Articles

3 Income Funds That Make Apple Investors Look Broke

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 17, 2017

If you’ve held Apple (AAPL) for a long time, you’re probably feeling pretty smug. And you should—the stock is way up over just about any time period and has nearly doubled in the last five years:

Apple’s Sparkling Performance

Clearly, Apple is an amazing stock. But what if I told you we can top that 96.3% gain in the next five years?

All we have to do is go someplace most investors aren’t. I’m talking about high-yielding—and almost totally ignored—closed-end funds.

The three I want to show you today are the PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund (PDI), the Tekla Life Sciences Investors Fund (HQL) and the Western Asset Mortgage Defined Opportunity Fund (DMO).Read more

The Secret to 24% Yearly Gains (with Safe Blue Chip Dividends!)

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 16, 2017

The best time to buy a dividend grower is usually anytime – if you’re holding period is long enough, that is.

But what if you don’t have years to wait to get rich?

Today I’m going to show you a simple dividend growth “timing formula” that will help you accumulate great wealth with shareholder-friendly stocks. I’m talking about gains up to 40% per year, which means your money will double every two years.

Worse case, you might have to settle for 24% annually – which means your money will take three years to double!

Of course not every buy will bank you 40%.… Read more

The Shockingly Common Mistake That’s Costing You Thousands

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 15, 2017

There’s one very simple mistake millions of folks are making right now—and it’s costing them billions every year.

Of course, there are many boneheaded errors people make every day, like betting a lot of cash on a single stock. Or not having an investment plan.

While both of those will also drain your portfolio—and could even put your retirement on the rocks—neither is the most common pitfall you’ll find.

So what is?

Simple. Being scared.

That may sound strange, but hear me out.

Because fearful investors avoid risk, but they don’t realize that all investing involves risk. You might think putting your money in U.S.… Read more

Exposed: My Secret Retirement Plan for 8%+ Income

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 14, 2017

Last week, I gave you a peek under the hood of my “8% No-Withdrawal Retirement Portfolio.” I also showed you a ridiculously cheap fund with a 9% dividend yield you can get in on now.

Today I’ll reveal another off-the-radar investment that forms the second pillar of this “crash-proof” portfolio.

I’ll also name a popular dividend ETF boasting a tempting 4.5% yield. That may sound great … but it’s actually a trap waiting to spring!

More on that in a moment.

First, the sector I’m going to draw your attention to is a corner of the market you must be in if you want to get the safe 8%+ dividend yields you’ll need to retire on dividends alone.… Read more

12 High-Yield Funds Paying Up to 21%

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: January 28, 2018

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer “one-click” diversification. Investors buy ETFs to hedge against individual stock collapses.

ETFs can also offer big yields. We’ll look at 11 of them today, with dividends starting at 4% and climbing all the way up to an amazing 21%!

Is the 21%er a trap? Of course it is. But my favorite double-digit payer isn’t – in fact, its 10% payout is secure and spectacular. But this “last safe 10% yield” won’t last long – they never do!

So read on to learn about my best income buy as we round out today’s diversified dividend dozen.

Guggenheim Shipping ETF (SEA)
Dividend Yield: 4%

The Guggenheim Shipping ETF (SEA) invests in a bundle of companies with shipping operations across the world.… Read more

3 Blue Chip Buys for a Soaring Market

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 10, 2017

Today we’re going to dive into 3 blue chip names your friends are probably dodging like a co-worker with a bad cold right now.

That’s too bad, because they’re making a big mistake.

Because even though they’ve gapped way higher in 2017, these 3 stout picks are just getting started. So if they’ve been taking up space on your watch list (and you’re far from alone if they have), now’s the time to make your move!

And that goes double if you’re investing for the long haul. Say 10 years or more.

I’ll share their names in a second. First, let’s dive into precisely why these 3 American icons are fueling up for their next jump higher.… Read more

How to Grow $500K and Collect $3,279 per Month, Every Month

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 9, 2017

You may think $500,000 isn’t enough money to retire on.

It is. Because with two quick steps, you can transform any $500K “buy and hope” portfolio into a $3,279 monthly income stream:

  1. First, sell everything. Including the 2%, 3% and even 4% payers that simply don’t yield enough to really matter. Then,
  2. Buy my 8 favorite monthly dividend payers.

The result? $3,279.69 in monthly income every month (from an average 7.6% annual yield, paid every 30 days).

With upside on your initial $500,000 to boot!

Traditional dividend stocks simply can’t keep up, and I’ll show you why. Let’s take a 4-pack of popular names Procter & Gamble (PG), McDonald’s (MCD), Altria (MO), and General Mills (GIS) to illustrate how much they’ll pay investors the rest of the year.… Read more

A Crash-Proof Way to Bank 13% a Year

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 8, 2017

If you’re worried that you’ll struggle to profit from stocks for the next few years, you shouldn’t. There are still plenty of outsized gains waiting to be had—and today I’m going to show you exactly how to get in on the action.

First, we need to talk about what’s making stocks harder to invest in these days. It boils down to two points:

  1. Valuations are high.
  2. Interest rates are rising.

When stock valuations rise too far, they inevitably come back to earth. The S&P 500 is now trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of almost 25—the highest level in a generation except for two other times: 2000 and 2007.… Read more

These 8%+ Yields Are Going Fast: Buy Now!

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 7, 2017

This levitating stock market is terrible news for anyone who wants to actually retire. That’s because it’s keeping S&P 500 dividend yields in the dumpster, at a hair under 1.9% now.

But there’s a better way—an 8% retirement-survival strategy, to be specific—that’ll earn you $40,000 annually on a $500,000 portfolio. With capital gains upside, to boot.

You read that right.

Most “first-level” investors have no clue the investments I’m going to tell you about even exist. That’s why most folks pile into blue chips, wrongly thinking they’re the ones at fault for not having saved the massive nest egg they need to get a livable income stream.… Read more

5 Risky REITs to Sell Immediately, 2 Bargains to Buy Instead

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 5, 2017

If you hold any of these five risky REITs, you should sell them immediately. And put that money into two recession-proof bargains (paying up to 8%) that we’ll discuss shortly.

REITs aren’t always as safe as their dividends appear on paper. Consider Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET), which slashed its dividend by nearly half late last year. This wasn’t a sudden decision – it followed years of share declines as falling oil prices crushed rents across IRET’s markets.

IRET has now lost 40% in four years and seen its high-single-digit yield reduced to less than 5%. Even IRET’s brief recovery after the dividend cut has withered away, and shares are off double digits in 2017.… Read more