If tariffs really are going to crush the economy, someone forgot to tell the nation’s small businesses! Truth is, these “mom-and-pop shops” are thinking big—and growing.

And we’re here to play this “disconnect” for sweet 8.8%+ dividends.

Small Biz Bullishness by the Numbers

According to the latest NFIB survey, in July, 13% of small business owners said their businesses were in “excellent” shape, a five-point gain since June. And 52% said they were in “good” condition (a three-point rise). Only 4% said “poor,” a three-point drop.

The good times look set to keep rolling for these businesses, too: 36% of owners said they see higher sales ahead.… Read more

Large cap stocks have been crushing small caps in the last few years. That’s, well, unusual, to say the least. And it’s set us up for cheap 7.2% dividends (with upside).

Small Caps Take a Detour

Small caps, of course, aren’t known for big dividends. The benchmark ETF for them, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM)—in orange above—only pays 1.1%. But stick with me for a moment and I’ll show you how we’re going to pull this off.

Mega-Caps Steal the Spotlight, Setting Up Small-Cap Bargains

Around the time of the pandemic, small caps started lagging the S&P 500 after years of tracking it.… Read more

Healthcare stocks haven’t moved since the April lows. As contrarian investors, this neglect piques our interest.

As income investors, seven healthcare yields up to 7.1% are equally intriguing. These dividend deals are available because these stocks have been left behind by the broader market. Since April 7, the S&P 500 has soared a terrific 27% while the healthcare sector hasn’t budged:

Healthcare Stocks Have Flatlined Since the April Lows

Of course there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding these stocks:

• Pharmaceutical tariffs
• Cuts to Medicaid
• Cuts to health research funding
• Initiatives to lower drug costs
• Presidential letters to pharma CEOs demanding they lower drug prices

Let’s wade through this political mess to evaluate these payers.… Read more

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the media has been fretting about a selloff in the last few weeks. But the S&P 500 is still up a lot on the year.

Even so, there is cause for concern about overvaluation, as the market’s current gain is equal to a whole year’s worth of historical returns, on average. But the softness we’ve seen lately, combined with the deep April selloff, do suggest that while stock valuations are high, we’re not in a bubble—at least not yet.

Which brings me to our beat at my CEF Insider service—closed-end funds (CEFs), many of which yield 8%+.… Read more

We’ve been dividend-hungry lately. Our Wednesday missives have brought ten income ideas since the start of July!

It’s a busy week for our brood! If you bought these payers, you have five ex-dividend dates (the dates when the stock trades at a price minus—“ex”—the dividend per share) on deck this week.

Plus, we have three more next week!

Income Calendar for the Week of  September 1

This neat weekly view comes to us courtesy of Income Calendar, our homegrown dividend tracker. We developed IC for serious income investors like yourself. The tool projects every dividend payment with accuracy that is unmatched in the industry.… Read more

Don’t buy all the “America First” talk coming out of DC. Truth is, Uncle Sam’s recent moves are quietly making foreign bonds—especially the 5 bond funds (yielding up to 9.3%!) below—great again.

What I’m going to show you is having a real impact on the government, everyday borrowers and, not least, our biggest winners: those 5 foreign-bond funds.

Let’s start with Scott Bessent’s Treasury Department. These days, it’s doing something unusual: issuing 80% of federal debt on the short end of the yield curve.

The short end, tied to the Fed’s policy rate, is the rate at which banks lend to each other.… Read more

Look, we all know US companies are raking in big profits—despite worries about a slowing economy.

The thing is, when it comes to sharing those huge profits with us as dividends, these firms are remarkably stingy: The typical S&P 500 stock yields just over 1% today! So we’re going to change that (at least for ourselves) by tapping into these firms’ earnings through high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs).

The two CEFs I’m about to show you yield 9.7% on average between them. So every $10,000 invested turns into $81 per month in income. A million dollars invested in these two funds gets you a whopping $97,000 annual income stream.… Read more

Let’s talk about three dividends averaging 12%. I bring them up because everyone on Wall Street hates them.

This is notable because the suits are paid to be bullish. Sell calls are rare, especially among S&P 500 stocks. In fact, analysts shun just one index component today!

Just 1 “Sell” Call Out of 500!

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

Buy calls? They are numerous—405 out of 500. Eighty-one percent!

Are 81% of the companies in the S&P 500 really buys? Normally, no, but now—especially not. AI is disrupting business models and many of these Buy-rated names are doomed companies.… Read more

This market continues to float higher—and that means we dividend investors do need to be more selective. But it doesn’t mean there aren’t high-yield options on the table for us.

With that in mind, today we’re going to look at two closed-end funds (CEFs) that hold many of the same stocks, and have similar dividend payouts. But one is a (time-limited) bargain while the other is overpriced and ripe to be sold (despite its 10.1% yield).

A Full Year of Stock-Market Gains—in 8 Months!?

Before we go further, let’s stop and talk about what the S&P 500 is doing right now.… Read more

Let’s talk about a terrific 12.2% dividend that is paid monthly.

The source of this income? Safe US Treasuries and a methodical scraping of option premiums for additional yield.

We’ll talk about this monthly payer—including fund name and ticker—in a moment. First, let’s get caught up on the Treasury market.

You may have tuned out Treasuries as a potential investment when DOGE austerity efforts gave way to the Big Beautiful Bill. Uncle Sam, already a $36 trillion debtor, dug himself deeper into financial quicksand.

Who wants to lend to that guy? Certainly not bond investors, who demand higher compensation—higher percentage payouts—to offset the credit risk posed by Sam’s ugly balance sheet.… Read more