As I write this, stocks are in the process of giving back some of their “New Year’s bounce”—and I’m hearing from folks who are worried that 2023 will be another 2022.

I get it—it’s only natural to feel that way after the S&P 500 fell some 20% in a year. And those who limited themselves to the tech-focused NASDAQ took it particularly hard—off some 30%+ in ’22.

But just because the market is off to an uncertain start does not mean we’re headed for another mess like last year. In fact, the odds of that are very low.

For one, it’s rare to get two bad years in a row.… Read more

Mere “common stocks” fell 18% in last year. But these preferred shares are set to do better. Especially for contrarian income seekers like us.

I’m talking about safe 7% to 8% yields. Backed by good old fashioned cash flows. With double-digit price upside, too, as these share prices bounce back after a rough run.

A quick primer if you’re new to preferred stocks. They are part stock, part bond—and all yield, as we’ll see in a minute.

Preferred stocks trade around a par value and deliver a fixed amount of regular income, just like a bond. They don’t have any voting rights, which also is like a bond.… Read more

After 2022, some dividend investors remain convinced that slow and steady is the way to go to prevent further damage to their portfolio. In fact, some folks are actively moving out of the stock market entirely, and into bonds for low-risk income.

That’s just plain crazy!

Sure, the 10-year T-Note is yielding about double what it was a few months ago. But that’s still just 3.5% as of this writing. That means if you have a $1 million portfolio, you’re generating a meager $35,000 a year. Maybe you can pay your grocery and power bills with that, but it’s hardly the generous retirement you deserve.… Read more

There’s a quiet shift happening in closed-end funds (CEFs)—and it’s primed to give those who buy now some very nice upside in 2023.

And that’s in addition to the rich 7%+ dividends CEFs hand us.

That trend is a shift toward share buybacks, which you likely know about from the stock world. Buybacks work similarly with CEFs, but with an extra punch: they keep CEFs’ discounts to net asset value (NAV) from getting too wide—and they can even narrow those discounts, slingshotting the share price higher as they do.

In other words, by helping close CEFs’ discounts, managers have some control over the fund’s market price in a pullback, and they can amplify its gains when the market turns higher.… Read more

$500K can be enough money to retire on. Even as early as age 50!

The trick is to convert the pile of cash into cash flow that can pay the bills. I’m talking about $35,000 to $40,000 per year or more in dividend income on that nest egg, thanks to 7% and 8% yields.

These are passive payouts that show up every quarter or, better yet, every month. Meanwhile, we keep that $500K nest egg intact. Or, better yet, grind that principal higher steadily and safely.

Got more in your retirement account? Cool—more monthly dividend income for you!

We’ll talk specific stocks, funds and yields in a moment.… Read more

As dividend investors, safe payouts are our No. 1 (and 2! and 3!) priority. And with interest rates soaring and a recession looming, we’re going to be bigger sticklers than ever about this in 2023.

That’s why, last week, we talked about five popular dividend stocks whose payouts could be slashed this year. If you hold any of these laggards, you need to sell yesterday.

But how do we tell which dividends are safe?

Well, there’s a surefire indicator that no one talks about: insider buying. And when you combine insider buying with another “signal” we look for in a stock, high short interest, you can set yourself up for safe, growing dividends and serious price gains, too!… Read more

Today we’re going to build ourselves a portfolio that hands us a 10.5% yield. And we’re going to do it with just three funds.

The appeal of a 10.5% payout is tough to deny: when you’re getting that much of your investment back every year in dividends, you’ll recoup the whole thing in less than 10 years. Everything else is gravy!

What’s more, two of the three funds below—all of which are closed-end funds (CEFs)—pay dividends monthly, so we’re getting our payouts in line with our bills. That’s unheard-of in the world of vanilla stocks. Almost all of them make us wait three long months for our next payout.… Read more

Shall we turn 2023 into a bounce back year for our retirement portfolios?

How about we shoot for, say, 23% total returns?

The surest way to do it is by employing a technique I call the dividend magnet.

It’s safe. Reliable. And works beautifully on the back side of a bear market.

I recently gave a guest lecture for a finance class at California State University, Sacramento. One of the students, to put it lightly, was excited to make money in stocks.

His hand went up from the back of the classroom. (Nobody sits in the front rows. Some things never change!)… Read more

There’s no denying that 2022 was the year of energy. A look at the top 10 performers in the S&P 500 index proves that plain as day.

They are, in descending order:

1. Occidental Petroleum (OXY) – 119%
2. Hess (HES) – 94%
3. ExxonMobil (XOM) – 87%
4. Marathon Petroleum (MPC) – 87%
5. Schlumberger (SLB) – 81%
6. APA Corporation (APA) – 76%
7. Valero Energy (VLO) – 75%
8. Halliburton (HAL) – 75%
9. FirstSolar (FSLR) – 72%
10. ConocoPhillips (COP) – 72%

Clearly energy was on the top of the heap over the last 12 months…

… But as the old saying goes, past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.… Read more

There are three big overlooked trends in the stock market now, and by tapping each one, we can set ourselves up for some very nice long-term gains in my favorite high-yield vehicles: closed-end funds (CEFs).

The 11.8%-yielding CEF we’ll discuss further on, the BlackRock Innovation & Growth Trust (BIGZ), is a prime example of a CEF with loads of upside potential now. I’ve also got a collection of buys yielding up to 9.6% on average (with many paying dividends monthly) waiting for you in the portfolio of my CEF Insider service.

Inside 2023’s “Double Discount” on CEFs

CEFs’ high dividends are one reason why we favor these funds.… Read more