Author Archive: Brett Owens

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have momentum now. And don’t let their terrific 2019 scare you—next year is setting up to be even better thanks to Jay Powell’s gang of doves!

I’ll reveal three strong REITs for 2020 at the end of this article. Together they give you growing dividends that double (and even triple) the market’s payout. And to be honest, one isn’t exactly a REIT—it’s a REIT-owning closed-end fund (CEF) that drops a huge 6.5% dividend into your account every month.

REITs: The Ultimate Rate-Proof Play

First, no matter what Jay Powell says, you can take this to the bank: more rate cuts are on the table as the on-again, off-again trade war lingers and the president batters the poor fellow tweet by tweet.… Read more

Are interest rates heading to zero in the US? Or, dare I say, negative range?

I don’t think so. But if they do, real estate investment trusts (REITs) are going to absolutely skyrocket. This year-to-date has been a sneak preview. Most REITs have seen their valuations expand with the market rally, but we haven’t missed out on all of them.

In a minute, we’ll discuss a trio of dirt-cheap REITs with attractive yields between 5% and 6%. But first, let me show you just how overstretched this market has become.

First, let’s look at the “Shiller PE.” This is the “second-level” price-to-earnings ratio, created by legendary economist Robert Shiller, that factors in average inflation-adjusted earnings over the past decade.… Read more

Most stocks that pay more than 10% are, honestly, trash. Their yields usually look big because their stocks have split once or twice “the wrong way.”

Take Tupperware Brands (TUP), for example. The party ended abruptly for these shareholders. I feel bad for anyone who was mistakenly holding these shares “just for the dividend.”

The yield has skyrocketed from the 3% to 4% range into double-digits. Which would normally be pretty sweet, except the reason for the 10%+ payout is a collapse in the stock price from $72 to $9-something:

The Tupperware Party Ends in Tears

“First-level” income investors tend to turn their brains off once they have identified the yield.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are on fire—and we need to be very careful not to get burned.

Yellow Light on Some (but not all) REITs

Look above and you’ll see what I mean—the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ), in blue, has topped the S&P 500 on price returns alone. That’s a monster run for income investments like REITs.

More REIT Gains to Come—But Be Cautious

Here’s the twist: there’s plenty more upside ahead—and you can thank the Fed for that. Its latest rate cuts will keep powering REITs higher, for two reasons:

1. Lower rates cut REITs’ borrowing costs, and these trusts (owners of everything from senior-care centers to cell towers) need lots of borrowed cash to buy new buildings and upgrade current ones.

I recently illustrated the dangers of trusting the Dividend Aristocrats to take care of your retirement needs. Their average yield of 2.4% is a fraction of what you’ll need to retire on dividend income alone, and their payout growth—while long-standing—isn’t rapid enough to get you where you need to be when it’s time to call it a career.

Now here’s another problem with even the highest-yielding Dividend Aristocrats. Stick with me as we solve it and tap into $4,424 in dividend cash each and every month.

Here’s a look at the income schedule for an investor who sinks $100,000 evenly into the five highest-yielding Dividend Aristocrats.… Read more

“Brett, give me some bond funds with big yields. And it’d be great if their prices never went down!”

My money manager friend was chasing the holy grail of retirement income. He wanted safe payouts from bonds to balance his clients’ stock exposure.

“How about the Artisan High Income Investor Fund (ARTFX)?” I replied. “It pays a steady 6% or so. And it never goes down.”

Up, Up, Up With Barely a Blip

“The only problem is that it doesn’t quite have double-digit yearly return potential. And that’s prevented me from recommending it to my Contrarian Income Report subscribers.”

Our CIR portfolio has returned 11.7% per year since inception.… Read more

Forget today’s pathetic Treasury rates. And forget the lousy payout on your typical S&P 500 name, too.

Put your nest egg in either and you’re locking in an income stream that’s actually less than zero for years to come!

I know that sounds crazy—I’ll get into precisely what I mean, and how it could jeopardize your golden years—shortly. Then I’ll show you my two-step dividend strategy (and four specific stocks and funds you can buy now).

Put all four of these picks together and you’ve got a perfect setup for these days of miserly yields, giving you gaudy 6.1%+ payouts today and an incredible 20%+ cash stream in short order!… Read more

Dividend yields are so low today that dividend growth is actually becoming cool. Income investors are combing over “Dividend Aristocrats”–stocks that have raised their payouts for 25 straight years–in desperation to find any meaningful yield.

Problem is, these stocks are so popular and richly valued that they don’t pay much today. Nor will they yield much more tomorrow, even with yearly raises. Our princely picks pay less than 2% today, which is going to net you less than $20,000 on a million bucks.

Dividend Aristocrat Yields Head Towards Zero

The Dividend Aristocrats are the well-worn, oft-recommended dividend growers of the S&P 500.… Read more

Our healthcare landlord Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) is officially back. This 6% dividend has upside once again. We are about to receive our first payout raise since early 2018, which ends our seven-quarter drought in which the big dividend was paid but not raised.

I say “drought” partially in jest because OHI yielded a fat 10% when it froze its payout. The stock slipped on the news, but we discussed that a freeze isn’t the same as a cut, and OHI’s payout was well covered by its funds from operations (FFO).

Congratulations to you calculated contrarians who stuck with the pick.… Read more

I know you’ve got cash lying around you’d love to double. Heck, even the most buttoned-down investor wouldn’t turn down a quick 2X gain.

So let’s go ahead and double your stake—and do it safely, too.

Before you ask, no, this isn’t some wild pot-stock speculation: my 2X money plan only works on companies paying—and growing—their dividends. Like the stock I’ll show you shortly, which ballooned its payout 50% in less than three years.

The 2X growth plan we’ll dive into shortly hinges on three strategies I rarely reveal in public (but they won’t come as a surprise to my Contrarian Income Report and Hidden Yields members).… Read more