Sometimes there’s a dividend play out there that we love—but it’s just the wrong time to buy it.

That’s the story with an 11.6%-paying closed-end fund (CEF) that’s pretty well-known (for a CEF, that is!). It’s the Gabelli Equity Trust (GAB), run by Mario Gabelli, whom you may have seen on the cable news channels over the years.

To get at why we’re dodging this well-run fund now, we need to first talk about a phrase you may have heard a lot more from said business channels lately: “soft data.”

Ring a bell? Basically it refers to numbers that are more about feelings (or “vibes” as the kids call them these days) that people have about the economy: surveys of consumers and companies, expectations of economic conditions in the future, that sort of thing.… Read more

For the past 16 years, the world has piled into a “long US” trade. American stocks, bought with dollars, have propped up investment portfolios around the globe since the Great Financial Crisis.

From March 2009 to early 2025, the S&P 500 soared by 600%—that’s seven times! Why would anyone own anything else when SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was sizzling?

But bulls don’t run forever. Last summer, we contrarians discussed a potential inflection point for SPY—the likelihood that the index’s best gains were behind it.

And here we are.

A global trade war has triggered a flight from SPY.… Read more

Trade war volatility rages on—and we contrarians are playing offense and defense with a “homegrown” stock whose dividend has skyrocketed in the last five years.

This unsung stock soared double-digits in the 2022 mess—and it’s doing so again. More on that history in a second.

First, that skyrocketing dividend is the key to our “offense” here. That’s because dividend growth is the No. 1 predictor of stock gains—and a rising payout is the ultimate “magnet,” pulling share prices higher as it grows.

And this company’s stock has fallen well behind its payout growth, handing us a “sweet” (hint!) current yield of 3.3%.… Read more

It’s as predictable as night following day: Stock markets crash, and we almost immediately hear more about the so-called “60/40 rule” as a way for investors to protect themselves.

Don’t fall for this overdone “rule of thumb” (which, as the name says, recommends putting 60% of your portfolio into stocks and 40% into bonds).

Today we’re going to look at a much better way—one that pays you 9.7% dividends and delivers far better performance, too.

2025 Is 2022 Redux for the 60/40 Crowd

Today’s setup reminds me of what I heard near the end of 2022, when stocks were crashing. Back then, many advisors were dredging up this old idea to help ease worried investors’ fears.… Read more

Worried about the trade war and your retirement portfolio? Then I have two words for you: monthly dividends.

Today we’ll fawn over four monthly payers that yield up to 17.4% annually. That’s no typo. Hop in my favorite income vehicle and we’ll motor over this market carnage together.

The current market environment is nearly perfect for contrarians like us. How is that possible with tariff policy still, ahem, unfolding? Well the market is still full of fear and the weak hands have washed out.

If Everyone Wants to Panic-Sell to Us, We Should Let Them!

If you’re worried that the fear is justified because we are heading for a recession, let’s consider defensive stocks.… Read more

On one front, this tariff pandemonium changes nothing for us: We still see our favorite high-yield investments—8%+ paying closed-end funds (CEFs)—as the best choice to anchor your retirement portfolio.

In fact, times like this add to their appeal even more.

That’s because, in a crash, we CEF investors don’t have to sell a single unit of our funds to get the cash we need to fund our lives. Our big dividends—many of which roll in monthly—take care of our needs for us.

Then there’s CEFs’ discounts to net asset value (NAV, or the value of their underlying portfolios). This unique-to-CEF measure tells us when a fund is cheap or pricey.… Read more

Are we having fun yet, my fellow income investor?

We’re now in a bear market, whether the financial media or our intrepid politicians admit it or not. Peak to trough the S&P 500 dropped 21% intraday. Based on closing prices the decline was “only” 18%, however—not quite the technical 20% drop that defines a bear market.

Regardless, let’s not split hairs and call this what it is—the third bear market of the 2020s. Three bears. And it’s only 2025!

You may be wondering, as I was, if this is normal. It is not, my friend. Since 1900 we have averaged 1.77 bear markets per decade.… Read more

In the run-up to the reversal of many of President Trump’s tariffs, we saw some true panic selling that turned into what can only be called panic buying: Investors eager to get back in as they realized the selloff was a buying opportunity.

And to no one’s surprise, tariff-related market drama has continued since then.

Last Wednesday’s bounce happened so fast I couldn’t get my response to the selloff published in time. Earlier last week I wrote, “Fortunately, this situation will not last forever. Stocks will ultimately recover their losses from this last week.” Then stocks did recover before those words could get published!… Read more

The powers that be are playing a high-stakes game of “tariff roulette”—and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to put my life savings on the table here!

But we’re not among the crowd bailing on stocks, either.

No way. We’re retirees (or aspiring retirees!) and we demand income. So instead, we’re going to look to “tariff-proof” (or “recession-proof,” if you think this trade war is sending us there) our portfolio. And we’re going to do it while cutting our tax bill, too.

Our timing is right here, because the jump in 10-year Treasury rates we’ve seen since the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement has given us a window to secure one of my favorite tax-free 8.4% payers at a “double discount.”… Read more

Although some tariff hikes have been paused, a recession is still very much in play.

Just a few days ago, I wrote that “this is the time to recession-proof our retirement holdings.” And why not? GDP estimates have tanked. So has consumer sentiment.

Goldman Sachs made headlines for raising its probability of recession (from 20% to 35%). Fine, but equity analysts often get caught up in crowds.

What was more striking was hearing a similar message from the debt watchers. Consider this post from Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics’ chief economist:

In my previous post, I showed readers how to recession-proof their portfolio with municipal debt.… Read more