Author Archive: Brett Owens

Is this a quick (buyable) blip? Or the next bear market?

While the Wall Street suits guess away, we can do better than the buy and hope crowd. After all, why hope when we can secure our retirement with sustainable cash flows? I’m talking about yields of 6%, 7% or even 8% or more that barely blink when the markets melt down.

These investments are easy to buy. In fact, we purchase them just as we would a mere “common” stock. But here, we’re looking past the obvious to purchase these preferred payouts (yielding 7.4% on average, we’ll talk tickers in a moment).… Read more

Looking for a few safe bond funds to park your cash in, earn a bit of yield from and (most importantly) not lose your shirt on?

I’ve heard from several subscribers who are looking for a safe dividend port in these renewed storms. Well, there aren’t many, but I’ve got a few ideas for you here! We’ll discuss them in a minute. First, let’s talk about the sudden change in weather.

Early last week, the VIX—the measure of volatility that everyone knows (and few can explain!)—mysteriously started popping higher. This was a bit curious because the VIX and the S&P 500 had been mirroring each other.… Read more

There’s a joke going around that the S&P 500 isn’t the S&P 500 anymore. It’s now the “S&P 5.”

(Well, last Thursday, the five got punched in the face. With no meaningful dividends to cushion the fall, it was all “red on the screen.”)

I’m talking about the five mostly dividend-less stocks that have been driving the rebound since March—tech darlings and low/no yield wonders Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB).

Rebound Leaves Dividend Investors Behind

If you’re not holding these big names, or if you only have a small position, well, the joke’s been on you (with the exception of last Thursday, of course!).… Read more

I dig dividend stocks that keep a low profile. Forget the front-page financial headlines. I’d prefer to own a high paying stock as it’s making its way from page 16 up to page 1!

That’s when the real money is made, and the highest yields are banked. These under-covered stocks give us a “two-fer” benefit. A lack of media and analyst coverage allows you and I to exploit dirt-cheap prices, unlocking far more potential than if we chased them once everyone else started to notice them.

Better still, low prices in unexplored areas of the market equal juicy yields. Imagine squeezing 10.1% from the real estate biz.… Read more

Since March, central banks around the world have flooded the globe with newly printed money. As usual, we went “big” here in ‘Merica, with $3 trillion and counting flooding into everything from tech stocks to gold to bonds.

Who exactly is buying a US Treasury yielding 0.7%? Perhaps rich guys and gals with $10 million or more in the bank. Even then, these bonds are paying just $70,000 annually on that ten-mil! Which means a wealthy bond bull must tap into some capital or kiss that country club membership goodbye.

The Federal Reserve, of course, a big buyer. It’s distorting the market and keeping interest rates low, to the benefit of corporations but the chagrin of retirees.… Read more

These days, I’m hearing from a lot of folks who are pretty nervous, bracing for yet another round of dividend cuts to hit them out of the blue.

It’s understandable. Recently, we’ve seen plenty of dividend “sacred cows,” like Wells Fargo (WFC), mall landlord Simon Property Group (SPG), and senior-care operators Welltower (WELL) and Ventas (VTR) cut or eliminate their payouts.

In the second-quarter of 2020, 244 firms increased their dividends, according to Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow Jones Indices. That sounds good until we see that 639 companies decreased their payouts. In other words, dividend investors were two-and-a-half times as likely to receive a pay cut as they were a raise.… Read more

America’s in a dividend desert, and that’s forcing income hunters to get creative. Are 10.1% paying mREITs the answer?

The S&P 500 hasn’t yielded this poorly (1.7%) in roughly a decade. T-notes deliver a fractional yield. Worse, even areas of traditionally elevated yield are offering just so-so payouts right now. At less than 4% on average, high-yield stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs) will put retirement investors well short of their income goals.

The good news? A pair of market niches—business development companies (BDCs) and mortgage REITs—can put 3x that amount of money into our pockets.

I recently pointed readers to a “3-click” BDC portfolio yielding 10.9%, which is a little less than the BDC average of 12%.… Read more

The economy is a mess—and that’s presenting quite the opportunity for these landlords, and contrarians like us. Tenants are still paying, but these stocks are priced like a few are flaking.

That’s not the case. Plus, one firm is about to take advantage of a weak 2020 market to go shopping and secure future cash flows at a bargain.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are trading at 2020 discounts. Investors trashed these stocks swiftly and thoroughly when they realized April 1, 2020 rent payments were going to be a disaster. But we now have a few months of pandemic landlording in the books, and there’s evidence that some REITs are going to be all right after all.… Read more

We just got two powerful signals that the time is right to move into one of my favorite dividend plays: high-yield REITs (real estate investment trusts).

Before we go further, I can understand if you’re leery of REITs. Lots of income seekers were swept up in the “March Massacre,” when investors realized REITs’ April rent collections would be a disaster. And even though REITs have recovered somewhat, most are still underwater on the year.

REITs Sink, Then Bump Along the Bottom

But don’t take that to mean REITs are down for the count, because this is where our opportunity lies. Truth is, when it comes to REITs, most folks think it’s still March, even though the situation today is far better.… Read more

We’re in the deepest recession since World War II, yet the yield on the S&P 500 is at a 10-year low. Buy it today for a lame 1.7% yield.

So, we have high stock prices and investor sentiment, a terrible economy—and no dividend yield to compensate us for the concerning level of risk. Why would any serious dividend investor be interested in this “deal?”

Fortunately, there are better bargains out there. Today we’ll talk about a less-chatted-about area of the market that pays more. Seven times more, to be specific, as we craft a dividend portfolio that yields 10.9% (yes, you read that right.)… Read more