Author Archive: Brett Owens

I know it’s hard not to worry about your portfolio, and income stream, these days, but we will make our way through this crisis. When we do, your holdings will bounce back—and likely faster than the market if you hold strong dividend stocks.

And, when the time is right, I expect we’ll get a chance to snap up some huge dividends for dimes on the dollar. I’ll keep you posted on when we’ll move—and what to buy—in my Contrarian Income Report service.

(These are the types of dividend bargains that are only available once a decade. I’m talking about the post-crash worlds of 1987, 2002, 2009 and, coming soon, late 2020.)… Read more

Successful dividend investing can actually be pretty simple. Don’t trade for years, perhaps for a full decade, and then buy super high-quality dividend stocks at bargain basement prices.

One set of trades every decade. Not bad.

It’s the way of the world. There’s always something brewing. From the “original crash” of modern times, 1987, to the tech bubble bursting in 2000 or the financial world nearly collapsing in 2008.

Now, it’s 2020, and the world is again ending. We’ll make it to the other side, of course, but between here and there we are going to have a fantastic opportunity to buy blue-chip dividends.… Read more

I hope you are taking care of yourself, and your family. This is a good time to hunker down, both in life and in our investing strategy. Brighter days are ahead—let’s make sure we get there with ourselves and our portfolios relatively intact.

On the other side of this pandemic and shutdown, we may eventually be presented with a “March 2009” type of buying opportunity. Big yields for dimes on the dollar. When the time is right, we’ll load up our income portfolios with these bargains and resume our usual light banter in this weekly missive.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re on the other side of this just yet.… Read more

In recent weeks, we’ve discussed proven strategies for protecting and growing our nest egg (and dividends) in this crisis. These are the times when fortunes are made and big income streams are built. However, we must be extra careful about our purchases, with plenty of “payout landmines” suddenly spread around the market.

In last Tuesday’s article, for example, we covered the most powerful indicator of dividend safety: the payout ratio, specifically dividends as a percentage of free cash flow (FCF). Unlike net income, which can be manipulated, FCF is the clearest picture of the cash a firm is generating.

That makes the FCF payout ratio the perfect one-step test to run on your holdings.… Read more

These 39 stocks are supposed to hike their dividends soon. How many of these raises are still going to happen?

The first-quarter earnings season is approaching, and that typically means a weekly flow of companies announcing upgrades to their regular payouts. Indeed, I’m about to show you 39 stocks, yielding up to 47.9%, that are on the schedule and expected to deliver dividend raises over the next couple of months.

However the sudden bear market has thrown a gigantic monkey wrench into this quarter’s dividend routine. Dividends are dropping like flies.

• Ford (F), which I warned about, has suspended its dividend.

1929, 2008 and, now, 2020.

We’ve only seen this level of “selling pressure” three times since 1900. A limited sample size, sure, but we’re in ominous company. Anything and everything has been dumped in a panic liquidation to raise cash.

We saw a similar “global margin call” in late 2008. A year’s worth of selling crescendoed into a financial crisis grand finale that would eventually conclude in March 2009.

The good news then? If you held tight or, better yet, bought through the panic, you eventually did quite well. Let’s take the worst day of that year. On October 15, 2008, the S&P 500 slid 9% in one day.… Read more

Nearly every retirement portfolio on the planet is reeling from the coronavirus fallout. Recoveries are going to vary widely, however, depending on the safety of the dividends in each basket.

If your income stream is safe, then you’re well ahead of the game. When stock prices recover (and they will, as every bear market eventually gives way to a new bull), your portfolio is going to bounce right back. Assuming the payouts didn’t miss a beat, then you can rest assured you’ve got an uninterrupted income stream between now and then.

The bad news, however, is that cuts to dividend payouts have already started, with Ford (F) suspending its payout last Thursday.… Read more

A trio of reliable monthly dividend payers has been swept up in the pandemic panic. They could be the dirt-cheap buys that have dividend investors kicking themselves this time next year for not “backing up the truck” and buying every monthly paying share in sight.

These closed-end funds (CEFs) as a whole are far smaller than their mutual and exchange-traded brethren, and they’re about as sexy as a doorstop, so they go completely ignored by traditional financial media. But a couple dozen of these have exhibited some downright admirable performance while the rest of the market is tanking around them.

Better still?… Read more

Last Thursday was the sixth-worst day on record for the S&P 500 (according to information from Nasdaq Dorsey Wright). Was. It’s already down to seventh place (yikes).

On Monday, it was quickly eclipsed by the third-worst day ever for the S&P 500 on record. Even in 2008, we didn’t have a single down day as severe as either of these days.

In fact, we’ve only had selling pressure this intense happen twice in the post-World War II era. The first was the October crash in 1987, and the most recent was in the fall of 2008.

Believe it or not (and most did not at the time), both were actually buying opportunities.… 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!

Enter the “Dividend Death Spiral”

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 we’re experiencing.

Let’s say, for example, you owned $200,000 worth of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) shares, which pay $3.80 in dividends on an annualized basis, for a 2.9% yield.… Read more