Articles

With China handily beating the coronavirus while pretty well every other country struggles to contain it, you might be considering buying Chinese stocks now.

It seems like a no brainer, right?

Unfortunately, such a move would be a mistake—especially if you’re lured by the siren song of the closed-end fund (CEF) I’ll name below. Because there’s a gathering storm that’s threatening the country’s stock market and economy, and few people are talking about it.

Funny thing is, despite all the so-called advantages China’s companies are supposed to have: lower operating costs and lower regulations among them, these stocks have never really delivered.… Read more

For income investors, dividend strategies don’t come any easier than the “Dogs of the Dow.”

But does this simple technique still work?

We’ll look at the 2021 Dogs, and their attached dividends (and prospects) in a moment. Their yields aren’t too shabby, averaging 4.1% in a 1% world! First, let’s review the mechanics of the popular contrarian strategy:

• Step 1: After the final trading day of the year, we identify the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the Dow.
• Step 2: We buy all 10 in equal amounts.

That’s it. In just a couple of quick steps, executed just once every year, we can put together a mini-portfolio of 10 blue-chip stocks that typically out-yield the S&P 500, and currently offer 2.5 times more dividends than the broad market index.… Read more

Let’s look at how we closed-end fund (CEF) investors can grab a healthy 6%+ dividend in this zero-rate world and dodge every retiree’s nightmare: that would be having your nest egg run out with years of retirement still to go!

We can pull this off in part because the dividend story is not as grim as most people think. In fact, S&P 500 dividend payments actually hit a new all-time record in 2020!

That’s right: in a year when many long-time dividend payers cut or suspended payouts, the market handed over the highest amount of dividends ever.

Popular Stocks’ Dividends Plunge, Then Rebound …

If you held an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index, like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) or the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), you might find this hard to believe, especially when the current yields on the typical S&P 500 stock dropped to its lowest point in a generation.… Read more

A reader recently wrote in to ask:

Brett, if you could only invest in one ticker over the next year, what would it be?

I’d buy a stock backed by three financial trends that are likely to gain more attention in the months ahead. Definitely the type of firm that is due to dominate the “narrative” in 2021.

Don’t worry, this won’t simply be a story stock. Because it’s me, we’re also requiring value and, most importantly, yield with our storytelling.

So let’s start spinning the yarn. We’ll begin with Fed Chair Jay Powell and his prolific printing machine.

2021 Narrative #1: Money Printing

Powell has put on quite the show of late.… Read more

2020 is finally in the books, and many REITs (real estate investment trusts) remain in the bargain bin. Is it time to buy these generous dividend payers and bet on a 2021 rebound?

Savvy contrarians that we are, we’re focusing on REITs because they are the one part of the market that was left behind as everyone rushed back into stocks in the back half of 2020.

Normally, REITs more or less track the blue-chip index, but when COVID-19 crushed these landlords’ tenants, that changed in a big way: investors sold REITs—and they’re still on the mat.

REITs Fall Behind

That orange line is the price return of the benchmark Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ), which yields 4% today—a massive payout in today’s zero-point-nothing interest-rate world.… Read more

The disaster that was 2020 is finally out of our hair, though there could be one silver lining if you followed a contrarian investing approach in 2020: serious gains in your stock portfolio.

But, of course, those gains come with a big consequence: Uncle Sam will be coming for his share on Tax Day in April. And to be honest, we don’t have much leeway to cut our 2020 tax bill at this point. But there is one canny move we can make to (legally, of course!) reduce our tax burden in April of next year: buy municipal bonds.

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Municipal Bonds

Sure, municipal bonds (issued by cities and states to fund local infrastructure) seem like a pretty boring option when there are corners of the stock market (I’m looking at you, tech) that jumped 40%+ last year.… Read more

If you’re not yet as filthy rich as you hoped you’d be by now, don’t worry—we still have plenty of time to get you there.

And I’m not talking about investing your “growth capital” into risky fly-by-night names in hopes of buying high and selling higher. We can scale our money more securely—and just as spectacularly—by purchasing sound dividend payers that happen to be growing their payouts rapidly. Here’s why.

There are three—and only three—ways a company’s stock can pay us:

1. A cash dividend.
2. A dividend hike.
3. By repurchasing its own shares.

Everyone loves the dividend, but investors usually don’t give enough love to the dividend hike.… Read more

Let’s relegate 2020 to the trash heap (where it belongs!) and look to the new year that dawns tomorrow. I’ve got three predictions I’m going to lay out for you now, and three high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs) with dividends up to 8% that are nicely positioned to ride them to strong gains in the next 12 months and beyond.

Prediction No. 1: Home Sales Will Surge—and So Will This 8% Payer

One of the biggest financial stories of 2020 was the strong real estate market. In November, US home prices jumped 12.7%, and Zillow believes 2021 will be “the hottest [year] in recent memory.”… Read more

Can we income seekers safely get back into REITs (real estate investment trusts) next year?

With the yield on the S&P 500 about to drop to a sad 1.5% (thanks, Tesla (TSLA) addition), renewed REIT-hope sure would be nice! The landlord industry index Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ) pays 3.5%. That’s a dividend oasis in this zero-point-nothing world.

Once upon a time, VNQ performed in-line or better than the blue-chip index. It was a pretty good deal, as you could double your dividend and keep up with the Joneses’ portfolio with less heartburn.

Then, April 2020 came along, tenants stopped paying rents, and REITs-at-large got crushed:

A Good REIT Run While It Lasted

Does the fork-in-the-road above represent a paradigm shift or relative value?… Read more

If you’re making buy decisions based on the daily gyrations of the S&P 500, you’re setting yourself up for big losses—and costing yourself a shot at big dividends, too.

Why? For starters, at a 1.6% average yield, the popular names simply don’t pay enough. You’d need to save $2.5 million just to generate $40,000 in yearly dividends!

We need a better option—one that lets us save a reasonable amount of money (I’m talking $500,000 to $600,000 here) and still generate meaningful income.

I’ll give you two of my best contrarian strategies for doing that in a moment. First, let me show you why it pays to be patient right now, even though many folks are rushing to buy stocks, with the S&P 500 up 14% as I write this.… Read more