the beta, the more cushion to the downside. The lower a stock’s beta, the less volatile (the less it moves) compared to a benchmark (like the S&P 500). It’s really easy:

Beta more than 1 = more volatile than the market.

Beta less than 1 = less volatile than the market.

Then we want to pair low beta with high dividend yields.… Read more

Monthly bills are no problem for careful contrarian readers banking 8.8% 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 of August.

Fortunately, Verizon notes that there is “nothing I need to do” thanks to AutoPay.… Read more

Here’s something most people forget about interest rates: The Fed does not call all the shots here.

This means that, in the coming months, we may see a setup where the Fed’s rate—the “overnight” rate at which financial institutions lend to each other—and the 10-year Treasury rate (pacesetter for business and consumer loans) part company.

Today we’re going to dig into a “stealth” 5.7%-paying stock that’s a perfect contrarian play on this situation. This one pays us every month, too.

Fed Cuts … and Rates Soar!?

I say that this “rate split” is possible because, well, it’s already happened in the last few months.… Read more

The Nasdaq has been rallying nonstop since April. Let’s discuss three payouts up to 11.2% that play the rally.

The catalyst is the “rise of the machines” with companies replacing expensive humans with cheaper robots and AI tools. Hiring numbers are down and (paradoxically to some) the Nasdaq continues to levitate higher.

This summer heater in tech stocks is no surprise to us contrarians. The Naz tech giants are enjoying expanding profit margins! Amazon (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy recently admitted the company’s workforce will shrink, replaced by AI. This is bad for those who work at Amazon, but great for those who own AMZN.… Read more

Holding low-yielding shares? Here’s how to boost dividends up to 35%—no buying or selling needed.

We’ll use boring ol’ SPY—SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)—as our first example. The fund yields a sleepy 1.1%, yet it’s the most owned ticker in America.

Here’s how we fix SPY’s yield problem.

On Monday, I received an email from OptionSignals, the timing system I developed for Contrarian Outlook readers who write covered calls and sell puts to generate income. OptionSignals tells us when it is a promising time to write calls or sell puts on an index, fund or individual stock.… Read more