Author Archive: Brett Owens

December might be the traditional season of generosity for most, but not for energy master limited partnerships (MLPs). This high-income area of the market tends to wait until January rolls around to get into the giving spirit, with many of the industry’s names doling out distribution hikes a couple weeks after the New Year.

Investors looking to jump into MLPs, then, may want to get into the seven stocks I’m about to highlight – all of which yield between 5% and 8% – before they up the ante on their regular payouts.

A host of MLPs tend to wait until after the champagne has been uncorked and the bowl games have been played to announce distribution hikes.… Read more

Have you always wanted to buy a safe stock like Coca-Cola (KO) and get rich from it like Warren Buffett?

It’s doable – and I’ll show you how in a minute.

Unfortunately most investors misapply Buffett’s lessons. They “live in the past” and fixate on dividend track records rather than a payout’s forward prospects. And looking ahead is the key to yearly gains of 10%, 15% or even 20% or more with dividend aristocrats.

Let’s consider Coke, which achieved its dividend royalty status in 1987 (its 25th straight year with a dividend hike). The firm hit its coronation with a head of steam, rewarding investors with a 362% payout hike in just five years (from 1986 to 1991).… Read more

Today we’re going to talk about the single biggest risk you face in your golden years.

But don’t worry—I’ll also show you how to clobber that risk and set yourself up for an easy $40,000 in cash for every year of your retirement. More on that below.

Let’s address the nasty risk first—the very real chance you’ll outlive your nest egg. A sweeping study says you could be very wrong about the length of your retirement.

A Hidden Danger

Here’s what the numbers say: in 1992, the University of Michigan asked 26,000 Americans 50 years of age and older how long they thought they’d live.… Read more

Many investors think they must choose between income and growth.

Why not have both?

Many stocks offer varying degrees of growth and income, and in a few rare cases – such as the three stocks yielding between 7% and 9% that I’m going to share with you today – they offer high levels of both.

When we talk about “growth,” we can mean any number of metrics. It can be as simple as sales, but that’s far from the only metric that matters.

The growth I want to look at today is on the bottom line. A company can grow sales all day by spending inordinate amounts of money on marketing and R&D.… Read more

The biggest complaints about the Dividend Aristocrats tend to come from new money. That’s because many of them, while generously raising their payouts year after year, offer skinflint yields that average 2.35% – almost right on par with the 10-year T-note.

You can find a little more relief from a similar club: The High Yield Dividend Aristocrats. This is a group of roughly 110 S&P Composite 1500 stocks that has paid and increased dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. It’s slightly less exclusive than the S&P 500 Aristocrats, and doesn’t actually yield much differently on average, but the larger selection includes several higher-yield growers that I want to highlight today.… Read more

In late 2007, Citigroup (C) insiders – who should have known better – comforted themselves with a security blanket that, in hindsight, was better fit for a Goodwill donation.

“The dividend’s as safe as the next board meeting,” they told themselves as the yield on their shares climbed well above 10%. On a trailing basis, that is.

Next board meeting, their payout was chopped – and their shares dropped more than 90%.

Stock yields of 10%, 11%, 12% or more are usually too good to be true. Citigroup reminded us why ten years ago, and telecom disaster Frontier Communications (FTR) reinforces the point today.… Read more

If you make just one New Year’s resolution this year, make it this: buy monthly dividend stocks. Today I’m going to give you 3 that should be at the top of your list.

The benefits of monthly payouts go way beyond the convenience of getting paid every month, just as our bills show up (although that’s a great bonus that can save you a lot of time watching your cash flow in retirement).

There are a couple other overlooked benefits monthly payers give you:

• They’re a sign of dividend safety: Smart C-suite types know that a dividend is a promise to investors, and they wouldn’t commit to sending one out every month if they weren’t serious about keeping—or raising—the payout.

Congressional Republicans are closer than ever to passing wide changes to America’s tax code. From 10,000 feet, they largely feature:

• Varying levels of tax cuts for individuals,
• A massive tax cut for businesses, and they
• Weaken (or negate) the estate tax.

There’s debate regarding how much individuals will actually benefit, but there’s little debate that certain public companies will gain. Both the Senate and the House are looking to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. Plus, companies will be allowed to pay a low, one-time repatriation tax on profits already sheltered overseas.

The idea is that U.S. corporations will use this windfall to hire more people, and many likely will … but that’s not the only place that money is going.… Read more

As income investors react to the new tax plan, it’s a good bet that some are overreacting to certain aspects of it. They always do.

There’s confusion between high yielding fixed income, and pure junk. There’s also a flood of tax-advantaged paper about to hit the market, creating bargains for smart buyers.

The result? Yields up to 10%, with some price upside to boot!

Bargain #1: “Smart” High-Yield Bond Funds for 7.5%+

If you hold high-yield (often called junk) bonds, you may have noticed they’ve sold off as the Republicans’ tax talk became serious. They’ve taken down other assets, too – some for good reason, some not.… Read more

It’s the biggest demographic tidal wave ever to sweep the US. And today I’m going to give you 3 quick ways to profit from it.

I’m talking about the retirement of the baby boomers—10,000 of whom are clocking out of the workforce every day.

And if you’ve been reading my columns, you know I’ve been banging the drum on the most obvious way to cash in: by investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own senior-care facilities.

But that’s not the only way.

Today I want to show you 3 other investments that are turning the surge in America’s senior population into soaring dividends and double-digit annual gains.… Read more