These “Active” 7%+ Dividends Crush Index Funds

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You just can’t argue with the power of index investing, right?

After all, index funds boast ultra-low fees and simply track the market. And since stocks return about 7% per year on average, you should do well in the long run. Vanguard, founded back in 1975 on this very idea, built a massive firm (current assets under management: $7.2 trillion) on it.

And to be honest, for many folks, index funds do work. The company’s Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is a go-to in the space, along with rival Select Sector SPDRs’ SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). (Though I always prefer VOO due to its lower fees; when you’re simply tracking the index, fees matter a lot.)… Read more

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Look, I’m as ready for this selloff to end as you are. And when stocks drop—sending dividend yields skyward—I so badly want to back up the truck.

As value-focused dividend investors, buying dips is what we live to do. Sitting in cash is agonizing to me, as I’m sure it is to you, too.

But it just isn’t time yet. Which is why I’ve recommended just one stock this year in my Contrarian Income Report service, while urging my readers to stockpile cash. And after last Thursday’s dumpster fire, we’re sure glad we did!

We’ve also lightened up our portfolio over these last few months, including taking some nice profits on three bank stocks we sold in May:

There was nothing wrong with these three: they were just benefiting from the Fed’s injection of cash into the markets, and the gap between the 10-year Treasury (at which they lend to clients) and the Fed’s policy rate (at which they lend to each other).… Read more

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There’s nothing we closed-end fund investors love more than finding a smartly run fund in an unfairly beaten-down sector. This hands us a nice discount (of course!), plus a much bigger dividend, because yields and prices move in opposite directions.

In fact, with CEFs, we’re actually getting a “double discount”: one from the depressed sector and one from the CEF’s discount to net asset value (NAV, or the value of the stocks in its portfolio). This indicator only exists with CEFs, and we’ll cover 4 with particularly attractive discounts to NAV in a second.

Plus, CEFs already boast yields that triple (or more) those of regular stocks, so deep-discounted CEFs give you an income stream that’s bigger still.Read more

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Most investors are ignoring a clear shot at 7%+ dividends double-digit price gains—year in and year out—in a sector everyone should be talking about, but isn’t.

That would be healthcare, which is riding a rocket of rising spending: according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, US health expenditures will soar 5.4% annually, on average, every year until 2028. (We’ll dive into three funds paying huge dividends up to 8.3% and poised to cash in on this wave in a moment.)

The thing about that 5.4% yearly increase is that it’s much bigger than projected US GDP growth of 4%.… Read more

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There’s a way for us dividend investors to tap the news of a COVID-19 vaccine for huge payouts of 10% and up. And we’ll position our portfolios for serious price upside, too.

I know the vaccine news has a bit of a “horse is out of the barn” feel to it. After all, the market and shares of the vaccine’s producer, Pfizer (PFE), have already popped (though the rally has taken a bit of a breather lately). But you’re not too late. With the three investments I’ll show you below, you could grab healthcare dividends much bigger than the 3.9% Pfizer pays now.… Read more

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Today we’re going to dive into the three best closed end funds of all time. These retirement-changing dividend plays—yielding all the way up to 8.6%!—have not only been crushing all other CEFs, but they’ve been demolishing the S&P 500, as well.

That’s just not supposed to happen!

After all, the pundits are constantly telling us that actively managed funds should not beat the S&P 500, and you’d be better off with a low-cost index fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO).

But these three CEFs have been crushing VOO for years—and they’re on track to keep doing so.

That’s not all they offer—these funds also pay dividends more than three times higher than the S&P 500 average, boosting your nest egg while giving you a much bigger cash stream than you could ever get from index funds.… Read more

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Seven point six percent is the average dividend for my 20 favorite stocks and funds today. These payouts provide us with a secure “No Withdrawal” Retirement Portfolio. We never have to sell any shares thanks to our dividend-powered cash flow:

Of course, we prefer upside as well. Why settle for a mere dividend when we can add some price appreciation, too! It’s possible with these high payers, and we typically enjoy gains one (or more) of these ways:

  1. Additional dividend growth powers our stocks higher. Other investors see their already-generous yields rising even higher and pay more for our shares.

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There are 20 elite closed-end funds (CEFs) that have proven their toughness in the last 10 years (including through the Great Recession, the most brutal test of all) and have still handed investors market-beating returns.

And below we’re going to look at all 20 of them.

So if you’re looking for a proven dividend payer that will hold its own through today’s troubles—trade wars and rising interest rates, to name just two—these 20 funds are a great place to start.

The Toughest of the Tough

Some of these cash machines throw off dividends of 6.8% or more (and one I’ll tell you about in a moment pays a sky-high 12.4%!).…
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