Today I want to show you a beaten-down sector that has a long history of crushing the market—and 4 funds that should be on your radar now.

These 4 funds are a great place to pocket dividends up to 10.9% (or $10,900 a year on a $100k investment) while you wait for the market to realize that it’s discounting their industry far too much.

I’m talking about 4 standout fund buys from the biotech sector.

Biotech has fallen over 10% from its 2018 high and is now down a bit more than the broader market. Just look at the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) vs.… Read more

Eric Ervin was making his rich client so much money that he suggested: “Hey, why don’t you just quit your job?”

The investor saw the opportunity to scale Eric’s “secret strategy” – and he wanted to help invest!

Both guys knew the power of dividend growth investing. But Eric’s second-level insight is what made them both a boatload of cash. He figured out a way to bet purely on the higher payouts – as close to a “sure thing” as you’ll ever see in stocks. Here’s what I mean.

Blue chip stocks tend to raise their dividend every year. Even if it’s a token increase, it keeps shareholders happy.… Read more

Make no mistake: The “Mallpocalypse,” the “Retailpocalypse,” whatever you want to call it, is very real, and its shockwaves are being felt in just about every corner of the brick-and-mortar retail world. In fact, there are only a few true havens left – including a few higher yielders in the 5%-6% range. We’ll get to those in a minute.

Every other week, it seems like there’s another story about a retailer going bankrupt or shuttering locations. Just consider some of the store closings lined up for this year:

• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is going to shut down 60 of its 868 locations in 2018.

There are 20 elite closed-end funds (CEFs) that have proven their toughness in the last 10 years (including through the Great Recession, the most brutal test of all) and have still handed investors market-beating returns.

And below we’re going to look at all 20 of them.

So if you’re looking for a proven dividend payer that will hold its own through today’s troubles—trade wars and rising interest rates, to name just two—these 20 funds are a great place to start.

The Toughest of the Tough

Some of these cash machines throw off dividends of 6.8% or more (and one I’ll tell you about in a moment pays a sky-high 12.4%!).… Read more

Blue chip stocks are among the worst retirement investments you can make.

There are several blue-chip stocks that will actually cost you thousands of dollars each year. We’ll discuss three in a moment.

Sure, the financial media might lionize these stocks. But blue chips are simply big companies. When the term first came into being, it was simply an homage to the blue poker chip – at the time, the most valuable chip on the table. Before purples, oranges and grays began to grace the baize.

However, now the term comes with a boat load of perks – the simple assignment of the term “blue chip” is practically a buy recommendation.… Read more

17.1%.

If you only pay attention to only one number this earnings season, this should be it.

It’s the first-quarter profit gain the suits at FactSet have S&P 500 companies pegged for. And if that’s where the final number lands, it’ll be the biggest profit bonanza in 7 years!

Better yet, the S&P 500 trades at around 16.5 times its next 12 months of forecast earnings. That’s way down from 18.5 in January.

The upshot?

Ignore the terrifying headlines battling for your attention day in and day out. This market is ripe for buying. And dividend-growth stocks should top your list—as should the 7.4%-paying fund I’ll show you shortly.… Read more

When investors ask me why they should invest in closed-end funds (CEFs), I tell them three things:

First, CEFs pay an outsized income stream—7% yields are easy to get and easy to sustain with a CEF portfolio.

Second, CEFs often trade for less than their intrinsic worth. While ETFs trade at their net asset value (NAV, or the liquidation value of the assets in their portfolios), CEFs can trade for 10% less … or even more.

That can set you up for nice 20%+ upside on top of those 7%+ dividends.

And finally, if not most importantly, a bunch of CEFs have crushed the S&P 500 for years.… Read more

Want more yield and price upside in your portfolio? You can get both from bonds – if you think a little contrarian, of course.

Just avoid the four common mistakes most bond investors make, and you’ll probably do better than most stock jockeys!

“First-level” financial advisors tell you to sell some stocks and buy more bonds as you get older. Their reasoning is that you should be trading upside for yield and security as you go.

You could actually trade all of your stocks for bonds today and retire comfortably on as little as $500,000. If you buy the right bonds.… Read more

While most income investors are reaching for big yields right now, a small group of “hidden yield” stocks are quietly handing smart investors growing income streams plus annual returns of 12%, 27.1% and even 54% or more per year.

So if you want to double your money every few years – and double your income as well – then you need to focus on the seven stocks I’m about to share.

(All seven are about to hike their dividends. Yet the “forward-looking market” hasn’t yet priced in these payout raises. This is free money the market is giving us, thanks to the most “underrated” shareholder return vehicle.)… Read more

It’s everyone’s dream—a double-digit yield. And what’s dreamier than a 13.6% payout?

That’s exactly what the little-known, small fund I’m going to show you today promises.

And you should run away fast.

Before I explain why, let me tell you what this fund does and how it works.

I’m talking about the Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Income Fund (EDF), a tiny fund focusing on developing countries that has just $229.4 million in assets under management.

For the last 8 years, the fund’s managers have been doing their best to make it grow (and keep its juicy 13.6% payout coming) by choosing the best stocks, bonds, foreign currencies and other assets in emerging markets.… Read more