Author Archive: Brett Owens

I wouldn’t freak out now. In fact, I’d use this market swoon to go shopping—and pick up dividends for dimes on the dollar.

My favorite idea today is an 8.5% yield that—amazingly—trades at a 28% discount to its NAV (net asset value). That’s a dollar for 72 measly cents!

I’ll share the specifics in a minute. First, let’s calm down. The time to sell was five short weeks ago, when we discussed the likelihood that another short-term top was in:

I’m talking about the dividend dogs that, if we’re being honest, are not deserving of long-term positions in our retirement portfolios.

Don’t be drawn in by this spiking 2-year Treasury yield. Even at just north of 4%, we’re still not retiring off of it!

Think about it for a second: for a ho-hum 4.2%, you’re locking up your cash for two years. Sure, you’ll get your principal back, but you’re still way behind inflation. And it’s almost certain that stocks will be higher two years out, so you’ll miss out on that gain, too.

I say that because the average bear market lasts about 10 months. This is month nine. We don’t get a free pizza if it ends at the 10-month mark.… Read more

To paraphrase the great Jerry Maguire:

Show me the money. Monthly!

I don’t know about you, but my bills come every 30 days. So, I demand the same from my dividends.

Monthly dividend payers are a “must have” in retirement. After all, who has the time to track down a quarterly payment? Afternoons are for craft cocktails, not accounting.

(My buddy makes a dangerously tasty absinthe old fashioned. Would wait until after sundown on that one.)

Speaking of bitters, that’s life as a quarterly dividend receiver (sorry, couldn’t resist). Monthly payouts are magical, and not just for passive income. These income vehicles also hold three core advantages against all other stocks and funds that pay less frequently:

1. Better overall returns thanks to compounding: If all else (performance and yield) is equal, a monthly dividend stock, with dividends reinvested, will always return just a little more over time than stocks that pay quarterly, semiannually or annually because you can put your cash to work sooner, which means it can compound faster.

The stock market keeps falling and falling because, for the first time in 14 years, there’s nobody to catch it.

The “Fed put” has expired.

The genesis of the Federal Reserve’s implicit put—the notion that the Fed will fix any decline—was the 2008 Financial Crisis. With the financial system on the ropes, the stock market itself became “too big to fail” as far as the Fed was concerned. Then-Chairman Ben Bernanke printed a bunch of money, boosted the market and became a Wall Street (bank, at least) hero.

Since then, the Fed has cradled the stock market. Anytime the S&P 500 hiccups or corrects, the central bank steps in to print money.… Read more

Today we’re going to “onshore” ourselves 2 unsung dividend payers that are pumping out cash: one has seen its cash flow surge 367% in just the last three years—feeding a quick “dividend double” for its shareholders.

Both of these payouts have plenty of room to grow from here, thanks to today’s biggest—and least discussed—megatrend.

I’ll share the tickers on these two stealth dividend plays in a second.

As for the megatrend, the hint was in the first line: most people haven’t noticed, but American multinationals are “onshoring”—or bringing manufacturing back to the USA—in droves. This shift will only accelerate in the years ahead, and will make folks who buy the right stocks now some very big profits (and dividends!)… Read more

“Hey Brett, how’s business?”

“Awful,” I admitted. “But we’re a startup. If we can improve from awful to simply bad, it will be a big milestone for us.”

That was one economic meltdown ago, back in 2008. I had just left my “day job” to start my first company. On cue, the Great Recession descended upon us.

But the gloomy economic backdrop didn’t matter. Actually, it was a blessing. A recession is actually the best time to start companies and grow them.

As a startup with no money, we were able to cobble our limited resources together to get the company off the ground.… Read more

Why chase the market when we can let 15% per year—every year—come to us?

This is the perfect time to buy what I call “hidden yield” investments. These are stocks that dish out dividends today. But, more notably, they have an important catalyst coming in the year ahead that will help boost their stock prices.

This trigger is so powerful that it sends these stocks sailing by 15% or more per year, every year. Which is truly great when other equities and even bonds are getting buried around us.

We’ll talk about these stocks and their “dividend spark” in a moment.… Read more

“Deglobalization” is the dividend trade of the 2020s. And we’re going to tap it for safe dividend growers with real assets and real cash flow.

I’ll drop two tickers in a second.

Signs that our interconnected world is coming unglued are everywhere. Supply chains are still a mess. Europe is getting set to ban (or slap a price cap on) Russian oil. Speaking of Putin, his immoral invasion of Ukraine is, er, not going well. He’s even going cap in hand to North Korea for spare parts for his ramshackle military!

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi gazes across the Taiwan Strait, while shuttering his own economy (and vital trading ports) in pursuit of his insane zero-COVID policy.… Read more

Utility stocks—the “OGs of dividend payers”—have sailed through 2022. We’ll highlight seven of them, yielding 4% or more, in a moment.

By the way, this sector-at-large has returned 4%, including dividends, year-to-date (YTD). While that may not make us rich, it is the best record on the scoreboard this side of energy:

Why utilities? As always, these stocks pay and they don’t drop as much in price as the broader market. A useful quality in a dumpster-fire market.

Utilities are expensive, however, They currently trade at nearly 21 times forward earnings—near their highest forward P/E in decades and well above the S&P 500 forward P/E of 17.7.… Read more

Peter is an investing legend. Dude collects $400,000 per year in dividend income.

He retired at age 53, by the way. From the finance industry, naturally. Peter wrote a book and cruised around as a public speaker.

The speaking fees and book royalties were gravy, no doubt. With $33,000 in dividend income coming in each month, I’m sure Peter does not sweat his bills.

Now what can we contrarian income investors learn from master dividend investor “Payout” Peter Thornhill?

Not much.

The guy has an $11 million portfolio. Of course his dividend cash flow is going to rock. It may only be 4%, but that’s more than enough when this is the pile he’s deploying:

A simpler investor can do just as well with a similar war chest.… Read more