Author Archive: Brett Owens

Oh, the joys of home ownership. We found a moldy corner last week. And not a little spot, either.

A full farm thriving behind a brigade of stuffed animals wedged against the wall. (The stuffies block the airflow, providing cover for this ecosystem.)  

Now Waiting Their Turn in the Laundry Line

“I see this every day in the homes down here,” the abatement guy explained his frequent trip to my old-home neighborhood. “Usually behind furniture jammed against the wall.”

Well, it’s the cost of doing business. The home has character. We like living downtown—makes us still feel kinda cool, sharing sidewalks with the neighborhood “kids” (anyone under 35) who live without stuffed animals upstairs.… Read more

There’s a group of stocks out there that most people think yield just 2%—or less.

But they’re way off. In reality, these “elite” payers yield 2X, 3X—and in the case of a stock we’ll talk about below, even nearly 4X that. I’m talking about a tidy 8.3% shareholder yield (remember that phrase) here.

This one has another advantage we love in a market like today’s, too: Its management team “buys the dips” in the share price for us. We don’t have to do anything at all!

Stocks like this are perfect for times like these, with the economy still ticking along nicely.… Read more

I hadn’t seen my boy in years. He wasted no time laying into my career decisions.

“Why are you messing around with the finance stuff? The blogging? No future in it.”

Well, good to see you too, buddy.

“You have real value in the software thing you’re doing. Stick with that.”

His advice was to leave Wall Street to him. He worked for a big-name firm. At the time of our run in, we were five or so years out of undergrad.

In true contrarian form, I ignored him. And it’s a good thing! Here we are talking stocks together and the software startup he wanted me to focus 100% on?… Read more

I took a glance around the gym from my courtside seat on the baseline.

Yup, I was definitely the only person in attendance without a kid playing in the game. My face was the giveaway. I wasn’t emotionally invested. I was detached. Analytical. Calculating.

I was a scout.

That’s right, your investment strategist—who coached the previous game—waved farewell “for a few minutes” to his wife and kids in the parking lot to watch the “beginning” of the next contest.

Forty minutes later, I was excitedly texting my assistant coaches with my findings. No reply, however, because they were likely having dinner with their families like normal people.… Read more

A major AI upgrade just crushed software stocks. We’re going to cash in with two “volatility-loving” dividends paying 7.5%+.

Just days ago, new AI tools were rolled out that let bots make entire apps by themselves. It’s not a big leap from there to the question a lot of people are asking now:

“Why would anyone buy software from a Microsoft (MSFT) or a Salesforce (CRM) if AI can just build for free?” 

It’s legit, and it sent these stocks tumbling. It’s frankly hard to know which breakthrough will come next, though financials and office REITs have been pressured in the last couple days.… Read more

The broader market is expensive right now. Price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios in the 20s and even 30s and higher are the current “norm.”

No thanks—we’ll take a look in the bargain bin.

Today we’ll discuss a four-pack of dirt-cheap dividend payers dishing between 4% and 9.2%. They are much cheaper than their peers. Check it out:

• The S&P 500’s forward P/E (22.2) has only been this high twice in the past 40 years: the COVID bottom and recovery, and the dot-com bubble and burst.

• The small-cap Russell 2000’s forward P/E (26.5) isn’t in as rarefied air, but it’s still near the top of its historic long-term range.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) tend to shine when there is a lid on interest rates. And that rate top is secure, for reasons we’ll review shortly.

Net lease REITs, in particular, are compelling here. They are the boring landlords of the real economy. (Yawn? Love that reaction from vanilla income investors!)

The net lease landlords own the pharmacies down the street, the big-box retailers at the busy intersections, and the warehouses and distribution hubs we pass on the highway. These REITs sit back and collect rent checks while the tenants pay their own way.

Here’s how the business model works:

1. The REIT buys the property and builds (or renovates) the facility to rent out.

This administration is set on cutting interest rates—and they have the tools to do it.

The last thing we contrarian income investors want to do is fight Uncle Sam. Instead, we’re going to front-run his moves with an 11% payer that’s set up nicely for what’s coming.

The reason behind the lower-rate push is pretty obvious: 2026 is an election year, and the administration wants lower borrowing costs heading into the vote.

Bessent, Not Powell (Or Warsh) Is the One to Watch Here

Most people think Jay Powell, or newly nominated Fed chief Kevin Warsh, are the lynchpins here. But when it comes to rates, the real power lies with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.… Read more

New tariffs. A government shutdown. A brutal selloff in the software sector with speculation that AI will eat everything in its wake.

Concerned about a pullback? An outright bear market? Fair enough and, if so, let’s talk about beta.

Low beta stocks are our best friends for surviving a bear market. Stocks with betas below 1 are considered less volatile than the overall market. For example, we’d expect a stock with a beta of 0.5 to drop only half as much as the S&P 500 during a pullback.

Let’s consider low-beta fund iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (USMV), which did its job in the leadup to the “Liberation Day” panic last year.… Read more

“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide

Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law

Rock and roller, cola wars, I can’t take it anymore

Billy Joel had had it with, well, everything geopolitical when he belted these lyrics to his latest number one hit in 1989. We Didn’t Start the Fire reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks, teaching listeners:

It was always burning since the world’s been turning.

And while Fall Out Boy gave us a worthy sequel “cover” of Joel’s hit in 2023 (encompassing Harry Potter to Brexit), the headlines have already lapped them.… Read more