Author Archive: Brett Owens

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tend to have low fee structures. And when investors try to combine ETFs with their high yield needs, they usually get what they pay for.

ETFs, simply put, are often “dumb money.” Their current yields may look good, but their long-term strategies are usually flawed.

Here are five funds paying up to 8.4% that are too dumb to trust with your retirement money.

iShares International Preferred Stock ETF (IPFF)
Yield: 4.1%
Expenses: 0.55%

International dividend stock funds typically sport similar if not higher yields than their domestic brethren, so you would imagine there would be a similar advantage in foreign preferred stocks.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a must-have holding for any and all retirement accounts. The five REITs I’m about to show you are pivotal to both growing your nest egg, then delivering consistent cash to pay the bills once you’ve called it a career.

Slowly but surely, market research is starting to agree with me.

Wilshire Research delivered a report around this time last year summing up its research into REITs’ effect in retirement portfolios. The results were “dramatic.”

“One of the key findings was that the addition of stock exchange-listed REITs to retirement portfolios would have allowed a higher level of stable income for any given level of risk tolerance.”… Read more

Today, the 10-year Treasury pays just 2.3%. Put a million bucks in T-Bills, and you’re banking $23,000 per year. Barely above poverty levels!

Hence the appeal of closed-end funds (CEFs), which often pay 8% or better. That’s the difference between a paltry minimum-wage income of $23,000 on a million saved, or a respectable $80,000 annually.

And if you’re smart about your CEF purchases, you can even buy them at discounts and snare some price upside to boot!

Unfortunately this rising rate environment has income seekers scared of CEFs. Many of my readers have asked me if they should bail on our high paying vehicles.… Read more

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?… Read more

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.… Read more

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.… Read more

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.… Read more

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.… Read more

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.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you how to get in on America’s hottest real estate with zero fees and commissions.

And you can buy from the convenience of your brokerage account. Simply by typing in a few stock tickers.

Think about this “zero fee” thing for a moment: with the average realtor whacking clients with 6% in fees and commissions, we’re talking thousands of dollars of savings here!

Instead of paying these commissions, you’ll be able to collect them as monthly or quarterly payouts (or dividends) to fund your retirement. Here’s what you need to do first.

Your Job: Collect the Income

The fat rent checks from the properties we’re going to invest in (more on them below) will soon have you yielding double digits on your original buy.… Read more