Author Archive: Brett Owens

A 7.7% payer we watch very closely just did something weird for a stock with such a high payout: it hiked its dividend—for the 29th straight year!

Most folks will tell you a 7.7% payer with a dividend that consistently grows is a myth at best—or a “yield trap” at worst. But these hikes are just another mark on the calendar for this company’s investors.

Its latest hike—and forecast of more of the same in 2024—came out in a press release from the company late last week. The firm is a little-known (at least here in the US) natural gas shipper.… Read more

First-level investors think the key to retiring on dividends alone is to find the largest yields they can and ride them into the sunset.

But while it’s important to lock down fat yields—like the five-pack of 5.5%-10.4% yielders I’ll share with you today—that’s only part of the puzzle. We need two more things from our long-term income holdings:

1. Dividend safety. A 10.4% payout is only helpful if it’s actually going to get paid for quarters and years to come. No dividend cuts, please.
2. Principal safety. We’re also not looking to lose 10.4% per year in price. Or anything in price, for that matter.

This two-year interest rate trend is about to turn. When it flips, JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon’s safe, somewhat-secret 7.4% dividend will directly benefit.

We’ll highlight the name and ticker of my favorite bond fund for 2024 in a moment. First, let’s discuss why we’re discussing it.

For two straight years, the US dollar has rallied relentlessly. Credit (or blame) the Federal Reserve. When the Fed hikes, the buck rallies.

But an inflection point is near. The Fed will pause in its interest-rate hikes soon. This means the greenback is near a top, give or take, because it moves along with its best friend, the Fed Funds Rate.… Read more

Look, our dividends—and the profits that power them—are set to soar in ’24. So it’s prime time for us to shift our returns away from whipsawing share-price action like this:

A Brutal 2 Years—Capped With a Loss

This is the wild ride folks who bought an S&P 500 index fund have been on over the last two years. And what “thanks” did they get for riding that particular roller-coaster?

A loss! They’re still in the red.

Instead, we’re going to shift our profits toward the smooth and steady hum of dividend growth. Check out this sweet “dividend escalator” from insurer UnitedHealth Group (UNH)—more on UNH in a second—showing the company’s incredible 571% payout growth in the past decade:

The Dividend Staircase We’ll Climb—Starting in ’24

Why Dividends Are Primed for Growth

The upshot here is that almost nobody makes the connection between dividends and share prices.… Read more

Stick with me for some “next level” dividend thinking. We have a potential opportunity right now to buy five payers yielding up to 14.9% as the economy heads into recession.

Wait, what? Why would we want to buy stocks as the economy slows?

Well, we don’t want to own any names. We’ll pass on sky-high AI darling NVIDIA Corp (NVDA). Give us cheap REITs (real estate investment trusts) because they are likely to rise as rates fall.

Yes, that’s what happens in a recession. Investors flood into fixed income. Interest rates fall, and REITs—which tend to move opposite rates—rise.

These landlords are already getting up off the mat after a rough two years in which rates rose relentlessly.… Read more

Seriously. Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) pays a dividend that is now a sizzling 8.2% (read: eight-point-two). Plus, the fund raises its payout regularly. It dishes 12% more today than it did twelve months ago!

As a result, AMLP is so popular that investors keep the price up!

Seriously, check out this quarter-ending stock price chart. AMLP’s quote may drift for a quarter, or two, max. That’s why any meanderings lower are great buying opportunities:

Source: Income Calendar

AMLP is up 19% since we added it to our Contrarian Income Report portfolio just over a year ago. Despite this stellar performance by an income stock, it may indeed be the one missed by most plain-vanilla investors.… Read more

A key insider has quietly snapped up 10,000 shares of his 13%-yielding stock. And we contrarian income seekers are putting the ticker on our buy list, too.

That’s because insider buying really is the ultimate “buy alert.” Legendary value investor Peter Lynch said it best:

“Insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they only buy for one: they think the price will rise.”

Heck, I can almost see my regular readers nodding along to this one. We’ve talked about it again and again in my Contrarian Income Report service. In fact, we’d go one step further than Lynch:

Insiders buy because they think the dividend will rise, too. … Read more

Quarterly dividends.

Getting paid every 90 days. Ninety. Who wants to wait that long?

That’s life as a vanilla income investor. These poor folks (literally!) have no idea about “special dividend” stocks.

These are companies that pay each shareholder hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars a year more than expected. The payments often come around the holidays. Think of them as year-end bonuses.

Beats a subscription to the jelly-of-the-month club!

These special dividends can make a big retirement difference. I’m talking about a 1.3% “headline yield” that actually adds up to 6%, and a 4% print that really totals 11% per year.… Read more

I staggered out of my Uber into a sea of orange. My next challenge—a monolithic 100,119-seat stadium—loomed in the distance.

Ever regret something instantly? That was me. Dumb decision. Zero chance your dividend guy could make it in and out of that sports palace.

Fortunately, as if sent from above, my new hype man walked by.

“That’s dedication!” An orange-clad Texas Longhorn fan and fellow father pointed at my CAM walker boot. Which, of course, housed my relatively newly-reconnected Achilles. Which was quickly appreciated outside Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.

“Hardcore, man,” my new BFF reiterated. “I respect that.”

I tapped my chest and pointed back at him.… Read more

Look, we’ve all loved watching our dividend payers rocket to the moon these past few weeks. Best part is, most of the market has been onboard: 

Everyone Wins in This “Close Your Eyes and Throw a Dart” Market

Here we can see the jump in the S&P 500 as a whole (in purple) versus its return on an equal-weight basis (in orange). Sure, there’s a bit of a gap, but safe to say this has been an across-the-board surge.

We can (in a backhanded way!) thank Jay Powell—just as he hinted that high Treasury yields were doing the Fed’s work for it, the bond market (figuratively) flipped him off … and Treasury yields plunged from 5% to around 4.6% now.… Read more