There’s one question I’ve been getting from a lot of folks lately. You may have wondered about it yourself.

It’s simply this: “Is the stock market even safe anymore?” Or another, less anxious, variation: “How can I bank fast returns while slashing my risk?”

I have great news. As I wrote back on February 8, this selloff was way overdone, and now is the time to be buying—not selling!

Better still, there’s a class of totally ignored funds that fits the bill, and many of them are screaming bargains now. That puts us in line for a big, quick price pop while they pay us up front with a massive income stream.… Read more

The market just dropped the big, ugly “C” word on us. “Correction,” that is. The old stalwart Dow Jones Industrial Average recently broke into correction territory, dipping just over 10% in two weeks before clawing a little bit of it back. Along the way, the VIX – you know, the “fear index” – spiked to its highest levels since the 2007-09 bear market.

But while many investors might see this sudden burst of volatility as a reason to run or duck for cover, I see it as a chance to go hunting in high-yield dividend stocks.

They call it a “correction” for a reason: It’s because something was broken, and a price decline fixes it.… Read more

Dividend Aristocrats – those companies that have improved their payouts annually for 50 years or more – have a mixed reputation. Sure, they’re great for dividend growth, but the likes of Coca-Cola (KO) and Procter & Gamble (PG) give off the impression that price returns can be difficult to come by.

But dividend growth and actual performance don’t have to be an either/or proposition. Today, I want to show you five dividend growth stocks that will prove just that.

Why would any investor think poorly of the height of dividend nobility? After all, the ability to crank out more cash every year without interruption for half a century is a testament to not just a company’s market-share dominance and fiscal responsibility, but also the agility to survive and remain relevant across decades of market and economic shudders.… Read more

Don’t panic.

One week ago, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy, catapulting the billionaire’s Tesla Roadster into space. On the dashboard were two words made famous by Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Don’t Panic.”

(Read on and I’ll tell you why you should make these two words your mantra these days; how the “smart money” is playing the selloff; and reveal the one investment you need to—calmly—sell now.)

How to Keep Your Cool When Others Lose Theirs

As Musk’s Roadster orbited above, markets on earth were freaking out.

Look Out Below

In a matter of days, the 7% gains stocks racked up in less than a month were gone.… Read more

If you take the mainstream financial media at face value, you might be under the impression that all high yield bonds are in big trouble with interest rates on the move.

Wrong.

The best bond portfolios haven’t actually budged since the recent market insanity began. Take, for example, our favorite PIMCO play. Its net asset value (NAV, the actual market value of its holdings) held steady while the stock market was dropping sharply:

What Crash? This NAV is Steady

The fund’s price, meanwhile, eased down 2.2% from peak to trough. But we shouldn’t confuse price with value – we should focus on the latter, which is a more accurate measure for investing profits.… Read more

If there’s ever been a perfect time to show you one of my best strategies for getting rich in the market, it’s now.

What can you expect? A simple way to grab an income stream that doubles in short order—and hands you double-digit share price growth, too!

When I say “simple,” I mean it. You’ll barely have to lift a finger. And it works best in selloffs like we’re seeing now.

Along the way, we’ll uncover 3 stocks (including one of the world’s leading semiconductor names) that when combined with this strategy hand us “hidden” dividend yields all the way up to 8.9%!… Read more

You know the old saying, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics”? Here’s another one for you: “There are lies, damned lies and charts.”

That certainly applies to the 8.6%-paying fund I’ll reveal toward the end of this article. If you looked at its price chart alone—which almost everyone does—you’d totally miss it!

And this dividend passes my 3-point “dividend safety check,” which I’ll also give you a little further on.

The Trouble With Stock Charts

The truth is, too many pundits have a point they want to prove, and they choose charts that prove that point. In some cases, they use charts that only tell half the story.… Read more

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are one of the market’s best sources of high yield. But they can also be one of its searing sources of heartburn.

For your sanity’s sake, and for the good of your retirement savings, avoid the five high-yielding REITs I’m going to warn you about today. Then reinvest that money into the sure-fire 8% yielders I’ll highlight after that.

REITs are set up, by design, to be income powerhouses. That’s the deal. They get to evade Uncle Sam, and in return, they have to funnel the lion’s share of their profits to shareholders. But a mandate only goes so far – if a REIT has less cash to redistribute, simple math says you and I suffer.… Read more

The Federal Reserve’s increased aggression over the past couple of years has finally come home to roost. The yield on the 10-year Treasury recently rocketed above 2.8% – a four-year high – while the 30-year cleared the 3% mark.

That’s bad news for investors in many traditional dividend-paying blue chips.

The 10-year T-note might as well have been a “high-yield” savings account the past few years, offering almost laughable income of less than 1.4% as recently as 2016. That kind of environment gives investors “yield goggles,” making even no-growth stocks look attractive as long as they’re paying out near 3%.

Just look at the performance of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) – a collection of companies such as Procter & Gamble (PG) and Coca-Cola (KO) – against the 10-year Treasury rate.… Read more

So stocks have had their steepest nosedive in seven years, and with the whipsawing market we’ve seen since, you might—might—be entertaining the knee-jerk urge to sell.

I have one word for you: don’t.

I’ll tell you why in a moment.

First, let’s look at why this panic happened, and where things go from here.

“It Means Nothing”

I’ve already fielded calls from worried family members and friends asking about their 401ks. When my mother emailed to ask if the Dow losing 1,100 points in a day was a big problem, I responded with three words:

“It means nothing.”

Of course, for everyday folks counting on stocks and bonds to fund their retirement, seeing a 4.6% drop in a day is horrifying—especially if you remember 2008, when such drops were the beginning of a horrific bear market that ended with a 50% decline in stocks.… Read more