Author Archive: Michael Foster

Today I’m going to show you 3 funds that give you an income stream the taxman cannot touch.

These 5% dividends get even more exciting when you see their “real” yields, thanks to that tax-free status.

A Low-Key Cash Machine

It’s all thanks to unsung municipal bonds, a kind of debt that cities, counties and states issue to raise funds for building roads, bridges, schools, hospitals—all kinds of things that make life easier for their residents.

To encourage investors to get into this market, the US government allows the income from these bonds to be distributed to investors without any tax payable at the federal level.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you 4 funds that, when put together, give you a juicy 7.2% dividend yield.

And that’s just the start. In addition to giving you $595 per month in income for every $100,000 invested, this “instant” 4-fund portfolio gives you diversification that limits your risk of losing cash in a market downturn.

Oh, and there is capital gains upside here for you, too.

The reason for that upside is that all of these funds are trading at a pretty big discount to their net asset value (NAV).

Let me explain.

Each of these picks is a “closed-end fund,” a unique type of fund that has a few key advantages over more familiar mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.… Read more

Inflation fever is back! And today I’m going to show you a “one-click” way to cash in with a quick gain and a 7.7% cash dividend too.

First, you may have been under the impression that inflation was off the list of worries for now, since February’s fretting over rising prices sent the market into full swan dive mode:

Inflation Terror Sideswipes Stocks

But March brought us a nice surprise: inflation is not as bad as previously thought. When it comes to one measure of inflation known as “personal consumption expenditure,” or PCE, we are still seeing price gains far below 2%:

Prices Rising, But Still Below Critical Level

But now the herd is an uproar again—and it has everything to do with the “inverted yield curve.”… Read more

One of the greatest things about closed-end funds (CEFs) is that they often cost less than they’re really worth.

And no, I’m not basing that on some obscure metric—I’m literally talking about the difference between the market price of the assets the fund owns and the market price of the fund itself.

It works like this: a CEF can trade for, say, $9.90, even though all the assets the fund holds (known as the net asset value, or NAV) are worth $10. Believe it or not, this happens a lot—it’s exactly how billionaire investors make big money in CEFs.

Take, for instance, Boaz Weinstein of Saba Capital Management.… Read more

With earnings season in the rear-view and the end of the first quarter looming, you’re probably asking yourself one thing right now…

… just how good is the stock market?

I’ll give you the answer (which I think you’ll like) in a moment.

Then I’ll show you 2 funds whose portfolios are packed with familiar stocks, including Apple (AAPL). Both funds are poised for strong gains in 2018 while handing you fat cash payouts up to 8.8%!

Finding Bargains in a Surprising Place

First, if you’re like most folks, you might feel queasy about any stocks—including “reliable” blue chips—after the stomach-churning drops we suffered in February.… Read more

The big rebound is on! But don’t worry, your opportunity to grab big gains (and dividends) hasn’t evaporated.

There’s still time!

And you can start with 3 of the 4 funds I pounded the table on back on February 19. At the time, all 4 of these cheap selloff buys were paying a combined 13.4% income stream.

So why are just 3 of these funds still worthy of your attention, only a few weeks later?

I’ll unpack that—and name these 3 top-flight funds—in a moment. First, let’s step back and take a look at what happened in a very wild February, and where it all leaves us now.… Read more

I’m getting plenty of worried emails from readers, asking me if the near-10-year bull market in stocks is over and if it’s time to get out.

I give them the same answer every time: no.

Today I’m going to show you why—and reveal 2 unheralded funds that hold shares of the household names you know and love, but with two added twists: they give you a predictable shot at big gains in the next 12 months. And they do it while handing you an outsized average dividend yield of 11.3%!

That’s enough to hand you $942 a month in income (or $11,300 a year) on just a $100,000 investment!… Read more

I had an odd experience a couple weeks ago.

I met up with some money managers and financial advisors. They were discussing the same problem: how tough it is to beat the market.

Since I focus on closed-end funds, and since I know of many CEFs that have beaten the market thanks to smart managers (I showed you 16 whose average return has crushed the S&P 500 back in November), I found this discussion puzzling. I asked them what they thought about the CEFs that have beaten the market.

The responses were pretty much the same. “It won’t continue … they were lucky … they just beat the market for a short period … index funds will ultimately outperform.”… Read more

Remember early February’s stock-market rout?

I know. Seems like a weird question. It was just a few weeks ago, after all. But many folks seem to have forgotten how stocks fell 10% from their 2018 high in a matter of days:

Amnesia Sets In

As you can see, the benchmark SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is already recovering, and stocks are now up 3.3% for 2018. That’s still well below the 8% climb we saw in January alone, but it’s a solid return, and it means more (formerly) skittish folks will likely trickle their cash into stocks, keeping the market buoyant.… Read more

It’s all but official: the Federal Reserve will hike rates three times this year, and almost certainly four. If you want to protect your portfolio (and profit), now is the time to prepare.

I told you what’s driving this inflation surge—and how long it may last—in my article last Thursday.

Today we’re going to look at 2 high-yielding closed-end funds (with a massive 7.9% average income stream between them). But before we get to that, let’s kick in the doors on the most foolish myth in investing.

The Backward Fear That Handcuffs Investors

I’m talking about the ridiculous belief that higher interest rates are bad for stocks and corporate bonds.… Read more