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Sir John Templeton and his 16 rules for investment success are required reading for any serious investor. And amid the volatility lately, I’ve been thinking a lot on one of these rules in particular:

“The investor who says, ‘This time is different,’ when in fact it’s virtually a repeat of an earlier situation, has uttered among the four most costly words in the annals of investing.”

Yes, it feels like the Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened a new chapter in geopolitics. And yes, it feels like we are on the cusp of something big with inflationary pressures, the threat of higher interest rates and other disruptions.… Read more

When I talk to investors these days, I hear three main reasons why they’re feeling unsettled. All three fears are interconnected (and none of them will likely surprise you!): inflation, the Federal Reserve and the war in Ukraine.

But the funny thing is, these factors are all actually enhancing the appeal of US stocks right now, particularly if we buy them through our favorite income investments: high-yielding (and often monthly paying) closed-end funds (CEFs).

Let’s take a closer look at each of these fears now, then talk about a CEF that’s well suited to the unsettled investor mood these days. It yields 7%, trades at a particularly attractive 6% discount to net asset value (NAV) and boasts a unique strategy that tones down its volatility and strengthens its dividend, too.… Read more

I’m an investor in Invesco QQQ, a fund that gives me access to Nasdaq-100 innovations like volumetric video technology.

• Invesco TV ad for its Nasdaq-100 ETF 

My fellow hoops fans watching March Madness are seeing a million commercials for Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). They feature flashy camera angles with average investors “dropping knowledge” about the tech stocks they are proud to own via this ETF.

In the spot, the investor humble brags about her “volumetric” video technology investment. English translation: The use of many cameras at different angles to make a sporting event look three dimensional on TV. (Last week, ESPN broadcast a professional basketball game for the first time using this technology.)… Read more

Here are eleven highly rated charities that benefit Ukrainians. Our extra dividend dollars can go a long way towards helping the millions of people who are suffering as a result of the Russian invasion.

All eleven nonprofits have a four-star rating from CharityNavigator.org, an independent service that rates charities for their financial efficiency and their transparency.

From there, I (Brett) cherry picked the very top candidates based on their individual Financial and Accountability & Transparency rating from CN. I have donated to each of these charities myself. Here they are in alphabetical order.

• A Chance in Life is preparing to help the 900,000 Ukrainian refugees (mostly women and children) that are expected to flee to Italy.

Friday morning, I mentioned to my wife that it was time for us to log into her 401(k) and move it back into stocks.

“Funny,” she said. “On NPR they just mentioned that money managers are moving into cash.”

If that isn’t a contrarian confirmation that a short-term low may be in, I don’t know what is!

Aside from the scaredy cats running money, there is also a misinformation campaign floating around about closed-end funds (CEFs). Since these vehicles are a favorite source of 7%+ dividends for us, we’re going to bust apart these lame claims today.

Then we’re going to roll into two CEFs that are savvy buys now, as Jay Powell starts cleaning up the inflationary mess he made by leaving the switch on his money printer stuck in “high.”… Read more

A contrarian indicator just flashed, and it’s telling us that now is the time to buy one of my favorite high-yield investments: closed-end funds (CEFs). Today we’re going to look at three yielding an outsized 11.6%.

Yield hunters that we are, we know the power of such a payout: with a $520,000 investment, we can kickstart a $60,000-a-year income stream. That’s a cool $5,000 averaged out on a monthly basis. And the three funds we’re going to cover in a moment give us the safety of diversification, going well beyond stocks to give us access to bonds, gold (a decent inflation hedge on its own) and real estate (ditto!).… Read more

What’s better than an asset class that can deliver 8% in annual income like clockwork? How about one that’s actually poised to pop as interest rates rise?

And oh by the way, this industry lets us invest like privileged private equity investors. No “seven-digit” buy-in needed here though! We buy these dividend machines just like we would any other stock.

That might sound too good to be true, especially when we consider that stocks broadly still yield less than 2%. But we’re simply talking about an underappreciated area of the market that includes only a few dozen stocks or so.

Let’s talk about three of these payout powerhouses today.… Read more

We need to talk about a mistake almost every investor makes—and it’s a particularly easy trap to fall into today.

That would be letting the headlines push us to make investing decisions out of fear. Below, we’re going to dive into a scenario where doing so could have resulted in 30% in losses and missed profits in the last 12 months. And that’s before we even consider the dividends that would have been left on the table.

How Letting Inflation Fears Rattle You Could Cost You Big

Let’s consider today’s inflation scare, which feels new, but in fact was just starting to make the news a year ago.… Read more

“This wine is crap.”

My wife (girlfriend at the time) glared back. I couldn’t let it go.

“Seriously…we paid $50 for this? I’d rather drink a bottle of Niagara.”

My comment—and ode to the New York wine that tastes like Welch’s grape juice—didn’t help the glare.

I was 22 years old, making $50K per year. It wasn’t a bad starting salary back in the day, but I didn’t have many extra $50s to spend on a Napa Valley wine tasting.

Plus, this guy had been drinking cheap Canadian beer since he was 16! The thought that I could procure 100 Labatt Blues for the price of our tasting raised my temperature further.… Read more

Dividend stocks reward us with more than just cash flow. They actually benefit our retirement portfolios in four ways:

• A high current yield—for meaningful cash flow today. In a moment we’ll spotlight a timely play with a neat 3.5% yield.

• Dividend growth, which tends to pull a company’s share price higher (as we’ll see below with this stock, whose payout exploded 450% in the last decade).
  

• Share buybacks, which cut the number of shares outstanding, boosting earnings per share and share prices in the process. And of course …

• Price appreciation, as the stock moves up on strong results for the company, its industry or the economy as a whole.