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Usually in a bear market like this, something is working somewhere. But I think you’ll agree that since the beginning of 2022, that “something” has been tough to nail down.

Treasuries are down some 23% on the year. And we know where the stock market has been.

Cash, of course, will always free you from stock- or bond-market volatility. But staying in cash too long leaves you exposed to today’s high inflation. And of course, cash pays zero dividends—and that’s just not an option for those of us looking to fund our retirements on dividends alone. That strategy largely allows you to tune out market volatility, which is why it’s a goal we aim for at my CEF Insider advisory.… Read more

Let’s not be idiots chasing this bear market rally. OK?

Safe dividend stocks, fine. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. A trio of stability and sanity that doesn’t care if we see a September swoon or October keel over.

Yes, in bear markets like these we sell the rips. But we still buy the dips—we just make sure we do it smartly. And keep it low beta.

Duke Energy (DUK), for example, has a 5-year beta of 0.34. This means it moves only 34% as fast as the market.

In other words, on days when the S&P 500 is down 3%, this stock should decline a mere 1.5% or so.… Read more

Among the many lessons I learned in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, one of the most important was to do my own research. You simply cannot get ahead by chasing whatever tickers are hot on CNBC and Twitter, or by taking the headlines in financial media for granted.

But I must admit, it’s not always comfortable to think like a contrarian and focus on long-term income over a short-term adrenaline rush. It sometimes means sitting on stocks that may seem to “underperform” the high-octane tech stocks everyone’s gushing about. And it sometimes means thinking differently about performance by looking at what’s important to you vs.… Read more

There’s a group of dividend payers out there whose businesses are doing better than they were before the COVID mess, but their stocks are still ridiculously cheap today.

Best of all, we contrarian income seekers can get these stocks at an even deeper discount than regular folks can—while collecting a healthy 6.6% dividend.

The trick? Buy them through a closed-end fund (CEF) like the one we’ll discuss below.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The investments we’re going to buy through this CEF are real estate investment trusts (REITs), which own and rent out various types of properties, from shopping malls to warehouses and cellphone towers.… Read more

Sell ‘em if you got ‘em.

And c’mon, we all have ‘em.

Let’s think back a few months. Which stocks are we still holding now that we wish we had sold then?

I’m talking about the dividend dogs that, if we’re being honest, are not deserving of long-term positions in our retirement portfolios.

These mutts have had a fun summer—good for them (and us). Now let’s find them a nice home in another portfolio.

Why the deadline? September swoons are common. The Wall Street guys return from their Hampton homes and sell everything that rallied in August.

The summer rally (recently ended?)… Read more

Bad news for your friends who only own “America’s ticker”—the S&P 500. We’re set up for a September swoon that could easily send the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) down 5% or more from current levels.

Good news for us income investors—we’re going to have a great dip to buy some of our favorite dividend payers.

We’ll talk about the best dividend stocks for September in a moment. We’ll specifically highlight two “low-drama dividends,” too.

First, let’s discuss why we need to get ready for a pullback.

History Points to a September Swoon …

For one, if we look back to 1945, as the folks at CFRA Research did, we’ll see that September has been the worst month for stocks, with positive returns just 45% of the time.… Read more

When the market goes into the dumpster like it has in the last few months, one group of folks have an advantage: those who hold high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs).

If you haven’t already, now is a great time to join this group, thanks to the selloff. I’ll name an oversold bond fund that’s a great pick to start your CEF portfolio—or add to your current one—in a moment. It throws off a stable 7.5% payout that rolls your way monthly.

A 7.5%-Yielding “Dividend Lifeline”

Investors in “regular” stocks only wish they could get a payout like that. Unfortunately, the measly dividend on the typical S&P 500 stock (around 1.5%) means those who stick to the household names are reliant on price gains alone, so they’re forced to deal with sickening drops like the 2022 mess:

“Regular” Stock Investors Are Forced to Rely on This

To be sure, CEFs, like regular stocks, have fallen in the last few months, too.… Read more

The world needs to produce more food to feed everyone in the years ahead. Period.

Food shortages are likely to be an unfortunate megatrend of the 2020s. Rising  food demand is intersecting with another megatrend: shaky global supply chains.

Consider this bleak outlook from the U.N. World Food Programme’s 2022 outlook (emphasis mine):

Thinking like a contrarian can sometimes be a crucial part of investing profitably. To be clear, that doesn’t mean you ignore reality. It just means that you’re willing to look beyond the obvious narratives based on the last few trading days, and instead look to what the future holds.

Right now, we’re at an interesting point in the stock market that lends itself to contrarian thinking. On one hand, the last several months have all given us ample proof of the risks on Wall Street – inflation, rising rates and volatility. But looking forward, the narrative may be changing.

July Inflation was flat month-over-month as measured by the Consumer Price Index.… Read more

This market crash has served up some terrific opportunities in closed-end funds (CEFs), many of which are throwing off safe 7%+ dividends today.

Dividends of that size, of course, are critical today, as we look to offset rising inflation. And I think we can all agree that a CD or Treasury will never match a payout like that.

But of course, not all CEFs are set to rise equally as the stock market continues to regain its footing (which I expect it to as we move through the back half of 2022), so we need to be careful about exactly which sectors—and funds—we target.… Read more