Income investors love Dividend Aristocrats. And why not? These are stocks that have delivered dividend raises year after year for many decades.

But we can do even better than the Aristocrats. And get stinkin’ rich in the process by buying these payout raisers before they have clocked 25 years of divvie growth (the qualification to be an Aristocrat).

This is where the real money is made.

The problem with some Aristocrats is that their best days are behind them. When a company reaches a level of dividend maturity, payout ratios can get bloated, and payout increases can become incremental and tied to a company’s modest profit growth.… Read more

The word “vibecession”—basically the idea that people are measuring the economy by feeling rather than by data—is back in the news. That’s because most Americans apparently think we’re in a recession, even though we aren’t.

It is, frankly, annoying to those of us who make our decisions on the data alone. But, as they say, it is what it is. So we’re going to go ahead and profit from it! Our tool of choice is a closed-end fund (CEF) that does something no ETF or regular stock could ever do: It “translates” our gains on US stocks into dividends.

The dangerous thing about a “vibecession” is that it’s easy to make mistakes as the media pushes a fear-based narrative.… Read more

Got some investing money you’d like to double? As in, grow it by 100% or more? Here’s the surest and safest way to do it quickly.

Well, before we get into getting rich, let’s talk about income. Not everyone needs to grow their pile of money bigger and bigger. Some of us are done accumulating and are looking for cash flow to help us cruise through retirement.

So, we have two options:

Option 1: Invest for Income Today

Put some of the cash pile into safe funds and stocks. I can show you where to find 7.52% yields, which means you can build a “no withdrawal” retirement portfolio that spins off $75,214.44 on a million bucks:

12 Month Projected Income for CIR Portfolio

Source: Income Calendar

Of course, few blue-chip stocks pay over 2%.… Read more

This market rally could roll right through the summer (so much for “Sell in May and go away!”), and we’ve got two sweet bond buys to play it.

That’s right, I said bonds because there are more bargains in bond land than in stocks right now. While stocks could keep floating higher, the last thing we want to do is chase this rally.

Instead, we’re going to ride along on the stock side of things. In bonds, though, the state of play is a bit different.

We’re going to list our two bond picks in order of appeal shortly, capping this article off with our top selection—an unsung closed-end fund (CEF) trading for 12% below its “true” value and yielding a stout (and tax-free) 5.8%.… Read more

If you’re like me, you read (or watch) a lot of personal-finance gurus. And nearly all of them make one critical error when giving advice to folks hoping to save for retirement (or stay retired, if they’re already there).

They put a lot of emphasis on cutting costs—we hear quite a bit about how we should limit small things like your streaming services, for example! Of course, most retirees (save for the very wealthy ones) will tell you that keeping costs reasonable is important.

But what I don’t hear enough from these “gurus” is how to find the high-quality income investments we need to get into retirement faster—and stay there once we arrive.… Read more

“Special” dividends fly right under Wall Street’s radar. Which is great for contrarian income seekers like us. These payouts aren’t officially “counted” by most mainstream websites!

It’s a big accounting error in our favor because these dividends can really add up. Today we’ll discuss five special dividend payers with yields up to 16%.

Most websites won’t report 16%, of course. For whatever reason, they just can’t compute specials!

Special dividends are technically considered one-time payouts. So, vanilla websites assume they won’t happen again, and thus leave them out of their yield calculations.

But there’s more than one kind of special dividend.… Read more

It’s finally happening: Management fees on our favorite 8%+ paying assets—closed-end funds (CEFs)—are falling. And some are sending their already soaring dividends even higher, too.

Those are key reasons to invest in these high-yield plays now. We’ll get into all the details below. But before we do, it’s important that we take a second to put CEF fees in perspective. That’s because many (most?) investors have a totally incorrect idea about them. And it’s caused them to miss out on the income (and growth) CEFs offer.

Ignore the Wall Street Line: CEF Fees Are Sometimes Worth Paying

When I ask investors if they’ve ever considered CEFs, those who say no often mention high fees as a reason.… Read more

“Why is Arbor Realty (ABR) up 10% this morning?”

The emails piled in. And obviously, yes, it was this Tweet from Roaring Kitty—the high priest of meme stocks—that sent highly-shorted stocks higher.

Source: X.com

His real-life identity is Keith Gill. He’s a former financial analyst turned meme stock diocesan. In 2020, Keith aka Roaring Kitty led the charge behind the short squeeze of GameStop (GME), which sent that dinosaur stock (briefly) into orbit.

The mere hint that Gill was back in the game was enough for his disciples to bid up old flames GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC).… Read more

This onshoring trend is roaring—but we contrarian dividend investors still have time to cash in. I’ve got a “3-pack” of cheap stocks that lets us do that, with dividends that are surging (or are about to!) below.

The two latest signs we’re in the midst of “Industrial Revolution II” here in the US? According to new Census Department figures, Detroit, the HQ of industrial America, is seeing its population grow again for the first time since 1957!

The “OG” Industrial Boom

And the latest round in the tariff wars? They’ll almost certainly send more companies scurrying to America.

Think “Picks and Shovels” for the Best Plays on Industrial Revolution II

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you know I love “pick-and-shovel” stocks.… Read more

Every now and then here at Contrarian Outlook, we have a “big-dividend shootout”—we pit two big payers against each other and see which one wins out.

It’s a great way for us to accomplish two things as investors: 1) Grab the safest high dividends with the most upside, and 2) Sharpen our portfolio-building skills.

My beat is closed-end funds (CEFs), which are known for huge (and often monthly paid) dividends. These actively managed funds are a bit of a unique challenge to analyze because they each hold a lot of assets—often numbering in the hundreds.

Luckily there are a few indicators we can use to single out the best ones.… Read more