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

Another day, another bearish article. It’s impossible nowadays to read the news without someone telling us that a crash is coming and we need to sell our stocks now!

If you’re seeing these same people urging you to liquidate your retirement accounts, you’re not alone. In fact, these stories seem to be everywhere in the mainstream financial press.

It’s all nonsense, written to grab your attention with fear-based headlines.

And if you don’t take a critical look at these stories (and here I mean going by raw numbers, not emotional appeals), you risk missing a terrific wealth-building opportunity—or worse.

Here’s the truth: behind the alarming headlines, there’s another, far more boring story: American companies are absolutely crushing it.… Read more

It’s usually the last place dividend fans look for big yields and surging payout growth—but it should be one of the first.

I’m talking about the technology sector. And before you dismiss me as crazy, check out this chart.

The Home of Payout Growth

What you’re seeing here is the dividend-growth rate of the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) compared to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), representing the market as a whole, over the past 10 years.

Sure, the blue line is choppier than the orange one—but that’s a small price to pay for a 1,000%+ income boost!

And as I showed you on May 15, there’s a direct link between a soaring dividend and a soaring share price.… Read more

Residential real estate is hot right now – and apartment owners are making money hand-over-fist. But don’t worry, I’m not going to recommend you run out and buy an entire complex. Instead, I’ve got three apartment REITs you can buy from the convenience of your computer (or phone, for that matter!) for yields up to 7.3%.

Rents are now so high nationwide that no one person making minimum wage for 40 hours a week can afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment – a fact driven partly by low minimum pay, but also rising rents.

Not all REITs in the space are buys, of course.… Read more

The bear growl is rising.

Hot-running tech stocks suffered a huge multiday crack after Goldman Sachs raised bubble worries. The “smart money” is increasingly sounding the risk alarm. Many analysts and prominent investors say the market could use a healthy pullback … but others are now concerning themselves with the potential for an outright crash.

It’s the kind of market environment that raises comparisons to 2007-09, and the dot-com crash – periods that emphasized just how vital it is to have a stable of trustworthy, bulletproof dividend stocks like the five portfolio pillars I want to show you today.

How bad could it be?… Read more

It’s a complaint I hear about closed-end funds all the time: they charge high fees but still underperform the market.

To be honest, this is true of some funds—but not all of them. In fact, some CEFs have racked up breathtaking returns far bigger than those of the market as a whole.

I’ve written about funds that have beaten the benchmark index before, such as the 14 funds that crush Vanguard’s passive funds while also offering superior dividend yields.

Then there are the actively managed Vanguard funds that beat Vanguard’s own passive funds and have done so for years. And of course, CEF Insider subscribers know of several closed-end funds that have beaten the S&P 500 for a decade or longer and are still outperforming.… Read more

Don’t take any dividends for granted today. Business disruption is accelerating as entire industries are being eaten alive.

Uber and Lyft? Killed cabs.

Amazon (AMZN)? It’s crushing retail, and starving their REIT landlords right before our very eyes.

And soon, these disruptors might team up to offer more same day deliveries – and make more rivals obsolete!

These types of disturbances have added a new layer to contrarian investing. In years past, it was as simple as buying stocks when they were out-of-favor and holding them until they became back in vogue. The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy, for example, usually beat the market by banking the highest blue chip dividend yields – a sign that the tide was ready to turn back in the dogs favor.… Read more

So far, 2017 is shaping up to be a great year for US stocks, but there are plenty of funds that are doing much better than your typical passive index fund.

In fact, some funds are so hot that they’ve already shot up over 30% in 2017 and show little sign of slowing down.

Two big trends are at work here, and each has far-reaching implications, not only for these funds but for the economy and stock market as a whole. Both are also extremely important trends that few investors truly understand.

What am I talking about? The US dollar’s weakness and the future of rising interest rates.… Read more