Author Archive: Brett Owens

Generally speaking, we like monthly dividends better than quarterly payouts. I mean, why wait 90 days to get paid when “every 30” is possible?

Here’s another great thing about monthly divvies—they often have big fat annual yields attached to them.

For example, today we are going to discuss a batch yielding between 8% and 19.8%. On a modest $500,000 in savings, these monthly machines will dish between $40,000 and $99,000 per year!

If we randomly select a few monthly dividend payers, chances are we’ll earn (way!) more. Here’s the difference between the stock market’s monthly dividend stocks and the major indices:

Dividend heroes or yield traps?… Read more

In this uncertain geopolitical environment, give me the sure dividend bet—like Texas running out of juice.

The state’s grid operator, ERCOT, has dished a record number of “conservation alerts” this year. Texans crank their air conditioners while new neighboring data centers guzzle electricity around the clock.

The grid is strained. The population is popping. New residents, factories and AI campuses are all plugging into the state’s aging grid at once. The math is no longer “mathing” and it’s about to get worse. ERCOT projects power demand will jump 62% by 2030—yikes!

And Oncor, the state’s largest utility, believes that is way too conservative.… Read more

Own a portfolio stocked with S&P 500 stocks? Or maybe an S&P 500 index fund?

It’s okay if you do. We won’t judge (well, maybe a little bit!). But answer me one question (without checking your brokerage account).

How much in dividends will you collect in November?

If you’re like most people, you don’t know. And if you do, you have a much better handle on your quarterly paying holdings than most (or maybe you’re using our AI-powered dividend tracker, Income Calendar!).

It’s understandable if you can’t come up with this number off the top of your head. Let’s drop a fictional $100K into five major Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks—Coca-Cola (KO), Procter & Gamble (PG), UnitedHealth (UNH), International Business Machines (IBM) and Boeing (BA)—and see what Income Calendar comes back with.… Read more

Closed-end funds (CEFs) are the last bargains left on the board. CEFs are often confused with mutual funds and ETFs, but they are different because they often trade at discounts to their net asset values (NAVs).

For contrarians like us looking for deals, this is key.

CEF trading is relatively thin. This created inefficiencies, such as select CEFs trading for as cheap as 95 or even 90 cents on the dollar.

Plus, some of them dish big dividends—like these five.

Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (EVT)
Distribution Rate: 8.1%

Let’s start with the Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (EVT)—a CEF that buys not just common stocks, but also preferred stocks, that distribute qualified dividends.… Read more

The manic market just dumped business development companies (BDCs), again. These three dividend stocks paying up to 11.7% are poised to bounce back when sanity returns.

BDCs, which lend money to small businesses, are on the “outs” with the Wall Street suits after multiple soft jobs reports. The spreadsheet jockeys fret about an unemployment-induced economic slowdown and miss the real story: small businesses are making more money than ever thanks to AI.

Here is what’s actually happening in the Main Street economy:

• Employers—especially nimble small business owners—are implementing AI to streamline and even run their operations.
• With AI tools, fewer humans are needed.

By now, it’s glaringly obvious: AI is replacing workers. And it’s boosting corporate bottom lines as it does.

I call this the “growth-without-hiring” trend, and it’s accelerating. Today we’re going to grab our share in the form of big dividends (up to 8.1%) and upside, too.

Latest Payroll Report Tells a New (Yet Familiar) Story

The latest evidence that “growth without hiring” is the real deal? The September ADP payrolls report, which showed that companies cut 32,000 positions. The August numbers were also revised to 3,000 losses, not the 54,000 gains originally reported.

With numbers like those, you’d expect the US to be in recession, or close to it.… Read more

Wall Street left these 8.5% to 16.6% yields for dead. But their next dividend raises may show that these patients have a pulse—and send these prices higher before year-end.

Even better, three of these companies are quarterly dividend hikers. These are companies that have a track record of at least a few years of improving their payouts not once a year, but once a quarter.

What are the red flags to look for when these companies make their next announcements?

Hess Midstream LP (HESM)
Distribution Yield: 8.5%
2024 Increase: 10.9% (across four hikes)
Projected Q4 Distribution Announcement: Late October

Hess Midstream LP (HESM) is a master limited partnership (MLP) that owns, operates and develops a number of midstream energy assets, primarily located in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota.… Read more

In most US industries, banks help businesses finance their buildings. The lenders also provide working lines of capital for the operations to grow.

Cannabis is different. It is tricky for operators to find money due to federal roadblocks.

At the national level, cannabis is still illegal. However, 40 states have legalized the drug in some fashion. Uncle Sam mostly looks the other way and lets states regulate their own markets—except when it comes to banking and taxes.

Banks cannot lend to cannabis operators. So, good luck financing that building.

Also, there is a tax code relic of the 1980s war on drugs (“Just Say No!”)… Read more

We contrarians live for the “one-off” shots at extra income (or gains!) our favorite dividend plays throw our way.

One of these “special situations” just landed in our lap: A shot at buying a megatrend-powered 7.6% dividend that’s rarely cheap. And we’re picking it up for a song.

It’s a long-time holding of our Contrarian Income Report advisory, and it’s sitting right in the tracks of the surging AI buildout. In fact, it may be the last “cheap” AI play on the board! This one’s dropped from trading for more than its portfolio is worth to a lot less.

A 7.6% Dividend Bargain We Haven’t Seen Since 2020 

As you can see, this fund dropped from trading 6% above its net asset value (NAV, or the per-share value of its portfolio) to 7.1% below, as of this writing.… Read more

The Fed has finally cut rates, and if the “dot plot” is any indication, it won’t be the last. This is fuel for real estate investment trusts (REITs)—they thrive when borrowing costs fall and their fat dividends shine next to shrinking bond yields.

Today we can lock in payouts between 6% and 13% from landlords set to surge as Powell’s long-awaited pivot plays out.

Why do REITs rally as rates fall? These stocks act as “bond proxies” that move alongside bonds and opposite rates. Here is a major REIT ETF plotted against the 10-year Treasury yield. As you can see, when the important rate zigs, the REIT benchmark zags:

REITs Zig When Rates Zag

Rate cuts don’t always hit the 10-year overnight.… Read more