Readers often ask me how to build a portfolio that holds its own in down times but hands them more income than the measly 2.6% long-term US Treasuries pay.

So today I’ll show you how to do that. With the 4 bargain-priced closed-end funds (CEFs) I’ll show you below, which also boast strong track records and high income streams, you can keep the dividends flowing, regardless of the market’s tantrums.

An added plus? Your nest egg will be spread across asset classes, giving you extra protection.

Buy No. 1: A Buffett-Friendly CEF With Big Upside

With a long-term average total return of around 8.5% per year, US stocks need to be at the heart of any income portfolio.… Read more

If you’re worried that stocks are expensive, well, they are. The current bull market is making a run at history. But it’s also costly to stay in cash (and lock in zero income). Fortunately, it’s possible to buy some downside protection with yield (hint: think recession-proof REITs – real estate investment trusts).

I understand the “I’m worried so I’m sitting in cash” concern. And I know many investors who continue to sit on their money and hope for a big pullback. But wouldn’t it be nicer to bank 32% total returns with 8%, 9% or even 10% or more of it coming as dividends?… Read more

If you’re like most folks, you’re so used to collecting dividends quarterly that it may not have occurred to you that your portfolio can pay you every month.

But it’s true, thanks to a small set of stocks that delivers cash payouts month in and month out like clockwork (I’ll reveal 3 with especially juicy dividend yields—up to 6.8%—below).

Monthly Checks You Don’t Have to Work For

If you’re a retiree, this may take you back to your workdays—when your paycheck rolled in at the same time as your monthly bills. Subtract one from the other and voila: you knew exactly how much disposable income you had.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you how to get a livable income stream from a $300,000 nest egg—while growing your savings at the same time.

Sounds impossible, right?

Wrong.

What’s more, we’re going to pull it off using just 6 funds. When we’re done, we’ll end up with a simple, diversified portfolio that throws off a nice, steady 7.9% dividend yield—more than 4 times the S&P 500 average!

And if you’re worried that this outsized yield could come at the cost of a weak total return, don’t be, because these funds have delivered 12% per year over the past decade.

Before I get into these 6 funds, let me show you what numbers like these can mean for you: if we start with an upfront investment of $305,000 in this portfolio and leave it alone for 10 years, we can expect our capital to explode to nearly $1 million in a decade.… Read more

No one likes digging through pages of regulatory filings, but they can often yield valuable information.

For example, institutional investors with at least $100 million of assets must file a 13F form with the Securities and Exchange Commission once a quarter. Think of this as a quarterly scorecard or a window into the holdings of some of the most successful and often secretive investors in the market.

Should you follow suit and piggy-back some of these trades? Well, it’s certainly cheaper than the $1 million minimum buy-in it often takes to invest with the most successful hedge funds, if you’re even invited.… Read more

We’re always looking for reader feedback at my CEF Insider service, so we recently sent out a survey to our members (if you are one, you likely got it) asking for the topics they’d most like to see us cover.

One of the most common answers: how to know when it’s time to sell a closed-end fund (CEF).

So now I want to tackle that question (with more articles to come in the next few weeks answering other questions from our survey).

Sell Signs Not Always Easy to Spot

First off, it’s easier to know when to buy than when to sell.… Read more

A smart bond portfolio (picked by humans rather than “dumb” machines, of course!) will take the stress out of retirement investing. It’s like an annuity, but better – because we get to keep our capital.

And our Contrarian Income Report portfolio pays us more than any annuity product the big firms peddle to line their pockets with fees. Our handpicked basket yields 7.3% as I speak. And this is pure interest. You don’t spend any of your capital!

That’s right. Your money stays intact – or better. And it can potentially do much better and grow by up to 68% in a couple of years (more on this shortly).… Read more

Today I’m going to show you how to tap safe dividends so massive, they were only available once before in in our lifetimes—and even then for mere days!

The dividend yields I’m talking about are more than enough to transform your retirement, with reliable payouts of 7.5%, 8.0%—even 10% and up.

I’ll also show you a one-step indicator that reveals, quickly and easily, just how safe your stocks’ payouts are. It’s so reliable it held strong in the toughest battleground you could ask for: the 2008/09 meltdown.

A Battle-Tested “1-Click” Strategy for Finding Safe Dividends

When most dividend investors think of early March 2009, they don’t see it as a golden age for income.… Read more

On average, an American retiree spends about $4,000 per month. But few of those retirees are getting $4,000 from their nest egg—which is partly why bankruptcy rates among retirees have been soaring for years.

But there is a way to get $4,000 a month (or $48,000 a year) from your savings—even if you aren’t filthy rich.

And that’s the problem with today’s low-yielding stock market. To get $48,000 per year from the S&P 500, you’d need $2.76 million to put in the market. That’s because the S&P 500’s dividend yield is a crummy 1.7%—far lower than US Treasuries and way below its long-term average!… Read more

If you want to clobber the stock market – and double your money every two or three years – then buying companies with accelerating dividends is the easiest and safest way to do it.

And I’ve got good news for you: there are nine blue chip payers likely to raise their dividends next month. So why not “front run” this good news and consider these shares now?

The benefit of dividend hikes? Getting a fatter income stream is an obvious reason, but it’s just the start. A rising payout acts like a lever on a company’s share price, prying it higher and higher with every single dividend hike.… Read more