Author Archive: Brett Owens

As investors near retirement, they tend to favor bonds, which provide income and less drama than stocks. However, less drama means less potential upside. With retirees living longer than ever before—which means much more time for inflation to eat away at your nest egg’s purchasing power—it’s important to not go too conservative too early in life. And fortunately, today even 65 or 70 may be too early!

One suggested solution for our long life expectancy “problem” is to stay with stocks longer. But stocks can go down as well as up, and a big pullback can inflict permanent damage on a portfolio.… Read more

Did the latest tariff tiff set the stage for the next pullback in stocks? Will this bull market actually die of old age?

The macro picture is dicey and stock valuations are pricey, but we must stay invested. The stock market goes up about two-thirds of the time. Permabears miss out on compounding and it’s not as easy to be a part-time bear as it sounds.

To illustrate this let’s consider a study by Hulbert Financial. The firm looked at the best “peak market timers”–the gurus who correctly forecasted the bursting of the Internet bubble in March 2000 and the Great Recession in October 2007.… Read more

“Brett, where the heck do I find cheap dividends in this market?”

A desperate reader asks this question almost daily.

I’ll be honest: with the market up double digits this year, it’s been tough for me to sift out cheap “pullback-proof” 7%+ payers to recommend. (But not impossible: I’ve turned up two absurdly cheap funds yielding up to 10%; see below.)

“Pullback-Proof” Dividends Are Endangered—But Not Extinct

You probably noticed I said “pullback-proof” a second ago. By that I mean stocks with the secret ingredient everyone craves: high dividends you can pocket without the underlying stock melting away in a meltdown.… Read more

We retirees and soon-to-be retirees have a dilemma. The traditional pension is just about gone. Social Security won’t support the lifestyle most of us want. We are left to our own devices.

But even if we do build up a fat balance in a 401(k) or other company retirement plan, how do we make it last? Especially when the bank pays “zero point nothing.” Today, you can’t find anything that pays significant “interest.”

This is becoming a crisis in the US. We are told that stocks provide the best returns over the long term, but retirees need income now. Most retirement investors prefer dividend income to long-term gains, but yields haven’t been this low in decades!… Read more

Got $100,000 sitting in cash? Here’s how I’d double is ASAP with safe dividend stocks.

Option 1: “Grind it higher” with cash flow. Put the money into stocks and funds paying current yields of 7.3% and grab a little bit of upside to boot.

Option 2: Double it in four or five years (turn $100,000 into $200,000!) thanks to yearly total returns of 16.3%.

You choose. The “buy and hope” obsessed folks on Wall Street provide us with these two free lunch options. However, this isn’t an entire buffet! We must choose course one or course two.

So, let’s first figure out how much of a yearly “dividend salary” we’re looking for from this pile of money.… Read more

I’m worried about this levitating market. And today I’m going to show you why you need to keep a close watch on your nest egg (and your dividends), too.

Then we’ll dive into my personal plan for preparing for the next market rout. Here’s what sets my strategy apart: we’ll grow your nest egg and your dividend income while building in the downside protection you’ll need in the months ahead.

(I know that sounds contradictory, but I assure you it’s true. I’ll explain.)

A “Groundhog Day” Market

My worry is rooted in one date: January 26, 2018. That’s when stocks first broached today’s levels.… Read more

The S&P 500 has just set new all-time highs, and so has the Nasdaq. It’s no coincidence that stocks are back to historically high valuations, and yields have been flattened back to historically low levels.

If you’re an income hunter, you know it’s a difficult time. I’m here to tell you that it’s a dangerous time, too.

Buy High and… Sell Higher?


Source: Multpl.com

Tight income environments like this make dividend investors “reach for yield” at their own peril. They forget that a stock’s yield is only as good as its cash flow because, after all, a dividend is nothing more than a promise from a company.… Read more

As investors near retirement, they tend to favor bonds, which provide income and less drama than stocks. However, less drama means less potential upside. With retirees living longer than ever before—which means much more time for inflation to eat away at your nest egg’s purchasing power—it’s important to not go too conservative too early in life. And fortunately, today even 65 or 70 may be too early!

One suggested solution for our long life expectancy “problem” is to stay with stocks longer. But stocks can go down as well as up, and a big pullback can inflict permanent damage on a portfolio.… Read more

ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, are for suckers. There is no reason for any savvy income investor to get wrapped up in this “$3.4-trillion obsession.”

Why do I say $3.4 trillion? Because that’s how much Americans have tied up in them. But there are better ways to buy the same types of stocks, and shortly we’ll highlight three ETF replacements you can buy just as easily for yields up to 7.5%.

Wall Street is (of course) happy to play along with the ETF craze, cranking out fund after fund to give folks their fix—some so “out there” they track wheat futures, casino stocks, even companies that aim to curb obesity.… Read more

Growth or yield? Why choose when we can have both.

There are 32 dividend hikes on the way that are going to set up their investors for a big 12 months ahead. How? Simple–these payout raises are going to provide fuel to their attached share prices. The 10%+ raises (and there will be double-digit increases) in particular are going to position their shareholders for safe 10% to 12% returns in the year ahead regardless of what the broader stock market does.

Ever wonder why the yield on your favorite dividend aristocrat always looks low even though the firm is regularly raising that payout?… Read more