Wall Street says you have to settle for the pathetic 2% yields most folks scrape by on from 10-year Treasuries, or your typical S&P 500 stock.

Don’t believe them.

Because there’s a far better way to bankroll your retirement that they won’t tell you about: municipal bonds.

While their name sounds boring, that’s the last word I’d use to describe the income they throw off: “munis” pay dividend yields of 5% and often much more, thanks to a unique tax advantage.

In fact, the 3 off-the-radar plays I’ll show you below can let you pull a steady (and safe) 6.5% out of some of the safest muni bonds out there.… Read more

Don’t let the pundits deceive you. Despite their endless bleating about an overheated market and an imminent crash, now is a great time to buy.

But you need to look beyond the breathless reporting about the S&P 500’s daily push higher—or its ratchet-tight P/E ratio.

Because the real winning stocks are cloaked behind something most folks don’t pay nearly enough attention to: dividends—particularly dividend growth!

Let me explain.

Dividends Are Great Again

A quietly released report from investment manager Janus Henderson Group (JHG) tells the tale—and it’s a happy one for American investors.

According to Janus, global dividends jumped 5.4% year-over-year in the second quarter.… Read more

Dividends or growth? Why choose when you can have both.

Take these firms with broad business moats and sustainable competitive advantages. They’ve showered their shareholders with raises over the past five years, delivering dividend growth from 100% to 1000% or better!

High Growth Dividends…

Yet these stocks still have modest current yields. Why? Because their share prices have soared along with their payouts:

… Power High Growth Stock Prices!

Everyone loves the dividend, but as you can see, 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

Wall Street’s supposedly elite group of stocks that have increased their annual payouts every year for at least a quarter-century – the “Dividend Aristocrats” – are peddled by advisers and pundits alike as supreme plays for income portfolios. And sure, a select few of them are. We’ll discuss two later today.

But a whole lot more of them are simply “dead money.”

The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL), which invests in the whole lot of dividend royalty, yields 1.9% as I write this. Even a million dollars parked in this fund is generating less than $20,000 in investment income annually.… Read more

It’s a whopper many investors believe—you may even be one of them.

It’s simply this: all fees are evil.

After all, the more you shell out to line fund managers’ pockets, the worse your return will be, right?

It sounds right. It makes sense. But it’s totally wrong, particularly when it comes to the world of high-yield closed-end funds, which I’ll get to in a moment.

Truth is, you don’t have to go further than the darlings of “cheap” investing—exchange-traded funds—to see how bogus the so-called “wisdom” on fees is. Check out this chart showing the seven-year performance of two nearly identical ETFs—the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and keep in mind that VOO has always had lower fees than SPY:

The Cheap Fund Is … the Loser?… Read more

Let’s talk about five big payouts that are so flimsy, they’re just asking for the ultimate sign of dividend disrespect:

Paying money to short them.

It’s one thing to turn down a decent yield in today’s 2% world. It’s another to be willing to pay the dividend in order to bet against the stock!

Yet here are five firms with archaic business models (some are so-2015) that their cash flow streams will soon dry up. And when the cash evaporates, so will the dividend.

Which is why I may short some or all of these shares in the weeks ahead after this piece publishes.… Read more

By now you probably either invest in closed-end funds (CEFs) or have heard more folks talking about them.

There’s a good reason why: dividends!

With 10-Year Treasuries yielding barely 1% and your typical S&P 500 stock paying even less—just 1.7%—there’s a very good chance none of the folks you know are clocking dividends that can even beat inflation, let alone provide a decent income stream!

So when an investment comes along throwing off yields of 7%, 9% … even 11%, people take notice.

In a moment, I’ll show you exactly why these outsized yields exist—and how to grab a slice of this cash for yourself.… Read more

Most people are chasing big dividend payers right now in this “2% world” we live in. Meanwhile, a small group of “hidden yield” stocks are quietly handing smart investors growing income streams PLUS annual returns of 12%, 17.3%, or more.

Let’s talk about how to find these stocks, and bank 12% returns or better every single year, by following a simple two-step formula.

See, everyone wants dividend stocks with good current yields. It’s easy to scan a newspaper or financial website and pick out the stocks that are paying 3%, 4%, 8% or whatever number you might consider “good.”

Yet that’s NOT the right way to pick dividend stocks.… Read more

Most “first-level investors” believe that investing is an either-or proposition. A stock or fund can deliver eye-popping yield … or it can deliver breakneck growth. But not both.

That’s simply not true. We’ll prove that today by highlighting three stocks yielding 6% to 9% with 20% price upside to boot.

Remember, total returns are made up of dividends and price appreciation. The latter, price gains, are driven by some combination of:

1. Dividend raises (which inspire investors to pay more for the stock or fund), and/or
2. A climb towards fair value (a closing of the discount window in a closed-end fund’s (CEF’s) case, or a higher multiple on FFO for a REIT).