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It’s a good time to be a virtual landlord. REIT (real estate investment trust) dividends just got a tax break, their stock prices are kicking off a rally and their yields are still on the generous side.

Let’s start with those yields, because that’s why we buy REITs. These firms get a pass from Uncle Sam if they dish most of their profits to us investors as dividends. (This generosity, by the way, has helped REITs outperform the broader stock market for much of their history.)

Current yields are higher than usual today:

REIT Yields are Higher Than Usual

Generally this means that REIT prices are too low (and should be bought).… Read more

My best advice for you today is this: ignore the breathless trade-war panicking and focus on one thing: cash.

Because the truth is, US companies—like the 3 stout dividend growers we’ll dive into below—are swimming in it. So much so, in fact, that they don’t know what to do with it all … so they’re sending it right back out the door to us!

A Colossal Cash Stash

But don’t take my word for it; ask the folks at UBS, who just said that US companies are sitting on nearly $2.5 trillion in cash. And that’s just what they’re holding inside America’s borders.… Read more

It’s here again: another stock downturn.

But don’t worry, because today I’m going to show you a “1-click” way to profit from it (and collect a nice 6.8% dividend while you do).

The key? Dipping into an out-of-favor sector that outperforms when the market gets fearful. I’m talking about consumer staples, which is down a whopping 9.4% in 2018, far below every other sector in the S&P 500.

Consumer Staples Swoons

Usually, when volatility picks up, consumer staples outperform consumer-discretionary stocks. Yet that didn’t happen from February to April, when the market first began to tumble, and it isn’t happening now that the market is beginning to fall again.… Read more

S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats are great if you’ve already owned them for many years or decades. These stocks have raised their payouts for 25 straight years or more. Since share prices rise as their underlying dividends rise, these stocks have showered investors with 500% to 1,000% returns or better.

BUT – if you’re looking for yield today, “Club Aristocrat” is a tough place to find new income. On average, these stocks pay 2.2%. This means you can put a million dollars into them and collect only $22,000 per year – yikes.

Instead let’s consider the High Yield Dividend Aristocrats.… Read more

Each June, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) hosts a conference that brings all of the key players in the sector together. For REIT investors, it’s the equivalent of the Super Bowl and it offers a window into who’s poised to perform well in the second half of the year and beyond.

This year, the focus in real estate remains about mergers and acquisitions, as small- and mid-range companies are combining to better compete with the larger players. Even the REITs that plan to go it alone for the time being are raising capital by selling non-core assets, with private equity and foreign capital bidding up prices.… Read more

If you’ve been holding cash and waiting for the perfect buying opportunity, your time to strike is now.

Because a very predictable market pattern has been repeating itself in the last few months—and is about to do so again.

Let’s recap.

First, there was the euphoria of January, followed by the panic selling of February and March, followed by renewed confidence in April, May and early June. But then, just a couple weeks ago, the market went back to panic mode. The reason is familiar: the looming trade war.

Back in February and March, President Trump threatened tariffs on goods from China, the EU and even Canada.… Read more

“You can really find 7% yields today? Safe ones?”

“Where???”

My personal trainer – a financially savvy person and investor – didn’t believe it.

He’s a young guy with two or three decades of active income left, so he’s as interested in building a giant pile of cash as he is in collecting dividends. So when I told him about closed-end funds (CEFs) – and the capital gains available in this inefficient market – he was blown away.

My kettlebell guru isn’t the only one, according to the big response we received from last week’s piece about “advanced level” CEF investing.… Read more

If you’re like most dividend investors, you’re probably keeping one eye on bond yields right now.

And, well, you should be … but only if you own low-yielding (or slow-growing) “bond proxies” like, say, PepsiCo (PEP).

But if you buy (or already own) the 5 “undercover” high yielders I’ll show you at the end of this article, I have great news for you: you can ignore inflation, bond yields and the Fed and simply keep on collecting your fat dividend checks.

Bond Yields: 1, PepsiCo: 0

Before we get to that, back to PepsiCo.

As you probably know, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has risen from 2.3% in early December to more than 2.9% today.… Read more

With over 500 closed-end funds (CEFs) on the market, how do you choose the best one?

It’s not an easy question to answer, because there are literally dozens of metrics any CEF investor should look at before buying.

But you don’t have to worry, because in a moment, you’re going to get the “guts” of the 5-point system I’ve carefully designed to pick winning CEFs for our CEF Insider service.

So why is it important to have a good system?

Because if you don’t, you could find yourself holding an empty bag—like investors who bought the Virtus Total Return Fund (ZF) at the start of the year because they were seduced by its 15.3% dividend yield.… Read more

If you buy a stock that eventually increases its dividend by 100% in the coming years, you’re going to double your money or better as that happens. Find a payout with 200%, 300% or even 500% upside? Then we have a secure way to total returns up to 500%.

(We’ll discuss five generous payers in a minute, with price upside up to 500%.)

Why does dividend growth matter so much more than earnings, sales or even cash flow growth? Well, we income investors buy a stock for one of three reasons:

• A meaningful current yield
• The potential for a higher yield-on-cost over time, and/or
• Price gains.