Author Archive: Brett Owens

“Regular” REITs typically buy physical properties, find someone to manage them, and lease them out. They collect rent checks and avoid paying taxes on most of these profits if they pay most of their earnings out as dividends (per the terms of their tax loophole, which frees them from paying taxes if they distribute 90% of their profits as payouts). This is the reason REIT stocks typically boast big yields.

Mortgage REITs (mREITs), on the other hand, don’t own buildings. They own paper. Specifically, they buy mortgage loans and collect the interest. How do they make money? By borrowing short (assuming short-term rates are lower) and lending long (if long-term rates are, as they tend to be, higher).… Read more

I stopped pulling my suitcase and fumbled for my phone. “Owens.”

“Hey buddy,” I replied to my childhood friend. “If it’s loud… well I’m in Vegas. On the Strip actually, walking to my hotel to check in.”

It was almost 80 degrees. Your income strategist was sweating through his shoes and pants and, more concerning, he’d forgotten his hat—which meant the top of his increasingly exposed head was being slowly but surely sizzled by the desert sun.

But “shortcuts” back through the casinos would require re-masking up, per Nevada state law. Plus, they are loud. And my boy wanted to talk about cryptos, even though he’d done very little investing through his entire life.… Read more

Let’s beat back this Fed-fueled market—where everything seems pricey—with three proven strategies that prime us for 100%+ gains, and 100%+ dividend growth, too.

One of them is a nifty ploy that sets us up to “front run” a 100%+ return by getting in companies about to split their businesses. At the end of it all, we’ll end up with two growing dividends instead of just one! (We’ll cover the two telltale signs of a looming split in a bit.)

These three strategies are the inner workings of my Hidden Yields dividend-growth service, which has delivered a 14.7% annualized return since launch in September 2015.… Read more

The long-awaited infrastructure bill has passed. Let’s talk about the six best dividend stocks to capitalize on this spending.

Here’s where the larger chunks of money are going:

• $110 billion to build new roads, bridges and other major infrastructure
• $66 billion to improve passenger and freight rail
• $65 to upgrade America’s broadband infrastructure
• $65 billion to upgrade and build up the electric grid
• $55 billion to improve America’s water infrastructure
• $39 billion to modernize public transit
• $25 billion to repair and maintain airports
• $17 billion to update port infrastructure
• $7.5 billion to build a network of electric vehicle chargers
• $7.5 billion to create low-emission buses and ferries

Most of this “obvious” government spending is going to industrials and materials firms.… Read more

Thank you to our 1,405 Contrarian Income Report subscribers who attended our “VIP” Q4 webcast a couple of weeks back! We chatted about bond funds paying 9%+, Federal Reserve “fueled” funds for 54% yearly returns, and more.

Prior to the webcast, we collected over 30 questions from thoughtful subscribers. We addressed most of these on the call. However, during the session, 70 more great income questions came in!

As promised, I read everyone one. Let’s chat about the most common questions today.

Q: I’m 64 years old and am just concerned about retiring on dividends. I own PCI which pays a high dividend but trades at a high premium.… Read more

“Don’t Fight the Fed” was chapter 4 in investing wizard Martin Zweig’s legendary book Winning on Wall Street. He devoted 40 thoughtful pages to teach readers why they should “go with the flow” with respect to the Fed’s trend at any given moment.

As we recently heard from Fed Chair Jay Powell himself, the Fed is fixated on tapering. That is going to send a select group of dividend stocks to the moon.

I’m talking about “Fed-driven” price gains of 136% here—and 161% dividend hikes, too. (Those numbers aren’t pulled from the air; they’re exactly what was delivered by one of the three overlooked regional-bank stocks we’ll discuss below.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have become quite popular with income investors in recent years. And why not? These “retirement makers” are required to give 90% of their profits to their shareholders as dividends.

So, if you’re looking to retire on dividends, REITs are a natural place to look.

Problem is, their popularity comes at a price. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ) yields just 2.5% today—pretty lame by its standards:

The Problem with Popularity: VNQ Pays Just 2.5%

A disappearing dividend isn’t the only problem with VNQ. Like most ETFs it tends to overweight the largest REITs, which typically translates into both lower overall yields and slower dividend growth.… Read more

This time last year, my most opportunistic subscribers took advantage of a rocky September and October—and secured annualized returns up to 117% with safe dividend plays.

We have a similar setup this year, with the September swoon “refreshing” stocks-at-large and paving the way for some spectacular moves higher. Is your portfolio ready to capture these unfolding riches?

And no, I’m not talking about crypto. We don’t need to trade Bitcoin, Ether or any “coins” with a dog’s face to meet our profit targets.

We’ll get to today’s hottest “dividend trades” in a moment. First, let’s understand why this strategy worked so well last year (and is likely to work again now).… Read more

Crypto? We contrarian income investors don’t need it.

Gambling in Bitcoin, Ether or any “coins” with a dog on the front is pointless when we can dial in a safe dividend strategy for annualized returns up to 117%.

This sneaky-smart plan is secure. It’s repeatable. And oh, by the way, it is flashing a B-U-Y signal today.

When we last used this “rinse and repeat” strategy a year ago, we bagged price gains up to 38% in as little as four months, plus dividends as high as 8.3%! Thanks to our short holding period, these gains translate into 117% profits on a yearly basis.… Read more

When the taper tantrum finally hits, these five dividends—up to 12.9%—are likely to directly benefit.

Right now, their profits are being artificially suppressed by the Fed. Once this constraint is lifted, their bottom lines are going to boom.

The Fed is currently buying $80 billion in government bonds every month. Yes, Chairman Jay Powell wants to kick this addiction, but thus far he can only bring himself to “think about it.” Eventually, he will try to cut back on this bad habit. This opens the door for us laypeople to profit and bank some big payouts.

Treasury yields are based on supply and demand.… Read more