There’s $2 trillion in cash headed straight into the US economy, and today we’re going to grab a share, both in the form of price gains and dividends.

I’m talking about the latest stimulus plan that’s made its way through the House of Representatives.

While plenty of folks fret over the rise in public debt this $1.9-trillion plan brings—and that’s a real concern—it’s a problem for another day. The cash is needed to get the economy through to the other side of the current crisis.

And pretty well all of this package is set to get spent through direct payouts to people and organizations that will spend it, with the headline item being $1,400 in stimulus checks (or about $1.1 trillion in all) going to taxpayers.… Read more

My friends and I couldn’t have been more excited about our college commencement speaker. Fresh off an electrifying cameo in the 2003 comedy movie Old School, James Carville’s next act was Cornell University.

At 21 years old, we had no idea what Carville actually did for a living. (Answer: Political consultant.) And though he was an engaging and entertaining speaker, I don’t remember a single word the “Ragin’ Cajun” said. Too bad, because he has had some major wisdom to impart.

Ten years earlier, Carville made an observation that is more prescient now than ever. After watching bond investors rebuff President Clinton’s economic stimulus proposals because they demanded a higher interest rate for US Treasuries, Carville coined this gem:

“I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as a president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter.

Today we’re going to bulk up our dividends—and position ourselves for some nice gains—with a group of stocks that pay us four ways as interest rates head skyward:

1. By paying a dividend;
2. By growing their dividend;
3. By repurchasing shares, and;
4. Through the pure profits they “bank” (hint!) as rates rise.

Let’s take that fourth point first, because as you likely know, the 10-year Treasury rate—which drives rates on everything from mortgages to car loans—is en fuego, having surged from 0.9% to more than 1.5% in less than two months.

Granted, a 1.5% Treasury rate would be considered low pre-pandemic. But now it has us choking on our morning coffee!… Read more

Patriotism is rarely a good guide when making investment decisions, but these days it just might be, as Americans now have a terrific reason to buy US stocks.

That would be a surge in vaccinations that’s put the US ahead of most of the world on the road to recovery, while at the same time, US stocks are lagging behind their global competitors. This is a disconnect contrarians like us can use to position ourselves for some nice gains and big dividends in the months ahead.

US Vaccinations Ramping Up

Source: Bloomberg

Right now, we’re seeing an average of about 2.5 million doses being distributed across the US per day, meaning we could hit the bottom edge of herd immunity in about 50 days.… Read more

Anyone up for a 10.2% payout? One that is powered by profits that should actually rise alongside interest rates?

If so, I’ve got a three-letter acronym for us:

B-D-C.

Business development companies provide debt, equity and other financing to small and midsized companies, effectively acting as banks because banks often don’t want to take on that level of risk. And because they’re primarily investing in companies that aren’t on public markets, BDCs serve as de facto private equity investments—but ones that retail investors like us can get in on!

BDC structures are similar to real estate investment trusts (REITs). Both were created by Congress—REITs in 1960, BDCs in 1980.… Read more

One of the great things about closed-end funds (CEFs) is that there’s one out there we can use to tap just about any trend—and turn it into a nice 7.1%+ dividend payout.

Take the surge in retail we saw last month. Despite the pandemic, Americans are hitting the stores again (with many doing so online):

Retail Sales Surge

In January, retail sales jumped 5.3%, far ahead of economists’ expectations of 1.2% gains. This was helped by a 0.7% sales drop in December, but it’s undoubtedly the result of the latest round of stimulus checks.

Retail ETF Soars, But Its Dividend Leaves Much to Be Desired

That’s great news for retailers because it proves that consumers are spending their COVID aid money instead of hoarding it.… Read more

On Sunday night, our old friend exclaimed to my wife and me: “How have you all been??”

It’d been, well, almost a year since we’d been to her bar. We had plenty to catch up on with our drink-slinging pal as we sipped and snacked. Back on the home front, our babysitter had recently resurfaced and appeared to have bedtime under control. It was nice to have a throwback evening, the type we all took for granted just 12 months ago.

In the interim, many income investors have, likewise, taken low long-term rates for granted. Not we contrarians, of course.… Read more

Stocks or bonds? Why choose when:

1. Stocks pay just 1.5%
2. Bonds pay just 1.3%, yet
3. There are little-known hybrid instruments yielding up to 7.9%!

These vehicles aren’t risky. They just happen to be favorites of Wall Street insiders who don’t want income investors like us crowding their favorite trades.

Unfortunately for them, we are not going to apologize for this article in advance. It’s time for us to discuss how to take the 1.5% yield from the S&P 500, the 1.3% yield from 10-year Treasuries—throw each in the trash—and instead type in the “convertible bond” tickers we’re not supposed to know about.… Read more

You may not know it, but you could have enough money saved to retire right now.

It’s true!

Today we’re going to look at how you can pull a nice $30,000-a-year income stream from your current hoard, even if you’ve saved just $250K. Best of all, you could generate this cash stream without selling a single stock from your portfolio. That could very well be enough for you to clock out, or at least scale back your day job.

Along the way, I’ll also show you how to dodge some of the worst yield traps in dividend-land.

Be Wary of High-Yield Blue Chips

To be honest, I don’t know why anyone would be surprised that this approach is possible.… Read more

The S&P 500 is still levitating, and if you’re like me, you’re starting to feel like this bull run is on borrowed time.

It’s understandable. The economy is just now stumbling to its feet, yet interest rates are already creeping higher. I think you’ll agree that we need higher borrowing costs like we need a hole in the head!

Treasury Rates Bust Through the 1% Barrier

Sure, 1.2% is a historically low number, but bear in mind 1% is an important psychological barrier, and we’re already well beyond that—and once rates broke through it, you can see how quickly they took off.… Read more