Most folks dread checking their retirement accounts these days, but not us contrarian income-seekers. We’re coolly playing our “no-withdrawal” retirement strategy, paying our bills with 7% to 9% dividends—while leaving our pile of saved cash alone.

I know that sounds pretty sanguine—boastful, even—when the S&P 500 is down nearly 20%. But deep down, most people know that a “dividends-only” retirement really is the best way to go.

Trouble is, most folks don’t know how to get there. I’ll lay out a roadmap that could let you hang ’em up on dividends alone with as little as $500K saved a little further on.… Read more

In a plunging market like this one, it’s critical to play the long game. For us closed-end fund (CEF) investors, that means staying invested, because we simply do not want to be out of the market when the (inevitable!) bounce comes.

More important, we need to keep our income streams rolling in. They’ve never been more critical than they are now. And CEFs are throwing off some very healthy payouts these days, with the average CEF yielding north of 7% as I write this.

But there are a few things we can do to further reinforce our dividends and tone down our portfolio’s volatility.… Read more

Thanks to the market’s selloff, we finally have some dividend deals out there. In a moment, I’ll highlight a five-pack of sweet-paying dividend stocks (as in, 4.0% to 11.3% yields) that are cheap cash cows.

It’s important that we focus on value, cash flow and yield as we cherry pick the bargain bin. More pain is likely ahead for the broader markets.

Stocks have been a dumpster fire in 2022 because the Federal Reserve is turning off its money printer. The Fed’s balance sheet growth is flattening (already a problem for equities) and will shrink soon:

Fed “Taper” Big Problem for Stocks

Meanwhile, Russia’s war machine and China’s latest COVID fight have made an even bigger mess of global supply chains, further fueling already white-hot prices.… Read more

Nobody’s perfect. And in 2022, it’s particularly hard to pretend that you never make a losing trade as the market has been incredibly volatile through no fault of our own.

That said, there’s the old saying that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over but expecting different results. So if you have a habit of making bad trades, maybe the bigger problem isn’t the stock market… but your strategy.

One particularly risky strategy that I see some income investors cling to is the notion of placing a priority on yield above everything else. And like Captain Renault, these investors always seem to be shocked – shocked!… Read more

Here at Contrarian Outlook, we’ve been talking a lot about crypto lately—but not in the way you might think.

We’re not buyers—far from it! Instead, we’re using a savvy, dividend-focused strategy to set ourselves up for some nice gains (and dividend payouts!) as gamblers flee crypto and speculative tech stocks. (I’ll spotlight two closed-end funds that are aligned to scoop up our “crypto refugees” while handing us dividends yielding up to 11% in just a moment.)

I’m reminded of crypto right now because many of these “coins” have fallen hard recently—and last week, we got word of one that went essentially to zero!… Read more

I remain a big fan of cash right now.

I know, I know. I’m not supposed to say this in a stock-focused column like this.

“But Brett,” I can hear the rebuttal. “We’ve been smartly selling the rips. My cash is burning a hole in my pocket.”

“And I’m here for the income. Shouldn’t I buy something?”

Not yet. We contrarians shouldn’t be in a hurry to time the bottom of the market.

There will be free and fast money on the other side of this bearish storm. Every correction eventually ends. For now, we buy lightly. And enjoy our comfortable seat.… Read more

These days, we contrarian income seekers are following a simple rule: “trade lightly.” Truth is, we saw this mess coming. It’s why we started lightening up our positions in my Contrarian Income Report service back in November.

In so doing, we’ve locked in some very nice returns, like 90% on chemical maker Chemours Co (CC); 44% on blue-chip-focused closed-end fund (CEF) Gabelli Dividend Trust (GDV); and 98% on the PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund (PDI—formerly PCI).

We didn’t sell any of these dividend payers because something was wrong with them—far from it!

They’d simply ridden Jay Powell’s cheap-money wave as far as they could.… Read more

With all the panic over the headlines these days, it’s a good time for us contrarians to step back and take stock—because there are high-yield bargains out there that can help us navigate this mess.

(Hint: the best hunting ground for us contrarians today is in a group of roughly 500 funds called closed-end funds, or CEFs, many of which pay 8%+ yields and trade at ridiculous discounts. More on them, and a 9.9%-paying fund that might be a good fit for you if you’re investing for the long term, in a moment.)

First, if you’re feeling nervous about your portfolio, let’s step back a bit.… Read more

Every legendary investor worth their salt has some sort of phrase to describe what investors should be doing right this very minute.

“Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.”

“Buy when there’s blood in the streets.”

Largely speaking, most stocks on the market are on sale to some extent. And sure, we could go out and make a few targeted bets on these bargains.

But I’d prefer to squeeze even more value out of the stock market.

Enter closed-end funds (CEFs).

Why CEFs Are Our Best Option Now

If we were to go out and buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in, say, the Nasdaq Composite or Russell 2000, or really any area of the market you felt was underpriced, you’d be able to enjoy in the collective discounts of all their holdings.… Read more

A popular adage in the investing world is “Wall Street hates uncertainty.” Unfortunately, many investors have been living in a world of surprises and uncertainty for all of 2022.

Some of that is beyond their control, including volatility caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. However, a lot of the challenges we face in 2022 are by no means unexpected.

You simply had to be paying attention.

In talking with family and friends, I’ve found that one of the biggest risk areas that gets overlooked in their personal portfolios is an over reliance on Big Tech. This is a particularly important topic right now, with the Nasdaq down about 15% in the last 30 days as megacap technology companies have cratered.… Read more