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Utility stocks—the “OGs of dividend payers”—have sailed through 2022. We’ll highlight seven of them, yielding 4% or more, in a moment.

By the way, this sector-at-large has returned 4%, including dividends, year-to-date (YTD). While that may not make us rich, it is the best record on the scoreboard this side of energy:

Why utilities? As always, these stocks pay and they don’t drop as much in price as the broader market. A useful quality in a dumpster-fire market.

Utilities are expensive, however, They currently trade at nearly 21 times forward earnings—near their highest forward P/E in decades and well above the S&P 500 forward P/E of 17.7.… Read more

If you did any driving over the holiday weekend, you may have noticed that prices at the pump are much more manageable than they were just a few months ago. In fact, they recently hit their lowest level since mid-February.

That’s great for motorists, but has admittedly created plenty of pain for investors who thought the windfall profits in the oil patch were sustainable. Consider that the popular Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) made up of blue chip energy stocks is down almost 15% from its June high, while the S&P 500 on average has managed to post a small gain in the same period.… Read more

By now you’ve likely heard that September is the worst month for stocks. It’s all over the media! But September is also a great time to buy a unique type of dividend fund that cashes in when volatility rears up (these funds will pay you blockbuster yields north of 7%, too!).

I’m talking about a special type of closed-end fund (CEF) called a covered-call fund, which makes more money every time the market panics. They then turn that cash over to us in the form of a dividend that crushes anything you’d get on a blue-chip stock or Treasury.

Don’t let the jargon-y name throw you.… Read more

Peter is an investing legend. Dude collects $400,000 per year in dividend income.

He retired at age 53, by the way. From the finance industry, naturally. Peter wrote a book and cruised around as a public speaker.

The speaking fees and book royalties were gravy, no doubt. With $33,000 in dividend income coming in each month, I’m sure Peter does not sweat his bills.

Now what can we contrarian income investors learn from master dividend investor “Payout” Peter Thornhill?

Not much.

The guy has an $11 million portfolio. Of course his dividend cash flow is going to rock. It may only be 4%, but that’s more than enough when this is the pile he’s deploying:

A simpler investor can do just as well with a similar war chest.… Read more

We aren’t falling for this “head fake” oil plunge. Instead we’re buying what I like to call the “Biden barrel discount”— grabbing beaten-down oil stocks with surging dividends!

I’ll drop two tickers primed to ride oil’s next bounce higher in a second. First, though, here’s what I mean by the “Biden barrel discount”:

Sure, oil has pulled back on recession worries, but the US has also been releasing crude from its “emergency” supply, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). A cool one-hundred million barrels have been released in the past 12 months.

We’ve been buyers of the energy-price dip because:

1. The SPR release—or our “Biden barrel discount”—can’t  go on forever.

Whether you own a Treasury or the typical dividend stock these days, you’re still losing money after inflation.

I know what you’re thinking: tell me something I don’t know!

But there’s a solution hiding in plain sight: closed-end funds (CEFs), a widely overlooked (and publicly traded) asset class that often throws off rich payouts of 8% or more. We’ll do a deep dive into these scandalously overlooked income plays, and how they pay those big (and often monthly) dividends in a moment.

Here’s the top-line takeaway, though: by going with a CEF, you won’t have to sell the blue chips you own now.… Read more

The market’s reaction to Jay Powell’s “hawkish” Jackson Hole rant was interesting. He spoke for eight minutes. Stocks crashed for the rest of the trading session and have continued lower since.

Funny because I didn’t hear anything new. The mid-summer sucker’s rally was based on the hope that Powell would “pivot” early in 2023 and lower rates again.

He can’t unless the economy is really in the tank by then. Like “deep recession” bad. Otherwise, inflation is going to come back.

Larry Summers compared it to skimping on a doctor’s prescription. If you stop taking your antibiotics too soon, the infection comes back.… Read more

One of the market’s smartest contrarian players just made a shocking move—and we dividend investors need to pay attention.

The contrarian in question? PIMCO, the company that revolutionized the humble closed-end fund (CEF). If you’re reading this, you’ve likely at least heard of CEFs, which are renowned for big dividend payouts: safe 7%+ yields are the hallmark of these (too) often-overlooked investment vehicles.

If you’ve never heard of PIMCO, all you need to know is that the company is to CEFs what Apple (AAPL) is to tech.

And PIMCO’s latest move is yet another signal that now is a great time to boost our positions in the 18 buy-rated funds in the CEF Insider portfolio.… Read more

Relax. You might already have enough money to retire on.

My favorite dividend stocks let people retire comfortably on $600,000 or so.

Got more cash? Great! You’re in elite company.

Fidelity Investments—apparently happy to share its customer’s financial info anonymously—says it has more than 750,000 seven-figure 401(k) and IRA accounts.

That sounds like a lot, but it means less than 1% of Americans have $1 million or more saved for retirement. And that’s OK—select dividend stocks can help us retire comfortably on $600,000 or less.

Sure, a chunk of money is great. Especially when we can leave it untouched and let it grow.… Read more

There’s a group of dividend stocks out there that are set to skyrocket as the new “Biden buyback tax” rolls in.

These “dividend moonshots” are hiding in plain sight. Most people miss them because they’re looking at the wrong numbers: they’re obsessed with “first level” measures like dividend yields, P/E ratios or whatever.

But we second-level thinkers only need one indicator to find these cash machines, which are poised to profit in a surprising way as the new tax takes effect. I’m talking about a potent number called shareholder yield.

This metric isn’t on any screener, so it takes a couple minutes’ legwork to figure out.… Read more