First-level investors think the key to retiring on dividends alone is to find the largest yields they can and ride them into the sunset.

But while it’s important to lock down fat yields—like the five-pack of 5.5%-10.4% yielders I’ll share with you today—that’s only part of the puzzle. We need two more things from our long-term income holdings:

1. Dividend safety. A 10.4% payout is only helpful if it’s actually going to get paid for quarters and years to come. No dividend cuts, please.
2. Principal safety. We’re also not looking to lose 10.4% per year in price. Or anything in price, for that matter.

With the S&P 500 up double-digits this year, the media is at it again—cranking up worries that we’re headed for another crash.

“Stock-Market Crash: Expert Shares Huge ‘Red Flag’ Signaling Recession,” says Business Insider. “Will the Stock Market Crash? This Hedge-Funder Thinks So,” declares New York Magazine.

And on it goes.

I suppose it makes sense, given that the S&P 500’s roughly 19% gain so far this year is a lot more than its typical return. Thing is, 2023 does not exist in a vacuum divorced from history, and just a tiny bit of history shows we’re not yet in a bull market, and stocks are not overheated, despite their recent gains.… Read more

This two-year interest rate trend is about to turn. When it flips, JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon’s safe, somewhat-secret 7.4% dividend will directly benefit.

We’ll highlight the name and ticker of my favorite bond fund for 2024 in a moment. First, let’s discuss why we’re discussing it.

For two straight years, the US dollar has rallied relentlessly. Credit (or blame) the Federal Reserve. When the Fed hikes, the buck rallies.

But an inflection point is near. The Fed will pause in its interest-rate hikes soon. This means the greenback is near a top, give or take, because it moves along with its best friend, the Fed Funds Rate.… Read more

Look, our dividends—and the profits that power them—are set to soar in ’24. So it’s prime time for us to shift our returns away from whipsawing share-price action like this:

A Brutal 2 Years—Capped With a Loss

This is the wild ride folks who bought an S&P 500 index fund have been on over the last two years. And what “thanks” did they get for riding that particular roller-coaster?

A loss! They’re still in the red.

Instead, we’re going to shift our profits toward the smooth and steady hum of dividend growth. Check out this sweet “dividend escalator” from insurer UnitedHealth Group (UNH)—more on UNH in a second—showing the company’s incredible 571% payout growth in the past decade:

The Dividend Staircase We’ll Climb—Starting in ’24

Why Dividends Are Primed for Growth

The upshot here is that almost nobody makes the connection between dividends and share prices.… Read more

Here’s something you might be surprised to hear: according to the numbers, the US economy is actually doing well—and yet (almost) nobody wants to admit it!

It’s a misconception we income investors can exploit with the three high-yielding picks we’ll cover below.

It’s a weird turn of events, but it makes sense. Since the pandemic, itself an event of shocking turmoil, it seems that the chaos around the world is getting worse, and our fundamental hope for humanity makes us think that this just can’t be good for growth.

Except that’s not how things typically play out.

Global Turmoil = Faster Growth?… Read more

Stick with me for some “next level” dividend thinking. We have a potential opportunity right now to buy five payers yielding up to 14.9% as the economy heads into recession.

Wait, what? Why would we want to buy stocks as the economy slows?

Well, we don’t want to own any names. We’ll pass on sky-high AI darling NVIDIA Corp (NVDA). Give us cheap REITs (real estate investment trusts) because they are likely to rise as rates fall.

Yes, that’s what happens in a recession. Investors flood into fixed income. Interest rates fall, and REITs—which tend to move opposite rates—rise.

These landlords are already getting up off the mat after a rough two years in which rates rose relentlessly.… Read more

With stocks on the upswing, the appetite for risk is back! That might tempt some folks to abandon sound long-term investing and take a stab at day trading.

Before we go too far into whether this is a good idea, I’d say that to be a successful day trader, you should be aiming to beat the market … and a lot of ink has been spilled about how active managers—and I’d include individual investors here—can’t do that.

Well, that’s nonsense. Plenty of portfolio managers and individual investors do beat the market regularly. Consider closed-end funds (CEFs), for example, which yield 7%+ on average, with plenty sporting histories of beating their benchmarks.… Read more

Seriously. Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) pays a dividend that is now a sizzling 8.2% (read: eight-point-two). Plus, the fund raises its payout regularly. It dishes 12% more today than it did twelve months ago!

As a result, AMLP is so popular that investors keep the price up!

Seriously, check out this quarter-ending stock price chart. AMLP’s quote may drift for a quarter, or two, max. That’s why any meanderings lower are great buying opportunities:

Source: Income Calendar

AMLP is up 19% since we added it to our Contrarian Income Report portfolio just over a year ago. Despite this stellar performance by an income stock, it may indeed be the one missed by most plain-vanilla investors.… Read more

A key insider has quietly snapped up 10,000 shares of his 13%-yielding stock. And we contrarian income seekers are putting the ticker on our buy list, too.

That’s because insider buying really is the ultimate “buy alert.” Legendary value investor Peter Lynch said it best:

“Insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they only buy for one: they think the price will rise.”

Heck, I can almost see my regular readers nodding along to this one. We’ve talked about it again and again in my Contrarian Income Report service. In fact, we’d go one step further than Lynch:

Insiders buy because they think the dividend will rise, too. … Read more

Right now—today—we’re looking at a terrific buy window on 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs). Interest rates are maxed out (and let’s be honest, they’re likely headed lower from here—it’s just a question of when).

That will drive up the appeal of CEFs, thanks to their outsized income streams.

So now is a great time to take a look at these (too) often overlooked income generators. So today, we’re going to do just that. We’ll start by debunking a CEF myth called “return of capital,” or ROC, that has caused many investors to miss out on the sustainable high income streams these funds offer.… Read more