Author Archive: Brett Owens

I’ve said for years that dividend-happy real estate investment trusts (REITs) are the superior play for long-term wealth generation. And yet another set of data – this one spanning more than half a century – proves just how powerful the REIT space really is.

Let me show you the latest findings – and introduce you to a handful of stocks that should deliver market-beating returns for the next several decades.

A couple months ago, I highlighted a CEM Benchmarking study of asset-class returns going back to 1998 that showed publicly listed REITs trounced everything in retirement-focused accounts: large-cap stocks, small-cap stocks, bonds, private equity, hedge funds – you name it!… Read more

“Buy and hope” traders are, understandably, terrified today. Their portfolios are paying nearly nothing in dividends. Don’t you think fat 10% payouts would put them at ease a bit?

The unfortunate situation for our “B&H” friends is that they bought stocks without a plan to generate cash flow from them. They purchased their shares – probably after much of the decade-long run up – and now must hope that this old bull market is not aging in dog years!

A better idea? Demanding big dividends. After all, without cash flow, what is a stock really worth besides what someone will possibly pay us for it tomorrow?… Read more

Now that the election’s over, it’s time for us contrarians to get greedy!

And I’ve got just the thing: 3 hated buys we can use to rack up serious gains and dividends while the rest of the herd struggles to get its bearings.

Where do these 3 cash machines come from? The defense and infrastructure sectors.

Now you might see where I’m coming from on infrastructure. Probably the one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on is that our ramshackle roads, bridges and power plants need a lot of work.

More on this, including a rock-solid play for 6.5% dividends and “steady as she goes” upside, at the end of this article.… Read more

“Brett, I bought something for the girls. From Carter’s. Let me know when you get it.”

My mom thinks that postal delivery is a 50-50 proposition. She hedges her downside by purchasing 4X as many clothes as my young daughters actually need!

“Mom – thanks. Will do. And, you know, they’re probably good on dresses for now. They’ll be up another size in a few months.”

“Oh don’t you worry about that. I’ve got plenty of coupons,” she countered.

My folks live 2,562 miles from their granddaughters. And while long-distance grandparenting can be a challenge, the (increasingly online) experience provided by Carter’s (CRI) satisfies two of my mom’s favorite pastimes:

1. Spoiling grandkids, and
2. Shopping.

Most investors buy stocks and hope they’ll go up in price. They do nothing in the interim to generate cash flow from those stocks while they sit in their portfolio.

Dividends are a good start. But did you know that it’s possible to accelerate many payouts by writing covered calls?

“Write” what?

I’ll explain. And I’ll also highlight some popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and closed-end funds (CEFs) that will help you generate 10% cash yields or better from this income strategy without actually handling an options contract yourself.

A call option is a contract that gives its buyer the right to purchase a stock from the seller for a certain price within a certain period of time.… Read more

It’s a pitfall that can slash your income and your nest egg overnight—and this hidden trap is particularly dangerous to your financial health right now.

I’m talking about a snap dividend cut, something poor folks still sitting on General Electric (GE) shares learned again last week, when the stock tanked 9% in a single day after GE slashed its quarterly payout 92%—to a token penny.

The sad part is, anyone could have seen this massacre coming for miles.

All you had to do was look at GE’s cash flow, which kept staggering after the company sideswiped investors with a 50% dividend cut a year ago.… Read more

Don’t be tricked by these manic markets. Let’s use this opportunity to “lock in” some inexpensive 7.7% dividend treats.

You probably know the mistake that most basic investors make. They fixate on the wrong charts and the wrong tickers. For example most “buy and hope” types are bemoaning the stock market’s near-10% correction:

Rocky Times for Buy and Hope Investors

Meanwhile savvier shareholders are focusing on dividend disparities like this one from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI). The healthcare REIT (real estate investment trust) yields 7.8% today, which is more than four times what the slumping S&P 500 pays!

Four Times the Dividend Yield

OHI investors might not even realize that the markets are down.… Read more

What if you could lock in a 7.7% gain year in and year out, and get it all in cash, no matter what the S&P 500 does?

With the market’s paper gains for 2018 now mostly gone, no thanks to the correction, I’m guessing this would have a lot of appeal. So today, I’m going to show you 2 “pullback-proof” dividends paying 5.4% and 7.7%, with plenty of price upside ahead, too.

Thanks to the pullback, these two are perfect for buying now and sitting on forever (or at least a few decades). More on them in a moment.

How to Beat Fear and Get Rich From the Pullback

First, if the daily barrage of negative headlines has you pondering bailing out on stocks, stick with me for a second, because that’s the worst thing you could do now.… Read more

This bull market is ten years old and stocks at large are richly valued. No wonder the last few weeks have been scary for some, who haven’t seen a real bear market in a very long time. Should we take our cue from the recent pullback to sell some positions, hunker down in cash and “wait things out” for a bit?

Absolutely not. First, it’s very difficult (and really, impossible) to know when it’s time to “get back into stocks.” Hulbert Financial recently ran the numbers for Barron’s on the advisors it monitors. It focused on 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

If you’re like many income investors I hear from, you’re probably worried about a repeat of 2008. The media doesn’t help – the talking heads like to conjure up fear because it draws eyeballs to the TV screen and clicks to Internet articles.

And so what if they’re right for once? In a moment we’ll discuss the safest dividends for a serious pullback.

First, let me calm you down and add that a 2008 rerun is not our most likely scenario. As generals tend to fight the last war, investors tend to fear the last bear market. The next bear is likely to have its own unique “charm” – causes and effects – and we’d like to figure out that flavor ahead of time.… Read more