Imagine you’re sitting in a bar and a guy sits down next to you and says, “I just took out a $6-million loan.”

How would you feel? Would you pity him for having so much debt? Would you wonder how he’d ever pay it back? Would you calculate how much those monthly payments would be?

If your instinct is to feel bad for someone with a multi-million-dollar loan, you should change your mind. Because our fictional bar patron could be Mark Zuckerberg, one of the richest people on earth.

That’s right—Zuck took out a $6-million loan in 2012 because he could get said loan at a mere 1% interest rate.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you 4 REITs with high—and growing—yields that are bargains now. But you’ve only got weeks to act here, and likely less.

Why?

Because real estate investment trusts have underperformed the broader market by a lot in the last six weeks … but a proven contrarian signal is about to send the best ones straight back up—and higher still.

More on that, and 4 those terrific REITs to jump on now, in a moment.

First, check out how the Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ), shown in the blue line below, has performed since hitting a six-month high on September 11, compared to the rest of the market:

VNQ: The Market’s Ugly Stepsister

They’re mirror reflections of each other!… Read more

Let’s talk about the only “market timing” strategy that actually works in practice – buying a stock before it announces a dividend hike.

In a minute, I’ll show you seven stocks that are likely to announce generous hikes next time they talk to Wall Street. Their stock prices will then follow their payouts higher in the ensuing months.

This “undercover income strategy” is the closest thing to a sure thing you’ll find in the financial markets. Everyone loves the dividend, but investors usually don’t give enough love to the dividend hike. Not only do these raises increase the yield on your initial capital, but also they often are reflected in a price increase for the stock.… Read more

Of all the things investors ask me about closed-end funds, the main one is leverage. (A close No. 2 is CEF return of capital, which I discussed in a recent article here.)

Yes, CEFs often borrow money and invest it in stocks or bonds. That scares some people, who then ask me if a leveraged CEF is safe.

The answer is: sometimes. (Below I’ll show you 2 CEFs with 6.5%+ dividend yields that are using leverage perfectly to slingshot their shareholders to double-digit gains.)

You see, leverage can boost your return in a bull market and magnify your loss in a bear market.… Read more

This is an example of a bad almost-10% yield:

When a Bullish Chart is Bad

Mattel’s (MAT) yield was rising for the wrong reason – because its stock price was dropping faster than its payout. Going forward, that shouldn’t be a problem. The firm officially suspended its dividend on Friday.

I warned you that the toy maker was a dividend disaster waiting to happen. In June’s edition of our Dirty Dozen: 12 Dividend Stocks to Sell Now report, we discussed how falling profits were going to be a serious problem for the stock’s payout:

When Mattel last raised its dividend, from 36 cents to 38 cents quarterly at the beginning of 2014, few people batted an eye.

If you’re like most folks, you probably think it’s tough for any fund to beat the S&P 500, especially in a year when the index jumped some 15%.

But you’d be wrong.

Truth is a lot of funds are doing better, with over 660 beating the S&P 500. And the top-performers share 3 common themes that could tell us a lot about which sectors are poised to take off next year.

Let’s dig in. Along the way, we’ll hone in on the 33 funds that are cashing in as these breakthrough trends head higher.

Trend No. 1: Skyrocketing Faith in Technology (11 Funds)

Markets have always believed that technology will improve the global economy.… Read more

You’ve probably noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of time digging into closed-end funds lately.

The reason is simple: These ignored investments can set you up for 7%+ dividends and quick double-digit upside in one buy!

But that doesn’t mean all of the 500+ CEFs out there are great. In fact, many boast dividend payouts they just can’t cover with earnings (see dangerous CEF No. 3 below), while others trade at silly premiums to their true value that practically lock in nasty surprises for shareholders.

It’s not easy to spot either of these snags by looking at fund fact sheets.… Read more

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tend to have low fee structures. And when investors try to combine ETFs with their high yield needs, they usually get what they pay for.

ETFs, simply put, are often “dumb money.” Their current yields may look good, but their long-term strategies are usually flawed.

Here are five funds paying up to 8.4% that are too dumb to trust with your retirement money.

iShares International Preferred Stock ETF (IPFF)
Yield: 4.1%
Expenses: 0.55%

International dividend stock funds typically sport similar if not higher yields than their domestic brethren, so you would imagine there would be a similar advantage in foreign preferred stocks.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a must-have holding for any and all retirement accounts. The five REITs I’m about to show you are pivotal to both growing your nest egg, then delivering consistent cash to pay the bills once you’ve called it a career.

Slowly but surely, market research is starting to agree with me.

Wilshire Research delivered a report around this time last year summing up its research into REITs’ effect in retirement portfolios. The results were “dramatic.”

“One of the key findings was that the addition of stock exchange-listed REITs to retirement portfolios would have allowed a higher level of stable income for any given level of risk tolerance.”… Read more

With over 500 closed-end funds (CEFs) on the market, how do you choose the best one?

It’s not an easy question to answer, because there are literally dozens of metrics any CEF investor should look at before buying.

Luckily, I’ve found a way to boil those down for you. In a moment, I’ll reveal the 5-point system I’ve carefully designed to pick winning CEFs for our CEF Insider service.

(If you joined me for my exclusive CEF Insider live webcast on October 25, you know about this proven system and you got 2 of my latest CEF investment ideas for 7.1% dividends and double-digit upside in 2018.… Read more