Author Archive: Brett Owens

Since we last connected last Wednesday, we’ve had a few notable events happen (to say the least!)

First, former vice president Joe Biden became president-elect Joe Biden. Depending on your perspective, this may or may not be a “done deal” as far as you are concerned. That’s fair. However, it is mostly a done deal as far as the prediction markets are concerned.

Leading website PredictIt is giving Biden a 90% chance of winning this never-ending November election. I like PredictIt better than any poll because punters are betting “real money” on the website. Heading into the election, the prediction marketplace correctly foresaw a close election, outperforming any pollster I’m aware of.… Read more

Make no mistake: now is the time to buy dividend stocks. That’s because stocks tend to rally from Election Day to the end of the year—no matter which party wins.

The important thing is that the election, and the uncertainty it brings, is over.

The post-election surge is already on, with the S&P 500 jumping 6% since the market close on November 2. Plus we’ve got a nice seasonal effect working in our favor, as stocks tend to gain from October to May.

A Second Chance to Buy Cheap

But don’t worry—if you haven’t used this opportunity to set yourself up for some strong upside (and growing dividend payouts) you’re not too late.… Read more

Many investors believe that financial markets react to the news. But it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Asset prices move with respect to their expectation of the news, versus the actual events that play out.

It’s a cliché, but true: Markets don’t like uncertainty. As I write, it appears that we will (eventually) have a clear winner to the 2020 election. Social unrest also appears to be less than feared. Plus, the likelihood of Congressional gridlock increases the chances that taxes will not rise.

All-in-all, a “slam dunk” for Mr. and Ms. Market, who went to bed Tuesday night fearing worse.… Read more

If you woke up this morning and thought to yourself:

“Well, at least that’s over with!”

You’re not alone. Historically speaking, financial markets in the US don’t seem to care which side wins on Election Night (or, in the drawn-out days and weeks that will follow). The important thing for the markets is that the election uncertainty is largely over.

As the political carnival fades into our rearview mirror, we’re left with some dividends that made out better than others. Let’s review these winners and losers now.

Winner: Financial Markets

Since March 2009, the long-term (multi-year) trend of the stock market has been up.… Read more

I sure hope you haven’t listened to the bleating pundits begging us to sell everything ahead of Election Day. These talking heads don’t realize that, historically speaking, cash has already turned to trash.

It’s at times like these—when everyone is panicking and another big selloff seems right around the corner—that fortunes are made. And they’re not made by being out of stocks for the six months when they tend to rally (November 1 to May 1).

I know this sounds strange, but hear me out. Because we’ve got a shot at big gains (and dividends!) setting up our portfolios before E-Day comes and goes.… Read more

Why choose between dividends and growth when we can have both?

Thanks to popular payout programs from the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), investors can buy a growthy tech stock and even enjoy a little income on the side.

“63% of the (information technology) sector constituents paid a regular dividend,” says Todd Rosenbluth, Head of ETF & Mutual Fund Research for CFRA. In other words: While tinier tech stocks might have to plow everything into M&A, larger tech stocks that have already reached scale generate lots of cash—which they can shower shareholders with.

But there’s just one catch with these tech dividends.… Read more

Last week, on our dividend trading webcast, several readers asked me how I manage my own money. Well, it’s a bit different from the “buy and hold” (or hope!) strategies employed by most income investors. Here’s why…

I don’t like holding full positions during downturns. When the market looks like it’s about to roll over, or when it actually begins to roll over, I (personally) head for the sidelines.

And when the pullback is over, I flip my cash back into the market. It’s that simple.

Following this strategy, there have really only been four “trades” to make all year.… Read more

It’s rare when we get not one but two crashes bigger than 10%+ in a single year—but hey, it’s 2020. Anything goes.

But take just a second and imagine that you dodged both of those disasters, resting easily on the sidelines during the chaos. Then you moved into stocks for the rest of the year. In that case, 2020 just may be your best year yet!

 A “Dream” Strategy (That’s Possible to Achieve!)

Of course, no one can precisely predict the market’s next move. But what I’m about to show you is as close as I’ve ever seen an investing system get.… Read more

Firms increasing their dividends in 2020, of all years, are sending a powerful “payout confidence” signal to Wall Street:

Our dividend is safe—so secure, in fact, that we’re hiking it. Watch our stock price follow.

The bigger the increase, the greater the level of confidence. In a minute, we’ll investigate five of these dividend buy signals.

S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Howard Silverblatt writes that there were 309 dividend increases during the third quarter, versus 102 declines—better than the 244 versus 639 “upside-down” split from Q2. (Though we’re still grading worse than this quarter last year, when 426 firms raised and only 94 cut.)… Read more

Successful dividend investing is simple, though not necessarily easy. There are nuances which trip up many investors (including most professionals!). These twists and turns create “yield alpha” opportunities for contrarian-minded income investors like us.

If everyone else in the market were perfectly grounded and calculated, there would be no chance for us to make above-average returns. Thanks to these inefficiencies, we are able to bank big yields and price gains in Dividend Land. Ready to retire on dividends? Follow these five steps and we’ll do it together. Let’s start with an obvious yet underappreciated rule for income investors.

Step 1: Count Your Dividends

Since we focus on high yield, most of our returns come from the “yield” component of stocks.… Read more