The stock market is high, which means yields are low. But don’t worry – we still have places to put new money for 7.5% payouts today with 20%+ upside to boot!

I count ten stocks and funds to be specific with these secure, elite payouts. And while their current yields may say “just” 7.5% on average, all ten are poised for 10%+ total returns in the years ahead.

How is this possible?

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

1. Dividend raises, and/or
2. A discount window closing (or at least narrowing).

The Fourth of July is right around the bend, which means it’s time for financial pundits to flood readers with their favorite all-American stocks. But as I’ll illustrate in a moment via four all-American high-yield dividend stocks, there’s plenty more incentive to “buy American” than just a date on the calendar.

The U.S. is the largest economy in the world, making up 22% of the world’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) at about $18.46 trillion as of 2016. California alone – at about $2.6 trillion – would represent the world’s sixth-largest economy if it were an independent country, snuggly tucked between the United Kingdom and France.… Read more

What do Exxon Mobil (XOM), Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Walmart (WMT) have in common?

Their dividend growth is running on fumes.

Sure, they’re all still members of the Dividend Aristocrats – that social club of companies that have raised dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. But Exxon, Colgate and Walmart all have kept their streaks of dividend increases alive within the past year by hiking their payouts by less than 3% apiece.

Sad!

If you’re looking for serious dividend potential, I can introduce you five income gushers that are doling out annual payout increases of 20% or more. But first, let’s quantify how why dividend growth is the single most important factor for you portfolio.… Read more

At the start of June, I warned investors to avoid a certain fund like the plague.

It’s down almost 10% since then.

Of course, anyone long the fund was turning a blind eye to the very real dangers lurking behind it. Today I want to talk about the mistake they made and how we can avoid repeating this blunder in the future.

First, let me tell you what fund I’m talking about. It’s run by one of the greatest investment companies in the world, with one of the best track records out there; in fact, it’s one of the few companies that has consistently beaten the market for over a decade across most of its investments.… Read more

I keep saying it because it’s true and critical to your retirement wellbeing  (or lack thereof)  – don’t take any dividends for granted today!

In a minute I’ll outline a 3-step “dividend disaster” test that you can quickly run on the stocks you own. I want to make sure you don’t hold the next Mattel (MAT) simply because “its yield looked good” or “so-and-so guru recommended it.”

First-level income hounds piled into Barbie’s plastic 6% yield. But when the firm “surprisingly” announced a sharp 61% dividend cut two weeks ago, shares completed a 36% dive:

6 Years of Dividends, Gone

Our Contrarian Income Report portfolio was, yet again, unique in our handling of this ticking toy bomb.… Read more

Everyone’s obsessing over FAAMG stocks, and for good reason. Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google, now known as Alphabet (GOOG), are on a tear for 2017, rising nearly 30%, on average.

And today I’m going to show you two funds that invest in these companies while offering higher dividends than any of these stocks pay individually.

Of course, everyone has heard of Facebook, Apple and Google. (And in case you missed it, my colleague Brett Owens revealed five individual tech stocks he likes now on June 19.)

But hardly anyone has heard of either of these high-yielding tech funds.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you 2 easy ways to set yourself up for safe double-digit yearly dividend growth and invite quick 100%+ upside too.

I’ll also reveal a blue chip stock that’s delivering both strong price gains and rising dividends. It will have you pocketing a nice 5%+ yield in short order.

So let’s get going, starting with…

The Dividend-Growth Signal Most People Miss

If you’ve been buying dividend stocks for a while, you probably know about the payout ratio.

It’s a sacred cow for many folks; you calculate it by dividing the total amount of dividends paid by the company’s last 12 months of net income.… Read more

As we speak, $376 billion is locked up in five of Wall Street’s most overrated, overloved funds. And the sad reality is that there’s a high chance a few thousand bucks of that are courtesy of … well, you.

The good news? I can show you seven far better options.

While Wall Street still rolls out hundreds of new exchange-traded funds every year, one of the greatest advantages for any ETF is age. Funds that got an early start have marketing advantages, media advantages and tend to come from companies that can compete on price, meaning bargain-basement fees that undercut the competition and keep newer fund providers from even bothering to jump into the space.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you why some funds are killing the S&P 500—and how you can dramatically boost your odds of doing exactly the same thing.

One way not to do it is by investing in a dying asset class: traditional mutual funds. Since most mutual funds have underperformed the market, the number of funds out there has flat-lined, while the number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds’ low-cost cousins, keeps exploding. There are now about 2,000 ETFs on US exchanges, and they account for about a third of all US trading.

But as I wrote on February 21 (and have said many times since), I don’t recommend you join the ever-growing crowd of ETF fans, either.… Read more

My friend is a young 41-year old millionaire. And the poor guy is basically broke!

Meanwhile there’s a conservative yet savvy grandma in the Midwest raking in more monthly income than my boy, on a modest $387,000 in savings.

What’s her secret? We’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s lament my man’s millionaire curse.

His stash of cash does him no good, other than giving him something to worry about. His million-dollar problem? He doesn’t know how to turn his green pile into a steady, sustainable income stream.

And since he believes in efficient markets, he has no interest in exploring investments that could pay him 7% or 8% annually – providing him with $75,000+ in yearly income while leaving his capital intact (or better than intact) to boot.… Read more