Author Archive: Michael Foster

Let’s face it: you hardly ever get decent income from commodity stocks. And when you do, these payouts are usually first to get the axe next time, say, oil nosedives.

And with oil doing this…

Oil Falls—Oil Companies’ Profits to Follow

… you may worry that it’s about to get harder to squeeze income out of oil companies.

Still, if you’re worried about inflation or the Federal Reserve distorting markets, or if you just want to hedge your stock portfolio, you’ll likely turn to commodities at some point. And there’s no more established inflation hedge than gold.

There’s just one problem: gold doesn’t produce anything.… Read more

Today I’m going to give you a strategy—and a strong 6.5%-yielding fund—that both shine when the market throws a tantrum.

And both are way better than what most people do when things get rough: cash in.

Many studies have shown that trying to time the market simply doesn’t work. And even if you did have the superhuman ability to get in and out perfectly, you’d still underperform a buy-and-hold approach. Thanks to compound interest, keeping skin in the game is more important than trying to save your skin.

Options: Your (Surprising) Friend When Markets Roil

Instead of fruitlessly trying to time the market, we’re going to do something that actually works (and takes far less effort!).… Read more

More CEF Insider subscribers have been asking me how to deal with volatility lately. It’s easy to see why:

Another Downturn Appears … Then Disappears

So today I’m going to give you an easy way to cushion your portfolio in this whipsawing market. I’m actually going to show you three ways.

All three are closed-end funds (CEFs) with a special “insurance policy” that tones down market lurches. But you’ll still enjoy market recoveries, like the one we’ve seen in recent days.

The best part: we’ll keep our income stream strong and growing, thanks to these three funds’ massive 6.7%+ dividend yields.… Read more

This levitating market just might have you thinking there are no more cheap 6%+ dividends out there.

Well, don’t worry, because there certainly are—particularly if you fish in the obscure pool of funds we’re going to dive into today.

It boasts plenty of big payouts of 6% and more. But most folks don’t even consider it, for two reasons:

• These funds have already soared this year (but one in particular is throwing off a big tax-free dividend and trades for 11% less than its “true” value; I’ll name that fund shortly).

• These funds’ yields are much higher than they appear.

What if I told you I’d found a way for you to bank 7%+ in cash (often paid monthly, no less) from real estate?

And no, we’re not going to send you out on the streets, pounding the pavement with your real estate agent, trooping through one disappointing house after another. And you won’t have to deal with deadbeat tenants, plugged toilets or noise complaints, either.

You’ll have just one job: collect your dividends!

One more thing: we’ll run our “one-click” property play from the safety of our brokerage account, which we can do thanks to a high-yielding investment called a real estate investment trust (REIT).… Read more

The most worrying recession indicator I know of is now shining bright red.

And now is the time to buy stocks.

I know that sounds like a blatant contradiction. Let me explain—then I’ll reveal a closed-end fund [CEF] yielding an amazing 9% and set to skyrocket in the coming 12 months.

Recession Signal Switches On

The recession indicator I’m talking about is called the “inverted yield curve.”

It sounds like technical jargon, but the idea here is straightforward. The term refers to the different rates bondholders get on different US Treasury issues; this has big implications for the stock market.… Read more

There’s really just one way to cushion your portfolio from this trade war.

It’s one of the oldest pieces of advice there is:

Diversify.

I know. You’ve heard that one tons of times before, right? Well, there’s a twist.

Because I’m not going to just tell you that you need to spread your money out among stocks and bonds, say. Or that you need to add more healthcare or tech stocks or (heaven forbid) low-yielding Treasury notes.

No way. I’m talking about diversifying between countries.

Because the truth is, most Americans have too little exposure to the rest of the world in their portfolios.… Read more

What if I told you I’d found a way to protect your portfolio from this twitchy market without giving up big gains (and income)?

My guess is you’d be interested—if a little skeptical.

I get that. A skeptic is a good thing to be, in investing and pretty much everything else.

So let me tell you right away that I’m talking about one of the most unsexy investments you can think of—but also one poised for some very nice gains as volatility drives scared investors to look beyond stocks.

I’m talking about municipal bonds, debts issued by state and local governments to fund badly needed infrastructure projects.… Read more

I want to show you 10 funds that yield up to 9.4%—and that you should sell now (or steer clear of if you don’t own them).

Of course, near-10% yields are attractive, and I often see attractive funds yielding as much as (and more than) the 10 funds I’ll reveal in a second. But sometimes a big yield is too good to be true, and that’s the case here.

The reason I’m saying this now? These funds have been on a tear in the last few months, which is far out of character for both them and their asset class.

I’m talking about utilities funds.… Read more

Right now, there are two closed-end funds (CEFs) you need to sell immediately—or steer clear of if you don’t already own them.

Before I reveal them, I want to explain the unmistakable sell signal both are showing as I write this. You can easily use it to “crash-test” the CEFs in your own portfolio, or spot CEF bargains.

A Built-in CEF “Sell Alert”

I’m talking about the difference between the fund’s market price and per-share net asset value, or NAV (which is just another way of saying the value of the CEF’s holdings).

CEFs usually trade at a discount to NAV, and if you’re a subscriber to my CEF Insider service, you know we’ve banked some impressive returns by waiting for those discounts to get ridiculously wide, buying, then holding on as the discount reverts to normal, pushing the share price higher as it does.… Read more