These “Great Reset” Stocks Will Fund Our Retirements

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 18, 2021

A “great reset” is underway in our economy. The talking heads bemoan the losers. We contrarians should pay attention to the winners—and their stocks—because that’s where fortunes will be made.

I’ve seen this trend unfolding firsthand. My second software company, which focused on marketing for e-commerce stores, launched a Shopify (SHOP) app in 2013. At the time this was a fledgling platform that helped retailers sell their wares online.

We were a startup ourselves, newly minted a year prior. To the outside world we described ourselves as a “spinoff” from my first software company, to give the feeling of stability. In practice, we were three dreamers working for free to get our company off the ground.… Read more

How to “Front-Run” Share Splits for Fast 40%+ Gains (and Surging Dividends)

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 17, 2021

Ignore anyone who says share splits have no impact on your portfolio (or your dividends!).

They absolutely do set you up for a nice price bump. I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s easy to see why: when a company—especially a top-notch dividend grower—splits its shares, the move draws in folks who’ve been holding off, seeing the pre-split price as too expensive.

Let’s be honest: we’ve all done this. How many times have you avoided a stock because it trades for $300 a share? Or $500 (or whatever your idea of expensive is)? Never mind the really high traders, like Alphabet (GOOGL), at $2,700, or Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A),Read more

3 Funds That Could Pay You Huge 7%+ Dividends Ranked Worst to First

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 16, 2021

These days, many of the dividend investors I talk to feel squeezed between:

  1. Weak yields (which have plunged as stocks have surged) and
  2. High taxes (which are likely to rise further).

You’re no doubt feeling this pinch, too. The good news is that there’s an investment that lets you wiggle out of this trap, regularly offering steady-as-she-goes dividends up to 5%.

There’s another nice twist that works in your favor here, because these payouts are tax-free, so they could be worth a lot more to you—I’m talking payouts north of 7.5% with tax savings factored in, depending on your tax bracket.… Read more

3 REITs Yielding Over 7% You Can Take To The Bank

Khai Nguyen, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: August 14, 2021

Did you know that over 36% of US publicly traded REITS either cut or slashed their dividends during the pandemic?

This combination of dividend cuts and demand from yield-hungry investors has led to bottom-of-the-barrel yields across the industry.

The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ), which is a solid proxy for the REIT market, now pays only a 2.2% dividend yield, well below historic averages.

It shows the importance of finding high-quality, well-managed REITs that can sustain their dividend payments, even in the throes of a financial disaster.

I’m here to tell you that despite the dividend cuts, there are still plenty of attractive high-yielding REITs out there. Read more

How to Get 7.3%-27.2% Yields (For Up to 10% Off, Too!)

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 13, 2021

Double-digit dividends are rare. A sky-high yield of 27.2% is an outright income unicorn.

Only in the merry world of closed-end funds (CEFs) would we see such a tale. It’s enabled by talented money managers who, thanks to wide investment mandates, serve as the Willy Wonkas of the CEF factory.

These managers have an endless bag of tricks at their disposal. They can put options to work. They can “double down” on their own bets. They can double, triple and even quadruple the yield on traditional investing strategies, leading to average yields in the high single digits and stretching all the way to 27.2%.… Read more

These 2 Dividends (Yielding Up to 9.3%) Are Your Best Overseas Buys Today

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 12, 2021

If you’re not holding at least some of your portfolio in international dividend stocks, you’re missing out.

Stocks (and funds) in some overseas markets pay higher dividends than US companies. The 60 biggest stocks on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange yield 2.5% right now, for example, compared to a 1.3% average yield for the S&P 500.

What’s more, plenty of US investors are (in many cases unintentionally) biased toward their home country, with more than three-quarters of their portfolios, on average, invested in the US, according to recent numbers from Franklin Templeton.

To a degree, that’s understandable—after all, America has the world’s biggest and most dynamic stock markets, boasting dominant big cap firms such as Pfizer (PFE), Ford Motor Co.Read more

Pick This 7.9% Dividend Over This Flawed 11.8% Yield

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 11, 2021

I had just spent my whole paycheck at Whole Foods. My wife was not amused.

“Brett,” she paused and trailed off, a telltale sign that I was in the hot seat.

“You don’t have to buy everything organic. Some stuff…” she searched for words, shaking her head.

I flailed for a life raft: “But isn’t organic good?”

“Some fruits, sure,” she conceded. “And vegetables. But not all of them. Like avocados, and bananas—they have thick skins, so it really doesn’t matter if they are organic or not.”

“And cookies. Cookies are a highly processed food. Why are you bothering with organic?”… Read more

2 “Fed-Fueled” Dividends Yielding up to 6.1% (with 517% Payout Growth)

Brett Owens, Chief Investment Strategist
Updated: August 10, 2021

Fed Chair Jay Powell’s overheating money printer has been great for our portfolios—it’s sending our dividend stocks through the roof! But where the heck do we invest new-found gains for further payouts?

I know I don’t have to tell you that this inflated market has clobbered dividend yields (as yields move in opposition to prices), but there are still bargain-priced dividend payers out there, some throwing off recession-proof payouts yielding over 6%!

Last week, we talked about one “Fed-fueled” corner of the market—energy stocks like ExxonMobil (XOM), payer of a gaudy 6% payout itself. It’ll thrive as inflation climbs, driving up oil prices.… Read more

Beat the Bull-Market Blues With This Cheap 6.3% Dividend

Michael Foster, Investment Strategist
Updated: August 9, 2021

I’m hearing from a lot of dividend investors suffering from “bull-market blues”: while stocks have soared, driving up their portfolios’ value, they’re stuck on what to do with their gains—because stocks have soared (and yields have plunged)!

It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t look like it’ll end anytime soon, and it’s even hit what are traditionally the most overlooked corners of the market.

Take my favorite high-yield investments, closed-end funds (CEFs), which regularly offer huge yields of 7% or more. CEFs invest in all sorts of things, from energy to utilities to corporate bonds and US stocks. And by and large, they’ve gotten pricey, too (but there are still some deals to be had in the space, as we’ll discuss shortly).… Read more

Business Travel Dead? Not So Fast, Here’s 3 REITs To Benefit From A Rebound

Khai Nguyen, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: August 7, 2021

There is a massive desire for consumers to get back to traveling. If you’ve been to an airport lately, the only big change is that people are wearing masks; the crowds are on par with pre-pandemic levels.

And while workers are still enjoying the WFH benefits, when it comes to leisure activity, there is a huge desire to get out of the house and spend on experiences.

Although leisure travel has rebounded nicely, business-related travel has lagged behind; technology- hello Zoom (ZM) – has helped displace a lot of the expensive and often unnecessary travel expenses.

The newer wrench into the situation comes from the Delta variant, which CDC officials say is now as contagious as the Chicken Pox.… Read more