Are you looking for that “sweet spot” retirement investment that combines growth tomorrow plus dividends today?

If so, let’s talk about a tech megatrend that’s powering a payout with 546% upside.

For this type of dividend growth, we must consider huge breakthroughs, like the Internet of Things—another name for the millions of devices (from your home thermostat to industrial sensors) hooking up to the web every year.

But hands-down the most important disruptor of all, from a dividend standpoint, is artificial intelligence (AI), the move toward “thinking” computers.

That’s because AI is the one revolution that’s baked into just about every tech advance you can imagine, making everything from cybersecurity defenses to self-driving cars faster, smarter every day.… Read more

Do you remember the biggest threat to the stock market in the summer of 2017?

Let me refresh your memory: a nuclear war with North Korea.

It was barely a year ago, but financial pundits and so-called experts were screaming from the rooftops about volatility spiking with the risk of a nuclear war. Here’s what actually happened as Armageddon fears fizzled:

Market Tunes Out Pundits’ Panic

So much for heightened fears! In fact, despite unusually large spikes in volatility earlier this year, as a whole, this measure of market fears has been on a steady decline.

Oh, and those spikes in volatility you see earlier this year were because of a new risk du jour.… Read more

I’ve said for years that dividend-happy real estate investment trusts (REITs) are the superior play for long-term wealth generation. And yet another set of data – this one spanning more than half a century – proves just how powerful the REIT space really is.

Let me show you the latest findings – and introduce you to a handful of stocks that should deliver market-beating returns for the next several decades.

A couple months ago, I highlighted a CEM Benchmarking study of asset-class returns going back to 1998 that showed publicly listed REITs trounced everything in retirement-focused accounts: large-cap stocks, small-cap stocks, bonds, private equity, hedge funds – you name it!… Read more

Energy commodity prices have been extremely volatile of late. Crude oil is down more than 20% in the past month, while natural gas is up more than 40% over the same period.

The result is that some of the most stable names in the energy sector, master limited partnerships (MLPs), have lost 6% or more in the past month, wiping out the benefit of an attractive annual dividend yield.

However, one thing that remains constant over time is that the market rewards faster earnings growth in stocks, even with income-oriented names. Higher profits can lead to higher future dividends, which in turn helps investors build wealth, even as inflation is rising.… Read more

If you’ve been told it’s impossible to outperform low-cost index funds because the market’s too efficient, you’ve been lied to.

The truth is, there many funds out there that have been beating the broader stock market for years. And here’s something really surprising: there are more funds pulling off this feat now than there have been in a long time!

In fact, across ETFs, mutual funds, and closed-end funds (CEFs), there are 7,643 funds that have beaten the S&P 500’s 7.62% return over the past year.

So much for not beating the market!

Besides the fact that not choosing the low-fee passive fund will get you superior returns, you might be also be surprised by one other fact I just threw out there: a 7.62% return for stocks in general over the past year.… Read more

“Buy and hope” traders are, understandably, terrified today. Their portfolios are paying nearly nothing in dividends. Don’t you think fat 10% payouts would put them at ease a bit?

The unfortunate situation for our “B&H” friends is that they bought stocks without a plan to generate cash flow from them. They purchased their shares – probably after much of the decade-long run up – and now must hope that this old bull market is not aging in dog years!

A better idea? Demanding big dividends. After all, without cash flow, what is a stock really worth besides what someone will possibly pay us for it tomorrow?… Read more

Now that the election’s over, it’s time for us contrarians to get greedy!

And I’ve got just the thing: 3 hated buys we can use to rack up serious gains and dividends while the rest of the herd struggles to get its bearings.

Where do these 3 cash machines come from? The defense and infrastructure sectors.

Now you might see where I’m coming from on infrastructure. Probably the one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on is that our ramshackle roads, bridges and power plants need a lot of work.

More on this, including a rock-solid play for 6.5% dividends and “steady as she goes” upside, at the end of this article.… Read more

I’m sure you noticed that when America decided on a Republican-majority Senate and Democrat-majority House, the markets jumped.

The best news: it’s just the beginning of what’s likely to be a long-term uptrend in stocks. So if you sold during the recent market panic, you’re going to miss out on that upswing—that is, unless you buy now.

But what to buy? While the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is already up 3.6% since the end of October, it still has gains ahead because of slower investors who haven’t come back into the market  after last month’s panic selling. If you buy now, you might beat a lot of them to the punch.… Read more

“Brett, I bought something for the girls. From Carter’s. Let me know when you get it.”

My mom thinks that postal delivery is a 50-50 proposition. She hedges her downside by purchasing 4X as many clothes as my young daughters actually need!

“Mom – thanks. Will do. And, you know, they’re probably good on dresses for now. They’ll be up another size in a few months.”

“Oh don’t you worry about that. I’ve got plenty of coupons,” she countered.

My folks live 2,562 miles from their granddaughters. And while long-distance grandparenting can be a challenge, the (increasingly online) experience provided by Carter’s (CRI) satisfies two of my mom’s favorite pastimes:

1. Spoiling grandkids, and
2. Shopping.

When investors look for dividends, they usually think about blue-chip names that are just as common on Main Street as they are on Wall Street. However, there are a large number of single-digit stocks flying under the market’s radar that also offer attractive yields.

Individual investors tend to gravitate toward stocks trading under $10 for multiple reasons. For one, it can psychologically feel more powerful to buy 100 shares of a company trading for $7 than just seven shares of a $100 name.

While both investments are just as likely to generate attractive returns over time, low-dollar stocks have historically proven to be more volatile.… Read more