Ditch the Goofy Spreadsheet for This “Must Have” Dividend Tool

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Ditch the Goofy Spreadsheet for This “Must Have” Dividend Tool

“If you own dividend-paying stocks, you’d be a fool to not be using Income Calendar,” my man Mark P. from California writes.

Tell ‘em, Mark!

We are devoted to retiring on dividends here at Contrarian Outlook. But a little bit of work in retirement is OK. As income investors, we should be able to, well, project our income.

Note that I said a little bit of work. Not a lot! I am not interested in fiddling with spreadsheets until the end of time, and neither is my man Mark.

That said, I’m springing a pop payout quiz on you.… Read more

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Analysts Think This 170% Dividend Grower Is “Old News.” They’re Wrong.

One of the best ways to grab a dividend payer set to surge is a strategy you never hear about anymore: Pick up shares of a conglomerate.

I know, I know. The word brings to mind “old school” companies like 3M (MMM)—which we discussed a couple weeks ago—and Honeywell International (HON).

The deal on these companies is that they’re basically a collection of businesses that often have little overlap. They’re hated by Wall Street because they’re just too much work for the suits to value!

That’s great for us because these firms often have the most value waiting to be unlocked—especially if you buy as they tighten their focus on a specific industry.… Read more

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These 3 Letters Could Cost You Up to $70,000 in Dividends

Right now—today—we’re looking at a terrific buy window on 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs). Interest rates are maxed out (and let’s be honest, they’re headed lower—even if “go time” on cuts has been pushed back a bit).

That will drive up the appeal of CEFs, thanks to their outsized income streams.

So now is a great time to take a look at these (too) often overlooked income generators. Today we’re going to do just that. We’ll start by debunking a CEF myth called “return of capital,” or ROC, that has caused many investors to miss out on the sustainable high income streams these funds offer.… Read more

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Can You Earn a $40,000+ “Salary” With Monthly Dividend Stocks?

Monthly dividend stocks baby. Most income investors don’t even realize they exist!

Out of the few thousand stocks that trade publicly, only a few dozen pay monthly dividends. These hidden gems tend to have market caps in the hundreds of millions rather than billions.

Their relative obscurity is perfect for us. We’ll take them over their blue-chip quarterly cousins.

Quarterly dividends are pay days we prefer not to wait for. Plus, the payouts typically disappoint.

Let’s consider the distributions from a $500,000 portfolio split evenly among a group of five mega-cap dividend payers. These are uber-popular, widely held blue chips that you’ll see near the top of most major large-cap funds.… Read more

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Forget Treasuries: These 7%+ Dividends Are Much Safer

Don’t believe anyone who tells you there’s such a thing as a safe investment. Truth is, every asset—from Treasuries to houses to dividend stocks—involves risk.

The “safest” investment, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is a short-term US Treasury bill. You lend the government $100, say, and you’ll get $105.17 back in a year. Not bad.

But there are some caveats:

  1. Short-term Treasury rates fluctuate, and the Federal Reserve has said they’ll try to get them lower later this year.
  2. In a truly apocalyptic disaster, you might find that the Federal Reserve doesn’t pay your money back. In fact, you might find that money itself is worthless.

… Read more

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Perfect Pullback Play with a Safe 8.4% Payout

Some are fast. Some are slow.
Some are high. Some are low.
None of them is like another.
Don’t ask us why, go ask your mother.

– Dr. Seuss

Here at Contrarian Outlook, we prefer slow—as in slow-moving share prices. And high—as in high yields.

As to why, well, I need to address why other (less sophisticated) investing websites have bad information regarding a very good fund. So bad, in fact, that vanilla investors are scared to buy this perfectly safe 8.4% dividend!

Before I send you to ask your mother, I’ll explain why our website is right and other websites are wrong.… Read more

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This 10.4% Dividend Ticks Our 2 “Must-Have” Boxes

As folks who are always on the hunt for high-yield investments, we love 8%+ paying closed-end funds (CEFs).

CEFs, of course, are renowned for those high payouts—and the vast majority pay monthly. No “regular” stocks offer such a potent payout combo.

Best part is, many CEFs are on sale now: Of the 422 tracked by the CEF Connect screener, 372 currently trade at discounts to net asset value (NAV, or the value of their underlying assets).

That’s a great place to start our search for top-notch CEFs because a discount to NAV is basically free money: it lets us pick up, say, red-hot tech stocks like Texas Instruments (TXN), Amazon.com… Read more

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These Tax-Free Funds Are the Biggest Dividend Secret Going

I have to admit, every year it gets harder and harder to do my taxes.

The process isn’t any more difficult—or at least if it is, my accountant isn’t saying! No, my problem is the money I end up owing.

Having to write a check to Uncle Sam for more than I earned in my first three years of working is hard to do. Which is why I’m always looking for ways to cut my taxes.

And really, the best way for me (and most likely you, too) is through a “boring” sounding investment called a municipal bond. There are three reasons why:

  1. Municipal bond, or “muni,” returns can amount to more than 9% per year for those in high tax brackets.

… Read more

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These Tax-Free Funds Are the Biggest Dividend Secret Going

I have to admit, every year it gets harder and harder to do my taxes.

The process isn’t any more difficult—or at least if it is, my accountant isn’t saying! No, my problem is the money I end up owing.

Having to write a check to Uncle Sam for more than I earned in my first three years of working is hard to do. Which is why I’m always looking for ways to cut my taxes.

And really, the best way for me (and most likely you, too) is through a “boring” sounding investment called a municipal bond. There are three reasons why:

  1. Municipal bond, or “muni,” returns can amount to more than 9% per year for those in high tax brackets.

… Read more

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Utilities Aren’t Boring with Yields up to 11%

Vanilla investors are freaking out that Jerome Powell & Co. won’t cut rates right away.

Who cares if we’re buying safe yields up to 11.0% like the three we’re about to highlight. This trio is positioned to benefit from an upcoming bull run in utility stocks:

“To be sure, long rates might hover around these levels for a bit. But the Fed’s rate hikes will eventually add up, and the much-talked-about recession will arrive. That will result in lower interest rates, both on the ‘short’ end (controlled by the Fed) and the ‘long’ (determined by the 10-year Treasury rate). As rates fall, the prices of bonds and ‘bond proxies,’ like utilities, will pop.”

… Read more

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