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

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

“Jenny, I can imagine. My wife makes fun of me when I ice my knees after basketball games,” I confided to my friend and favorite bartender.

Her husband, no “young chicken” anymore either she joked, was sore from his own martial arts contest. She bought him a CBD “bath bomb” to help with the aches of being active and middle-aged.

Always the sucker for natural remedies and bartender wisdom, I teed up an Amazon selection for pain and inflammation. Just 26 hours later, I was massaging hemp, turmeric and MSM into my patella tendon (about an hour before tipoff):

BO’s Anti-Inflammatory Pick

“You’re a terrible scientist,” my wife reprimanded me after I bragged about my patella’s comeback in my postgame recap.… Read more

If your mattress is a bit heavy on cash these days, you’re probably grinding your teeth every day as the markets tick higher. Should you be in the market? Shouldn’t the market pull back eventually?

Here’s a solution that’ll get your “buy and hope” friends out of your face: buy some dividend machines that’ll pay you while the markets levitate and hold up just fine if we do see the dip we’re overdue for.

I’m talking specifically about three mighty “pullback-proof” dividends (yields up to 7.5%) perfect for the “cliff-edge” market we’re seeing now. More on those in a moment.… Read more

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.

CenturyLink (CTL) recently reminded us of this. Its promised $0.54 per share dividend exceeded its ability to pay. The firm’s payout ratio of 130% – the percentage of profits that it was paying as dividends – was an absurd overpromise that couldn’t last forever:

CenturyLink’s Payout Promise Was Always on Borrowed Time

CEO Jeffrey Storey insisted his team remained “committed to and confident in our ability to maintain the dividend.” I understood the commitment, but questioned the confidence–taking on debt to pay dividends is a losing game.… Read more

“Does Brett know of a fund that employs a dividend capture strategy?”

Our customer service guru Jonathan has fielded many questions of this flavor in recent weeks and months. And thanks for asking, because I do! Hat tip Wall Street Journal:

“Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC has employed dividend-timing strategy quite successfully in its Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund, but the firm believes its approach will work even better in its first closed-end fund.

“The new closed-end fund combines three strategies —dividend capture, value and growth—to maximize the amount of distributed dividend income that qualifies for the reduced rates and to find companies globally with the potential for dividend growth and capital appreciation.”… Read more

The “yield curve” has inverted—and that could be terrible news for your dividends!

But don’t worry: there’s a “pullback-proof” way to keep your income and your nest egg secure—no matter if there’s stock-market fire behind all this yield-curve smoke.

Below I’ll reveal three stocks perfectly positioned for whatever lies ahead: if the market tanks, they’ll likely trade flat, thanks to their cheap valuations (and sturdy dividends).

And if it all turns out to be hype and the market keeps rolling higher? They’re poised to skyrocket while handing you a 7.1% average payout (with one of these stealth buys even throwing off an amazing 9.3% yield!).… Read more

Sometimes investors forget that dividends are funded by actual cash flows.

Consider General Electric (GE), whose outsized yield tempted investors to mistakenly buy shares in this “blue chip” as disaster was unfolding. The stock losses started well before the actual dividend cut and continued on from there:

(Accounting) Imagination at Work

This focus on yield rather than cash happens too often. It’s what prompted me to warn readers about the sky-high yield of Frontier Communications (FTR) a year ahead of its 2017 cut:

A Broken Telecom (and Broken Dividend)

The “not enough cash” problem also prompted me to sound the alarm on L Brands (LB) several times ahead of its 50% dividend cut in late 2018.… Read more

“Hey Brett… you joined two partnerships last year?”

What? I didn’t. Or I thought I didn’t. In reality, I did–by buying shares in not one but two master limited partnerships (MLPs).

One of them was Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) and while I can’t recall the other, I can vividly the annoyed look on my accountant’s face like it was yesterday.

Master limited partnerships (MLPs) are required to issue you a K-1 package at the end of the tax year. These are generally headaches for the person who does your taxes (whether it’s you, or a professional).

That year my accountant calmly but sternly asked me to stop buying MLPs in my personal portfolio.… Read more