This 9.6% Dividend Has Soared 62% (With More to Come)

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This 9.6% Dividend Has Soared 62% (With More to Come)

People often don’t believe me when I tell them there are great funds out there paying sustainable 8%+ dividends—it just sounds too good to be true.

But there are literally hundreds out there that pay that much and way more, including the 9.6%-yielding Liberty All-Star Equity Fund (USA). Beyond having the best ticker out there, this one just hiked its payout even higher (by 6.7%, to be precise). The move came as no surprise to anyone already in the know about this smartly run closed-end fund (CEF). 

USA (in purple below) has a terrific track record, too, soundly beating the S&P 500, shown below by the performance of the benchmark Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), in orange, over the last decade.… Read more

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How to Earn 5%-7% Yields … From Tech?

Our contrarian investing playbook is simple, but not easy.

We buy stocks that others are neglecting. At least currently! This means we secure prices when they are low and dividends when they are high.

Big tech stocks have been bid to the moon recently. But not all Nasdaq plays are expensive. The rally has been narrow, and believe it or not, we have five tech plays paying up to 6.7% available today.

This is a lot of yield in a sector that, sadly, pays less than 1% at large:

Tech Is Back to Yielding Less Than 1%

This is why the sector ranks tenth in dividend yield.… Read more

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“Soft Landing” Ahead? I Think So. Here Are the 6.8%+ Dividends to Buy

One of the most difficult things for me in 2022 was that, with all the doom and gloom in the air, I heard about a lot of people giving up on the dream of financial independence.

The worst part was that they were doing so at exactly the wrong time—right when the market decline had driven the yields on our favorite closed-end funds (CEFs) way up. Even now, after the S&P 500 has posted roughly 15% gains in 2023, as of this writing, plenty of CEFs yield 10%+, including nine in the portfolio of our CEF Insider service.

Worse, these folks were doing it because they’d bought into the media’s false narrative that a recession was looming, a trap I regularly warned about falling into here on Contrarian Outlook and in the pages of CEF Insider.… Read more

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I Pity the Fool Who Buys These Two 10%+ Dividends

“Coach Brett, how many points do I have?”

My star player, Captain K, was dominating the basketball game. He’d steal the ball, storm down the court, and drain the shot. Then retreat into a defensive position and do it all over again.

Two points after two points after two points. I’d have lost count if I had to count. Fortunately though, we weren’t keeping score.

Most leagues these days don’t keep score when the players are only five years old. The run is more important than the result.

But my man K knew he was “killing it,” as his dad told him from the sidelines!… Read more

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This 6.2% AI Dividend Pays Us Every Month (and Sells for 16% Off)

Few people would put the words “artificial intelligence” and “big dividends” in the same sentence—but those folks have never heard of closed-end funds (CEFs)!

These “yield machines” are perfect plays on the surging AI megatrend for three reasons:

  • Big dividends: Thanks to CEFs, we can “download” big cash payouts from stocks that pay low (or no!) dividends themselves. Getting our payouts in cash, rather than paper gains, is priceless in the sometimes-volatile world of AI investing.
  • Lower volatility: Speaking of volatility, as most equity CEFs invest in various sectors—not just tech—we get some extra insurance over folks who try to “cherry-pick” the AI trend themselves.

… Read more

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Recession Indicator Flips Red: Here’s the 6.9% Dividend to Buy

One of the most accurate indicators out there is telling us a recession is ahead. And—odd as it sounds—that warning is bringing us a chance to buy a 6.9%-paying fund with two key advantages:

  1. This fund—a closed-end fund (CEF), to be precise, generates extra income when the bull takes a breather, making its 6.9% payout even safer, and …
  2. It’s cheap, in relative terms, and will likely be in higher demand as a recession nears.

That fund, the Nuveen NASDAQ 100 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (QQQX) is at the center of our strategy today because of something that sounds obscure but should be on every investor’s radar: the yield spread between 3-month and 10-year Treasury notes is negative—meaning the yield on the 3-month is higher than that of the 10-year.… Read more

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These Dividends Grew 50% to 100% Last Year. How About 2023?

Do you also believe that a recession is on the way?

Note that we’re not saying when. Maybe later 2023. Or 2024. For sure 2025.

We are good economists. Casting out predictions without set timelines!

At some point, of course, all of the rate hikes add up. The housing market slows because mortgages become more expensive. Commercial landlords feel the pinch because, well, nobody rents office space anymore!

One by one, industries slow down. Eventually, the much-anticipated recession arrives.

As contrarian investors, we don’t actually care about economic data. GDP. CPI. PPI. PMI.

Whatever. It’s all TMI.

We’re after dividends and growth, in this order.… Read more

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Our CEF Playbook for the Rest of 2023 for 6%+ Dividends

Here’s some great news as we head into the summer market doldrums: we’ve got a terrific setup to buy, with stocks rallying, economic data strong—and the S&P 500 (and many high-yielding closed end funds) still cheap.

These bargains exist because of the media’s constant bleating about a recession. But that, of course, has been completely wrong—and I expect it will continue to be.

The key takeaway is that our buying opportunity in CEFs is as strong as it’s been since this rally started in January—which is why five of the six CEFs in the equity section of our CEF Insider portfolio, which boasts an 8.8% average yield as I write this, are buys.… Read more

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Have $600K? 19 Tickers for $50,400 Per Year in Dividends

$600K can be enough money to retire on. Even as early as age 50!

The trick is to convert the pile of cash into cash flow that can pay the bills. I’m talking about $50,400 per year or more in dividend income on that nest egg, thanks to 8.4% yields.

These are passive payouts that show up every quarter or, better yet, every month. Meanwhile, we keep that $600K nest egg intact. Or, better yet, grind that principal higher steadily and safely.

Got more in your retirement account? Cool—more monthly dividend income for you!

We’ll talk specific stocks, funds and yields in a moment.… Read more

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These 3 Dividends Are En Fuego (Payouts Soaring up to 385%)

No matter what Jay Powell says, interest rates are topping out here—and that’s put three “stealth” stocks (growing payouts double digits!) in perfect position to gap higher.

This trio are midcap stocks—which we love now because of, well, history: at times like this, midcaps, particularly midcap dividend growers, soar. This chart paints the picture:

Midcaps Counter Rate Moves

Here you can see that the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO), in purple, rose when the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell at the start of the pandemic. But look at the right side of the chart: as rates soared, midcaps slipped. That opens a buy window as Powell steps to the side and (eventually) cuts, flipping rates lower—and midcaps back up.… Read more

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