If you’re like me, you’re getting sick of this tug-of-war between inflation and recession worries. One steals our purchasing power, while the other knocks down our portfolio values!

But I’ve got good news for you—two pieces of good news, actually.

1. Our closed-end funds (CEFs) continue to deliver high, and reliable, income. The portfolio of my CEF Insider service boasts many funds yielding north of 8%, and the vast majority pay dividends monthly. Those high yields help us hedge against inflation, and the extra dividend cash (should we let it build up in our portfolios) naturally reduces our volatility.
2. Recession fears are overblown, according to the latest data (which we’ll get to in a bit).

Some losses are just so bad it is dead money…

Look, I know several of you got into some sketchy stocks over the past couple of years. I’m not naming names but c’mon, as a dad of two young ones, I can tell when something is amiss.

Our safe dividend stocks have held up better than, well, just about anything else in this market. We’ve been cautious since late ’21, booking profits along the way. As the market topped, we sold early and often to raise cash.

So if you’re writing to me about dead money, let’s face it, you got into something bad.… Read more

Today I’m going to show you a two-part dividend-growth strategy that actually made money for one group of investors in the disastrous year that was 2008. It’s an appropriate investing strategy for us to follow now, with the Federal Reserve likely to raise rates until we end up in a recession (assuming, of course, that we’re not in one already!)

Before we get into the specifics on this technique and an example stock, I want to level with you. I do believe that stocks are heading lower still before they ultimately head higher.

That said, if we look one year out from today, I like our chances.… Read more

Crypto is a mess, and many (former) crypto fans are finally realizing that shares of companies that make goods and services people actually want—and pay dividends—are the place to be.

Of course, that’s no secret to those of us who know about closed-end funds (CEFs), many of which hold these companies and pay us rich dividends, often yielding north of 7%. To us, crypto is just the latest “investment” that held out the promise of building wealth faster than “boring” stocks ever could—and failed to deliver.

You might have even heard that crypto is a great inflation hedge. Anyone who bought Bitcoin based on that idea is now struggling with 71%+ inflation as their money literally disappears before their eyes!… Read more

It’s not easy to be upbeat in a bear market. This goes for people—and especially dividend stocks.

(And hey, who has time for feelings? We are looking to get paid without losing our entire portfolios. We’ll share emotions when the bear is done.)

For contrarians like you and me, it’s a time to be optimistic. We should be thinking about bargains, bargains and even more bargains.

Now halfway through the year, every major index is deep in the red. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and even the small-cap Russell 2000 are all in bear-market territory, while the Dow is down considerably too.… Read more

As we grind on into the second half of the year, the gloomy headlines about inflation and a bear market seem to be getting darker. There’s now talk of the housing market cooling off, and in some corners even chatter about a potential recession.

But if you’re a serious investor instead of a day trader with a short attention span, there’s no reason for you to freak out and hide in a bunker. True investing success depends on looking beyond short-term cycles, and instead focus on long-term income.

I’m not saying that makes it easy. It’s always a challenge to find reliable investments, and even more so in this environment.… Read more

After a 30% drop this year, tech is the last sector most folks want to invest in—which makes it a superb hunting ground for us contrarian dividend investors.

Even so, we need to be careful in this Fed-spooked environment, where near-term volatility is certain, so we’re going to hedge our tech investments by focusing on a type of closed-end fund (CEF) that gives us the following:

• An outsized 8%+ dividend that can see us through rough markets without having to sell shares, and …

• The ability to actually profit when markets get rough.

We get both of these rare strengths in the Nuveen Nasdaq 100 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (QQQX), a CEF whose vitals we’ll delve into in a bit.… Read more

You’ll probably get hyped, boy, ‘cause you know you can’t 
You can’t touch this
Ring the bell, school’s back in
Break it down!
Stop, Hammer time!

Rapper and dancer Stanley Kirk Burrell—better known as MC Hammer—penned this poetic verse in his 1990 hit “U Can’t Touch This.” (Rick James shares songwriting credits, by the way, because Hammer borrowed James’ opening riff from “Super Freak.” Thanks to Wikipedia for clarifying something I’d always wondered about but never took the time to look up.)

Been awhile since you thought about Hammer? Maybe it’s time to start tuning your dial over to the 90s on 9 and Downtown Julie Brown next time you make a trade.… Read more

A stock’s current yield holds an almost untouchable place in most investors’ minds. But here’s the thing: it’s lying to you.

My take: you’re much better off going by a company’s shareholder yield, which tells the full story on the payout we get.

Shareholder what?

We’ll get into exactly what shareholder yield means for us in a second. But we first need to look at how going by a stock’s current yield alone can steer you into a ditch.

Lumen Technologies Shows How a High Yield Can Be a Trap …

Consider regional telecom operator Lumen Technologies (LUMN), which we discussed last week in our third article on my proven “Dividend Magnet” investing strategy.… Read more

Demand for rental property is literally going through the roof—and we can play the trend for a rock-solid 7% dividend that can be had at a discount!

What’s driving this opportunity? Higher interest rates. As you can see below, the average 30-year mortgage issued today bears an interest rate near 5%, a level we haven’t come close to since the subprime-mortgage crisis.

Mortgage Rates Soar

The trend is so aggressive that it’s getting analysts and journalists into full-blown panic mode, as they begin to report on what I call “seller’s remorse.”

Seeing how rates are soaring and home values are hitting a bump, sellers are already reducing their asking prices and looking to offload property as fast as possible.… Read more