Author Archive: Brett Owens

“You want a shot?”

My single friend Roy is always looking for a whiskey partner. I winced. In a past life, I’d be in.

“I can’t,” was my excuse, grimacing and nodding at my nine-year-old daughter who accompanied me to our local watering hole for a late lunch and playoff football.

Responsibility makes us evolve. Usually, hopefully for the better. Some of the evolutions are obvious. Stay responsible while you’re parenting. Don’t buy stocks when everybody else loves them.

In my younger whiskey days, “investing” was all about action. Give me that new stock idea. The monthly pick. Be in it to win it.… Read more

Three weeks into 2024 and here’s the state of play: rates have fallen and likely headed lower. That’s going to light a fire under our favorite dividend payers.

It already has!

Think back three months, to mid-October. Back then, 10-year Treasury yields sat at just under 5%. Now they sit at 4.1%—a 19% drop! It’s been great for our dividend payers, as income-hungry folks start to look for other options.

That shift has just started, and it’s got plenty more room to run.

Consider the 8.5%-paying Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund (UTF), a closed-end fund (CEF) that’s a classic dividend play, holding shares of “recession-resistant” utilities like NextEra Energy (NEE) and Southern Company (SO).… Read more

I was at the State Fair with one of my best friends from Elementary School. We were 2,000 miles from our old school stompin’ grounds. And my buddy had been, ahem, a bit overserved.

“It feels like the first time!” he belted alongside Lou Gramm, the former lead singer of Foreigner. No longer kids, we had matured. Now we were slamming beers within sud-splashing distance of the Lou Gramm Band.

We’ll channel Lou and Foreigner today as we consider five fresh dividends. They don’t happen often but, when they do, it’s a special moment. A sign of actual corporate maturity. Management saying we’re no longer kids chasing growth, we’re going to start dishing cash to shareholders.… Read more

Many investors are worried. About a hard economic landing. The Federal Reserve keeping rates high. The 2024 election.

Fair enough. Fortunately, the headline worries are usually priced in. The popular “threatdown” rarely thwarts the market.

On the other hand, we contrarians fret about the scenario that may come out of left field. We worry not about a hard landing. Or a soft landing. The underappreciated risk is the no landing that reignites inflation.

Rates down, assets up—let the good times roll! It will be fun for a while. Until prices skyrocket again.

Fed Chair Jay Powell has officially pivoted from his hawkish stance.… Read more

Look, I get it: many folks love ETFs, mainly because of the cheap management fees.

I mean who doesn’t love a deal? And it is true that ETFs’ fees are a fraction of those levied by the typical mutual fund or closed-end fund (CEF).

Trouble is, most ETF buyers get exactly what they pay for! Some of the worst performers in ETF-land are dividend-growth ETFs, which sound like a nice “1-click” way to load up your portfolio with soaring payouts.

Too bad they can’t stop tripping over their own feet!

Look at how three major dividend-growth ETFs, the iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO), Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) and ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL), have fared in the past year:

Stocks Lap Dividend-Growth ETFs

As you can see, the S&P 500 (in orange) blew past this trio, with a 24% total return.… Read more

As inflation calms down, these dividend stocks are going to fire up. I’m talking about five stocks with payouts popping between 33% and 100% per year.

And these are safe, profitable businesses powered by good ol’ fashioned cash flow. I know, what a concept. These stocks should never be cheap, but they are, thanks to the recent stock market panic in September and October.

This five-pack highlights the power of a phenomenon called the “dividend magnet.” This is where payout growth pulls a stock’s price higher regardless of whatever the broader economy is doing.

Dow component UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is a perfect example of the dividend magnet.… Read more

If you don’t like these 8%, 9% and even 10%+ dividends, well, you’re not really an income investor.

That’s right. As I write, select closed-end funds (CEFs) yield 10.8%.

Ten. Point. Eight. Per. Cent!

We contrarians are locking in yields up to nearly 11%. When the market seas become choppy, we’ll stick to our script. Here it is, broken down in an 11-step playbook for these 8%, 9%, even 10.8% yields.

CEF Rule #1: Buy the Best 

Fixed-income behemoth DoubleLine runs some well-known big funds as well as smaller, lesser-known CEFs. There’s a raging dividend party in the ignored CEF corner of DoubleLine’s portfolio, with yields up to 10.8% via

DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (DSL).… Read more

Let’s cut to the chase on dividend investing in 2024: our strategy this year will be all about interest rates.

Sure, there are other trends out there, like AI. And yep, there’s some steak behind the sizzle.

But when it comes to grabbing fast-growing—and high-yielding—payouts at the right times, rate moves will rule the roost. That’s not much of a surprise, really, as stocks have hung on Jay Powell’s every utterance for the last couple years.

But here’s the twist: Powell won’t be the headline-grabber in ’24. Look for him to fade into the background, with the Fed likely to move rates lower, maybe by a percent or so.… Read more

The 2024 Dogs of the Dow are particularly homely hounds—which means we’re talking big dividends.

This year’s Dogs yield more than three-times the broader market’s paltry payout. So, should we hold our noses and buy? Let’s grab some peanut butter treats and investigate. But first, a review of the “Dogs” strategy.

The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy means buying the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s laggards. It’s a simple three-step strategy that often outperforms in the year ahead:

• Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow.
• Step 2: Buy all 10 stocks in equal amounts and hold them for a year.

I don’t want to be the messenger of bearish news to kick off the new year. But, as a card-carrying contrarian, I can’t help it either.

We should sell our dicey dividends now. While the market is high.

The best time to buy was October, when vanilla investors were fearful. We discussed “backing up the truck” to buy anything and everything week after week after week.

CNN’s Fear and Greed Index (FGI) had bottomed out at 16 out of 100, an Extreme Fear reading only seen during stock market panics:

1 Rally and 3 Months Ago: Extreme Fear

Meanwhile the bastion of basic financial thinking, MarketWatch.com,… Read more