Author Archive: Brett Owens

Dozens of companies are poised to raise their dividends over the next few months once the quarterly earnings season gets underway. Most of those are going to be token upgrades—just enough to pacify shareholders.

We’ll let Wall Street keep the tokens. We are “elephant hunting” big dividend raises.

I’m talking about companies with both the potential and the track record to hike their cash distributions by a minimum of 39%—though a lot more could be in store.

Why are hikes like these retirement makers? Simple—the “dividend magnet” effect.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) is an example of this magnet in action.… Read more

Wall Street, please. Enough with the narratives.

CNBC and Bloomberg have become the ESPN and Fox Sports of the financial world. Stories are simplified, spun and spoon-fed to the audience.

We thoughtful contrarians can’t stomach this junk any longer!

These “experts” have vanilla investors sweating every headline. The always-impending recession. Job losses. Trade wars. Geopolitical battles. Domestic political dysfunction.

Sure, there’s a kernel of truth to every story. But investors who ride this roller coaster suffer heart palpitations and (worse!) retirement portfolio underperformance. They get scared stiff by the media coverage, sell stocks at the wrong time (near lows) and stay on the sidelines for too long.… Read more

We’re not even two weeks into 2026, and vanilla investors have already lost the plot. Their blindness has tossed 3 cheap—and growing—dividends into our laps.

More on this trio below. First, let’s look at 4 things the crowd has totally blown it on:

• The AI boom.
• A revolution in US manufacturing.
• The power of politics to shape markets, and …
• The Venezuela situation.

Let’s start with politics (I promise I won’t linger here for long!) because this year, everything will flow from it.

And, quite frankly, the fix is in here.

Truth is, we’re entering a period of “administered growth”: The administration has made clear that it wants cheaper borrowing costs, lower mortgage rates and less regulation for American businesses.… Read more

The Dow Jones Industrial Average itself yields modestly, but the Dogs of the Dow 2026 pack more dividend bite. The index’s top payers dish up to 6.8%. Collectively, they provide 3X more yield than the miserly S&P!

We’ll review every one of the Dow’s 10 Dogs (and their dividends) in a moment. First, a refresher on how the “Dogs of the Dow” strategy works:

1. After the final close of 2025, we identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
2. The strategy buys all 10 stocks in equal amounts and holds them for the full calendar year.
3. At the end of the year, the stocks are sold.

Wall Street is treating Venezuela like the next “black gold” rush.

Nah—I don’t think so. Let me explain why and share my favorite US-based energy dividends up to 8.4%.

Vanilla investors are piling into the majors like Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), betting that regime change is a “buy” signal for anyone with a drill bit near Venezuela’s flush Orinoco Belt. But we careful contrarians know better. Energy infrastructure does not simply bounce back overnight. (Fictional TV “landman” Tommy Norris is not taking a plane south to instantly fix production with a few phone calls, hard lines and Michelob Ultras!)… Read more

Ignore the doom-and-gloom “predictions” about 2026. There are plenty of gains—and growing dividends—to be had for us this year.

And if we do see a short-term pullback—possible, as we discussed a few weeks ago—the “smart money” is already setting up for a rebound. We’re going to join them by targeting three “depressed” corners of the market. We’ll get into those (and three tickers) below.

DC Stacks the Deck

Why am I so optimistic? Because, to be frank, the fix is in.

We are entering a year of “administered growth.” The Trump team has made its wishes clear: It wants lower mortgage rates, cheaper borrowing costs and a laissez-faire backdrop for American businesses.… Read more

Most vanilla investors limit their retirement income ideas to the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) advertised on TV.

Don’t do it!

These lame mainstream ETFs tend to yield 1% or 2%. That is only enough income for retirement if we are talking about a $10 million nest egg.

There are better buys beneath the popular surface. And they will fund retirements on far more reasonable savings figures. For example, we’ll discuss funds today that dish dividends of 9%, 10%, even 11%.

This is $55,000 in annual income on a $500k investment. Now we’re talking.

And these funds feature active management. Ironically, they often boast better caretakers than the large ETFs, which are highly automated and contain more marketing sizzle than alpha.… Read more

If you are a serious dividend investor, then you know the answer to this question:

How much dividend income are you going to make in 2026?

In other words, what are your projected dividends next year?

If you don’t know, then you’re not as dedicated to dividends as you thought. Disappointing, but fixable with Income Calendar.

And please, don’t tell me I’m being hard on you. If that’s the way you feel, then this is the tough love that you need. Your wakeup call for 2026.

It’s time to treat your dividend investing like a business. Because it is.… Read more

Here’s one thing I can say for sure about 2026: This year, we’ll be grateful we’re NOT sitting on “America’s ticker”—my name for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).

I call SPY that because pretty well everyone owns it. But its 1% yield makes it more likely that holders will be forced to sell low in the next pullback, if they’re leaning on it to pay the bills.

Not us! We’ll be pocketing the 8%+ cash payouts from the portfolio of my Contrarian Income Report service. So while SPY holders face the next pullback with dread, we’ll be chugging along with our usual “dividends and chill” approach.… Read more

$500K can be enough money to retire on. Even as early as age 50!

The trick is to convert the pile of cash into cash flow that can pay the bills. I’m talking about $41,869.76 per year in dividend income on that nest egg, thanks to 8%+ average yields.

These are passive payouts that show up every quarter or, in many cases, every month.

Meanwhile, we keep that $500K nest egg intact. Or, better yet, grind that principal higher steadily and safely.

Got more in your retirement account? Cool—more monthly dividend income for you!

We’ll talk specific stocks, funds and yields in a moment.… Read more