Author Archive: Brett Owens

Nine weeks ago, our fellow income investors were concerned about rising tariff tensions and falling stock prices. (Sound familiar?) So, in late May, we discussed seven dividend payers (yielding 6% on average) that wouldn’t go down if stocks-at-large kept dropping.

The broader markets soon reversed, as they usually do when pessimism is running high. But our defensive dividend machines did even better. Five out of my seven “never go down” plays beat the S&P 500. On average they returned 12.5% (including their big dividends) over the last nine weeks. A percent a week or better will sure boost your retirement account quickly!… Read more

Is last week’s rate-cut temper tantrum the start of a bigger meltdown?

That’s the big question—and today we’re going to do what we have to do to protect our nest egg—and set ourselves up for big gains (and dividends) in the long run.

That means we may only have days to prepare—maybe even hours.

The one thing we’re not going to do? Sell and go to cash.

Because I know I don’t have to tell you that “money under the mattress” pays no dividend—and isn’t even safe, for that matter: you’re guaranteed to bleed money after inflation!

No way.

Instead, we’re going to play it smart—deftly pruning our portfolio of laggards and shifting into a set of low-key dividends that will balloon our income (and nest egg) for decades to come.… Read more

We buy real estate investment trusts (REITs) for their yields first and foremost. Show us the money!

Dividend growth is good, too. A 4% yield looks twice as nice if we believe our income will double in just a few years.

After all, a 4% payer that boosts its dividend by 10% won’t yield 4.4% for very long. Investors will buy its price up and in doing so bid its payout per share back down. And that’s OK. This dividend-powered appreciation is actually the easiest way for us to double our money with safe REITs!

But dividend safety really is the key here.… 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.”

Same S&P Yearly Return, Less Heartburn

“The only problem is that it never goes up, either. And that’s prevented me from recommending it to my Contrarian Income Report subscribers.”

Our CIR portfolio holds eight bond funds today (versus ten stocks and stock funds).… Read more

Will interest rates really get the chop everyone thinks they will as 2019 rolls into the home stretch?

The smart money certainly thinks it knows. Beyond the July 31 rate cut (which the pros see as all but in the can), futures traders predict two more chops—in September and December:

But here’s something no one will tell you: not a single person outside of Jerome Powell has any clue what the Fed will do next.

Not futures traders. Not your adviser. Certainly not the talking heads on CNBC.

That’s why we’re going to dive into three “forever” stocks that beat the market no matter what rates do.… Read more

You and I know why people buy real estate investment trusts (REITs). They’re income machines that are literally mandated to take the lion’s share of their profits and put them back into shareholders’ hands as cash dividends.

It’s no secret. Just about anyone who buys into REITs know that they produce far bigger dividends than your typical stock.

But put most people in front of a Yahoo! Finance or Google Finance stock chart, and they’re suddenly struck by selective amnesia. Because they forget that these charts only consider price gains and don’t include REITs’ outsized dividends.

Let’s look at some of the optical delusions investors find when they stumble across the charts–then look at what happens once you split out price and total returns (with dividends).… Read more

Last time we had a July like this, REITs (real estate investment trusts) ran wild. The top plays delivered dividends plus price gains between 40% and 114%!

REIT Rhyme for 114% Returns?

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• It was July,
• The stock market was hitting all-time highs,
• And the Fed was about to cut rates for the first time in a while.

We shall see if July 2019 continues to “rhyme” with July 1995. Back then, we had Fed Chair Alan Greenspan introduce the concept of the “Greenspan Put,” the inside joke that the Maestro would save any decline in stocks with rate cuts.… Read more

I have no idea why you’d mess around with dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) when you can “automatically” bag a 7%+ income stream and 82%+ upside with the strategy I’ll show you now.

Better yet, this outsized cash flow drops into your account—and grows—every single month!

It takes almost no work. (Just one small, but potent, step, which I’ll show you shortly.)

Before we get to that, let’s look at just how easy it is to use this proven strategy to double up—and even triple up—the cash stream your portfolio is throwing off today.

This simple system looks like a garden-variety DRIP, but it has one simple “hack” that amps up our dividend and sets us up for fast 82%+ upside, too.… Read more

Not yet as rich as you always wanted to be? Don’t worry, because today we’re going to dial you in for some “rich guy” dividend favorites that’ll pay you up to 9.9% every year.

Private equity is a lucrative and secretive world. It’s often limited to accredited investors, which means these funds require you to have $200,000 or more in annual income to qualify.

If you’re living on dividends alone, this might be challenging. Fortunately, there are some private equity plays that you can buy just like individual stocks. They trade for as cheap as $12 per share and they’ll pay you dividends from 8.8% to 9.9% along the way:

Private equity (PE)—funds that can invest in the equity and debt of privately held companies, which we typically can’t get our hands on—is generally touted as outperforming the stock market.… Read more

If this were any “normal” time, we’d be able to buy safe bonds and collect enough income on our nest egg to fund our retirements. Unfortunately, this is the “new normal” where the Fed is not the friend of us current and hopeful retirees!

Jay Powell is afraid for his job, which means he’s going to cut rates and keep them low for a long time. This means we must look beyond traditional bonds for meaningful income.

What about blue chip dividend-paying stocks? Well, an 11-year stock market rally has ruined that idea. Anyone putting new money in a pricey dividend aristocrat is “buying and hoping” that the stock continues to levitate while the firm dishes its dividend.… Read more