Author Archive: Brett Owens

I don’t know why you’d try to cobble together an income stream with miserly ETFs when there are plenty of closed-end funds (CEFs) trading at big discounts, even after the huge market rebound we’ve seen since March.

What’s more, many of these CEFs are throwing off life-changing 7%+ payouts!

Why are we seeing some great deals in CEFs now? Because the folks who invest in these funds tend to be slower to react to events than the jumpy crowd holding the typical S&P 500 stock. That lag gives us a nice opportunity to buy while these funds’ prices are still deeply discounted from the value of the assets in their portfolios (a figure known as the net asset value, or NAV).… Read more

“Money printer go brrrrrrrrr!”

This humorous investor war cry making the social media rounds these days is all you need to know about the Federal Reserve’s tactics to fight off the coronavirus. Jerome Powell is printing money like there’s no tomorrow.

In fact, since March, he’s created more than $3 trillion fresh dollars! This has been the largest money creation event in the history of the planet.

Powell Prints, Money Supply Soars

More money is lousy news for each outstanding greenback. The US dollar is starting to tailspin lower thanks to a flood of supply:

More Dollars Means Each One is Worth Less

What dividends do we buy when the dollar is weak?… Read more

“Brett, how you hanging in there?” My CPA leaned into his computer on our latest Zoom call.

“Well, every time Gavin Newsom talks, my life seems to get a bit worse.” (The governor of California had just announced that public and private schools would not open in the fall.)

He cracked up. “That comment reminds me of a column you wrote years ago about (then Fed Chair) Janet Yellen. Something about Yellen yapping and closed-end funds (CEFs) rising?”

“Right. Poor Janet. She sure was level-headed compared to (current Fed Chair) Jay Powell. Every time Powell speaks, gold pops!”

The reason is obvious.… Read more

These days, everybody’s looking for the one magic indicator that says when an investment is overbought—or better yet, reveals if it’s a terrific bargain.

Of course, no signal is right 100% of the time, but there is one that gives us the next best thing and unlocks high, “crisis-resistant” dividends, too.

The Perfect Crisis-Investment Indicator (for 7%+ Dividends)

The “bargain alert” I’m talking about is a figure called the discount to net asset value (NAV). And you’ll only find it in a high-yielding investment called a closed-end fund (CEF).

Before we venture too far into financial-jargon land, let’s unpack this, because what I’m about to show you is the simplest, most effective way I know of to grab steady 7%+ dividends and predictable upside in any market.… Read more

Quick income quiz—what’s the longest running bull market powering dividend payers? It may be the multi-decade run in healthcare spending.

Dividend stocks that are providing products aligned with this megatrend have the types of payouts that we’re looking for in a retirement portfolio:

1. Secure cash flows, with
2. Rising profits to support future dividend growth.

At a time when we can no longer take dividend payments for granted, this type of “megatrend support” is becoming a must-have.

We’ll talk specific stocks in a minute. First, let’s get into the trend and spend. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provides estimates of US health care spending by sources of funds, such as private healthcare insurance, Medicare and so on.… Read more

I lifted my mask a bit so that my old office neighbor could recognize me:

“Hey!” he said. “Saw you and the pup the other day in front of Shake Shack. I remember when she used to sprint down the hallway, and now…”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “It’s tough. Chronic arthritis, or something. X-rays, MRIs and a cocktail of drugs. Poor thing is only eight but acting like she’s going on 18. Anyway, we’re trying everything. What’s new with you?”

“I’m actually trying to take a sabbatical. Get out of here for a while.” He paused. “If any place will take me!”… Read more

If you’ve read my articles in the last few weeks, you may have noticed I’ve been writing about inflation more lately. I’m doing so because your income portfolios—especially your bonds!—are at risk as a result of recent money printing.

My recent monetary focus has taken many readers by surprise. After all, we haven’t seen sustained inflation in 40 years. Nothing like a four-decade lull to lure an investor into a false sense of “60/40 retirement portfolio” security!

But even though we’re staring at day-to-day deflation right now, with lockdowns hitting demand for most products beyond the essentials, make no mistake: the ingredients for inflation are there.… Read more

Let’s keep our heads and our dividends above water in this crazy year that is 2020. Most income investors know that it’s been brutal for dividends. But do you know how horrific it’s actually been?

Our pal Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices has slapped an official number on it:

$42.5 billion.

That’s how much cash U.S. stocks cut or suspended their dividends by in the second quarter alone. We haven’t seen pay cuts this steep since Q1 2009, when investors received $43.8 billion less in cash distributions than the year prior.

This wasn’t just a couple of large dividend programs tanking, either.… Read more

Fed chair Jay Powell is our kind of income investor. He’s allocated up to $750 billion to buy individual corporate bonds. Perhaps Jay is sick of being told what to do, because he (like us!) is clearly on a mission to help his central bank retire comfortably on dividends.

He realizes that US Treasuries don’t have the oomph he needs. As I write, the 10-year bond pays less than 0.7%. If Jay had tossed his $750 “billies” into T-Bonds, they wouldn’t even net him a “lame” $5 billion annually.

Instead, our man hired investment firm BlackRock to buy ETFs like the iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG).… Read more

It really is possible to find stocks that grow your money 15%+ a year forever—even in the middle of a pandemic.

Better still, these “unicorns” are a cinch to find. We only need to look for one thing: a dividend that’s growing—and ideally accelerating.

I know that sounds like a tall order, with S&P 500 payouts plunging $42.5 billion in the second quarter. But that figure masks the fact that many companies are still hiking their payouts—and will continue to, even if this crisis drags on longer than we expect.

Dividend Growth = Share-Price Growth

Of course, it’s not good enough to simply pick a few stocks with fast payout growth and call it a day.… Read more