Today I’m going to show you why the pundits have this market rally all wrong—and how a group of little-known investments called closed-end funds (CEFs) are the best way to cash in as stocks head higher from here.

Why do I say higher?

Because as I wrote back on March 30, this market is rising for the right reason: soaring earnings.

According to FactSet, first-quarter earnings are up 12.5% for S&P 500 companies that have announced so far, and earnings per share revisions are far more likely to skew upward than downward.

Simply put, American companies are making cash hand over fist.… Read more

The ideal “no withdrawal” retirement portfolio is a diversified one. Since you’re reading this, I know you know stocks. But how comfortable are you buying bonds – especially the more obscure issues (which provide the best yields and value?)

Probably not as comfortable as you are with good ol’ dividend paying stocks. But here’s the good news – it doesn’t matter.

You can diversify your portfolio, bank safe 9% yields and hire one of the best bond managers on the planet. For free, to boot! It just requires a bit of contrarian thinking – and knowing which publicly traded funds these guys are managing behind the scenes.… Read more

Today, I’m going to show you some of my favorite REITs—and a novel way of buying them that lets you do so for 18% off!

But first, there’s one sector you need to avoid: financials.

In fact, you needed to avoid it two months ago, as I warned back on February 28.

What’s happened since then? Nothing good.

Financials Come Up Short

This underperformance you see in the above chart isn’t surprising, considering financials were up over 30% by the end of February—and you can see from this chart that they reached their top just when I called it:

Snapshot of a Correction

What’s going on here?… Read more

The annual “sell in May and go away” period for stocks is nearly upon us, and many investors are worried about Wall Street starting to take profits from the market’s go-go run since November. Me? I’m looking for high-quality, high-yield dividend plays that you can buy in May – or June, or July, or whenever – and never sell.

Today, we’re going to discuss two 7%-plus yielders that fit any “no withdrawal” portfolio perfectly.

They are preferred stocks – wonderful “hybrids” that offer aspects of both stocks and bonds. Preferred stocks can trade on an exchange just like any common stock, but they trade around a par value and dole out a fixed regular payment just like a bond.… Read more

If you’re interested in getting into the S&P 500, it seems like a good time to do so. Earnings are rising, GDP growth is strong, the unemployment rate is falling, and wages are heading upward.

There’s just one problem: as I wrote a few months ago, the S&P 500 is a lousy bet.

There are a couple reasons why, the biggest being the income problem. If you buy into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) or the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO), you’re going to get a dividend yield of less than 2%. So buy $500,000 worth of those funds and get a whopping $791 monthly in cash dividends.… Read more

Amazon.com (AMZN) is eating everything retail alive – including most retail REITs. As a result, the entire sector is selling at fire prices – leaving us with a select handful of underappreciated bargains.

Why the panic? Amazon has completely transformed retail over the past decade or so, starting with books, but expanding into just about every corner of the traditional retail market – clothes, electronics, home goods and even staples like toilet paper and laundry detergent. The company gobbled up $98 billion in “electronics and other general merchandise” sales across all of 2016 – an expansion of nearly 30% that shows Amazon’s growth in e-tailing is still rampant.… Read more

Imagine an investment that can double in value in 5 years while giving you a 12% income stream that has actually grown over time.

And what if I told you there are a lot of these investments out there? They’re just not well known.

The reason for that is that they’re closed-end funds (CEFs), an investment that isn’t as popular as mutual funds because most 401k plans don’t offer them. And they’re far less popular than exchange-traded funds because they’re just a little more complicated than something like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

ETFs like SPY are easy to set up and manage, which makes them cash cows for issuers like Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street, even though ETF fees are relatively low.… Read more

A high dividend yield can be the ultimate retirement holding. Or it can be a trap.

Today, I’m going to show you five stocks with mouth-watering yields of between 6% and 23% that are tomorrow’s dividend disasters. If you own shares in any of these firms, sell them now.

Don’t “ride these stocks down” like RadioShack shareholders did when the nearly century-old former electronics retailing giant that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015.

RadioShack suspended its dividend in July 2012. The warning signs were there, but no one listened. Revenues had been in constant decline since their peak 16 years earlier, debts were mounting, ratings agencies were downgrading RadioShack’s bonds.… Read more