Looking for high yield investments, packed in a convenient fund wrapper? You’d better look beyond these three popular names.

I’m going to show you how to “cherry pick” their best holdings today. We’ll even discuss some better “clicks to make” so that you can sell these dumb money funds if you hold them, and buy some better value (and higher yields!) instead.

What’s the price of popularity? Well, investors have sunk about $43 billion into three of the ETF world’s biggest, most prominent names. And they have less to show for it than several better-managed but under-the-radar funds.

In fact, given that these aforementioned “dumb funds” are among the biggest players in their three respective asset classes, it’s very likely that you own one if not more of these first-in-name but second-class ETFs.… Read more

Right now there are huge deals happening in a place far too few people care to look: municipal bonds.

Now before your eyes glaze over at the sight of the words “municipal bonds,” consider this: this unloved area of the market hands most Americans a shot at tax-free income. Plus, the 2 “muni” funds I’m going to show you below are set to hand us double-digit upside, too, thanks to a ridiculous bargain sale that’s way overdue for some quick “snap back” gains.

But first, let’s look at why now is the perfect time to jump into these unloved assets.… Read more

“Hey Brett, what do you think of telecom?”

“Well, let’s take Verizon (VZ). It pays a 5% dividend. It’s growing that dividend by about 2% or so per year. So I’d expect the stock to return 7% or so in the years ahead,” I replied.

“What about profitability metrics like return on invested capital (ROIC)? Or margins? Or…?” my investor friend rebutted.

“If it doesn’t flow through to a higher dividend, then it doesn’t really matter.”

I was “grilled” with many thoughtful dividend-related questions while speaking to subscribers and fellow income hounds at Denver’s AAII (American Association of Individual Investors) chapter last week.… Read more

The overheating yield on the 10-Year Treasury note has investors scrambling for interest-rate (and inflation) insurance.

So today I’m going to give you 4 proven strategies—and 9 terrific investments—that will give you just that. Plus we’ll grab massive dividend yields (up to 9.6%!) and upside too.

More on all of this shortly. First, we need to talk about the one move you don’t want to make right now.

The Worst Mistake You Can Make When Rates Climb

When rates rise, folks holding long-duration bonds take a double hit, because their bonds drop in value as newer, higher-yielding ones come on the market—causing them to miss out on a shot at a bigger income stream, too!… Read more

The US dollar has been heading skyward lately, and the market has been slow to catch on. That’s handing you a nice opportunity for gains if you buy the 3 funds I’ll show you today.

Before we get into these 3 stealth funds, though, let’s step back and look at what’s going on.

First, as I wrote in “A ‘Secret’ Way to Ride the Soaring Dollar to 7.6% Dividends (and Gains),”when President Trump was elected, he insisted on a “weak dollar” policy to boost US trade and exports. At the same time, the Federal Reserve was worried that the dollar’s strength would stoke inflation—which was already ticking upward—so it was eager to see the dollar fall, as well.… Read more

Most investors with $500,000 in their portfolios think they don’t have enough money to retire on.

They do – they just need to do two things with their “buy and hope” portfolios to turn them into $3,333 monthly income streams:

1. Sell everything – including the 2%, 3% and even 4% payers that simply don’t yield enough to matter. And,
2. Buy my 8 favorite monthly dividend payers.

The result? $3,333 in monthly income every month (from an average 8% annual yield, paid every 30 days). With upside on your initial $500,000 to boot!

Traditional dividend stocks simply can’t keep up. Let’s take a 4-pack of popular dividend aristocrats to map how much they’ll pay investors through summer.… Read more

Have you always wanted to buy a safe stock like Coca-Cola (KO) and get rich from it like Warren Buffett?

It’s doable. But most investors “live in the past” and fixate on dividend track records rather than a payout’s forward prospects. And looking ahead is the key to yearly gains of 10%, 15% or even 20% or more with dividend aristocrats.

Let’s look at Coke, which achieved its dividend royalty status in 1987 (its 25th straight year with a dividend hike). The firm hit its coronation with a head of steam, rewarding investors with a 362% payout hike in just five years (from 1986 to 1991).… Read more

Almost every investor has a built-in bias that causes them to miss out on significant gains. It’s 100% predictable, easy for us to profit from and is running rampant in the markets today.

In just a few paragraphs, I’ll show you 2 funds that are perfectly positioned to profit from it, with one yielding an incredible 11.4%.

Before I get to that, let me explain.

The flaw in human nature I’m talking about is called recency bias. Don’t let the wordy name fool you: it just refers to the tendency people have to assume something will happen again, just because it happened in the recent past.… Read more

Year-to-date my Hidden Yields subscribers have booked total returns (including dividends) of 155%, 30% and 27%. These profits inspired a common question:

“How’d Brett know when to sell?”

Most investors focus on buying. But selling is an ignored art. And leave it to savvy readers like you to recognize this.

I believe in letting winners run, of course, especially with respect to dividend growers. Sometimes there’s never any reason to actually sell a stock if the dividend’s sponsor is consistently growing its profits and dishing them with shareholders.

Other times, however, we’re better off booking gains and re-deploying our money to more promising pastures.… Read more

If you’re like me, few things get your blood pumping faster than when one of your stocks gets bought out—sending its price skyrocketing.

I’m writing you about this now because it’s fresh in my mind: subscribers to my Hidden Yields service recently bagged a 58% total return in less than two years on reinsurer Validus (VR) after it was snapped up by insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in a deal announced in January.

A big part of that gain came literally overnight—the stock popped 45% from its previous closing price when news of the deal broke.

I’ll share the name of an insurer that’s set to be the next Validus in a second.… Read more