REITs have been on a wild ride in 2016. With some names up over 50% year-to-date just a few months ago, the recent correction has come as a bit of a shock. Some REITs have fallen by 10% in the past month, and more declines are feared for many names.

In this situation, investing in REITs requires care and selectivity. We can’t just buy any REIT, or the Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VNQ), because we may be buying overpriced stocks that are destined to fall further. On the other hand, we want to get into this sector now – before the global manhunt for dividends sends these prices soaring.… Read more

Dividend growth stocks deserve a place in your portfolio, no matter how modest the allocation, simply because they often return 100% to 200% or better relatively quickly as their payouts rise.

You’ve probably noticed you rarely see your favorite stock paying more than 2% or 3%, even if the company raises its dividend every year. That’s because its price gets bid up as its payout rises – so you never quite get the bargain 4% yield you’re always waiting for, unless something really bad happens (like 2008).

Take industrial firm 3M (MMM), which boosted its dividend by 141% over the past decade for 170% total returns:

3M’s Dividend Growth Drives 170% Returns

Yet aside from the financial crisis, you never had a chance to buy the stock at a yield above 3%.… Read more

The REIT market has been on a tear in 2016. From the start of the year to October 1, the SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR) gained over 6% while heavy-hitters like the Realty Income Trust (O) and Digital Realty Trust (DLR) rose more than 28%.

Now we’re in the midst of a REIT correction, and it’s hitting the best-performing REITs the most. That’s to be expected—after so many months of relentless strength, these names need to come back to Earth. And now it’s happening – just look at this chart:

What Comes Up Must Come Down—But How Far Down?

After months of massively outperforming the market, both O and DLR are now falling fast.… Read more

Looking for consistent, double-digit dividend hikes?

Bad news: your job is getting harder.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, US companies collectively increased their dividends by $6.0 billion in the third quarter (net of cancellations).

Sounds great, right? Too bad that number has plunged from the $7.3 billion in hikes announced in the second quarter—not to mention the $10.0 billion of increases rolled out in the third quarter of 2015.

The bottom line? Dividend growth is slowing—and faster than most investors think.

Worse, your odds of getting whacked by a surprise dividend cut are on the rise: the number of companies slashing their payouts hit 667 in the 12 months ended September 30, up 55.5% from the previous 12-month period.… Read more

Most financial advisor hacks are dead wrong. You CAN comfortably retire on a modest $500,000 investment portfolio.

Of course you’ve heard the warnings that retirement is getting harder – and they’re true. With U.S. Treasuries paying paltry returns, it is harder to find a risk-free income stream for your golden years.

But there are low-risk “bond proxies” that can offer over $50,000 in dividends per year on an initial investment of $500,000. All you have to do is buy now and sit tight. The secret is a superstar dividend growth portfolio that follows a few simple principles.

First, we don’t want to overpay – so we’re only going to choose stocks with P/E ratios below 25 (and most of these stocks actually have a P/E ratio below 20).… Read more

Closed-end funds (CEFs) are finally starting to get their due attention as the yield machines they are. Some can still be purchased at a steep discount to their net asset values (NAVs) – which means you can buy the underlying assets for $0.90 on the dollar, or less.

Last week we discussed how to select the safest 7% yields in the field. In a 2% dividend world, many of these funds look great paying more than triple that.

But you’ll need to choose your CEFs carefully. A steep discount is a great start, but many funds simply grind sideways (including dividends) because they have no means to close that discount window.… Read more

What the heck are you supposed to do with your retirement portfolio between now and the November 8 election? Cash it out and put the greenbacks under your mattress?

If that’s what you’re thinking, you may be having flashbacks to 2012, when volatility spiked in the month leading up to voting day, as shown by rise in the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX), the so-called “fear indicator”:

And of course, 2008 is still seared into everyone’s mind, when the financial crisis was mauling the economy and stocks as Barack Obama and John McCain squared off.

Here’s the good news: if your timeline is long, you have little to fear from the occupant of the White House, even in an unprecedented election like this one.… Read more