Author Archive: Brett Owens

Let’s not fall in love with our dividend stocks—as this can be a big mistake in a dumpster-fire year like 2022. We must be ready to toss “paper” payer tigers out and move into safe dividends poised to “front run” the next big market shift.

(I’ve got three tickers that are smart plays to swing into now, with yields up to 8.4% and payouts that have surged up to 55% in the last five years, taking their share prices along for the ride.)

“Buy-and-Hopers” Get Crushed

Before we go further, let’s take a moment to keep “buy and hold” investors in our thoughts—or as I like to call them, “buy and hope” investors, who sit tight for years, usually in an index fund, hoping for gains.… Read more

One of the market’s most secure, steady sources of generous yield is going through a rare turbulent moment. But these 7% to 8% yields—paid monthly, no less!—are selling at discounted prices we only see once every five years or so.

Is it time for us contrarians to consider “backing up the truck” to load up on these monthly dividend machines?

Why “Preferred” Dividends are This Cheap

“Preferred” stocks are stock-bond hybrids that rarely make Wall Street’s highlight reels. We like it that way, because these funds pay.

These underappreciated secrets don’t usually suffer this bad, either.

You Rarely See Preferreds Get Clobbered This Bad

The reason preferreds are usually so steady is that they simply collect income.… Read more

For decades, plain vanilla financial advisors have pitched a “4% withdrawal rate” as a retirement solution. Most were lazily stealing this advice from the smart, thrifty fellow who created the rule.

The 4% idea is that someone with, say, a million-dollar nest egg could safely withdraw $40,000 per year and probably not run out of money before they die. Or, at least, have it last for 33 years.

(And oh, by the way, they’d better hope that the financial poem keeps rhyming with a previous 50-year period. But I digress…)

Not the most inspiring idea, I know. So why are we even talking about this today?… Read more

Think back just four months: first-level investors were babbling on about “transitory” inflation and clambering for crypto and profitless tech stocks.

No more! The world has shifted. Russia’s war on Ukraine—a disaster on a human level first and foremost—has upended, well, everything.

Crappy crypto and bankruptcy-bound techs are out—and secure payers that benefit from today’s trends are in. (I’ve got three examples for you below, one of which has boosted its payout 119% in just the last five years.)

Secure Payers Thrive in a Volatile World

Let’s be honest: the Fed, Putin and President Xi of China are driving the market now.… Read more

The bond market is blowing up many retirement portfolios. Let’s make sure yours is outrunning inflation, rates, and everything else—with these yields up to 25%.

(That’s not a typo. We’ll talk 25% dividends in a moment. First, let’s address the fixed-income elephant in the room.)

The 10-year Treasury is rapidly running towards 3%—a level it hasn’t hit since 2018. The Fed’s hawkish stance has created a mass exodus in bonds, sending the T-note up from 1.5% at the start of the year to nearly 2.9% in just a few short months.

Now, that’s definitely no reason to start jumping into government debt.… Read more

Will China buy Bitcoin? If I were President Xi Jinping, looking across the Taiwan Strait, I would. Why wouldn’t he want to diversify his $1 trillion pile of Treasuries?

But there’s one thing that Xi—or any autocrat, for that matter—needs more than coins: Real assets with cash flow.

We’ll talk dividend trades that will benefit from these global trends in a moment. First, let’s start with crypto, because (indulge me, please) I need to get caught up on these questions. I’ve been saving a note from Joseph B., who asks what recommendations we have on cryptocurrencies.

Fellow reader Ted F. also asks about crypto, but from the Federal Reserve’s perspective.… Read more

I always laugh when I hear investors say you can’t time the market. Truth is, you can—my readers and I have done it many times! I’m going to show you my favorite way to time the market for big upside (and dividends) today.

The best way is to let you see my system in action. So let’s do that.

Think back to October 2020 for a second. With the market mess that is 2022 dominating the headlines now, you may not remember that we faced a big pullback then—just north of 10%.

It set the stage for us to “swing trade” for payouts north of 7%, and quick 49% upside, too.… Read more

We contrarians don’t normally buy dividend stocks high. But when we do, we sell them higher.

These 25 dividend stocks we’re about to discuss are hitting new 52-week highs. This is notable because the market-at-large is falling apart. Which means they are on the “right side” of one or more current trends.

Considering the world is a much different place than it was just two months ago, this is notable. There has been a global trend change.

Our Federal Reserve is sopping up money instead of printing it. Sky-high inflation has backed the Federal Reserve into a corner, with no recourse but to start drastically raising rates and engaging other quantitative tightening measures.… Read more

Relax. You might already have enough money to retire on.

My favorite dividend stocks let people retire comfortably on $500,000 or so.

Got more cash? Great! You’re in elite company.

Fidelity Investments—apparently happy to share its customer’s financial info anonymously—says it has more than 750,000 seven-figure 401(k) and IRA accounts.

That sounds like a lot, but it means less than 1% of Americans have $1 million or more saved for retirement. And that’s OK—select dividend stocks can help us retire comfortably on $500,000 or so.

Sure, a chunk of money is great. Especially when we can leave it untouched and let it grow.… Read more

Beware of Wall Street “wisdom” now more than ever. Especially when it comes to the most commonly quoted maxim for retirement: it’s based on a rule that was never designed for times like these!

I’m talking about the so-called “4% rule,” which says you should sell 4% of your nest egg every year in retirement.

Sounds simple, right?

Trouble is, it slashes your income stream and caps your upside in one go! It’s especially dangerous advice to follow in a downturn like the one that’s hit us in the last few months.

Let’s say, for example, you own $200,000 worth of Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares.… Read more